Mod support/TDS Behavior . . . - by ascottk
New Horizon on 3/1/2006 at 14:27
Quote Posted by OrbWeaver
I see this all the time at work. The aformentioned lone ranger (usually a crappy programmer with no idea how to make a good design) produces his gold-plated turd, management fall for the gold plating and approve it, and then the rest of us a left to support the turd with no possibility of persuading anyone to get rid of it, even when it falls far short of the customer's requirements and does a fraction of what another, easier, cheaper solution would do.
Management succumbed to 'eye candy'. :D
ascottk on 3/1/2006 at 18:37
Did this programmer make any documentation at all for Flesh? The more I work with this the more I get the feeling the devs were trying to work with something they knew very little about. I wonder if the programmer intended for an easier way of working with this engine before he was let go.
New Horizon on 3/1/2006 at 23:30
Quote Posted by ascottk
Did this programmer make any documentation at all for Flesh? The more I work with this the more I get the feeling the devs were trying to work with something they knew very little about. I wonder if the programmer intended for an easier way of working with this engine before he was let go.
Perhaps through our various contacts, we could track down this programmer....hmmm.
demagogue on 5/1/2006 at 16:39
To get his development notes or just to beat him up??
For his own sake, I think his name is best left nameless...
God, wait until ZB reads this thread.
Edit: At the same time, this is an incredibly interesting insight into game development in the trenches ... And it's a story that I can both easily believe and that explains a lot of things. I can't help but admire the guys on the ground taking on the challenge and ambition to pull a game out of what they were given. I can only imagine the day-to-day frustrations and all the sheep-herding and the periodic little victories to celebrate over some problem that shouldn't have even been a problem ... Still, I'm much happier that DX2 was the testing ground and TDS came after.
Crispy on 5/1/2006 at 23:52
Yeah, makes you feel pretty sympathetic for the Ion Storm team, doesn't it? Well, except for that one guy... :devil:
Quote:
Still, I'm much happier that DX2 was the testing ground and TDS came after.
Yeah. Still a pity about DX2's flaws, though; I was playing the original recently and was reminded just how many kinds of butt it kicked! Seriously awesome game... heck, it was nearly as good as Thief. ;)
Gestalt on 7/3/2006 at 21:10
I know fire arrows can be used to relight torches, so it shouldn't be too hard to get flares to do the same. I can't remember if the AI know how to use potions or not. The mushroom-related stuff shouldn't be too hard to do, but someone'll need to make some mushroom models first. I might do that when I get some free time.
