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Why the secrets?


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Hi, I'm a long time reader, but a short-time poster of these boards. I've bought nearly every game that has surfaced from this company and .400. But my question is this.. I'm jacked about the college football game.. but what's with the secretness behind when it may come out? Or atleast what stage, or how far along beta is? Isn't it a nice, customer service tactic to sorta keep your drooling customers updated as to what is going on? I'd personally would like some reinforcement that this game will out even remotely near the the college football season.. We're nearing week 4, and still no word of -anything-
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Well the reason for them not talking about these things is that it leads to constant questions and hype about the date and then there is serious let down and complaining if something comes up and causes a delay. Having been there for every .400 and GDS release and the uproar when things aren't released on the day that everyone wants it I personally think that this is the better way to go.
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I agree with doomba...i'm thinking that atleast updates on how its coming would be nice. Not checking the forums everyday to find out that I still have no clue when it's going to released. And it is a good point that the season is in week 4....it would probably be a lot better if this was out during the season..so hopefully it is
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I also, agree. I mean come on guys, I think the maturity of folks on this board is sufficient enough to take some type of eta with a grain of salt. But, not saying anything kind of alienates teh customers who are expected to buy your product. This is not a freeware game. And if the silence continues that just leads people to start to question the products project life cycle management ie QA or beta problems. If a demo isn't out yet than?
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We got the word 3rd Quarter --- but now that is almost past, all that is needed is an update . Will the game be out 3rd quarter ? Has the game had problems in Beta testing ? Are there features that were promised that are causing concerns ? delays ? For me I just need to have an idea - Is it going to be 3rd quarter ?
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Come on Danny. We all understand that having a baby is a major change in someone's life. But Arlie knew his wife was pregnant ? Didn't he ? Assuming he knew, and assuming that he knew that he would not be able to spend as much time developping Bowl Bound why did he said the game would be released in Q3 ?!?! I assume that he's behind is schedule and that he thought he could release the game before his wife gave birth to their child. But if you think about it, it's a good thing that he could not deliver the game in time. Imagine if the game had been released 2-3 weeks ago ... it would be hell : when he released TPF (which is one of my all-time sport sim game by the way) it had SO MANY bugs that the game was literally unplayable for most people. He had to work day and night to make it work. Since we must expect that it will be the same with Bowl Bound (it won't be playable until 2-3 week after it's release) I'm happy to see that the release will be delayed until Arlie has more time to fix the bugs. I'm not being critical and I respect Arlie because he always work very hard to help customers with game problems and bugs. But I expect Bowl Bound to be full of bugs when it will be released ... But I'll buy the game anyway because I'm sure it's gonna be a great football sim. Arlie is not the best coder there is be he's a hell of a game designer. I still play TPF at least 5 hours a week !!
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It's ridiculous for people to be jumping all over this. Major game companies(Microsoft, anyone? EA? etc) announce specific release dates and rush products out the door NO MATTER HOW BUGGY or devoid of promised features they are. After the game comes out, it is always far better(according to the customers of said game) that the game is as promised/works properly, than it is absolutely on time. Personally I'd wait another month no problem if the game is going to be of good quality on release as I expect and most people, regardless of how much they may whine now, will agree on this point later as well.
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[QUOTE=Zorromorph]It's ridiculous for people to be jumping all over this. Major game companies(Microsoft, anyone? EA? etc) announce specific release dates and rush products out the door NO MATTER HOW BUGGY or devoid of promised features they are. After the game comes out, it is always far better(according to the customers of said game) that the game is as promised/works properly, than it is absolutely on time. Personally I'd wait another month no problem if the game is going to be of good quality on release as I expect and most people, regardless of how much they may whine now, will agree on this point later as well.[/QUOTE] I don't have a problem waiting another month for a "finished" game to come out, but I do think that the customers, or potential ones, have every right to wonder if the game is going to make it in time for it's release window.
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As a member of the beta team for both TPF and BB, I can say that BB is far ahead of TPF in terms of quality testing. Arlie and Scott have learned a ton about testing over the years and it is really showing in Bowl Bound. I would be very surprised if Bowl Bound released with any major problems or bugs. BTW Greydog had a football chat about 2 to 3 weeks ago where many updates were given.
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[QUOTE=Druez] BTW Greydog had a football chat about 2 to 3 weeks ago where many updates were given.[/QUOTE] Good to know. Can you show me where in the chat the release date was given, because that's what this thread is about, and I'm sure the people would love to have that info.
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Sorry that I started this, but I still stand by my question.. Why? I understand Arlie just had a child. So did I. What an awesome experience. But we never hear that Madden was delayed because the guy who inserts the stupid John Madden one-liners in the game had a child. With this company growing, making money, and creating new games, I'd say it's one of the tops in the online community.. I'm sure MANY would agree with me. Yet, you can go to many game sites, search for a game, and see "Oh, it's due out Feb. 20th of '06".. Well, atleast in that example, we have a date. With this game, we know absolutely nothing.
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[QUOTE=Doomba]Sorry that I started this, but I still stand by my question.. Why? I understand Arlie just had a child. So did I. What an awesome experience. But we never hear that Madden was delayed because the guy who inserts the stupid John Madden one-liners in the game had a child. With this company growing, making money, and creating new games, I'd say it's one of the tops in the online community.. I'm sure MANY would agree with me. Yet, you can go to many game sites, search for a game, and see "Oh, it's due out Feb. 20th of '06".. Well, atleast in that example, we have a date. With this game, we know absolutely nothing.[/QUOTE] You can't compare EA sports with Greydog, in Greydog each developer programs his own game, BBCF is being programmed by Arlie, if Arlie doesn't have time to work, the game is delayed as nobody else does it. Also if i'm not wrong, GDS developers don't do this full time, they have a daily work and on their free time they develop this games so you can't compare then with a company with docens of programmers working 8 hours per day on each game. Be patient guys please, i'm pretty sure we will have news as soon as Arlie can figure out his new schedule.
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Replace Grey Dog with any software house, and replace Bowlbound with any other game, and I can guarantee you this same thread has been posted in that forum. :) A wise wizard once said, a game is never late, nor is it ever early, it arrives precisely when I mean it to.
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Guys, I certainly understand that it gets a little anxious when we are approaching the game's release and no official date has been announced. But, I have said before that I will not announce a release date until I know the game is ready and will meet that. And, as of now, we are still in the Beta process testing different aspects of the game. Once that is complete, we will make an announcment. I will state that the game will follow the normal GreyDog release procedure with a fully playable 1-season demo coming out a few days before the final version. However, I do not want to be in a situation where I promise a date, find a bug with the Beta team, then feel compelled to release the game before I would like to because of the prior announcement. So, we will try and get some additional screens out here shortly, as well as continue to answer questions on the game (the dev chats are also great resources). But, I am not going to commit to a fixed date until I feel that game is ready and we will meet that deadline. I hope everyone understands my motivation here - and it's not to frustrate fans and community members.
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Sounds good to me Arlie. I'm sure the beta testers are doing a great job, and I'm also sure that nobody wants to play a game that is full of bugs. I can wait, so can everybody else. Some people just need to learn the meaning of the word patience, and try having some themselves. Looking forward to the new screenshots when you can get them.
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Was a specific date not announced when the game was said to come out Q3 ? Too me, that means it will be out by Sept. 30. I asked this before in another thread, Is that Q3 still accurate ? If not, can we get some idea of a new time frame. I personally wouldn't mind seeing a message saying that some issues have came up in beta testing that are being worked and the game is being delayed(a couple of weeks, a month, whatever) because of that or even better to hear that at this time testing is going well and the game is still on schedule and that BB is still scheduled for Q3 release. I was at the chat and it was said there that there would be a demo 1 week prior to release. So if that is the case then we should see a demo this Friday if everything is still on schedule. My thought is that with these small one programmer games where programmer/buyer interaction can exist the programmer would have a better result by giving out plenty of info rather than withholding information from the buyers. It seems that all of the Text Sports Sim game programmers are from the frame of mind that you shouldn't release a date. I guess that is just something we all have to accept. By the way, I have seen people on here saying that Microsoft rushes out products just to meet a release date. I wouldn't exactly say that is true. I am a SQL server DBA and Microsoft has been going to release the new version of SQL server for a long time now. The product orginally was scheduled to be out well over a year ago maybe long I don't have the dates in front of me. So it is understandable that dates slip. The new date is November 7th and they may actually make that one.
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I think it's fair to say that there will be no demo this friday. Again, a quarter announcement is meant for a ballpark. Once we have a specific date, we will announce it with enough notice for people to prepare. But, there's no sense in making a set date until we are sure we can meet it.
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Geez...at least SOMEONE on here is a beta tester, but as I feared...it's an insider (and by that I mean someone that tested another product previously). I don't have much faith in the testing process as is. Still, I have hope that it will be MUCH better than TPF, which was horrible. [QUOTE=Druez]As a member of the beta team for both TPF and BB, I can say that BB is far ahead of TPF in terms of quality testing. Arlie and Scott have learned a ton about testing over the years and it is really showing in Bowl Bound. I would be very surprised if Bowl Bound released with any major problems or bugs. BTW Greydog had a football chat about 2 to 3 weeks ago where many updates were given.[/QUOTE]
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For those asking for release dates, you have to understand the nature of software development and how difficult it can be to gauge how long each task will take a programmer to complete. Not to mention the artwork, sound design, and other tasks that are involved. The fact that GDS is a very small team, means dates are even more difficult to estimate, since you don't have a ton of developers picking up the slack when one needs a breather, had a bad day, has the flu, etc. I'm at least one person that completely understands Arlie being hesitant to set a date, when it's so easy to miss it. Customers tend to go nuts when a release date is missed. I think we can all do without the drama. It's a video game, guys, not the second coming of $Diety. :) brad
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You are not listening very well. [QUOTE=btmlltt]For those asking for release dates, you have to understand the nature of software development and how difficult it can be to gauge how long each task will take a programmer to complete. Not to mention the artwork, sound design, and other tasks that are involved. The fact that GDS is a very small team, means dates are even more difficult to estimate, since you don't have a ton of developers picking up the slack when one needs a breather, had a bad day, has the flu, etc. I'm at least one person that completely understands Arlie being hesitant to set a date, when it's so easy to miss it. Customers tend to go nuts when a release date is missed. I think we can all do without the drama. It's a video game, guys, not the second coming of $Diety. :) brad[/QUOTE] This is all well and true but what you are not hearing is the question, is the release date changed?! We do not care about the reasons, we even understand them but what we all want to know, since it is now September 20th, is, will the game be coming out by next Friday (the 30th), the last day of the 3rd quarter, or is it being delayed to a later date? I really do not think that this is too much to ask. The only reason that this is a topic for discussion at all is because on this web site it still says a Q3 release date. So please stop with the well intended excuses as to why the game will be delayed, as that is not the question being asked. Please just let us know if this game is still slated for a 3Q release, or if not then what kind of delay are we looking at. You see this does impact some of my decision making. Should they tell me that the game will be delayed until say November, then I will start my TCY simulation for college football and hold off on buying BowlBound until next year, after the patches etc.. However if this game is slated for release by the 30th then I will wait for it. Now is this so difficult to understand or answer? Oh and please do not take this as demeaning or sarcastic. I do not intend to offend anyone. Just tired of the same old response, leave them alone until it's ready...blah, blah.
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