Release date moved to mid-2007?

bjornieus · May 2006

Is this good or bad news for hero's journey. Does this show that maybe they are being careful and making sure everything is perfect or does it mean that there is some problem and had to go back to the drawing board (could this become a financial issue maybe? i mean they have spent 4mil already).

What do you think.

Morneblade · May 2006

Rushing a release is a certain way to kill any chance a game has to be really profitable. Even if bugs are fixed and content is added, those old customer almost certainly will not come back, and the bad press and word of mouth advertizing will keep new players away. Sure I'd love it to come out sooner, but I'd rather have it finished and ready for release.

bjornieus · May 2006

Originally posted by Morneblade
Rushing a release is a certain way to kill any chance a game has to be really profitable. Even if bugs are fixed and content is added, those old customer almost certainly will not come back, and the bad press and word of mouth advertizing will keep new players away. Sure I'd love it to come out sooner, but I'd rather have it finished and ready for release.

I totally agree with you except that there will always be bugs when mmorpgs go live....

Kenorv · May 2006

I asked this question over on Gamefaqs.com and the answer I got from someone with Simtronics(sorry, I forgot who it was and Gamefaqs went and cleared the messages already) was that the delay is mainly due to all the training that they're having to provide to the ever expanding army of gamemasters they have. The more gamemasters that sign up the more training that they have to do. They want to make sure that all the gamemasters are up to speed before the game is released. I'm sure that they're other reasons for the delay, but that's the answer that I got.

Morneblade · May 2006

Interesting, Now that I think about it, that will take some time. I applied myself, but after buying the Unreal engine and checking it out, I know I was going to have the time to be able to learn it, then have to turn around and learn another dev tool if I somehow got the job.

And yeah, there will always be bugs. Hopefull launch will be like CoH's was.

Anofalye · May 2006

Rushing the game would have been a mistake.

If HJ is an exquisite game, than pushing the date a little further in order to improve it is a brilliant move.

If HJ has troubles to create itself a place in the share of the MMO market, releasing later also mean facing harsher competition...I can think of Bioware (prolly not before early 2009) as a serious 'danger' for any company, since unlike WoW, they don't bring necessarily many new customers to the MMO market...2007 is still prolly 2 years ahead in time, so prolly fine...releasing anytime close to Bioware would be dangerous IMO, even for Blizzard! And Bioware is known to be a reliable company when it come to respect delivery date, production rate and quality games. So when Bioware will announce a date, any MMO developper should consider a good year or two away from this date! Unless they are up for the competition, not just in words, but in gameplay!

But well, who know, maybe HJ is that strong and that good! If this is the case, a delayed released for an even better product is all the better.

I am a Bioware fan as you can read, I am open minded to be positively surprised by other games however...but I put all my faith, beliefs and my first born, in Bioware! The quality will go upward and this is something I am happy with! HJ can improve this quality or be unsuccessful. So I am 'interested', most definitely.

hj-sylveria · May 2006

We're worth waiting for

Morneblade · May 2006

Anofalye, if you take a gander at what HJ is planning, I think you will be very impressed.

Renian · May 2006

It's a wise move to delay the game if it will just completely wreck the market with the uberness it obtains from the delay. Besides, just because the live release is delayed until mid 2007 doesn't mean we can't play the game in 2006.

Beta ftw!

Tymora · May 2006

Wise move. For whatever reason, I don't know, the extra time will only benefit the game. It'll also give me time to play some of the other mmorpgs that are set to come out soon, and then get into HJ later on next year.

If the delay is due to tinkering, polishing, and adding the little extra details, then I applaud Simutronics. If it's to re-work a game feature or two, I applaud them (but please tell us what they are!). If the extra time is for major game mechanic changes, then I am alittle worried. I hope soon we'll get the scoop.

Archaos · May 2006

Wow, here is some worrying information found on wikipedia:

"Hero's Journey has been in development since the late 1990s (The
Mud-Dev-L list's MUD timeline lists the date when development was
publically announced as 1999). Its release date has been pushed back
several times since."

That means it's been in development for, what, 6 or 7(+) years? And the release date has been pushed back several times? I used to think that HJ would be my personal mmorpg savior but I've pretty much lost all hope and/or interest as of now. If it actually comes out before the graphics are outdated and the gameplay ideas have been stolen by other actually released games, I am certainly going to try it, but I am not excited for it like I once was.

xDivianaDRx · May 2006

Originally posted by Archaos
Wow, here is some worrying information found on wikipedia:

"Hero's Journey has been in development since the late 1990s (The Mud-Dev-L list's MUD timeline lists the date when development was publically announced as 1999). Its release date has been pushed back several times since."

That means it's been in development for, what, 6 or 7(+) years? And the release date has been pushed back several times? I used to think that HJ would be my personal mmorpg savior but I've pretty much lost all hope and/or interest as of now. If it actually comes out before the graphics are outdated and the gameplay ideas have been stolen by other actually released games, I am certainly going to try it, but I am not excited for it like I once was.

There were two Hero's Journey games. The first one was cancelled (and was completely different), and they resurrected it a couple of years ago into what you see now. It has not been in development for that long, perhaps only a year or two max. What was being developed before that (for approx. 3 years) was Hero Blade (Our sooper dooper tools)

Morneblade · May 2006

Originally posted by Tymora

Wise move. For whatever reason, I don't know, the extra time will only benefit the game. It'll also give me time to play some of the other mmorpgs that are set to come out soon, and then get into HJ later on next year.
If the delay is due to tinkering, polishing, and adding the little extra details, then I applaud Simutronics. If it's to re-work a game feature or two, I applaud them (but please tell us what they are!). If the extra time is for major game mechanic changes, then I am alittle worried. I hope soon we'll get the scoop.

From my understanding (I was told this by a GM) the delay is due to Simutronics hiring and training their "army" of on and off-site GM's. So, if it is only that, then it's a good thing.

hj-sylveria · May 2006

I'd worry if a project were rushed out the door more than I'd be worried about a project that took the time it needed to meet or exceed player expectations. But that's me.

Theper · May 2006

Well, I think ensuring the game is truly ready for release is incredibily important. On that note, delaying it for bugs and improvements is a good move. However, I also fear it will be entering the market with too much fierce competition. Sometime in 2007 there will be a massive influx of MMOs. Of all MMOs slated for release, this still is and likely will remain my most anticipated. My current suspicion however is that they are behind in development rather than working out bugs. From the information I read about E3, it didn't seem there were Stoneborn on the available races yet. This might just be an error on my part though.

Torak · May 2006

Well, I'm NOT for "rushing" a game BUT HJ has been around for awhile. I've been reading articles about it for a long time, at least 3 years now. In fact I remember reading an article about it 2 E3's ago (not counting this current one) with a late 2005 early 2006 projected launch.

There is such a thing as taking to long.

Arremus · May 2006

Originally posted by Torak

Well, I'm NOT for "rushing" a game BUT HJ has been around for awhile. I've been reading articles about it for a long time, at least 3 years now. In fact I remember reading an article about it 2 E3's ago (not counting this current one) with a late 2005 early 2006 projected launch.
There is such a thing as taking to long.

HJ taking too long? You heard of Darkfall?

The product is looking amazing, and I am all for Simu taking the time they need to do it right.

Rock on.

Edit:
Besides, what would you prefer?
A company to rush the engine, leaving it full of holes and completely unrefined, then tell you you just don't have the hardware to run it efficiently but will in the "future" (ala SoE with EQ2)?;
or a company to move with the technological advances, giving better tools to the GMs, growing the engine and the GM-base, adding time to development and completely refining their technology?

Morneblade · May 2006

Or Atriarch? Started development in 99' I think......

HJ-Zee · May 2006

Here's my two cents.

HJ is being built in differently than other games. The tools are unique, Seeing people's reactions to Hero's Blade at E3 has taught me that. It is also being built in a sort of alpha testing with all the GM's comming in. The plans for HJ have become so much larger than they were even when I first came aboard. I view this as a good thing... although just like everyone else... I want to PLAY this game ASAP. But I do want HJ to be a finished title and not a rushed title thrown to the wolves before it was truely ready.

The downside for the fans is a longer wait to play. The upside is that the wait will, hopefully, be well worth it. It also gives you guys more of a chance to share your ideas with us. We, the army of GM's, may not always respond to specific threads or suggestions, but rest assured... we see them. We discuss some of them and every now and again... they get implimented. But I'm rambling too much. I'm off to E3!

Kenorv · May 2006

Just make sure that the game is marketed really, really well. I think that Simu has done a good job of that so far with all of their interviews and what not on various sites but I think that they need to pump up the marketing even more the closer the game comes to being released. Two reasons for that. One, the obvious reason that some people have been turned off by the delays and two, being the best game on the market doesn't do any good if no one knows about it. With so many mmorpgs coming out seemingly every week, it's important for Simu to be able to seperate itself from everyone else. I think it will take more than just making the game the best one on the market to do that. If Simu puts just as much effort into promoting the game as they are making the game then they'll be fine. The marketing aspect is just as important as the actual development of the game. That's why I believe that it's important that Simu increases the promotion of Hero's Journey the closer they get to actually releasing the game.

Agent_X7 · May 2006

A couple of things:

1 - There are ALWAYS two camps during any MMORPG development cycle. One is the "Push it out now!" camp, and the other is the "Wait until it's finished!" camp. I have yet to see ANY game satisfy either camp. Whenever the game is released, both camps will still complain.

2 - MMORPGs always take a long time to develop. ALWAYS. Look at The Chronicle. They thought they would break the mold and push that game right out the door. Whoops, still in development.

3 - The funniest thing I have yet to see about a game development cycle: I recently played through Sin Episodes: Emergence. I found a sercret closet with a big black and yellow construction sign hanging on the wall inside. It read something along the lines of "DNF: We beat you to the market. TWICE."

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