Development Update - An Apology (Sort Of)
Posted: Mon May 25, 2009 6:57 pm
Hi All,
Lately, I'm sure everyone's become aware that the development of Paradox appears to have stalled somewhat, and I wanted to communicate with you all the reasons behind the apparent delay and reassure all players that... well, it won't be continuing much longer.
As you are probably aware, the people involved in development of the game (aka "The Devs") are not paid employees of a games development company. We're just half a dozen people who share similar interests and have a desire to create a playable, fun, free game. We still share that desire and we are still working towards that goal, however we all also have personal lives (with their attendant trials and challenges) and most of us have full-time jobs that limit the amount of time we have available to work on the game. Additionally, we're located in different parts of the world (ElljaeT and I are in Australia, Grokly, art_bohemia and DrWolf are in Central USA and soaK is in Europe) so the time we have where we're all available and awake together is... well, let me just say it's a challenge we're trying to overcome.
You may have noticed that there have been a number of updates recently related to things that aren't content-related, and wondering why I'm working on those instead of content. There are a couple of reasons for that. One, I'm a code-monkey, not a content writer. Which isn't to say that I don't dabble in content-writing, but it's not my forte. Two, I have a to-do list consisting of 115 code-related things that need to be completed before we release version 0.4. Any attempt I make to write content ends up with me worrying about the size of my to-do list, which, given reason one, doesn't make me productive. Therefore, my goal right now is to work through that list and get version 0.4 rolled out, and then to help the content guys and girls as much as I possibly can. On the plus side, I've just knocked off another four things from that list, and am down to just 20 outstanding tasks. Many of these are minor, and some might just get bumped back to version 0.5 so I can move on.
So, what about the content then? That's not a short answer, however it's basically like this. In order for the game storyline to continue to the point where the current final quest becomes about the seventh/eighth quest of the 30+ we have in mind, there are some MAJOR issues to be dealt with. Certain quests that MUST appear very early on in the piece can't be done without several major mechanics being implemented (think classes, skills and familiars). Having said that, though, I've been letting that get in the way of rolling out new zones, items and awards which... well, it's not smart and I take full responsibility for that.
The fact is, there are 7 or 8 zones, along with items, recipes, awards and other cool stuff that we currently have at least some work completed on, and the goal of the content team right now is to get these implemented for you as quickly as possible, without stressing too much about connecting them all together via quests and storyline. Adding the storyline aspects should then be able to continue MUCH more easily and quickly as the zones the story uses will already be in place and the items/encounters we need can easily be added or edited when needed.
In addition, over the past couple of weeks, a couple of players (whose names I won't mention yet) have put forward some work that is extremely promising, and should very much help us get this work done.
Anyway, the short of it is that we ARE actively working on stuff that will make the game a LOT better/bigger and we WILL try and get it done as soon as possible. When you finally do see some action, content-wise, you're likely to see a LOT of it in a hurry, and I promise you won't be disappointed. Or at least, I promise to listen to you if you are.
In the meantime, all I can ask is that you continue to support Paradox in any way you can, whether it be through simply playing the game, chatting, getting involved in the community, helping with the wiki, posting your referral links around the interwebs, whatever. If you want to take a more active part in the game's development (content, code, html, graphics, whatever) then please feel free to contact me or any other member of the dev team to talk about it.
That's it for now. Let me finish by saying that you are all amazing people in your own way, and regardless of any of the above, it is a privilege and an honour to have met you all.
Regards,
Gobb
Lately, I'm sure everyone's become aware that the development of Paradox appears to have stalled somewhat, and I wanted to communicate with you all the reasons behind the apparent delay and reassure all players that... well, it won't be continuing much longer.
As you are probably aware, the people involved in development of the game (aka "The Devs") are not paid employees of a games development company. We're just half a dozen people who share similar interests and have a desire to create a playable, fun, free game. We still share that desire and we are still working towards that goal, however we all also have personal lives (with their attendant trials and challenges) and most of us have full-time jobs that limit the amount of time we have available to work on the game. Additionally, we're located in different parts of the world (ElljaeT and I are in Australia, Grokly, art_bohemia and DrWolf are in Central USA and soaK is in Europe) so the time we have where we're all available and awake together is... well, let me just say it's a challenge we're trying to overcome.
You may have noticed that there have been a number of updates recently related to things that aren't content-related, and wondering why I'm working on those instead of content. There are a couple of reasons for that. One, I'm a code-monkey, not a content writer. Which isn't to say that I don't dabble in content-writing, but it's not my forte. Two, I have a to-do list consisting of 115 code-related things that need to be completed before we release version 0.4. Any attempt I make to write content ends up with me worrying about the size of my to-do list, which, given reason one, doesn't make me productive. Therefore, my goal right now is to work through that list and get version 0.4 rolled out, and then to help the content guys and girls as much as I possibly can. On the plus side, I've just knocked off another four things from that list, and am down to just 20 outstanding tasks. Many of these are minor, and some might just get bumped back to version 0.5 so I can move on.
So, what about the content then? That's not a short answer, however it's basically like this. In order for the game storyline to continue to the point where the current final quest becomes about the seventh/eighth quest of the 30+ we have in mind, there are some MAJOR issues to be dealt with. Certain quests that MUST appear very early on in the piece can't be done without several major mechanics being implemented (think classes, skills and familiars). Having said that, though, I've been letting that get in the way of rolling out new zones, items and awards which... well, it's not smart and I take full responsibility for that.
The fact is, there are 7 or 8 zones, along with items, recipes, awards and other cool stuff that we currently have at least some work completed on, and the goal of the content team right now is to get these implemented for you as quickly as possible, without stressing too much about connecting them all together via quests and storyline. Adding the storyline aspects should then be able to continue MUCH more easily and quickly as the zones the story uses will already be in place and the items/encounters we need can easily be added or edited when needed.
In addition, over the past couple of weeks, a couple of players (whose names I won't mention yet) have put forward some work that is extremely promising, and should very much help us get this work done.
Anyway, the short of it is that we ARE actively working on stuff that will make the game a LOT better/bigger and we WILL try and get it done as soon as possible. When you finally do see some action, content-wise, you're likely to see a LOT of it in a hurry, and I promise you won't be disappointed. Or at least, I promise to listen to you if you are.
In the meantime, all I can ask is that you continue to support Paradox in any way you can, whether it be through simply playing the game, chatting, getting involved in the community, helping with the wiki, posting your referral links around the interwebs, whatever. If you want to take a more active part in the game's development (content, code, html, graphics, whatever) then please feel free to contact me or any other member of the dev team to talk about it.
That's it for now. Let me finish by saying that you are all amazing people in your own way, and regardless of any of the above, it is a privilege and an honour to have met you all.
Regards,
Gobb