Not much I'm afraid... Honestly, the thought of writing more conversations this weekend didn't really sing to me, and so I did next to nothing the entire weekend. I did manage to get a few dialogs done during the week, but I've only increased my tally to 26,500 words, or 57.5%. A paltry week's work I admit. Hopefully, I'll get the bug again this coming week.
So what did I do instead? Well, I have more work than I can shake a stick at, but during my computer time I decided on a little world domination, and that meant Civilization III. Yes, I have Civ IV, and while it's technically superior to Civ III in almost every way, it just doesn't have the "magic" for me that the earlier version does. And so I played as the Egyptians... and yes, the world will soon be mine... all mine! Hahahaha!Witness the fall of the soon-to-be-extinct Sumerians! Uh, that would be the teal to the left of the screen. Yes, I know the orange are the Dutch. They'll get what's coming to them soon enough!
Moderating
Some time ago, Alan Miranda, CEO and guru extraordinaire of Ossian proposed that I should be the Ossian moderator on the BioBoards. I guess this was because he didn't have the time, and I had this distressing tendency to actually read what went on there and even occasionally report to him when interesting things popped up. I was rewarded for this with... more work.
Stupid me, I agreed. It took about two months for all the approvals to fall into place, but as of about three weeks ago, I am an official moderator on the MoW board... and I'm already ready to gag. I may be about to come off as incredibly rude, arrogant, condescending, but you see, I have no idea how developers keep from absolutely telling off the ignorant masses, given some of the outright stupid things I have read. When I was just plain-old me, I had freedom to say what I mostly type and delete now that the Ossian tag is by my name.
Recently, Keehwan Her announced that MoW would be delayed yet again until July. I won't even start with the reasons for that, but the announcement seemed to provide certain people with all the justification they needed to be outright over-the-top rude. One poster typed three words in their response: "You are pathetic." That, of course, violates the board rules against directly attacking other posters, so I edited the hell out of the post. If you haven't already, it might be interested to scroll through the thread to enjoy the commotion, including said poster's response to me that he had only said Atari was "worthy of pity." You have no idea the amount of vitriol I typed and was ready to post... only to then hit delete.
You know, I'm thrilled to be working with Ossian, but things I say will (wrongly) have the veneer of coming officially from the company even though it doesn't. Oh, to be able to go back to just posting as me when the worst thing that would happen as a result of one of my posts would be for me to get banned...
Load Screen Sunday
If you all recall, part of Act I can take place on the River Delimbyre. Unfortunately, none of the included load screens were suitably aqueous. And so I made one myself. Enjoy.
Hey, you volunteered for it.
ReplyDeleteBesides, this is pushing on a year it's been delayed. You guys really brought it all on yourselves by annoucing it's "finished" last year and the whole reason for the delay is some DRM scheme or some other BS regular people could give two craps about. At the end of the day, you can't really escape that.
If I was Ossian, which I'm not, I'd seriously reconsider working with Atari in the future. You guys already have egg on your face as a result of Atari's decisions, and it's obvious they don't value your work or it'd be out.
But whatever, I think it's laughable and almost indefensible. Of course, having to toe the line will make you see things different.
Callin' 'em like I see 'em.
Fortunately it seems to be very widely understood that the delay isn't Ossians' fault.
ReplyDeleteI truly find you worthy of pity, Tiberius. Or well, I'm not sure if that sounds nasty or not. Wasn't meant to be. I really don't envy your position - hopefully it isn't too much work. And it'll get better once the game finally is released.
Also, even though you guys must have wanted to see the release before the big announcement (even given the delays), at least people now have something else to think about. They'll be eager to play the product once it's released, anyway.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIt's all good, all I've got is my perception. I'm just saying if I was you all, I wouldn't be too quick to work with Atari in the future. After Daggerford and this...there's a lot of paper out there, that's all I'm saying.
ReplyDeletePolitics are no fun, but I've seen it pop up in four man teams before. It's kinda depressing at times.
ReplyDeleteWell, if it helps any, I'm replaying Saleron's Gambit while waiting for The Maimed God's Saga. It's one of my favorite community mod series from NWN 1. Actually, most of my favorite series are from people with little Ossian tags by their names now, so I'm very much looking forward to other stuff from you guys.
Sorry, guys. Reposting from before with a slight edit... (This was originally the third comment)
ReplyDeletedirtywick,
I forgot to say that the other thing that irritates me about the forums are the number of people that *think* they know what's going on (and so apportion blame accordingly) and yet don't have a clue. I really can't say any more, but don't believe everything you read.
lariam,
Yes, how wonderful that the release of MoW was delayed until after the announcement of the second expansion pack...
dirtywick,
ReplyDeleteSorry for biting your head off. This entire situation has me frustrated; that's all.
ldyshayna,
Wow. Someone still playing that... Glad you liked it. I intend Maimed God to be better, though I guess every author says something similar. I don't think anyone makes something new with the intent for it to be worse than what they already did...
Anyway, have fun.
I'm not mad at you. If I were you, I'd be mad too. Maybe not for the same reasons, but I don't think anyone is happy with how this is all turning out.
ReplyDeleteBut at the same time, you can't expect people not to notice that, for whatever reasons, the delays your project got passed the intersection of ridiculous and crazy a while ago. You've got to understand that or you'll drive yourself nuts dealing with random internet people and not take it personally.
Again, I'm not trying to beef with you or whatever, I'm just telling you how I see it.
I feel so bad for Ossian and all these delays. I know this is an odd comparison. But I used to work as a server at a steakhouse. The food comes out poorly cooked or cooked wrong etc. Who gets all the crap? the one taking the food to the table. And some how it is the servers fault the cook did not do their job properly.
ReplyDeleteOk, enough babbling. Having said all that. Atari has had this product for a long time. And seems to be less than priority to get it released. Claiming to have the desire to improve the community. And actually doing something about it... well..... The road to hell and all?
I may be ranting a tad. It is just annoying that fingers are never pointing in the proper directions.
my .02 for the week :)
Yes. I prefer Civ3 rather than Civ4. I always play as Romans. Civ1 was incredible too. I won in the most difficult level. Another interesting game is Colonization.
ReplyDeleteJuan Valera.
I understand what you're going through. I mod a "religious" board and I've gone through pretty much the same passionate slightly er, nerdy types raging futile wars amongst each other. For a little while in there, you'd almost forget that a world exists outside the forum where the big picture actually counts for something.
ReplyDeleteI too want to speak my mind on many occasions but since the mods job is to be impartial, I bite my tongue most times. Other times, I come across as rude and arrogant and you know it is to be expected, everyone isn't going to love me for what I say but that is my opinion and it is what it is etc.
The thought has crossed my mind to create another ID just to spit out all my poor repressed thoughts (especially to some members in particular) but I'd be caught with my knickers down hehe.
Stick in there, I read the threads in question, you're doing quite well for a mod thrown to the rabid masses :)