Author Topic: AVWW Beta 0.934 "Dastardly Lasers" Released!  (Read 6197 times)

Offline Penumbra

  • Sr. Member Mark III
  • ****
  • Posts: 464
Re: AVWW Beta 0.934 "Dastardly Lasers" Released!
« Reply #30 on: April 19, 2012, 11:15:23 pm »
Nah, just totally not in a position to control that sort of thing.  If we strike it rich someday, then we'll have luxuries like sleeping and weekends and stuff. ;)

That's not your position talking, it's your standards  ;)

You had something stable "enough" and with more content than most games ever, ever have weeks ago! Yet you continue to improve the game right up until the very last moment, and not just in little ways. Large sweeping changes my company would be terrified to allow.  :D

Heck, you're still updating AI War while you're in the final stretch of AVWW! No where on the AI War store page in Steam says "constant upgrades for years and years" on it, but it should.

You guys have "The Sword of Metacritic" dangling over your heads and, sadly, those first review scores can make or break a game. It's a stupid system full of knee-jerk reactions, but it's what's there. I don't think it's just me being horribly biased saying that public reaction "looks good" after all the recent press and exposure. Here's hoping for a super smooth and successful release!

You guys truly deserve all the success and perks (like the aforementioned weekends and sleep :) ) you've worked for.
« Last Edit: April 19, 2012, 11:50:16 pm by Penumbra »

Offline x4000

  • Chris McElligott Park, Arcen Founder and Lead Dev
  • Arcen Staff
  • Zenith Council Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 31,651
Re: AVWW Beta 0.934 "Dastardly Lasers" Released!
« Reply #31 on: April 19, 2012, 11:20:46 pm »
Cheers, Penumbra -- it really means a lot to me for you to say that.  I'd write more in response, but... so... tired... ;)
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games?  Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline x4000

  • Chris McElligott Park, Arcen Founder and Lead Dev
  • Arcen Staff
  • Zenith Council Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 31,651
Re: AVWW Beta 0.934 "Dastardly Lasers" Released!
« Reply #32 on: April 20, 2012, 12:42:09 am »
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games?  Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline tigersfan

  • Arcen Games Contractor
  • Arcen Staff
  • Master Member Mark II
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,599
Re: AVWW Beta 0.934 "Dastardly Lasers" Released!
« Reply #33 on: April 20, 2012, 11:05:49 am »
Penumbra, we really do appreciate it.

You're absolutely right about the "Sword of Damocle... I mean Metacritic". It's something that none of us love the idea of, but, it does cause us to focus on polish, which isn't a bad thing.

As for still updating AI War, that has as much to do with you guys as it does us. We keep going and keep updating because there are still folks out there who are still playing and still WANT updates. The plan is to keep going with said updates until folks out there stop wanting them.

Plus, we genuinely like the games we're playing. Most QA folks would never play the game they test on their free time, that feels like work. But, I have been known to actually play AVWW from time to time when I'm not working just because I think it's fun. That has a lot to do with our standards. Who wants to make/work on an unfun game? :)

Offline keith.lamothe

  • Arcen Games Staff
  • Arcen Staff
  • Zenith Council Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 19,505
Re: AVWW Beta 0.934 "Dastardly Lasers" Released!
« Reply #34 on: April 20, 2012, 02:52:30 pm »
You're absolutely right about the "Sword of Damocle... I mean Metacritic". It's something that none of us love the idea of, but, it does cause us to focus on polish, which isn't a bad thing.
The motivation to polish is good, yes, but honestly I wonder how much metacritic really matters; I mean, if we got a 30 or something on it and that showed up on the steam page then yea, ouch; but it took Tidalis like 1-2 months to even get a score (there have to be 5 "qualifying" reviews), and despite it being 74 or 75 or whatever it didn't change the sales at all really.

In general, Tidalis got really, really awesome reviews.  As in, multiple perfect scores including guys like James Allen and Tom Chick.  But it still sold really poorly.

So perhaps it could drag a title down, but I don't think the other side of "make or break" is really true.

But we'll see :)
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games? Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline tigersfan

  • Arcen Games Contractor
  • Arcen Staff
  • Master Member Mark II
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,599
Re: AVWW Beta 0.934 "Dastardly Lasers" Released!
« Reply #35 on: April 20, 2012, 03:39:52 pm »
No, you are right, having a great metacritic score isn't a guarantee for success. But, having a bad one is a recipe for disaster.