[blackharted3]

Thanks everyone for the in-game email information, I really appreciate it, but Mr Tibbs, I just want to make it clear, I know where/when the e-mail thing was first confirmed, I just didn't know when or where we got actual confirmation as to why it was cut. I'm sorry for not being clear on that.

Hell I remember when that sidebar was first shown, it was an amazing moment.

@Wieder, I know what you say about the play testers, not being there until Gearbox got the game, to be true, as you would know but remember a quote from George saying something along the lines of "We have people activity play testing the game" long before Gearbox, I don't know the exact quote, but it was something like that, anyway if that's true, who was testing it then?

EDIT: I found the quote:" We’re actively testing parts of the game and getting feedback from play testers and things are coming together." August 25 '08 from George.

[PokeThePower]

Duel, on 10 April 2013 - 02:20 PM, said:

EDIT: I found the quote:" We’re actively testing parts of the game and getting feedback from play testers and things are coming together." August 25 '08 from George.

Yup. They are called artists and industry friends.

Having beta testers who are actually doing the testing as their actual job and filing bug reports and following up on verifying they are fixed etc... unless there was some secret basement hiding them I'm pretty sure there wasn't any of that going on while it was still under 3DR's roof. There is more info that leads me to believe that, but that's treading on more sensitive stuff. I will be content if I'm wrong though!

I was getting "feedback from play testers" on the Lake Mead stuff in 2004/2005. Example play tester: Stephen Blackburn, VP of 3DR. We had rounds of feedback from artists and other people who didn't play the maps as often as the level designers and programmers off and on all through development. Including on Dukematch.

[blackharted3]

Cheers for the info Wieder, that clears things up, and that sure told me!

[PokeThePower]

Duel, on 10 April 2013 - 02:55 PM, said:

Cheers for the info Wieder, that clears things up, and that sure told me!

Don't mind me... I'm just being a nit picky whiner about things from the past that we can't do anything about, haha.

[Mr. Tibbs]

Wieder, on 10 April 2013 - 01:59 PM, said:

I don't know why the email stuff was ultimately cut... since it happened long after I was gone. I would guess it would be due to not working on consoles at all and thus would only be supported on PC, and not all PCs, and required doing things over the network not all players are comfortable with, all for limited payoff.

I'm not saying he's responsible for the decision or anything (I really respect him and think he's the man for Thief 2X, Deadly Shadows, and for finishing DNF) but in one of 2K Games DNF podcasts, David Riegel that they looked at the game and basically decided it wasn't necessary for Duke to be able pick up a pencil. How would it make him a badass? It seems 3DR decided to pull back on the interactivity and focus on objects that reinforce his persona. It's kinda strange because in the same interview, Alan Blum mentions mocking up the air hockey table over a few weekends at Triptych. Why would you remove features to add more?

Ah, sorry for that Duel. I saw your post and immediately wanted to revisit that stuff anyway!

Very interesting note about the beta testers, Wieder.

[X-Vector]

Wieder, on 07 April 2013 - 04:23 PM, said:

Same for the rat in the microwave... it should have only ever been something people discover for themselves and only because THEY were the ones who "thought it up" (or found out online afterwards)... not because the game locked the rat right below the microwave and advertise an achievement for it like a sadist saying "DO IT DO IT!".

You'd think Triptych and/or Gearbox would have learned that lesson after the main campaign, but it's still there in the DLC:



At 2:36 - "Press RMB to Turbo Boost into low orbit".
This is 'hardcoded' to that specific spot because this prompt shows again at 3:49, after the player has returned to this area; apparently those who play a second helping of DNF are considered too dumb to "get the message" (guess I can see the point).

It isn't just DNF though, rather it seems that the industry at large has at some point in time decreed that leaving the player to find things out for him-/herself is a cardinal sin in game design.

[uh . . . .]

X-Vector, on 11 April 2013 - 02:31 AM, said:

You'd think Triptych and/or Gearbox would have learned that lesson after the main campaign, but it's still there in the DLC:



At 2:36 - "Press RMB to Turbo Boost into low orbit".
This is 'hardcoded' to that specific spot because this prompt shows again at 3:49, after the player has returned to this area; apparently those who play a second helping of DNF are considered too dumb to "get the message" (guess I can see the point).

It isn't just DNF though, rather it seems that the industry at large has at some point in time decreed that leaving the player to find things out for him-/herself is a cardinal sin in game design.

Dude, you can turn hints off in the menu.

[Saiyuki234]

uh . . . ., on 11 April 2013 - 04:54 PM, said:

Dude, you can turn hints off in the menu.

yes you can, but it turns off the Flashing orange hints. not the button prompts.

[Blue Lightning]

Again, a huge problem is the vehicle section is in the 3rd person. How sad.

Ruined.