How would CA being more open about their Development be a negative?

**Old Celt** · 06-23-2005, 14:08

@ .ORG mods:
I apologize as my last posting was a bit exaggerated. I was really suffering frustration at another site which really has done what I said, and let some of it intrude on that post. Please forgive. I remember speaking with you when things were at their darkest hour, and you all seemed pretty reasonable to me.

**Gregoshi** · 06-23-2005, 20:05

Thanks Old Celt. We all go through those times like that and it is sometimes hard to separate that one thing from the rest of your existence. Take a deep breath and keep on truckin'.

**HarunTaiwan** · 06-24-2005, 02:52

No one is bitching about the developers as employees.

Oh, you are saying CA the COMPANY is equivalent of a menial worker?

Just like, say, Stephen King is the "developer" and Random House is the publisher, so if the book sucks, I need to complain to Random House.

and yeah, the quality of a product is also the worker's responsibility, too.

**Papewaio** · 06-24-2005, 04:01

If the binding of a book falls apart or a ten pages are missing do you complain to the publisher or authour?

**RomanCavalry** · 06-24-2005, 04:11

I'd blame the publisher, but the reality of the situation is that the Author's rep is still tarnished.

I do think you could have used a better example than a book, but still...it serves it's purpose.

If I wear a suit to a powermeeting at work and the suit rips, my co-workers are not going to laugh at Armani, they're going to laugh at me.

**IceTorque** · 06-24-2005, 04:21

I think a better analogy would be.

A Macca's emplyee (C.A.)being told by the manager (Activision)to cook the burger(RTW) for 30 seconds instead of the usual 60 seconds.

the 2% that complain do so to the employee.
80% don't buy macca's anymore.
and the rest don't notice the burger is half cooked.

Result employee loses job.
But plenty of new jobs at burger king.

**HarunTaiwan** · 06-24-2005, 09:56

Let's use the book analogy since it is closest.

1. Physical Appearance, etc. "The binding fell apart, etc." Well, I have seen ZERO complaints about RTW's CD-ROM breaking, the manual falling apart, etc. So the printer/publisher did their job. Perhaps the patch policy could be considered a fault of this level, though.

2. Content, as in the story sucks, the characters are underdeveloped, etc. - you blame the author not the printer. In this case the author is CA.

Case closed.

Even if the publisher forces the author to adulterate their material to meet deadlines or new markets, the author knows whose name will be dragged down in the mud...ask yourself, do you buy books based on authors or on publishing houses?

**InsaneApache** · 06-24-2005, 10:39

Well I sat and read all this 'bug' this and 'patch' that and the simple fact is this.

No one here knows what is going on at CA (probably not even those from CA who post here). It is a business and will have several imperatives to fulfil in order to survive and flourish. Now I'm not saying that the game is perfect. Clearly there are issues involved with this bug and that, but I have been playing this game for 5 years and I can remember the 'AI sux this' and 'the AI sux that' on Shoggy, MI, MTW and VI.....

Another thing.

This eye candy that keeps getting mentioned, well it is impressive and obviously required 1000s of man hours to write just the code. I compare it with my first computer game I played at home. Horace goes Skiing on the Spectrum 48k rubber mat home computer system. (sounds cutting edge eh?)

I believe that CA have listened and I believe that most, if not all of the bugs will be addressed in the fullness of time. Remember the games release was put back nearly a year, so obviously there have been issues from day dot.

In conclusion I dont blame the guys from CA keeping their heads down ..... we had an example of the type of sociapath you can get on these forums this very morning.

**Puzz3D** · 06-25-2005, 14:21

Originally Posted by Gregoshi

Thanks Old Celt. We all go through those times like that and it is sometimes hard to separate that one thing from the rest of your existence. Take a deep breath and keep on truckin'.

This is why I put the game aside for the time being. It's not worth the frustration, and continuous frustration is harmfull to you. I now play a different game which is a lot more enjoyable than RTW because it works better. We'll see what CA is able to do with BI, but it's going to take a lot to fix this game up to the point where it's worth playing as far as I'm concerned.

CA keeps their game development secret, and I doubt that will change. As a result I think they will alway miss the mark on the type of gameplay that players want. I believe it was Mike Simpson who said that CA makes the gameplay the way they like it, and they hope that the players like it as well.

**Mongoose** · 06-25-2005, 14:45

Just out of curiosity...what game are you playing? MTW? Silent hunter 3?

**sik1977** · 06-25-2005, 15:34

Originally Posted by mongoose

Just out of curiosity...what game are you playing? MTW? Silent hunter 3?

He's playing SH3, I am sure. (and I did too for a long time, till i had to give it up recently due to shortage of time, but will pick it up soon..... great game).

**Puzz3D** · 06-25-2005, 20:57

Originally Posted by mongoose

Just out of curiosity...what game are you playing? MTW? Silent hunter 3?

I'm playing and enjoying Silent Hunter 3 single player campaign on 100% realism using the Real U-boat mod. It's a very different kind of game from Total War, and attempts to recreate the U-boat war with a high degree of realism. Unfortunately, there are no wolfpacks because the developer didn't have time to make a submarine AI for them, and I haven't found multiplayer to be satisfactory because it doesn't capture the hunting for convoys aspect of the game. There have been a few minor bugs many of which are corrected by mods, and the developer has corrected some of them in patches. Many aspects of the game are modable. The game has received 4 patches in 3 months, and the developer has a liason who is active on the official forum.

**Quietus** · 06-25-2005, 21:11

If CA opens up, they will be haranqued at every turn.

CA will have to keep innovating anyway. There's alot of TW clones/alternatives/competition coming out and I'm pretty sure, there will be more in the future.

Imperial Glory
Rise & Fall
and Telladar Chronicles (any more?)

I'm pretty sure CA is aware of this trend that's they won't reveal next TW incarnation in hopes of not tipping off the competition. The Shogun has said it himself in one of his FAQs IIRC.