Alpha 13

[Coenmcj]

Like a petrol-bombed Christmas tree.

[Kadrush]

I understand the post owner point, as a player who bought several alpha games just to see them abandoned by their devs (felling betrayed and stole in my money) I can comprehend the lack of trust when a dev goes away for 6 months.

As alpha supporters who got let down on other games, we need more reassurance, just throw us a few bones and we might be fine to wait a bit longer.

[rdz1122]

I've accepted the fact that I don't really know when a certain feature or release will be finished. That's the nature of inventing or designing new things. It's not like building a house, where you've done it before and you know how long it'll take. It's unknown territory, so of course there's no way to know how long the path will be. Lots of people fool themselves into thinking they can predict this, and a lot of them suffer for it (hence the absolutely ridiculous rate of missed release dates by game developers).

So since I don't really know when it'll be done, I don't give (or even target) release dates. I just don't know. I could make up a guess, but that's all it'd be - a made-up guess. And that's worse than nothing, because it makes people think there is certainty when there really isn't.

I also think it's mostly a poor use of time for a developer to spend a lot of time pumping or managing public expectations. At the end of the day it's basically irrelevant what happens right now; once the next build is released all this gets wiped away. What matters in the end is the quality of the game, and that's what I prefer to pour all my energy into - not the endless, noisy, but ultimately unimportant expectations-managing publicity game. Because I'm sure you guys want a good game more than you want some blog posts telling you made-up guesses about what's going to happen.

I think you're handling this exactly the right way. So many early access games have broken their necks on souring the community with unfulfilled promises.

+1

[Devon_v]

I understand the post owner point, as a player who bought several alpha games just to see them abandoned by their devs (felling betrayed and stole in my money) I can comprehend the lack of trust when a dev goes away for 6 months.

As alpha supporters who got let down on other games, we need more reassurance, just throw us a few bones and we might be fine to wait a bit longer.

If you've already purchased the game, no, you really don't need reassurance. If you liked what you saw enough to drop $30 on it, that's it, you're in. If the dev were to abandon the game, that would be one thing, but if everything is proceeding exactly as the dev said it would, he really doesn't owe anyone pointless status updates to say that everything is exactly as it was. Alpha 13 will not come out a second sooner whether you know exactly what's going on or not. The developer went on vacation, after telling us, like two months in advance, that he was going to go on vacation after a12. The dev is now back, exactly when he said he would be, and we have the "so far" feature list for a13. What more do we need to know?

It's not like the game is even in need of a new version. A12 and a13 are not critical components, they're cool stuff. The game is already mechanically complete with all promised features, everything since then has been a bonus.

[OverlordMark]

Anyway, everything is on track and I'm pretty sure y'all are going to be happy at the end of the day.

New version out by the end of the day?  Hurrah!

#joking

[Oxidus]

Why only game developers and actors have these 6-12 or more month vacations ? Normal people take a week or max on special occasions a 1 month vacation and after that theyre ready to go to work , all fresh and ready.

[RickyMartini]

Why only game developers and actors have these 6-12 or more month vacations ? Normal people take a week or max on special occasions a 1 month vacation and after that theyre ready to go to work , all fresh and ready.

According to Tynan, he worked on this game and coded almost non-stop and needed some rest. Also, your question is self explanatory. Tynan is not a normal person. He is a succesdful indie game developer. With RimWorld, he is basically on the brink of finishing it. Tynan still wants to spend some time this year to add more content to the game and polish it for Steam and most likely after Steam release too.

But like Devon said above, technically, this game is as good as finished and Tynan always kept his promises and was always on time.

That is the reason why he can afford this vacation without feeling he owes the community anything. Besides from the fact that RimWorld essentially mad him a millionaire....

[erdrik]

Why only game developers and actors have these 6-12 or more month vacations ? Normal people take a week or max on special occasions a 1 month vacation and after that theyre ready to go to work , all fresh and ready.

"Normal people" do not exist. People do. With different experiences, perspective, situations, cultures and lives.
Try not to assume what you consider to be "normal" is the same everywhere else.

Also Game Development in general is not your typical 9 to 5 job.
As I said above, I can't assume or guess what Tynan's daily work schedule or environment is.
But even basic research on the industry will reveal some pretty bad horror stories involving seemingly endless overtime, "crunch time", staying in the office 24/7 and sleeping under your workstation, ect...

[mumblemumble]

Why only game developers and actors have these 6-12 or more month vacations ? Normal people take a week or max on special occasions a 1 month vacation and after that theyre ready to go to work , all fresh and ready.

"Normal people" do not exist. People do. With different experiences, perspective, situations, cultures and lives.
Try not to assume what you consider to be "normal" is the same everywhere else.

Also Game Development in general is not your typical 9 to 5 job.
As I said above, I can't assume or guess what Tynan's daily work schedule or environment is.
But even basic research on the industry will reveal some pretty bad horror stories involving seemingly endless overtime, "crunch time", staying in the office 24/7 and sleeping under your workstation, ect...

Replace typical with normal,  job with person ,  and you are saying the exact same thing.

And while i see the side that Kickstart supporters are,  in the end responsible for spending the money,  i do think occasional feedback should be given just to keep the community engaged,  and to prevent thinking that the game is abandoned.

Obviously ty won't abandon rimworld,  not for a few more alphas at least,  but getting a bit of an update every 2 months or so is definitely a good thing.

[erdrik]

Replace typical with normal,  job with person ,  and you are saying the exact same thing.
...

Good job avoiding the point of my post by bringing attention to a mistake in my presentation.
Too bad it still doesn't change my point or its validity.

..
Obviously ty won't abandon rimworld,  not for a few more alphas at least,  but getting a bit of an update every 2 months or so is definitely a good thing.

Tynan's Post History.
Tynan has not only met your 2 month example, but exceeded it in the fact that he was only completely inactive in a single(December) month over these past 6 months.
From August to now he has posted as follows:
March: 4 posts so far
February: 10 posts
January: 3 posts
November: 3 posts
September: 4 posts
August: 10+ posts

[porcupine]

[...]

Tynan's Post History.
Tynan has not only met your 2 month example, but exceeded it in the fact that he was only completely inactive in a single(December) month over these past 6 months.
From August to now he has posted as follows:
March: 4 posts so far
February: 10 posts
January: 3 posts
November: 3 posts
September: 4 posts
August: 10+ posts

I think what bothers me more, is the people on this forum, who cannot uncouple their lips/noses from Tynan's backside, and I believe I've spelled that out before.  Trying to defend the ridiculous.  Speculative posts that suggest they know something everybody else does not, based on sheer speculation.  Attempting to normalize abnormal circumstances, etc.

Tynan is an adult, running a business.  He is assumed responsible, and able to account for his actions.  Trying to kiss his backside, and defend every decision, post, etc. he makes must be pretty grating for the guy.

That, and posts like yours would have a lot more credibility, if you could at least do the math right, I mean seriously, basic counting, how hard is that?

(yes, I realize this is potentially an "inflammatory" post, but Tynan is not a frightened child who is going to run away with your bags of money if don't pucker to his backside 24x7, seriously people, give it a rest).

[jzero]

you just activated my trap card!

I take it as inflammatory. Erdrik was simply showing that Tynan has NOT infact abandoned us. And you decide to pick on that post?. I mean there are plenty of other ones you could have picked on. In fact, you could've done the same argument for everyone who has ever said Tynan is coming back and didn't make a cash grab then leave. Hell, you could've done this for MY post i did earlier. Ah well, also inflammatory response over 

[Tynan]

I think this thread has pretty much run its course; there's little value in continuing.

The next build will come out as soon as possible in as good shape as possible; I very much hope you'll all like it.