Vault Dweller can you tell us the tale of your game?

[villain of the story]

Vault Dweller, what is your biggest regret about AoD that you wish to have done differently from the start, keeping in mind that you seem to be pleased with the current complexity and the scale of the game? The Brazilian Slaughter wants to know, I'm sure.

 

[Vault Dweller]

The only regret is not having a better engine. Sure, I regret that the game took so long, but regretting it is as pointless as regretting not being an experienced developer working full time.

 

[Kos_Koa]

The only regret is not having a better engine.

Is that really a regret? What other choice did you guys have?

 

[EG]

The only regret is not having a better engine.

Is that really a regret? What other choice did you guys have?

To be the better engine themselves.

 

[Infinitron]

Unity?

 

[EG]

Unity?

Or a Unity-like analog?

 

[Vault Dweller]

Is that really a regret? What other choice did you guys have?

None, really.

Unity?

Don't know. It's too early to say if Unity is a good engine. They all look good on paper and they all have upsides and downsides (and you wouldn't know what the downsides really are until you start putting the game together).

 

[RK47]

Is that really a regret? What other choice did you guys have?

None, really.

Unity?

Don't know. It's too early to say if Unity is a good engine. They all look good on paper and they all have upsides and downsides (and you wouldn't know what the downsides really are until you start putting the game together).

Vault Dweller, what can change the nature of an indie developer?

A capped monthly bandwidth on the third of that month.

 

[EG]

Vault Dweller, what can change the nature of an indie developer?

The fear of walking.

 

[laclongquan]

Vault Dweller, what can change the nature of an indie developer?

The fear of walking working.

Fixed for the hurts!

 

[Commissar Draco]

The only regret is not having a better engine. Sure, I regret that the game took so long, but regretting it is as pointless as regretting not being an experienced developer working full time.

So it is finished? When will it be released?

 

[jiujitsu]

Why am I so surprised? VD sounds like he's basically given up. Maybe you should write all the developers you've criticized over the years and apologize for your ignorance. Now you know how impossibly difficult developing an RPG is. Hats off to the men who finished and kudos to the men who actually put out something decent.

Also, what's with all the offensive/nazi user titles? Has the average age of the Codex dropped (below 13) recently?

 

[villain of the story]

Shhh, your time has passed. Just be glad that a relic like yourself can still find himself some place here. Oldfart. Take The Brazilian Slaughter as an example.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Why am I so surprised? VD sounds like he's basically given up.

Maybe you should write all the developers you've criticized over the years and apologize for your ignorance. Now you know how impossibly difficult developing an RPG is.

Reading is teh hard? It's not impossibly difficult. It takes time, manpower, and experience. According to Tim Cain, it takes 3+ years to make an RPG. Let's say you have a 12 people team. So, 40 hours a week (they usually work longer, but let's disregard it for now) x 52 weeks x 3 years x 12 people = 75,000 man-hours. Now take 4 people working part-time, which means 3-4 hours a day at best (and 3-4 hours after you've done 8 hours elsewhere isn't the same as 3-4 hours in the morning), so 4 x 52 weeks x 8 years x 4 people = 6,656 man-hours - less than 1/10th, and that's before we account for the lack of experience and learning the trade trial and error style.

Besides, I've criticized Oblivion not because it failed to live up to my high standards, but because it was a dumbed down game, a step down from Morrowind, which was a step down from Daggerfall. Sames goes for Dragon Age 2 and every other retarded fucking game, and my attempt to make a game has no relevance here.

 

[Excommunicator]

Vault Dweller

I have just one question for you. Given the recent, unexpectedly-widespread negativity to many of the design decisions you have made, do you still predict that your (paying) audience will be large enough to make this whole effort feasible in a purely economic way? Do your revised predictions (not the predictions you had before the demo came out) allow you to you make back what you have spent on the game so far? Do they leave you with any money leftover?

 

[Vault Dweller]

First, for the record, I've never predicted that the game will do well enough financially. If anything, I was always skeptical about it. Why make the game then? Because I've always wanted to.

Second, I don't think that there is a widespread negativity. Sure, the game isn't for everyone (which was too be expected) and some people on the Codex bitch about it every chance they get (which too was to expected), but overall the reception is pretty good (for an indie game).

I believe I've spent about 20k on the game over the years. I'm pretty sure I'll get the money back (we got 12k so far), but I don't really care about it. It's not a lot of money if you divide it by the number of years (I'm pretty sure most people here spend more on drinking and partying).

 

[ironyuri]

First, for the record, I've never predicted that the game will do well enough financially. If anything, I was always skeptical about it. Why make the game then? Because I've always wanted to.

Second, I don't think that there is a widespread negativity. Sure, the game isn't for everyone (which was too be expected) and some people on the Codex bitch about it every chance they get (which too was to expected), but overall the reception is pretty good (for an indie game).

I believe I've spent about 20k on the game over the years. I'm pretty sure I'll get the money back (we got 12k so far), but I don't really care about it. It's not a lot of money if you divide it by the number of years (I'm pretty sure most people here spend more on drinking and partying).

VD, I haven't played the demo. I'm not interested in playing the demo. But like most games, I'll lay out my money when it's done and I'll play it.

I haven't helped any kickstarter so far and I don't plan to, what I will do, is buy the games I want to buy when they exist, and if they look interesting I'll pick them up and give them a shot.

AoD looks like a game worth playing.

Ps. If you tried a kickstarter to push the game through the final stages you could get a couple thousand to dedicate yourselves to it fully for a period of weeks.

 

[IDtenT]

Ps. If you tried a kickstarter to push the game through the final stages you could get a couple thousand to dedicate yourselves to it fully for a period of weeks.

Still can't give up your day job. At this stage it won't help hiring outside help either. Kickstarter will be worthless other than to get in money ahead of time or to get in more money than you would in the end (by selling the game at variable prices, as it is done on kickstarter).

 

[kaizoku]

Why make the game then? Because I've always wanted to.

Were there times when you thought about throwing the towel?
And spend your time relaxing (books, movies, worthy games, porn, even more codex browsing) instead of working on it?

First, for the record, I've never predicted that the game will do well enough financially. If anything, I was always skeptical about it. Why make the game then? Because I've always wanted to.

Second, I don't think that there is a widespread negativity. Sure, the game isn't for everyone (which was too be expected) and some people on the Codex bitch about it every chance they get (which too was to expected), but overall the reception is pretty good (for an indie game).

I believe I've spent about 20k on the game over the years. I'm pretty sure I'll get the money back (we got 12k so far), but I don't really care about it. It's not a lot of money if you divide it by the number of years (I'm pretty sure most people here spend more on drinking and partying).

Can you tell us how exactly did you spent 20k on it?
I assumed you had only payed for the engine and the ITS done all the rest, except the music?, but that doesn't cost 20k.

 

[Scruffy]

VD plan's is to wait so long we'll all eventually have alzheimer's and completely forget about everything.

 

[EG]

Were there times you felt like merely giving us the metaphorical towel (source code and assets)?

 

[Darth Roxor]

Were there times you felt like putting the literal towel on your head?

 

[EG]

Were there times you felt like putting the literal towel on your head?

And expose himself to the Codex?

 

[Vault Dweller]

Were there times when you thought about throwing the towel?

No. Not because of some silly sentiments like "I've started it and by golly I'll finish it!". At first, it was a hobby, an escape from my day job. By the time it became a second job, too much was done and throwing it all away simply wasn't a reasonable option.

And spend your time relaxing (books, movies, worthy games, porn, even more codex browsing) instead of working on it?

I certainly miss having nothing on my mind and just reading books all day long or playing games, but having something to do, something you care about (unlike my day job) is more rewarding. Good books, games, and movies are rare. You read, watch, play one, and then you read, watch, play a lot of shit, and go back to reading/watching/playing something old, which is kind of boring.

Can you tell us how exactly did you spent 20k on it? I assumed you had only payed for the engine and the ITS done all the rest, except the music?, but that doesn't cost 20k.

This and that. TGE, add-ons (shadows, I think, and something with the camera), other software, T3D, a lot of concept art, music, web hosting for 4+ years, hardware upgrades and new PC for Nick, keeping him and Ivan afloat for a few years. It all adds up.

 

[EG]

Can you tell us how exactly did you spent 20k on it? I assumed you had only payed for the engine and the ITS done all the rest, except the music?, but that doesn't cost 20k.

This and that. TGE, add-ons (shadows, I think, and something with the camera), other software, T3D, a lot of concept art, music, web hosting for 4+ years, hardware upgrades and new PC for Nick, keeping him and Ivan afloat for a few years. It all adds up.

To something that seems very inexpensive for the result (ignoring the time invested).

You must tell the others and get us more games.