What can we really expect from SHV?

martes86 · 01-01-10, 06:38 PM

Well,

First of all, hi everyone, and Happy New Year, I hope you all got incredibly drunk and had exuberant women (or men, whatever your preference is) all around you on New Year's day.

And, now, down to business:

A lot of you people have it all wrong. A superficial knowledge of the Developer Studio's hierarchy can lead you to think that all big decisions are made by guys in suits carrying arround suitcases full of PowerPoint presentations, and driving in awesome sports cars. And in some cases, you may be right, but not with these guys.

Meeting the devs in person and having spoken with them, clears a lot of stuff for me. First of all being the fact that, while the Ubi managing directors probably love the sim being played by casual gamers (granting more sells = $), that's got a lot to do with Dan's wish that everyone gets to play it. And to me it's perfectly logical. While I'd love to have such a devoted fanbase, I'd also love to have a much broader audience, that everyone got to know about the work I've done, and if they liked it, showed their support. This is a piece of art after all, a creation for us to enjoy.
That's why we're seeing certain features, like those health bars, but those will be easily removable through the usual realism menu (at least, that's what the presence of a realism menu implies, and we were assured that we could customize our realism level, so...), and so we hardcore geeks can play in 100% or almost 100% if we like.

I think we'll be safe to say that about 85-95% of features already present in SH3, will be back in SH5, and probably some of the improvements from SH4 (namely the graphics) will be in too.

There's also the hope of the modding-friendly scripts developed for the interface (which we got the chance to see a bit in Copenhaguen), and the hope that might lead to the ultimate SDK we've all waited so long for (though this last point is a little speculation).

Maybe, in the begginings of this trip (the simulation trip, that is), there was room for panic, pesimism... but now we know the devs, we know they love this as much as we do (the trip to Laboe comes to mind), we've heard directly from them what they want to accomplish... there will be certain disagreements, that's always bound to happen in game-design, can't be helped, but I think that, in the grand scheme of things, SH5 will be a big step forward, and, if it meets the standards of the 24th, I'll make sure they get our full support for a job well done (and a nice cold beer, if we meet again... I hope that happens in the US meet this year

).

As for the standards of the rest of you, I can only tell you that the Devs are passionate in what they're doing, they want it to work as much as we do, and they love it. If, in the end, it doesn't become what we've expected of it, well, **** happens, blame the suits for not commiting a larger number of resources into the project, but the devs are truly commited for the project to succeed and for us to enjoy it, and so far, I've loved what I've seen.

As I always say, support your Devs (ordinary guys like you and me), and they'll do their best to improve more and more our sim each time... non-stop criticise them, and they'll end up wondering why the hell are they still commited to releasing games for a bunch of ungrateful hardcore geeks, apart than for the money they get from it.

Cheers, and keep drinking!

01-01-10, 06:38 PM	#11
martes86 Grey Wolf Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: The Colourful Seville - Spain Posts: 971 Downloads: 18 Uploads: 0	Well, First of all, hi everyone, and Happy New Year, I hope you all got incredibly drunk and had exuberant women (or men, whatever your preference is) all around you on New Year's day. And, now, down to business: A lot of you people have it all wrong. A superficial knowledge of the Developer Studio's hierarchy can lead you to think that all big decisions are made by guys in suits carrying arround suitcases full of PowerPoint presentations, and driving in awesome sports cars. And in some cases, you may be right, but not with these guys. Meeting the devs in person and having spoken with them, clears a lot of stuff for me. First of all being the fact that, while the Ubi managing directors probably love the sim being played by casual gamers (granting more sells = $), that's got a lot to do with Dan's wish that everyone gets to play it. And to me it's perfectly logical. While I'd love to have such a devoted fanbase, I'd also love to have a much broader audience, that everyone got to know about the work I've done, and if they liked it, showed their support. This is a piece of art after all, a creation for us to enjoy. That's why we're seeing certain features, like those health bars, but those will be easily removable through the usual realism menu (at least, that's what the presence of a realism menu implies, and we were assured that we could customize our realism level, so...), and so we hardcore geeks can play in 100% or almost 100% if we like. I think we'll be safe to say that about 85-95% of features already present in SH3, will be back in SH5, and probably some of the improvements from SH4 (namely the graphics) will be in too. There's also the hope of the modding-friendly scripts developed for the interface (which we got the chance to see a bit in Copenhaguen), and the hope that might lead to the ultimate SDK we've all waited so long for (though this last point is a little speculation). Maybe, in the begginings of this trip (the simulation trip, that is), there was room for panic, pesimism... but now we know the devs, we know they love this as much as we do (the trip to Laboe comes to mind), we've heard directly from them what they want to accomplish... there will be certain disagreements, that's always bound to happen in game-design, can't be helped, but I think that, in the grand scheme of things, SH5 will be a big step forward, and, if it meets the standards of the 24th, I'll make sure they get our full support for a job well done (and a nice cold beer, if we meet again... I hope that happens in the US meet this year ). As for the standards of the rest of you, I can only tell you that the Devs are passionate in what they're doing, they want it to work as much as we do, and they love it. If, in the end, it doesn't become what we've expected of it, well, **** happens, blame the suits for not commiting a larger number of resources into the project, but the devs are truly commited for the project to succeed and for us to enjoy it, and so far, I've loved what I've seen. As I always say, support your Devs (ordinary guys like you and me), and they'll do their best to improve more and more our sim each time... non-stop criticise them, and they'll end up wondering why the hell are they still commited to releasing games for a bunch of ungrateful hardcore geeks, apart than for the money they get from it. Cheers, and keep drinking!