View Full Version : Silent Hunter a success says Ubisoft
Sonarman
05-03-08, 11:48 AM
Nice to see that Ubi do actually consider the SH series a "success" (http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=18439) maybe the future will be bright after all.
Sailor Steve
05-03-08, 12:13 PM
Good to hear!:sunny:
Schroeder
05-03-08, 01:58 PM
I wonder how successful it would be without the community constantly improving it:hmm:.
wetwarev7
05-03-08, 07:10 PM
If they keep seeing it as a success, they'll keep putting money into it to pump out new versions! :up:
Do I smell a SH5 out there?
geosub1978
05-03-08, 07:24 PM
I wonder how successful it would be without the community constantly improving it:hmm:.
:nope:
The stock game is one thing, the community efforts to improve that just because they love submarines is another thing!
They don't do that in order to save UBISOFT!
Schroeder be more carefull please or you will never see SH5/6/7!
JetSnake
05-03-08, 08:58 PM
Do I smell a SH5 out there?
No that was me, I just farted.
Schroeder
05-04-08, 05:15 AM
The stock game is one thing, the community efforts to improve that just because they love submarines is another thing!
They don't do that in order to save UBISOFT!
Schroeder be more carefull please or you will never see SH5/6/7!
Either you misunderstood me, or I'm misunderstanding you.
I just pointed out that the community improved an unfinished game constantly. The stock game alone would not be that much of a success (at least that's what I think).
I never said that the community is working for UBI, but UBI is benefiting greatly from the work done here.
Sonarman
05-04-08, 05:44 AM
I just pointed out that the community improved an unfinished game constantly. The stock game alone would not be that much of a success (at least that's what I think).
Yes, I think you are right especially when you consider even beyond the mods that the latter patches were only developed due to continuous community pressure on Ubi's customer support dept.
Hylander_1314
05-04-08, 07:33 AM
But at least the vanilla versions of the SH series aren't nearly as bad as the vanilla CFS series.
Schroeder
05-04-08, 09:22 AM
But at least the vanilla versions of the SH series aren't nearly as bad as the vanilla CFS series.
Did you ever play SH2?;)
O.K., O.K..... I'll stop complaining/whining now....:yep:
If they keep seeing it as a success, they'll keep putting money into it to pump out new versions! :up:
An unpaid jobs program for the modders!
Good to hear!:sunny:
:yep: :smug: :p :rock: :up: :|\\ :sunny:
Hartmann
05-04-08, 05:20 PM
Time for a destroyer command with surface units and battleships and a modern warfare simulator
Dimitrius07
05-04-08, 06:42 PM
Nice to see that Ubi do actually consider the SH series a "success" (http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=18439) maybe the future will be bright after all.
Yes!! :D Especially without patches.
It took them how long to consider it a success?!?!I knew the SIlent Hunter as a success After I saw only an hour of gameplay of Silent Hunter 2(My freind STILL plays it hes has all of them on his comp)I didn't like it untill I got SH3 and am faithfull to the series as a fan and player.
I just wish I could've found Sub Sim a little earlier!
Sonarman
05-04-08, 07:13 PM
It took them how long to consider it a success?!?!I knew the SIlent Hunter as a success After I saw only an hour of gameplay of Silent Hunter 2...I didn't like it untill I got SH3 and am faithfull to the series as a fan and player.
Silent Hunter has only really been a pure Ubisoft project since SH3, they were involved with SH2 but only near the end of it's development, previously the SH series was published by SSI / The Learning Company/Mattel
I would like to see some sales figures.
bookworm_020
05-05-08, 12:04 AM
I would like to see some sales figures.
So would I! But the fact that they are happy with the results is a good omen for the future of the series. Maybe they could revist Destroyer command or head to a battle outside of WW2/ American and germany???:hmm:
Sonarman
05-05-08, 05:05 AM
I would like to see some sales figures.
I think a "success" in sales terms for a subsim usually means over 300,000 copies sold. It would be interesting also to know if SH3 or SH4 has sold more copies.
Here is an interesting quote on the original Silent Hunter by Joel Billings from the book "Interactivity in action"...
The product with the most potential for SSI is "Silent Hunter" , it's a world war ii submarine simulation, and submarine simulations sell really well. - Aces of the Deep sold a ton. Silent Hunter is an outstanding product in every way and we are thinking it may well become our all-time biggest seller.
That's quite a compliment and an eye-opener considering SSI's output at the time.
I would like to see some sales figures.
So would I! But the fact that they are happy with the results is a good omen for the future of the series. Maybe they could revist Destroyer command or head to a battle outside of WW2/ American and germany???:hmm:
Thats what I am talking about, cold hard numbers!
SH5!
back to Atlantic please :D
Realistically, in terms of mod'ing and the work of 3rd parties to improve the game?... I would think that contribution is relatively insignificant when it comes to gauging the success or failure of a release.
How big is our little mod'ing community here and at other major SH4 web sites? 1,000? 10,000? Out of how many total? Somewhere between 100,000 and 500,000 maybe? And how many of those even bother to apply the official patches to the game?... never mind mod'ing!
I would guess that the vast mjority of sales go to folks who play an out-of-the-box version of the game for maybe 10 or 20 hours tops, then move onto something else.
Let's be real... we few are among the last hold-outs in an X-box world.
JD
Realistically, in terms of mod'ing and the work of 3rd parties to improve the game?... I would think that contribution is relatively insignificant when it comes to gauging the success or failure of a release.
How big is our little mod'ing community here and at other major SH4 web sites? 1,000? 10,000? Out of how many total? Somewhere between 100,000 and 500,000 maybe? And how many of those even bother to apply the official patches to the game?... never mind mod'ing!
I would guess that the vast mjority of sales go to folks who play an out-of-the-box version of the game for maybe 10 or 20 hours tops, then move onto something else.
Let's be real... we few are among the last hold-outs in an X-box world.
JD
Yep, I tend to agree, this is not the world of Microsoft Flight Simulator. I remember when it was all Freeware and now they sell an AC addon for $39. No one so much as blinks or complains. Each time they release a new version, all the Addons get re-written and re-sold as new. There is power in numbers that is for sure.
John W. Hamm
05-05-08, 02:12 PM
I wonder how successful it would be without the community constantly improving it:hmm:.
There can be no doubt, that without the Modding community this game would not have been succesful. To the Modders:up: You guys rock:rock:
And as for a Destoyer Commander 2 Man I pray they will it would save me alot of work !!
DavyJonesFootlocker
05-05-08, 02:34 PM
Ubi said it was a success? HA! Let me see how this goes now. Ubi releases a very buggy game- check! Then they released a patch which fixed SOME things- Check! Then some smarty pants decided to release 1.5 with U-boats!- check! Did they mention the hard work Mr. Leo and others did to keep the game 'floating'? Personally I believe the reason SH4 is a success is the mods. Period! Ubi should not take any credit, they already have our money!- RANT OVER!:yep:
John Channing
05-05-08, 04:30 PM
I can only imagine what Dan, Mihai and the rest of the team must think when they read some of the comments in this thread. Hopefully they won't decide that it's really not worth the effort after all.
For all of the senseless ranting at Ubisoft people should remember that they are Ubisoft.
JCC
Oh man, oh man! Let this be the little push we need for Destroyer Command 2.
Just imagine how awesome convoy escort missions in the Atlantic gale could be with the new engine.
I can only imagine what Dan, Mihai and the rest of the team must think when they read some of the comments in this thread. Hopefully they won't decide that it's really not worth the effort after all.
For all of the senseless ranting at Ubisoft people should remember that they are Ubisoft.
JCC
Yup, its getting old.
Ducimus
05-05-08, 06:24 PM
In my opinion, the devs are unsung heros. They didn't make the deadlines, they had to meet the imposed deadlines. Having gone through this games files again, and again, and again, looking for ideas or things to fix; i can tell they had ALOT more in mind that they wanted to do, but wasn't given the time to do it. Its the stuffed suits that set the mandates, the devs had to jump through the hoops to meet them, and then THEY take the flak for it when the mandates prove to be too aggressive and unobtainable.
Trust me, Nobody wants a polished, finished game more then the devs. One thing i find ironic, is how folks are so quick to praise the modders, and equally quick to denounce the devs. They irony? In modding Sh4 and having worked on/created a package like TMO, it has only given me an appreciation for all the headaches and heartaches the developers experienced or have had to put up with.
CaptHawkeye
05-05-08, 07:02 PM
I personally don't trust this, since it seems like it was taken out of context. But hey, I won't believe Ubisoft cares for or even remotely likes Silent Hunter until they allow the devs to withdraw a $100,000,000 dollar check in their name to develop an SH themed web mini game and then follow it up by having Yves Guillemot run accross a field, stick his head between his legs and kiss his own ass. I AM WILLIAM WALLACE! :D They may take our textures, and they make take our gameplay depth, but they will never take OUR WHINING!
http://www.longam.net/sh4/destroyer_command.jpg
DavyJonesFootlocker
05-06-08, 08:10 AM
The devs shouldn't take all the heat, I agree. Ducimus is correct it's all those business-types that pushes devs for deadlines and as a result a less-than-stellar game. But as a consumer why should I pay for a game only to find out it's so buggy. If I knew it was buggy I won't buy it or at least return it for a refund. If that's an accepted norm I have this car with no wheels to sell you. It can go from 0 to 200 mph- I swear! Just ask Ducimus!:yep:
DC2! DC2!DC2! DC2!DC2! DC2!DC2! DC2!DC2! DC2!DC2! DC2!DC2! DC2!DC2! DC2!:rock::rock::rock::rock:
kiwi_2005
05-06-08, 08:23 AM
http://www.longam.net/sh4/destroyer_command.jpg
:yep::yep::yep:
Modders ... sh-Modders ...
Without UBI's game all this is equal to zero ...
... easy inconvenience in a nose ...
:rotfl:
Darn, that photoshopped game box sends chills down my spine. Quit teasing me! :D
I agree with Ducimus on the devs. Let's be reasonable.
When you work in this kind of project for a long time, it becomes your child. It's obvious that they want it to be as good as it can with the limited time and resources at hand. If anything it's the publishers who could be blamed for budget and deadline constraints, but then again it's also a complicated matter.
Back in the really early days, a dev team (often made of a single dedicated person) would have to fill 1.4 Mb of space with content. Today, your average game is 4 Gb of compressed material in a DVD, most of it state-of-the-art graphics and enough lines of code to bog down even the most modern CPUs. With the unprecedented advances in electronics and with computers that become more and more powerful every month, development costs increase exponentially, with many small firms going out of business and many large firms considering Direct2Drive and hiring small teams to cut down costs. Games are rushed so they can start making money as soon as possible because otherwise they're not even profitable.
Now, take a game like SH4, which is not exactly mainstream, and you face even more serious problems. I for one don't enjoy rushed games, brutally big patches and plagues of bugs, but all things considered we're lucky to even have a Silent Hunter title to play knowing how the market is nowadays.
Both the devs AND the modders do a great job, and today we have what we have because of them. Even Ubi should be praised to some degree for bothering to make a relatively second-rate game for submarine lunatics instead of dedicating 100% of their time and efforts to the more profitable FPS or mumorpuger fad.
Now, two reasons make me think that DC2 would be a sound move. First and foremost, I want it, and giving me what I want is always a sound move :D Then, it would appeal both subsimmers and surface-simmers, and would help increase sales of SH4 even further if made compatible with SH4 over the tubes.
Plus, Duci here would be able to use his level 1337 modding skillz to give us a "The Cruel Sea" campaign with Compass Rose and lots and lots of rain! :|\\
But as a consumer why should I pay for a game only to find out it's so buggy. If I knew it was buggy I won't buy it or at least return it for a refund. If that's an accepted norm I have this car with no wheels to sell you. It can go from 0 to 200 mph- I swear! Just ask Ducimus!:yep:
I agree with you, but sadly in this case if you don't buy the car without wheels they just won't make the next car, with wheels or without them.
Software development today is cutthroat business, and like it or not sub sims are not exactly the money-making machines of the industry. It's sad that they should get so little attention, but it's also surprising that they'd get any attention at all from a major publisher, and for that I'm grateful.
Come to think of it, if everyone and his uncle bought SH4 and it became a large source of cold hard cash for Ubi, the team would be expanded, the resources allocated to the project multiplied, and the quality of the game raised several notches.
DavyJonesFootlocker
05-06-08, 10:10 AM
Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't SH and DC mulitiplayer sank faster than a sub made out of lead and no ballast tanks?
Great synopsis of the games industry Doolan.:up:
Sonarman
05-06-08, 11:21 AM
I agree with you, but sadly in this case if you don't buy the car without wheels they just won't make the next car, with wheels or without them.
Software development today is cutthroat business, and like it or not sub sims are not exactly the money-making machines of the industry. It's sad that they should get so little attention, but it's also surprising that they'd get any attention at all from a major publisher, and for that I'm grateful.
.
Very true and a new case in point is the Enigma Rising Tide "Hotel Da Volta" add-on which has now unfortunately been scaled back due to lack of interest. Unfortunately not enough people preordered the patch and so Resurgent has decided not to fund the multiplayer component of the patch. It's a shame so little interest has been shown as multiplayer especially with the surface vessels in ERT would have been great Let's hope Resurgent are still confident enough to do the planned sequel.
Hmmmm...
SH2 + DC multiplayer wasn't too successful?
I only played a little bit, since I discovered it late and DC does odd stuff in Windows XP64 (making it nothing short of unplayable), but it was certainly a thrill.
I suppose it could work well if advertised properly, but I would be happy enough with an U-Boat AI that didn't suck (yes, I know I ask for too much, but a man can dream!)
Then again, at least some degree of compatibility, even making DC2 a sort of addon for SH4 with no multiplayer options, would be good enough. For a proper DC2 to exist, surface navigation physics (no rails) and detailed damage models for surface ships would have to be implemented. Many mods for SH4 do part of the job, but the truth is that even the sub component of the simulation (SH4) would benefit from this, so using the same base install would bring detail to both worlds.
The engine is mostly there, as the surface ship mods prove, and the strategic command layer is implemented in part in the 1.5 patch, so a DC2 seems logical. Provided the market is there, the production cost would be relatively small compared to making a new engine or changing the era completely.
I suggest we pester Ubi with great force until they spill the beans. The "siege by spam" should never be underestimated! :D
DavyJonesFootlocker
05-07-08, 07:50 AM
Everybody say Amen!
Sailor Steve
05-07-08, 08:14 AM
Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't SH and DC mulitiplayer sank faster than a sub made out of lead and no ballast tanks?
Very long story. SH2/DC multiplayer had a lot of problems, apparently mostly stemming from the multiplayer engine (I have no clue about these things; I'm only repeating what I gleaned from others' posts at the time). Neal got people to pony up and hired a professional, who got permission from UBI to rewrite the thing. That led to Neal's other subsim board, the SubClub http://subclub.info/wpl/ to become a hotspot for people like us. For a couple of years I had huge amounts of fun shepherding convoys and hunting u-boats. What killed it was firstly disagreements about how the game should be played, and then the coming of SH3. They still have SH3 co-op games over there. I would still be playing SH2/DC multi if there were any decent games going on.
Great synopsis of the games industry Doolan.:up:
I agree.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't SH and DC mulitiplayer sank faster than a sub made out of lead and no ballast tanks? Very long story. SH2/DC multiplayer had a lot of problems, apparently mostly stemming from the multiplayer engine (I have no clue about these things; I'm only repeating what I gleaned from others' posts at the time). Neal got people to pony up and hired a professional, who got permission from UBI to rewrite the thing. That led to Neal's other subsim board, the SubClub http://subclub.info/wpl/ to become a hotspot for people like us. For a couple of years I had huge amounts of fun shepherding convoys and hunting u-boats. What killed it was firstly disagreements about how the game should be played, and then the coming of SH3. They still have SH3 co-op games over there. I would still be playing SH2/DC multi if there were any decent games going on.
Great synopsis of the games industry Doolan.:up: I agree.
Oh yeah! The MP was great fun!
For a long time I compiled the STAT packages for multiplay...
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