Wirehead Studios

http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passi...give_in_to.html (http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2006/05/dont_give_in_to.html)

I know during the course of Gen's development I've run into just about this same sort of thing.  I've had arguments with people inside and outside the team that were very adamant about specific features, or "what the game needs", etc, along with "oh this would be cool if" and "You didn't do X so you completely screwed over Y".  Feedback is good, but you have to know when to say no.  Development-wise, Gen requires a lot of effort with little or no return, and it ranks in the "hobby project" area since it's a game mod, but the same pattern is encountered that exists in the real world.  I can certainly agree with the "mediocrity" concern.  When we tried to balance everything initially to please any concerned party it took away from the gameplay tremendously.  When we decided "Let's just do things the way they were in the old games and then fix the most severe concerns but let it try to balance itself" the gameplay got better and better.  Even if we have squat for players anymore, I don't think anyone can really say .99a was overwhelmingly superior to .99f (except for maybe the rabid fans of the Doom shotgun that could send people into orbit for cheap).

I think anyone who is interested in how development cycles and user-developer relationships work should read this one.  If you're making something, anything at all, that might be distributed to people in any way, shape or form, this is a must-read.

Good read, Pho.  If ever I start on a major project, I'll remember to keep the link to that article handy.  I can especially sympathize with the notion of tech support's advice being invaluable.  Especially when I am in that position myself, and I have to deal with all of those users on a daily basis.  :)

In a slightly off-topic note though, I've always thought each version of Generations Arena was significantly better than the previous version.  The change from 99f to 1.0 will be like the equivalent of the change between Windows 98 and  Windows Vista.  I'm sure there will be nay-sayers, but overall I think the changes will be largely beneficial.  (Then again, I suppose I fall under the "still passionate user" category for Gen and the "still satisfied user" for Windows :p)

For me it's a case of:

Gen: Still-Passionate
XP: Against-My-Will

That is a good piece, Pho. Meat man's one is poison man's another, or something ...