This week our own Timothy Eisen mulls over Chronicles of Elyria Update #42 featuring the belated store, server issues, stretch goals, wild internet speculation and more!
I believe they can launch in 12 months' time, but it will be with 30% of the planned features/functionality. I do not believe they can meet their projected launch target for the full game in any way.
Perhaps they'll prove me wrong ! The next 12 months will be very interesting indeed...
As a backer of the game I'm very interested in seeing how they proceed in the next few months with the Alpha 1 and Alpha 2 testing. If they can get those out in a decent amount of time then I don't see why they could hit their 2017 release goal... but that being said I'd rather they push back the release date a few months if that's what it takes to release a stable build of the game rather then a rushed one.
The game will be horrible if its out within 2 years even. To test and create this complex world with so many options and things that can happen, there is no way to make it within 2 years, let alone one. I mean even experienced devs could not pull it off even given much more time, so how can small, pretty much all rookie dev team?
Camelot unchained and crowfall are run by mmo veterans that's far less ambitious and they aren't even close to reaching their goal within 1.5 years.
Take a themepark like Rift, it took them 5 years on a $50M budget to release their game and they basically created something that's World of Warcraft. Chronicles of Elyria is far more innovative and Soulbound Studios don't even have 1/10 of the money Trion had for Rift.
If you think about these projects in a rational fashion you will realize that there is no chance in hell that they will be releasing their game this quickly.
Edited because of wall of text.
Iselin: And the next person who says "but it's a business, they need to make money" can just go fuck yourself.
I'll be really surprised if they deliver on everything they say they can, when they say they can. Sounding a little too good to be true.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
Camelot unchained and crowfall are run by mmo veterans that's far less ambitious and they aren't even close to reaching their goal within 1.5 years.
Take a themepark like Rift, it took them 5 years on a $50M budget to release their game and they basically created something that's World of Warcraft. Chronicles of Elyria is far more innovative and Soulbound Studios don't even have 1/10 of the money Trion had for Rift.
If you think about these projects in a rational fashion you will realize that there is no chance in hell that they will be releasing their game this quickly.
Edited because of wall of text.
Camelot Unchained is not really comparable to CoE. CU built their entire engine from scratch, and not just a nice simple one, but with CUBE and all. CoE is using Unreal.
So, in theory, CoE could progress much, much faster than CU.
Crowfall, on the other hand, is a pretty good measuring stick. I think we can directly look at Crowfall and determine how quickly CoE could(doesn't mean they will) progress.
CoE's claim is that they will save a bunch of time by using bought assets, whereas Crowfall is designing theirs by hand. However, we all know that third-party assets are almost always going to need tweaking and redoing; the time saved, is completely unpredictable.
I think the CoE team was way overconfident (that's putting it mildly) in their time frame. As the store debacle has proven, and hopefully taught them, things always pop up and slow down progress.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
The game will be horrible if its out within 2 years even. To test and create this complex world with so many options and things that can happen, there is no way to make it within 2 years, let alone one. I mean even experienced devs could not pull it off even given much more time, so how can small, pretty much all rookie dev team?
A rookie development team is unlikely to understand what testing is, much less actually do any testing. If it compiles, it's in the game.
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.
"As of December 2016 COE is approximately 1 year away from launch. Does that leave enough time to thoroughly test all the features? Looking at the complexity COE will offer my initial opinion is not unless all of the base mechanics are implemented and Alpha begins in December 2016. I don’t know what Soulbound’s plan is but that would give them an entire year of adding, refining and testing features before launch. If MMORPG history has taught us anything it’s that it would be incredibly difficult, but not impossible. That’s my take, what’s yours?"
You forget that they have promised to launch their no wipe HeadStart 3 month before launch. So Dec 2016 becomes Sept 2016. Between now and then they have to develop, test and roll out:
1. A fully functional MUDD
2. A fully functional "Prelude" game
3. A fully functional "Kingdoms" game
4. Some kind of Boadgame based test game
5. Go from the ever shrouded "Pre-Alpha" to No Wipe headstart.
In 12 months
With no experience
From a company that is 3+ months behind the first deliverable (store) after multiple failures and delays. Remember it was just a few hours away as of something like June or July.
My take is that pigs will fly before all that is successfully completed by September 2017. You talk about it being amazing that a developer is against feature creep. Seriously? Their entire game and development plan is rooted in a fantasyland of impossible features and an unachievable timeline...
Since you asked..
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
"As of December 2016 COE is approximately 1 year away from launch. Does that leave enough time to thoroughly test all the features? Looking at the complexity COE will offer my initial opinion is not unless all of the base mechanics are implemented and Alpha begins in December 2016. I don’t know what Soulbound’s plan is but that would give them an entire year of adding, refining and testing features before launch. If MMORPG history has taught us anything it’s that it would be incredibly difficult, but not impossible. That’s my take, what’s yours?"
You forget that they have promised to launch their no wipe HeadStart 3 month before launch. So Dec 2016 becomes Sept 2016. Between now and then they have to develop, test and roll out:
1. A fully functional MUDD
2. A fully functional "Prelude" game
3. A fully functional "Kingdoms" game
4. Some kind of Boadgame based test game
5. Go from the ever shrouded "Pre-Alpha" to No Wipe headstart.
In 12 months
With no experience
From a company that is 3+ months behind the first deliverable (store) after multiple failures and delays. Remember it was just a few hours away as of something like June or July.
My take is that pigs will fly before all that is successfully completed by September 2017. You talk about it being amazing that a developer is against feature creep. Seriously? Their entire game and development plan is rooted in a fantasyland of impossible features and an unachievable timeline...
The game will be horrible if its out within 2 years even. To test and create this complex world with so many options and things that can happen, there is no way to make it within 2 years, let alone one. I mean even experienced devs could not pull it off even given much more time, so how can small, pretty much all rookie dev team?
A rookie development team is unlikely to understand what testing is, much less actually do any testing. If it compiles, it's in the game.
Wait til they get hit with dupers and bots, I bet they will be shocked and awed by players determination to cheat.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
The game will be horrible if its out within 2 years even. To test and create this complex world with so many options and things that can happen, there is no way to make it within 2 years, let alone one. I mean even experienced devs could not pull it off even given much more time, so how can small, pretty much all rookie dev team?
A rookie development team is unlikely to understand what testing is, much less actually do any testing. If it compiles, it's in the game.
Yet none of the people on this team are rookies... they all have industry experience in their fields, so they actually do know how to do their jobs effectively. Will they do it in 1.3 years? Guess we'll find out, but it does help that the engine is already made and the server infrastructure is already in place so 50% of the works is already done at this point.
I think of them like an orchestra, yes each is probably well skilled at what they do but this is the first time they've played something together. Hopefully the chemistry will be a great one.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
Yet none of the people on this team are rookies... they all have industry experience in their fields, so they actually do know how to do their jobs effectively. Will they do it in 1.3 years? Guess we'll find out, but it does help that the engine is already made and the server infrastructure is already in place so 50% of the works is already done at this point.
Yes. We are obviously in good hands with hardened pros when this is one of 4 projects actually listed on LinkedIn for the client programmer. I'm highly confident that in the vast 4 years since this was published that he has developed tremendously.
I'm conflicted here. I really want this game to release with everything they're promising. It looks like the kind of game I could lose myself in for a couple of years at least. Almost every feature they talk about is something that I would have put into an MMO that I would make myself.
On the other hand, like many have said here before, my mind is blown that they still think they're going to be feature complete in just a few months. The only way that this could be true, is if the small design team had been working on the game for several years prior to announcing and asking for crowdfunding. Maybe they had like 3-4 years of back end work on it that will allow them to pump out the features they claim.
It is NOT the amount of features that is really taking all the time. It is networking and bug fixing that eats the most. As I understand the net is in place.
I bet we will hear something like: "We are facing a large delay now. The naysayers are to be blamed - we spent too much time telling them that it can be done!"
I hope it gets delayed. I want this game to have as strong a launch as it can get and I have seen plenty of crowdfunding games take FOREVER to come out and end up being amazing games. Also the game is not completely crowdfunded of course. The founder of Soulbound Studio put a lot of his own money (sold property and such) to get the whole thing started well before the Kickstarter came around. Because of this I have a lot more faith in the creators on a personal level and actually -want- them to succeed not only for a great game to enjoy, but because it's a personal dream of somebody's.
MMO-projects almost all need 1,5-2x the development time as initially announced. Delays and over-optimistic release dates are the norm. So relax, there won't be anything before 2018 at the earliest.
And I agree: I really hope they can pull this off, it would be a great MMO. But the listed features are really ambitious...
----------------------------------- Life is too short to play bad games.
They need to be forthright as soon as possible and admit that their timetable was too ambitious. The sooner they can be honest with their fans and backers, the sooner they can engender more positive discussions about their game.
I believe they can launch in 12 months' time, but it will be with 30% of the planned features/functionality. I do not believe they can meet their projected launch target for the full game in any way.
Perhaps they'll prove me wrong ! The next 12 months will be very interesting indeed...
Sadly this has been the trend in gaming for years now,nobody is releasing quality FINISHED products. The one thing this game has going for it,is that i do not think it plans on any cash shop,instead has that LIFE idea to pull in revenue.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
I believe they can launch in 12 months' time, but it will be with 30% of the planned features/functionality. I do not believe they can meet their projected launch target for the full game in any way.
Perhaps they'll prove me wrong ! The next 12 months will be very interesting indeed...
Sadly this has been the trend in gaming for years now,nobody is releasing quality FINISHED products. The one thing this game has going for it,is that i do not think it plans on any cash shop,instead has that LIFE idea to pull in revenue.
Possibly what happens when you charge people to alpha and beta test your game before launch.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
Difficult, But Not Impossible
Comments
Perhaps they'll prove me wrong ! The next 12 months will be very interesting indeed...
GAME TIL YOU DIE!!!!
Take a themepark like Rift, it took them 5 years on a $50M budget to release their game and they basically created something that's World of Warcraft. Chronicles of Elyria is far more innovative and Soulbound Studios don't even have 1/10 of the money Trion had for Rift.
If you think about these projects in a rational fashion you will realize that there is no chance in hell that they will be releasing their game this quickly.
Edited because of wall of text.
get the most money they can after just leave,
I can't imagine how an informed commenter like yourself could come to such a conclusion.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
Camelot Unchained is not really comparable to CoE. CU built their entire engine from scratch, and not just a nice simple one, but with CUBE and all. CoE is using Unreal.
So, in theory, CoE could progress much, much faster than CU.
Crowfall, on the other hand, is a pretty good measuring stick. I think we can directly look at Crowfall and determine how quickly CoE could(doesn't mean they will) progress.
CoE's claim is that they will save a bunch of time by using bought assets, whereas Crowfall is designing theirs by hand. However, we all know that third-party assets are almost always going to need tweaking and redoing; the time saved, is completely unpredictable.
I think the CoE team was way overconfident (that's putting it mildly) in their time frame. As the store debacle has proven, and hopefully taught them, things always pop up and slow down progress.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.
You forget that they have promised to launch their no wipe HeadStart 3 month before launch. So Dec 2016 becomes Sept 2016. Between now and then they have to develop, test and roll out:
1. A fully functional MUDD
2. A fully functional "Prelude" game
3. A fully functional "Kingdoms" game
4. Some kind of Boadgame based test game
5. Go from the ever shrouded "Pre-Alpha" to No Wipe headstart.
In 12 months
With no experience
From a company that is 3+ months behind the first deliverable (store) after multiple failures and delays. Remember it was just a few hours away as of something like June or July.
My take is that pigs will fly before all that is successfully completed by September 2017. You talk about it being amazing that a developer is against feature creep. Seriously? Their entire game and development plan is rooted in a fantasyland of impossible features and an unachievable timeline...
Since you asked..
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
Wa min God! Se æx on min heafod is!
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
Yet none of the people on this team are rookies... they all have industry experience in their fields, so they actually do know how to do their jobs effectively. Will they do it in 1.3 years? Guess we'll find out, but it does help that the engine is already made and the server infrastructure is already in place so 50% of the works is already done at this point.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
http://games.digipen.edu/games/f4rm#.V9y4XPkrKJD
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
On the other hand, like many have said here before, my mind is blown that they still think they're going to be feature complete in just a few months. The only way that this could be true, is if the small design team had been working on the game for several years prior to announcing and asking for crowdfunding. Maybe they had like 3-4 years of back end work on it that will allow them to pump out the features they claim.
I bet we will hear something like:
"We are facing a large delay now. The naysayers are to be blamed - we spent too much time telling them that it can be done!"
And I agree: I really hope they can pull this off, it would be a great MMO. But the listed features are really ambitious...
-----------------------------------
Life is too short to play bad games.
The one thing this game has going for it,is that i do not think it plans on any cash shop,instead has that LIFE idea to pull in revenue.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey