Re: NBA Live needs to be fixed
I've stated what needed to be said and I will leave it at that... No need for me to cheap shot ignorance.
3 to 4 months of time between release and the design phase of the next version, for a 12 month dev cycle? Please tell me you meant to say weeks, not months.
Our situation at the company I work for is a lot different, as we have ten developers cycling through three major projects at once, one of them being development of backend systems for a major online title. We typically don't have the luxury of a big down time between cycles, usually reaching major milestones on Friday, and then starting something new on Monday (or even voluntarily on Sunday, in some cases). Since our developers have such a big role in the design process, we put a lot of care into our software systems, and make them as stable and efficient as we possibly can. That doesn't mean a nagging bug won't creep in there every once in a while, though. If it came down to a choice of spending a week or two to patch intermittent problems that happen to less than 1% of our customers or putting more effort into reaching a major milestone on time with better quality for an exciting new feature, I am going to choose choice B nine times out of ten. That's not to say we ignore our customers with these problems for our existing software, as we usually find a way to compensate them or inform them of possible workarounds in a quick, orderly fashion.
The only point I was trying to make was to say that there are no obligations for EA to patch this game for this particular scenario. There is no punishment or repercussions if they don't do it. The customer base will always be there, just by name recognition alone, which is a major luxury they still have for now. They probably wouldn't have thrown money around to acquire so many reputable dev houses in the past year if they were struggling. And there is no such thing as a bug-free piece of software. There is a positive correlation between the amount of bugs and the size and complexity of a given application, which is a fact that some refuse to accept. I have yet to see a game title ship with a bug list less than 50, including a few class B problems and the occasional class A, and that is after the producers or lead programmer have already gone through the list to remove what they consider to be small problems, just to cover their behinds. I'm sure your game projects have been no exception. All of this info used to frustrate me, too, until I got my CS degree and started working with real systems, seeing the grass on the other side.
My question for you would be if you are a programmer, too. Not to say that you are like this, but I've dealt with managers who have absolutely no clue about the problem-solving process that goes into writing good, manageable code and they are so out-of-touch with the capabilities of current technology. I guess I only trust project leads who have really been there in the trenches writing code into the wee hours of the morning, because they seem to be the easiest to work with and the most knowledgeable and reasonable with setting deadlines.
P.S. I liked your little sign-off. It kind of reminded me of high school, where some kid would make a long, boring speech about nothing for a class and then throw in a "_______ High School football rules!" to get the applause.
Our situation at the company I work for is a lot different, as we have ten developers cycling through three major projects at once, one of them being development of backend systems for a major online title. We typically don't have the luxury of a big down time between cycles, usually reaching major milestones on Friday, and then starting something new on Monday (or even voluntarily on Sunday, in some cases). Since our developers have such a big role in the design process, we put a lot of care into our software systems, and make them as stable and efficient as we possibly can. That doesn't mean a nagging bug won't creep in there every once in a while, though. If it came down to a choice of spending a week or two to patch intermittent problems that happen to less than 1% of our customers or putting more effort into reaching a major milestone on time with better quality for an exciting new feature, I am going to choose choice B nine times out of ten. That's not to say we ignore our customers with these problems for our existing software, as we usually find a way to compensate them or inform them of possible workarounds in a quick, orderly fashion.
The only point I was trying to make was to say that there are no obligations for EA to patch this game for this particular scenario. There is no punishment or repercussions if they don't do it. The customer base will always be there, just by name recognition alone, which is a major luxury they still have for now. They probably wouldn't have thrown money around to acquire so many reputable dev houses in the past year if they were struggling. And there is no such thing as a bug-free piece of software. There is a positive correlation between the amount of bugs and the size and complexity of a given application, which is a fact that some refuse to accept. I have yet to see a game title ship with a bug list less than 50, including a few class B problems and the occasional class A, and that is after the producers or lead programmer have already gone through the list to remove what they consider to be small problems, just to cover their behinds. I'm sure your game projects have been no exception. All of this info used to frustrate me, too, until I got my CS degree and started working with real systems, seeing the grass on the other side.
My question for you would be if you are a programmer, too. Not to say that you are like this, but I've dealt with managers who have absolutely no clue about the problem-solving process that goes into writing good, manageable code and they are so out-of-touch with the capabilities of current technology. I guess I only trust project leads who have really been there in the trenches writing code into the wee hours of the morning, because they seem to be the easiest to work with and the most knowledgeable and reasonable with setting deadlines.
P.S. I liked your little sign-off. It kind of reminded me of high school, where some kid would make a long, boring speech about nothing for a class and then throw in a "_______ High School football rules!" to get the applause.
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