8 ms·

I respect the hell out of these guys. They launched to widespread criticism, and rather than giving up they’ve spent the last few years working hard to improve

by cal5k 8y ago

I respect the hell out of these guys. They launched to widespread criticism, and rather than giving up they’ve spent the last few years working hard to improve their game. Isn’t that something we can all admire?

zitterbewegung 8y ago
The criticism was there because they over promised that it would launch with a great deal of content that wasn't delivered. Why should we encourage this type of behavior since it is becoming rampant in the industry to release unfinished games at all?
- mav3rick 8y ago
  Maybe they made genuine mistakes.
  - hombre_fatal 8y ago
    IIRC they got in trouble for not being forthcoming about basic questions about the game close to launch. However, we as humanity really need to give people the opportunity to make things right. And Hello Games surely did that by implementing just about everything they said they would including multiplayer over the next few years.
    - mav3rick 8y ago
      Agreed.
- wilg 8y ago
  Unpopular opinion: They didn't actually promise anything that wasn't in the game at launch or say anything that wasn't true.
  - SOLAR_FIELDS 8y ago
    Maybe not literally (I think that it actually did happen more than once that they outright said something was going to be in the game and it didn’t happen), but there was a whole lot of “we implied this, some rampant speculation started, and we made no effort to quash the rumors because they help drive the hype machine”. I think it was less on purpose and more symptomatic of having a breathless dreamer as a lead who thinks the world is possible. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but might be a good idea to keep that guy’s interactions with the press pretty rehearsed so you don’t accidentally put your foot in your mouth. The guy who did the Fable franchise (Peter Molyneux) was also notoriously bad about this.
    - shkkmo 8y ago
      Except Peter's most recent failure, Godus, never got finished and had work stopped on it pretty quickly. I have much less of a problem with breathless dreamers who keep working and find ways to make their dream reality rather than moving on to something else and abandoning their supporters when they get bored. > they outright said something was going to be in the game and it didn’t happen Haven't most if not all of those NMS promises been fulfilled? As someone who played a fair amount NMS and Godus, even at launch NMS was a much better and more interesting game than Godus and it has only improved.
  - taytus 8y ago
    It may be unpopular because it's just not true. They did a demo showing procedurally generated terrain and animals that (later we learned) it was NOT procedurally generated at all. So yeah, they promised stuff that they knew they wouldn't deliver.
  - jasonlotito 8y ago
    The funny part is, when you ask people to back this up, they can't. I never found anyone that could point to these explicit promises. There was lots of discussion about things they'd like to add, or just talking about game development in general, but I don't remember them saying "At launch, you will get X feature" and then at launch, not having that.
- cschmittiey 8y ago
  I definitely agree on the over-promised features. I was severely disappointed on launch, as was just about everyone else I think. They should not have promised what they did, and they shouldn't have launched at the price they did. They definitely should've playtested and done more Q&A before launch. Now considering that, I do think that they seem to have made the best out of the situation they were in. Hello Games seems to be a lot more open, not promising things they can't deliver, and they've been quietly bringing the game up to where they said it would be. It really seems like they're trying to make restitution and do things the right way, this time around. That says a lot to me about where they want to be in the future and what they've learned from what they did.
- modeless 8y ago
  The content is being delivered though. And everyone who bought at launch gets everything at no additional cost. That's the kind of behavior I am happy to encourage.
  - kingbirdy 8y ago
    But the promise was that the content would be there at launch, not eventually.
  - baddox 8y ago
    I don’t think it’s great to encourage overpromising, even if this one game happened to eventually deliver on its promises.
  - Aeolun 8y ago
    I mean, at launch I thought the developer was pretty damn shitty, but they’ve pretty much redeemed themselves over the time after that. I don’t respect them for the launch, but I do for what came after.
  - fastball 8y ago
    Except customers were led to believe that the content / functionality would be available at launch, not years down the road. That's not a good experience.
- VectorLock 8y ago
  They didn't just over promise they straight up went on the Colbert Show and lied about features that didn't even exist.
rjf72 8y ago
If a drunk driver hits somebody, I'm not going to admire them for pulling over and doing all they can to help. Yes, it's the right thing to do - but they wouldn't be in that situation if not for their own harmful behavior to begin with.
- Wowfunhappy 8y ago
  Hello Games didn't kill or hospitalize anyone, though. I realize you're making an analogy, but a sense of perspective is warranted.
  - Aeolun 8y ago
    Nothing but wallets were hurt in the creation of this game.
    - wtetzner 8y ago
      Except if you were unhappy with the game, couldn't you just return it?
      - Aeolun 8y ago
        Yeah, I think Steam allowed refunds even after the default 2 hour limit.
  - darkpuma 8y ago
    Yes, it should instead be compared to white collar crime. Fraud, perhaps. Wait, is this still an analogy?
- kochikame 8y ago
  It's more like someone who says they will drive you somewhere but when you get in the car with them they reveal that they can't drive, but they are going to learn over the next few months and they will definitely drive you were they originally promised just as soon as they've done that. I agree with you that free add-ons to games are great but they shouldn't just be the originally promised functionality
dahdum 8y ago
I was turned off by the lies (even post launch) they told, but I will say I respect the work they've done since to deliver the product. I'm as guilty of the same youthful exuberance in my first software products. Mine were just far less public.

by cal5k 8y ago

zitterbewegung 8y ago

The criticism was there because they over promised that it would launch with a great deal of content that wasn't delivered. Why should we encourage this type of behavior since it is becoming rampant in the industry to release unfinished games at all?

mav3rick 8y ago
Maybe they made genuine mistakes.
- hombre_fatal 8y ago
  IIRC they got in trouble for not being forthcoming about basic questions about the game close to launch. However, we as humanity really need to give people the opportunity to make things right. And Hello Games surely did that by implementing just about everything they said they would including multiplayer over the next few years.
  - mav3rick 8y ago
    Agreed.
wilg 8y ago
Unpopular opinion: They didn't actually promise anything that wasn't in the game at launch or say anything that wasn't true.
- SOLAR_FIELDS 8y ago
  Maybe not literally (I think that it actually did happen more than once that they outright said something was going to be in the game and it didn’t happen), but there was a whole lot of “we implied this, some rampant speculation started, and we made no effort to quash the rumors because they help drive the hype machine”. I think it was less on purpose and more symptomatic of having a breathless dreamer as a lead who thinks the world is possible. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but might be a good idea to keep that guy’s interactions with the press pretty rehearsed so you don’t accidentally put your foot in your mouth. The guy who did the Fable franchise (Peter Molyneux) was also notoriously bad about this.
  - shkkmo 8y ago
    Except Peter's most recent failure, Godus, never got finished and had work stopped on it pretty quickly. I have much less of a problem with breathless dreamers who keep working and find ways to make their dream reality rather than moving on to something else and abandoning their supporters when they get bored. > they outright said something was going to be in the game and it didn’t happen Haven't most if not all of those NMS promises been fulfilled? As someone who played a fair amount NMS and Godus, even at launch NMS was a much better and more interesting game than Godus and it has only improved.
- taytus 8y ago
  It may be unpopular because it's just not true. They did a demo showing procedurally generated terrain and animals that (later we learned) it was NOT procedurally generated at all. So yeah, they promised stuff that they knew they wouldn't deliver.
- jasonlotito 8y ago
  The funny part is, when you ask people to back this up, they can't. I never found anyone that could point to these explicit promises. There was lots of discussion about things they'd like to add, or just talking about game development in general, but I don't remember them saying "At launch, you will get X feature" and then at launch, not having that.
cschmittiey 8y ago
I definitely agree on the over-promised features. I was severely disappointed on launch, as was just about everyone else I think. They should not have promised what they did, and they shouldn't have launched at the price they did. They definitely should've playtested and done more Q&A before launch. Now considering that, I do think that they seem to have made the best out of the situation they were in. Hello Games seems to be a lot more open, not promising things they can't deliver, and they've been quietly bringing the game up to where they said it would be. It really seems like they're trying to make restitution and do things the right way, this time around. That says a lot to me about where they want to be in the future and what they've learned from what they did.
modeless 8y ago
The content is being delivered though. And everyone who bought at launch gets everything at no additional cost. That's the kind of behavior I am happy to encourage.
- kingbirdy 8y ago
  But the promise was that the content would be there at launch, not eventually.
- baddox 8y ago
  I don’t think it’s great to encourage overpromising, even if this one game happened to eventually deliver on its promises.
- Aeolun 8y ago
  I mean, at launch I thought the developer was pretty damn shitty, but they’ve pretty much redeemed themselves over the time after that. I don’t respect them for the launch, but I do for what came after.
- fastball 8y ago
  Except customers were led to believe that the content / functionality would be available at launch, not years down the road. That's not a good experience.
VectorLock 8y ago
They didn't just over promise they straight up went on the Colbert Show and lied about features that didn't even exist.

rjf72 8y ago

If a drunk driver hits somebody, I'm not going to admire them for pulling over and doing all they can to help. Yes, it's the right thing to do - but they wouldn't be in that situation if not for their own harmful behavior to begin with.

Wowfunhappy 8y ago
Hello Games didn't kill or hospitalize anyone, though. I realize you're making an analogy, but a sense of perspective is warranted.
- Aeolun 8y ago
  Nothing but wallets were hurt in the creation of this game.
  - wtetzner 8y ago
    Except if you were unhappy with the game, couldn't you just return it?
    - Aeolun 8y ago
      Yeah, I think Steam allowed refunds even after the default 2 hour limit.
- darkpuma 8y ago
  Yes, it should instead be compared to white collar crime. Fraud, perhaps. Wait, is this still an analogy?
kochikame 8y ago
It's more like someone who says they will drive you somewhere but when you get in the car with them they reveal that they can't drive, but they are going to learn over the next few months and they will definitely drive you were they originally promised just as soon as they've done that. I agree with you that free add-ons to games are great but they shouldn't just be the originally promised functionality

dahdum 8y ago

I was turned off by the lies (even post launch) they told, but I will say I respect the work they've done since to deliver the product. I'm as guilty of the same youthful exuberance in my first software products. Mine were just far less public.