Release date of v2.0 ???

[haridut]

guys,

this is probably the most important question of the decade: when will the new version be released?

Saxondragon, i am sure everybody is bothering you about this and most programmers like to answer somewhat crytpic but i would really like to know the timeframe. i just started a new game with a self modified 1.21 (just a few minor item and troop alterations and some other tweaks mentioned by Magelord) but from what i am reading here v2.0 will be sooooo much better .... Sorry, but patience just isn't my strong point. Anyways, thanks again for creating such a wonderful mod.

Kind regards

Haridut

 

[saxondragon]

guys,

this is probably the most important question of the decade: when will the new version be released?

Saxondragon, i am sure everybody is bothering you about this and most programmers like to answer somewhat crytpic but i would really like to know the timeframe. i just started a new game with a self modified 1.21 (just a few minor item and troop alterations and some other tweaks mentioned by Magelord) but from what i am reading here v2.0 will be sooooo much better .... Sorry, but patience just isn't my strong point. Anyways, thanks again for creating such a wonderful mod.

Kind regards

Haridut

Hey Haridut,

Thanks for the post mate, I am glad you like the mod.

I understand the desire to know and I sympathize.  Here is my dilemma.

If I say.. "around June 5th, in roughly three weeks"...and something comes up during this last phase and pushes it out, then you are disappointed and I feel bad for telling you something that is not true.  I don't like that.

If I say, "I am not sure, we are in the final phases of development and testing".. and give a range of two to five weeks, then I am telling you something I have very high confidence in, baring unforeseen disaster.

I can share with you what I know:

• I can tell you that every major feature has been implemented and is being tested.  It looks solid and the game is very good.
• I can tell you that this last week we cleared our most critical hurdle in terms of stability of the source code and game play.  For two builds we had variable crashes when taking castles and ending quests and our team managed to find the instability issues and we solved this issue.
• I can tell you that even though our team has done a great job testing and reporting issues, unless I am much better than I think (doubtful), statistically speaking we still have between 6 to 12 issues yet to uncover.  If it is brought up in testing, I will fix it before release.
• I can tell you that the things left to do are: 
           
  • Implement the remainder of the conversation system which I am working on now, and test it.
             
  • Implement some yet to arrive voice acting into the game.
             
  • Work out some texture issues with one of our modelers for two models.
             
  • Possibly find and fix a pain-in-the-#$$@ issue with village banner icons that no-one seems to know a thing about. (I am beginning to think that this will just have to be a known issue)
             
  • Prepare the release material for the M&B repository.
             
  • Create and Post the release announcement.
    
• I can give you a list of non-essential things I would like to do for minor tweaks in the game, but are not necessary.. I am certain that this list can go on for pages of bullet points and weeks of work.. starting with a whole new larger map and ending with my aesthetic desire to re-arrange the order of the banners so the cooler banners are not used by NPC's.  Being not essential.. they will be put aside.

I am looking for work in the mornings and working on this from lunch to early evening.

So, friend, right now you know exactly what I know.

Hang in there~

Best,

Saxondragon


           
           
       



           
           
           

 

[EmoNagger]

oh that's good, now i know what is going on and that i don't have to keep logging in every day for the next few weeks to check the new release...

 

[sirmic]

Thanks Saxondragon for giving us such detailed informations. Great PR i must say.

 

[Rent a Knight]

Yep thanks for the info Saxon.  And thanks for asking that question haridut.  I really wanted to but...didn't want to if you know what I mean. 
I wish I could help in some way......

 

[SXIII]

You can. Check the voice acting thread and if you can record some lines (they don't need to be ultra good ) the yet to arrive voice acting will be finished much faster.

 

[haridut]

thanks for the answer Saxondragon. Of course i was anxious to hear you say something like "any day now" but i guess i can wait. 2-5 weeks is not that long and it looks like this will be the ultimate mount and blade experience.

Kind regards

Haridut

 

[saxondragon]

thanks for the answer Saxondragon. Of course i was anxious to hear you say something like "any day now" but i guess i can wait. 2-5 weeks is not that long and it looks like this will be the ultimate mount and blade experience.

Kind regards

Haridut

You are most welcome Haridut.

Ultimate experience?  Humbly, no.  It will be great fun and definitely a good time.  If I had a small budget, a few key hires with artwork and coding, and 12-18 months I could show you something that would blow your mind.

Best,

Saxondragon

 

[Corndawg]

You are most welcome Haridut.

Ultimate experience?  Humbly, no.  It will be great fun and definitely a good time.  If I had a small budget, a few key hires with artwork and coding, and 12-18 months I could show you something that would blow your mind.

Best,

Saxondragon

I would love to see what you mean by that, I mean seriously, with the work and dedication you put in to this, whatever would pop out if you had those materials would blow my socks off, and I'm not wearing any socks!

 

[Ruanur]

If I had a small budget, a few key hires with artwork and coding, and 12-18 months I could show you something that would blow your mind.

Best,

Saxondragon

You should definitely submit PoP 2.0 as your "portfolio" so some game design company (geography permitting of course).

I'd hire you.

 

[saxondragon]

If I had a small budget, a few key hires with artwork and coding, and 12-18 months I could show you something that would blow your mind.

Best,

Saxondragon

You should definitely submit PoP 2.0 as your "portfolio" so some game design company (geography permitting of course).

I'd hire you.

Thanks for the vote mate.  Geography and proximity have been my bane in the past.  It is one of the underlying factors to why I started my blog on MMORPG game design. 

As for my portfolio: Yes, this is intended to augment other work I have done in the past to possibly open some doors in this direction.  I felt that I needed to show that an old fart like myself still has both the magic of creativity and the will of execution. 

Best,

Saxondragon

I would love to see what you mean by that, I mean seriously, with the work and dedication you put in to this, whatever would pop out if you had those materials would blow my socks off, and I'm not wearing any socks!

  The possibilities are almost infinite.  The limiting factor is, as always,  a strong business proposition and ROI along with some smart risk mitigation. 

While I can paint for you a compelling vision from between a fun product oriented offering like Mount&Blade to a game publishing service that rocks the foundations of the entire gaming community, it will always be up to the man or woman who controls the investment to what really happens.  Emphasis is always on low risk, short term, high return capital investment. 

What I referred to above in a flippant manner was a recent revelation I had on how to make M&B a true MMORPG, both strategically and tactically.  Warband is focusing on the tactical aspect, the actual player vrs player battles...and that aspect of coding is beyond me.  What I realized was a way to make this strategically multi-player and a host of past designs and years of previous work fell into place that would augment this offering and it would be strongly positioned in the marketplace.  It was an exciting revelation.

But..today I coordinating a team of great folks to deliver a fun and innovative mod to a great product.  One mountain at a time..

Best,

Saxondragon

 

[phenix]

Amazing revelation SD, it must be really exciting even having such realization. Personally, the brightest moments of my days are the times when my mind formulates a creative and exciting gameplay experience that is just vaguely possible. I have no developing experience at all, however, I think I can relate to you about having such 'revelations'. The sheer joy of imagining possibilities in such innovative gameplay experiences is a most wonderful feeling I am often enjoying recently. Although I do not have the experience of knowledge of a esteemed developer such as yourself to fully understand and evaluate the realism and actual effectiveness of my own creativity (this probably explains why my 'revelations' give me so much excitement). Nonetheless I am grateful for such moments.
I think I know what you mean by 'strategically multi-player', players compete not only on the battlefield but on the campaign map as well. Although I can't really see how it would work out in real-time and across the internet. In my opinion, this idea, which I'm sure lots of other players fantasized about as well, will greatly impact the industry. Especially since recently the mainstream market hasn't been exactly revolutionizing.

 

[Rent a Knight]

You can. Check the voice acting thread and if you can record some lines (they don't need to be ultra good ) the yet to arrive voice acting will be finished much faster.

Ya know I was playing around with a digital recorder I have, and just for the hell of it I recorded some lines. 
I sound awful.  I have this heavy duty  Boston accent and when I try to squelch it out I sound all lispy.  It makes me sound like I'm from a "faction" that I'm definitely not from.
But I am married to a Brazilian woman who has an interesting sounding accent.  I have no clue how that would come out in a game though. (probably give me a headache)  Brazilians who speak fluent English sound kind of like French with another harsher language mixed in, maybe Russian or German perhaps.  Anyway that's what I tried..

 

[saxondragon]

You can. Check the voice acting thread and if you can record some lines (they don't need to be ultra good ) the yet to arrive voice acting will be finished much faster.

Ya know I was playing around with a digital recorder I have, and just for the hell of it I recorded some lines. 
I sound awful.  I have this heavy duty  Boston accent and when I try to squelch it out I sound all lispy.  It makes me sound like I'm from a "faction" that I'm definitely not from.
But I am married to a Brazilian woman who has an interesting sounding accent.  I have no clue how that would come out in a game though. (probably give me a headache)  Brazilians who speak fluent English sound kind of like French with another harsher language mixed in, maybe Russian or German perhaps.  Anyway that's what I tried..

Excellent.. we have a few more.. which is great.. if you and your wife are willing.. send me a pm with an upload link and I will give a listen and see if we can use them.

Best,

Saxondragon

 

[Corndawg]

I have this heavy duty  Boston accent and when I try to squelch it out I sound all lispy.  It makes me sound like I'm from a "faction" that I'm definitely not from.

Don't you love the Boston accent? Sometimes mine just kills me

 

[Rent a Knight]

I have this heavy duty  Boston accent and when I try to squelch it out I sound all lispy.  It makes me sound like I'm from a "faction" that I'm definitely not from.

Don't you love the Boston accent? Sometimes mine just kills me

Yeah the bandits would be all  "hey pal.  Gimme awl yer gowld.  Or we'll beat ya wicked haaaaahhd."

 

[Alan Q Smithee]

As much as Boston accents grate on my nerves (I have a Midwest non-accent), that would be pretty funny to hear.

Just no one from Western PA/New Jersey, please. "I'm gonna kill youse guys, ya mooks!"