Anymore Patches Planned?

[Raidergoo]

Originally Posted by SlyBelle

I guess I'm also not trying to single out any one person from the company, but for an entire company to go completely dark seems very odd to me and somewhat concerning. I understand they might not be able to post constantly, but not one post in a month? Not even one to say 'hey guys we are taking a break for awhile, don't panic we will be back'. Seems simple enough to me. And to suggest someone is so busy they can't post one comment, I find that hard to believe unless there was some kind of family/personal emergency.

Oh well, probably beating a dead horse at this point...

New patch testing started this morning.

As for Steve, battists is now negotiating with the North Koreans concerning their nuclear program, so he's simply tied up.

[spitfire]

Originally Posted by Raidergoo

New patch testing started this morning.

Are you able to give us an idea of whether this patch contains new features, or whether its focus is on getting the stuff that's already there to work better? If the latter, is there an attempt to address some of the concerns voiced on the forum of late regarding long standing problems like player development etc.?

[Goodsox]

Originally Posted by spitfire

Are you able to give us an idea of whether this patch contains new features, or whether its focus is on getting the stuff that's already there to work better? If the latter, is there an attempt to address some of the concerns voiced on the forum of late regarding long standing problems like player development etc.?

At this point it appears the current patch that is being tested is to try and solve the crash related issues and bugs. There was no mention of new features at this point.

[Raidergoo]

Originally Posted by spitfire

Are you able to give us an idea of whether this patch contains new features, or whether its focus is on getting the stuff that's already there to work better?

No.

[spitfire]

Originally Posted by Goodsox

At this point it appears the current patch that is being tested is to try and solve the crash related issues and bugs. There was no mention of new features at this point.

Thanx. I view that as a postive. Rather have the game as it is and working properly than see more new features added at this stage.

[StyxNCa]

Originally Posted by thbroman

I agree that it HAS been pretty quiet around here, although I must admit that I don't check in here every day. Maybe because it's so quiet, eh?
But my explantion for this phenomenon would be a little different. What I've seen from various computer gaming communities is that certain individuals get fired up and more or less take control of organizing a forum. Not in a bad way -- they become the go-to guys for virtually everything, and for some period of time they devote a ton of attention to it, often as moderators or forum administrators. Steve Kuffrey used to be that guy for OOTP, as many of you know. But I know very few people who can maintain that kind of energy forever, salaried of not. Sooner or later, it seems that everyone has to move on.
Furthermore, when Steve Battisti was hired by Markus, he took on a lot of behind-the-scenes work as beta taskmaster, for example, stuff which doesn't necessarily show up in the forums. And while I have no personal knowledge of how rewarding this gig is for him in money terms, I am disinclined to think that it is enough to permit him to give up his day job, whatever that is.

So while I wouldn't disagree that Battisti's earlier, manic level of energy has declined, I wouldn't necessarily put it down to less commitment overall.

Quite a turn around. From manic to disappearing completely.

[Eugene Church]

Originally Posted by StyxNCa

Quite a turn around. From manic to disappearing completely.

I don't know why the OOTPB Development Team doesn't post a progress report or make contact on the forum here weekly or every two weeks. It seems like it would be an easy and simple thing to do.

But for whatever reason, they don't and I just live with it. That is the way Markus is.

As far as battists, he hasn't disappeared. battists is still a vital part of the OOTPB team. As a volunteer for 2006 and 2007, he accomplished an astonishing amount of work free of charge, but at his own personal expense. battists has now realized that real life takes priority over a fantasy baseball game and now spends a realistic amount of time on it. As a parttime employee he is doing as he should, work on it parttime.

Even parttime Markus is getting a bargain and one of the most talented, dedicated, productive, intelligent, responsible and decent people I have ever dealt with in my 50 years of work. If I had the need in my company of the talents of battists, I would hire him in a heartbeat. Ask the Beta members of the past three years what they think of battists.

It is unbelievable what he did as an unpaid volunteer Beta coordinator. He must have worked 12 hours a day on OOTPB for those two years that I have known him and worked with him.

And he did a very fine job this time around as a paid, parttime Beta coordinator.

I'm sure he could have done an astounding job, if he has devoted 12-15 hours a day to it like he did as a volunteer.

People like battists are hard to find.

[Eugene Church]

Originally Posted by endgame

The entire "where are they?" conversation is likely for naught. Eventually, someone will show up, apologize for the absence and lack of communication, promise to do a better job of checking in in the future, give us an update complete with something to make a few people drool and become even more impatient for the next update, then the cycle will continue all over again. It's always been the nature of the beast.

Excellent post, endgame.

This is Markus in a nutshell.

[Bluenoser]

Originally Posted by 1998 Yankees

Guys, just because it happens every year (and I don't recall it from 2006, the last OOTP year that I can recall at all because I newbied in 2005 and was full of shock and awe then ) does not make it right. And I respectfully disagree with your comment about battists, bosunmate. Battists the volunteer I do recall vividly.

But, I protest too much. Basically, I find myself caring too much about somebody else's business. So I will shut up now. ("Good!" - I heard that! )

I didn't say that makes it right, all I said was it happens every year. Has since I've been playing OOTP, which is from the begining of the game.

[bosunmate]

Originally Posted by Eugene Church

I don't know why the OOTPB Development Team doesn't post a progress report or make contact on the forum here weekly or every two weeks. It seems like it would be an easy and simple thing to do.

But for whatever reason, they don't and I just live with it. That is the way Markus is.

As far as battists, he hasn't disappeared. battists is still a vital part of the OOTPB team. As a volunteer for 2006 and 2007, he accomplished an astonishing amount of work free of charge, but at his own personal expense. battists has now realized that real life takes priority over a fantasy baseball game and now spends a realistic amount of time on it. As a parttime employee he is doing as he should, work on it parttime.

Even parttime Markus is getting a bargain and one of the most talented, dedicated, productive, intelligent, responsible and decent people I have ever dealt with in my 50 years of work. If I had the need in my company of the talents of battists, I would hire him in a heartbeat. Ask the Beta members of the past three years what they think of battists.

It is unbelievable what he did as an unpaid volunteer Beta coordinator. He must have worked 12 hours a day on OOTPB for those two years that I have known him and worked with him.

And he did a very fine job this time around as a paid, parttime Beta coordinator.

I'm sure he could have done an astounding job, if he has devoted 12-15 hours a day to it like he did as a volunteer.

People like battists are hard to find.

Well said Eugene....

[StyxNCa]

Originally Posted by Eugene Church

But for whatever reason, they don't and I just live with it. That is the way Markus is.

The reason is that the customer base doesn't press the issue. No one is going to do anything if there isn't a demand for it.

Unfortunately, all it does is hurt his ability to gain new customers. There are a lot of new people asking questions that aren't being answered.

[The Wolf]

Originally Posted by Eugene Church

I don't know why the OOTPB Development Team doesn't post a progress report or make contact on the forum here weekly or every two weeks. It seems like it would be an easy and simple thing to do.

It is an easy and simple thing to do, which is why so many companies do it. OOTP has enough personnel that one of them could easily post here once a week and give the customer base a status report, even if it's just three sentences in a closed thread.

[Cardinal Rule]

Well the best news I can say I've seen on this front is that both battists and Andreas have been active today according to their profiles.

[Markus Heinsohn]

Hey guys,

everything is alright, we haven't been active much here since there was not much to report to be honest. We have started working on our 'secret' project OOTP Online, and things are progressing nicely. In the meantime we have converted to a new compiler system (MS Visual C++ 2008), which leads to testing the resulting executables. We have also discovered & fixed possible crashing issues that very very few people have been experiencing. So yes, there will be another patch, but it will not have huge new features in it but will rather tweak certain things and fix bugs.

Cheers,
Markus

[falkonisback]

Originally Posted by Markus Heinsohn

Hey guys,

everything is alright, we haven't been active much here since there was not much to report to be honest. We have started working on our 'secret' project OOTP Online, and things are progressing nicely. In the meantime we have converted to a new compiler system (MS Visual C++ 2008), which leads to testing the resulting executables. We have also discovered & fixed possible crashing issues that very very few people have been experiencing. So yes, there will be another patch, but it will not have huge new features in it but will rather tweak certain things and fix bugs.

Cheers,
Markus

Awesome news! Glad to have you back Markus!

[fantom1979]

You are working on another patch and on OOTP Online in September.

I have to ask. What are the chances that OOTP 10 will be released before the all star break next year?

[Greatgrampa]

Originally Posted by Markus Heinsohn

Hey guys,

everything is alright, we haven't been active much here since there was not much to report to be honest. We have started working on our 'secret' project OOTP Online, and things are progressing nicely. In the meantime we have converted to a new compiler system (MS Visual C++ 2008), which leads to testing the resulting executables. We have also discovered & fixed possible crashing issues that very very few people have been experiencing. So yes, there will be another patch, but it will not have huge new features in it but will rather tweak certain things and fix bugs.

Cheers,
Markus

I am not sure what some people here expect in the way of someone from OOTP coming on here weekly for upates....I really don't. What are you going to say? We are working on this and saying it for ten weeks straight? Or do they want you to keep a journal and submit it once a week? Personally, I think things are as they should be around here. If there was something very vital to tell us about, I am sure you would do that, as you are today. I mean, give me a break out there. People will get the news when there is news to give. Simple as that. I think you all are doing a great job with this sim. The AI could be tweaked some but hey, we all know that and I am sure it will get done eventually.
I am not an online game player, so what you are working on doesn't interest me but I am sure a lot of others here will be glad to hear that. Anyway, keep doing the job you are doing. I for one, love the game...period!

[Solonor]

Originally Posted by Greatgrampa

I am not sure what some people here expect in the way of someone from OOTP coming on here weekly for upates....I really don't. What are you going to say? We are working on this and saying it for ten weeks straight? Or do they want you to keep a journal and submit it once a week? Personally, I think things are as they should be around here. If there was something very vital to tell us about, I am sure you would do that, as you are today. I mean, give me a break out there. People will get the news when there is news to give. Simple as that. I think you all are doing a great job with this sim. The AI could be tweaked some but hey, we all know that and I am sure it will get done eventually.
I am not an online game player, so what you are working on doesn't interest me but I am sure a lot of others here will be glad to hear that. Anyway, keep doing the job you are doing. I for one, love the game...period!

I'm not so much concerned about a weekly "working on it" update as answers to questions that only the developers can answer.

[StyxNCa]

Originally Posted by Solonor

I'm not so much concerned about a weekly "working on it" update as answers to questions that only the developers can answer.

Especially new people, particularly the ones who are using the demo trying to decide whether to buy the game. It's hard to build a customer base if new people can't get answers to their reasonable questions.

[The Wolf]

Originally Posted by StyxNCa

It's hard to build a customer base if new people can't get answers to their reasonable questions.

Or to keep the exisiting customer base satisfied if exisiting users can't get answers to their reasonable questions, for that matter.