Nowadays the core of XR has been polished to the point of almost no significant issues remaining, so what do we do about the ugly oversights that don't impact gameplay much? Let's take a look at some examples.
Docked on an Albatross: the Skunk is pressed so firmly against a capital shield generator that it looks like the metal has been welded together. Some other ships have docks that barely align with the hull, causing weird effects if you walk close to the edges of the platform.
OL system: Two planets look fine from most sectors but due to the "elevation" their polar regions get exposed and reveal ugly distorted cake slice textures. While using one super highway two dust clouds are revealed to be identical copies right next to each other, while using another super highway a third dust cloud is revealed to be a 2D backdrop.
Regular highways: Some are so incredibly mismatched with their visible "tubes" that you fly way outside the tube while using them, most notably in DeVries. Trying to get inside a highway at a bad spot can result in passing right through the tube without getting inside the highway itself.
Subtitles: Some have terrible spelling, a few don't even match what is spoken. Actually I reported this over a year ago with a huge list of specific examples but not a single one of them has been fixed.
There are many more "little things" but these serve as good examples. So back to the core of the matter, just how much good will come of reporting these things? I'm not just interested in improving the aging XR but what impact does this have on X4; will it end up having better polish or will all these fixes just end up causing delays in finishing the game?
How much nit-picking is helpful for refining a game?
Moderator: Moderators for English X Forum
-
Alan Phipps
- Moderator (English)
- Posts: 30433
- Joined: Fri, 16. Apr 04, 19:21
From my experience in the beta testing, many issues are noted and exposed during various levels of testing but some will only be found (almost by accident) through lengthy and careful gameplay sessions post-version-release.
These have to be reported in some level of detail and replicability to have any chance at all of receiving dev attention and possible remedy. Yes it can be frustrating when reported issues do not seem to be addressed but that can be through dev resource and priority issues that players are probably unaware of. Sometimes the apparently 'easy' solutions speculated by the posters are not at all as straightforward or simple as thought. Some cosmetic issues may never be judged worth the effort to resolve them.
Yes, some easily-solvable reported issues probably do still slip through because of coincident dev work pressures and external priorities and impacts. However, your previous text and subtitle issue thread(s) (for example) could usefully be linked again in Tech Support and perhaps one of the devs and/or localisation specialists could look at them again now that there may be a bit less pressure.
As to impact on X4 development, I do not believe that Egosoft will knowingly incorporate a broken engine or interface aspect into their new game. Therefore, the more that is reported comprehensively and gets onto their relevant issue database, the better for X4 even if it remains unresolved within the previous game.
Please note that I am just a player/tester and so cannot speak at all on behalf of Egosoft, but these are my honestly-held opinions.
These have to be reported in some level of detail and replicability to have any chance at all of receiving dev attention and possible remedy. Yes it can be frustrating when reported issues do not seem to be addressed but that can be through dev resource and priority issues that players are probably unaware of. Sometimes the apparently 'easy' solutions speculated by the posters are not at all as straightforward or simple as thought. Some cosmetic issues may never be judged worth the effort to resolve them.
Yes, some easily-solvable reported issues probably do still slip through because of coincident dev work pressures and external priorities and impacts. However, your previous text and subtitle issue thread(s) (for example) could usefully be linked again in Tech Support and perhaps one of the devs and/or localisation specialists could look at them again now that there may be a bit less pressure.
As to impact on X4 development, I do not believe that Egosoft will knowingly incorporate a broken engine or interface aspect into their new game. Therefore, the more that is reported comprehensively and gets onto their relevant issue database, the better for X4 even if it remains unresolved within the previous game.
Please note that I am just a player/tester and so cannot speak at all on behalf of Egosoft, but these are my honestly-held opinions.
A dog has a master; a cat has domestic staff.
-
BigBANGtheory
- Posts: 3168
- Joined: Sun, 23. Oct 05, 12:13
I think it depends what projects the team are working on so at times ES are open to dialog and action on selected topics and at others its as if the company doesn't exist anymore. After you have been around a while you just accept this is the norm and not to let it bother you.
When it comes to reporting issues in general yes absolutely you should do so in a sensible way. To my mind the worse outcome for a player is to just disengage with a game and not say anything because their feedback and opinion is lost. Realistically in 2017 XR is done I wouldn't expect much action to be taken but it does serve a purpose to watch out for the problems not being repeated or carried forward into XR VR & X4 imho. Given XR VR is going to be Early Access that might well be a good time to get these things addressed as ES is likely to be in a mind to action them. It is also possible that XR VR changes might filter back into XR... who knows, probably even ES doesn't know atm as they will want to learn from the EA experience as well.
When it comes to reporting issues in general yes absolutely you should do so in a sensible way. To my mind the worse outcome for a player is to just disengage with a game and not say anything because their feedback and opinion is lost. Realistically in 2017 XR is done I wouldn't expect much action to be taken but it does serve a purpose to watch out for the problems not being repeated or carried forward into XR VR & X4 imho. Given XR VR is going to be Early Access that might well be a good time to get these things addressed as ES is likely to be in a mind to action them. It is also possible that XR VR changes might filter back into XR... who knows, probably even ES doesn't know atm as they will want to learn from the EA experience as well.