pendragonman
Absent Friends Margrave
****heavy sigh****
Waddayagonnado?
Waddayagonnado?
1 Week Before Release
- Thread starter optimusv
- Start date
The same thing we do every night, Pinky- try to take over the world! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinky_and_the_Brain)
Renaissance Man
SOC-12
Well if it gets pushed back too much farther (i.e. two, three months), I'm not going to ask for my money back, but I will become an increasingly strong advocate for a teaser release so that us T5 nuts will be able to chew on something until the big one drops.
Robject seemed to think that was a remote possibility?
Robject seemed to think that was a remote possibility?
P
Prospero
Guest
I'd say just release the CD as is, more or less. Then, keep a list of the pre-orders. As rules are updated (prior to a hard copy release), just email me the corrected file. I'm just going to load it all onto my computer anyway...
Yes, I seemed to think so. It seems less remote to me now. Although I don't know exactly what's going to happen... there is definite sympathy for we who've bought the CD already.
Perhaps this becomes a subscription ploy: pay $35/year, get all the updates and releases for that year.
However...seeing how well that worked for MS (people paid for updates and for some reason, there were none...) and that pre-ordering anything is often a crapshoot anyway, I'll just wait and see. Eventually something will come. And one thing I've learned from having a child, if nothing else, is that patience trumps pretty much everything that can be thrown at you (sometimes the thrown at is literal! In which case, ducking helps too).
However...seeing how well that worked for MS (people paid for updates and for some reason, there were none...) and that pre-ordering anything is often a crapshoot anyway, I'll just wait and see. Eventually something will come. And one thing I've learned from having a child, if nothing else, is that patience trumps pretty much everything that can be thrown at you (sometimes the thrown at is literal! In which case, ducking helps too).
Rhialto the Marvelous
SOC-13
Personally, I think releasing an unfinished CD would be A VERY BAD IDEA.
It's like asking Lucas for advance copies of a new SW movie before editing.
Given human nature, the very people who demanded the prerelease will be the ones who a week later will call it "an error-ridden incomplete mess." "A piece of junk!" "Like T4!" "So THIS is what we've been waiting for??!!!"
If it would significantly improve editing and number and quality of illustrations I'd be happy to wait a whole 'nother year. But it wouldn't. So, release it in the summer.
It's like asking Lucas for advance copies of a new SW movie before editing.
Given human nature, the very people who demanded the prerelease will be the ones who a week later will call it "an error-ridden incomplete mess." "A piece of junk!" "Like T4!" "So THIS is what we've been waiting for??!!!"
If it would significantly improve editing and number and quality of illustrations I'd be happy to wait a whole 'nother year. But it wouldn't. So, release it in the summer.
far-trader
SOC-14 10K
Rename this thread for starters.
Or not
It "could" always be "1 Week Before Release"...
...just not "THIS" week :smirk:
(but it's easy for me to kid as I didn't jump in, hope it works out good though for those who did)
Or not
It "could" always be "1 Week Before Release"...
...just not "THIS" week :smirk:
Just like fusion power is ALWAYS just 10 years away, flying cars are ALWAYS just around the corner, AI... (oh, and now quantum computers are closer: http://arxivblog.com/?p=346)
First, don't worry. The CD won't be released unfinished.
Second, about human nature: the folks who don't prefer T5 didn't pre-order it. Therefore, the folks who did pre-order think there's something useful about T5, and perhaps believe in the product more than others. Case in point: I've seen a lot of patience displayed here regarding T5.
Assuming, then, a general feeling of beneficience, patience, and hope that the product will be "done right" instead of "done too soon", then I can well understand a true playtest forum for prepaid folks, or something like that.
The draft material I've seen can use lots of eyeballs. Some of it I really like. Some of it requires sifting and organizing. Marc potentially has 600 pairs of eyeballs that could be proofreading and playtesting, even before the "Alpha" CD.
Rhialto the Marvelous
SOC-13
Robject, that'll work... as long as everyone's clear that what they're getting is not the nigh-finished product missing only a final spellcheck, some art and the colophon but an actual playtest file. I myself didn't know until now it was the latter.
Do I get this right--is the CD the playtest for the book, and/or for a later version of the CD?
Do I get this right--is the CD the playtest for the book, and/or for a later version of the CD?
That's how it has been described, yes.
Robject is involved in the private Alpha, the T5 CD is a public beta with MORE than will be in the dead-tree release edition.
Rhialto the Marvelous
SOC-13
The first and last part I knew, the "public beta" approach must have slipped my mind...
Well...
Now *I* am bummed out.
I had been hoping this would be a typo-ridden but playable game that I might pitch to my group. Not looking forward to another year of collective fiddling.
Andrew Boulton
The Adminator
Oh, I'm pretty sure it'll be playable, it just won't have all the bugs fixed.
captainjack
SOC-13
And 300 different opinions about how it should be done "right", as well. If my experience on the MGT board has taught me anything (other than that some people have taken an amazing amount of points in "Pathological Social Dysfunction: traveller") it's that any forum type playtest needs to have its goals very closely defined and to have fairly tight administrative structuring; with an easy bar for both entry, and exit. And, most importantly, that it's not necessarily a better playtest venue than in-house development. MGT is different as a result of the playtest input, but I'm not convinced it's necessarily better.
Honestly, I think that , at best, an open playtest is a 50%/50% development/merchandising vehicle ; like movie sneak peeks, rather than movie focus groups.
The best such playtest I ever was in, and remarkably polite and effective it was, was for Hordes of the Things II); a small, obscure game, I admit, but had about as many active participants. And no less dedicated or opinionated, either.
It had the coauthor onboard, running it, and he was very upfront that he had the final say, pending P.Barkers approval (the main Author).
The Ad Astra site has a very good intro to one of their playtest forums about what the goals and expected behaviors are. Check it out.
I doubt that a wide open playtest would be anything other than a scrum, and I don't think that paying the 35$ for the CD is a good idea either. While I don't agree with Aramis that the issues were the fault of the admins not enforcing and forcing civil behavior, I do think that one or two posters having a problem with being self regulating adults can sour the whole thing.
Which means, I suppose, that I really don't see a good way to do it right now.
Oh well. I'm happy to wait a bit more. As was posted, preorders are always a crapshoot. I'd rather have Marc and his group work on traveller at their own pace than end up spending all their free time vetting postings and dealing with constant email demands.
But, of course, I should be involved, regardless.....
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