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This is not a post to moan. There are tons of other threads to do that. These are just 3 lessons I think SI could learn from this years game release experience and apply them for the release of FM2009.
Of course this is their game, and they can and will release it however they want. These suggestions are just based on what I have seen, and my experience, and are meant with good intentions.
3 Little lessons learned for next year:
1. Release all versions (FM, WWSM, Futbol M, Mac, DD) on the same day: this would keep people a lot happier and wouldn't make some customers feel like they are less important than others.
2. Keep people informed daily about fixes, patches, etc: I think most of the moaning in the forums is generated from a percieved lack of communication. The argument "if they come to the forums to post information the patch is just going to take longer" is absurd. Posting one message every day takes about 3 minutes and you don't need your lead programmer to do it. It's just something to keep people informed. Taking some time to do the communications part better would probably keep customers happier and reduce the moaning.
3. Take a little more time between the release of the demo and the release of the game: if they did this, they would have bigger chances of players spotting the bigger bugs, and have enough time to fix them before the release of the game. In the system they use now, releasing a gold demo leaves them no chances of fixing anything in the game, and people prefer to pay for something that works without flaws, if possible.
A few further lessons for SI if not already on their curriculum
Consider a different approach to the Dream Team e.g.
a. consider more people for pre gold testing e.g. more of the buyers across a different spread of people new, old, LLM, data editors etc
b. focus some tester people on modules within the game e.g. supporter feed back; end of season confidence, team expectation, play-offs, tactics etc
c. focus some tester people on top, medium, low, non league clubs - Data reasearchers a good place to start
d. focus some tester people on different countries Data reasearchers a good place to start
e. focus some tester people long term games. Some of this could be achieved by going on holiday and reviewing team say 3 years down the line looking for stadium issues, fixture issues, realism of manager sackings, red card stats, tackle stats, goal stats etc
I've a lesson learnt for us punters
1. Make our moans more constructive and ftp pkm's and saved games - thet will get listend too much more
Originally posted by Lucho_:
This is not a post to moan. There are tons of other threads to do that. These are just 3 lessons I think SI could learn from this years game release experience and apply them for the release of FM2009.
Of course this is their game, and they can and will release it however they want. These suggestions are just based on what I have seen, and my experience, and are meant with good intentions.
3 Little lessons learned for next year:
1. Release all versions (FM, WWSM, Futbol M, Mac, DD) on the same day: this would keep people a lot happier and wouldn't make some customers feel like they are less important than others.
2. Keep people informed daily about fixes, patches, etc: I think most of the moaning in the forums is generated from a percieved lack of communication. The argument "if they come to the forums to post information the patch is just going to take longer" is absurd. Posting one message every day takes about 3 minutes and you don't need your lead programmer to do it. It's just something to keep people informed. Taking some time to do the communications part better would probably keep customers happier and reduce the moaning.
3. Take a little more time between the release of the demo and the release of the game: if they did this, they would have bigger chances of players spotting the bigger bugs, and have enough time to fix them before the release of the game. In the system they use now, releasing a gold demo leaves them no chances of fixing anything in the game, and people prefer to pay for something that works without flaws, if possible.
Yeah, I can see you mean well and this isn't a moan, but there are issues with what you have suggested, I'm not saying you don't have a few good ideas, but there are problems:
1. Most game developers release the game for different platforms at different times. I guess the reason for this is because if one version is finished, then they are losing revenue by not releasing it.
2. I think SI have really good communication with its customers. I have been on other game forums and you get no word at all from the developers. They come on here and tell us information when there is something to tell. I see no point tbh, in SI comming on here everyday just to tell us they are still working on the patch, or whatever.
3. This is the biggest issue I think. A few years back SI did release a demo of the game early, but it got cracked and leaked onto the net. There is obviously a problem with piracy and I don't think this will ever happen again.
Originally posted by MrPompey:
A few further lessons for SI if not already on their curriculum
Consider a different approach to the Dream Team e.g.
a. consider more people for pre gold testing e.g. more of the buyers across a different spread of people new, old, LLM, data editors etc
b. focus some tester people on modules within the game e.g. supporter feed back; end of season confidence, team expectation, play-offs, tactics etc
c. focus some tester people on top, medium, low, non league clubs - Data reasearchers a good place to start
d. focus some tester people on different countries Data reasearchers a good place to start
e. focus some tester people long term games. Some of this could be achieved by going on holiday and reviewing team say 3 years down the line looking for stadium issues, fixture issues, realism of manager sackings, red card stats, tackle stats, goal stats etc
I've a lesson learnt for us punters
1. Make our moans more constructive and ftp pkm's and saved games - thet will get listend too much more
I think those are very good ideas. Focusing the testers could work well, combined with "regular" players.
And your last suggestion about the constructive moans, is probably the best one. Thousands of posts saying "the game needs a patch" really don't contribute and just hide the valuable ideas.
Yeah, I can see you mean well and this isn't a moan, but there are issues with what you have suggested, I'm not saying you don't have a few good ideas, but there are problems:
1. Most game developers release the game for different platforms at different times. I guess the reason for this is because if one version is finished, then they are losing revenue by not releasing it.
2. I think SI have really good communication with its customers. I have been on other game forums and you get no word at all from the developers. They come on here and tell us information when there is something to tell. I see no point tbh, in SI comming on here everyday just to tell us they are still working on the patch, or whatever.
3. This is the biggest issue I think. A few years back SI did release a demo of the game early, but it got cracked and leaked onto the net. There is obviously a problem with piracy and I don't think this will ever happen again.
Dave, those are valid points.
About the release dates, I think that they could just hold FM for 3 days and release all the versions together. Maybe losing a couple of sales can be compensated by having a happier customer base.
And although I agree that SI have much better communication than other developers, that doesn't mean that it couldn't be improved. SI telling people that they are working on the patch daily wouldn't make an actual difference, but it could avoid tons of speculation and moaning and allow more constructive posts on the forums.
About the piracy, if an early demo could be cracked, probably a gold demo would be as "crackable". But if it actually helps to avoid piracy, then the late release of the demo is understandable.
3 Little lessons learned for next year 
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