Newsgroup: it.comp.giochi.rpg
Titolo: U9: CapnBill racconta tutto...

Eccolo qua, linkato oggi da The Gamers Net:
Subject Re: A simple question for the dev team...
Posted by CapnBill
Posted on Fri Jan 14 09:04:08 2000
(Sigh) I know I'm just going to get flamed. But, out of respect for
those true fans who really are concerned, who feel Ultima has changed
too much, and who aren't just here to destroy, and because you really do
desire an answer, I choose to elaborate upon LadyMoi's reply. Caveat:
I've answered this question repeatedly over the past few months; I've
tried to give honest & in-depth answers to genuine concern over this
issue. I have no problem repeating myself; but, I request that my answer
only be quoted in entirety, not taken out of context.
A lot of you seem to think we sat around in a meeting and one day
decided "You know, I think we shouldn't have NPC schedules in the game".
That is NOT how it happened. NPC schedules were part of the game
technical design from the beginning. Repeat: From the beginning. They
were never, ever "taken out" or "sacrificed". Also, NPCs were originally
meant to respond to weather; and, even to what you're wearing.
HOWEVER: The designers (Richard & Seth) felt strongly that we didn't
want to make people such as shopkeepers or plot-critical conversation
types unavailable during certain hours; this was viewed as detracting
from game play, a nuisance factor we wanted to avoid. So, this aspect of
NPC schedules was never a consideration; it was not desired, and we
haven't changed our minds on that.
SO, I assume the type of NPC schedule you're concerned about is the
moving-about-the-world on daily chores, moving from place to place,
having a life. Even possibly going to sleep at night, as long as you can
wake them & interact with them as needed (although they'd be
irritable--I actually wanted shopkeepers to over-charge you for items if
you did this to them).
In fact, we did indeed have a few NPCs in the world who behaved this
way; they'd move around, have a life, sleep at night, etc. LB still does
it; ever go to the castle at night? He doesn't just sit in his chair...
For the record, we're not ecstatic that people stand around sweeping or
loitering all night long--that was not how we envisioned the game to be,
at any point, ever. Ever watch the mayor's speech? Ever follow the NPCs
to their shops after the speech, and watch them get hung up in their own
doorway? Don't think for one second that we wanted it that way. And,
none of you have any idea how many weeks we spent trying to get doors to
work just right, so NPCs could open them & walk through. Ever wonder
why, in other 3D engines, doors slide into the walls instead of opening
like a "real" door? Well, now you know.
Bottom line: The game did NOT come out to be exactly like we envisioned;
it didn't contain everything we wanted, it didn't act just like we
wanted, combat didn't come out as cool as we wanted, AI wasn't as smart
as we wanted, the game didn't run as fast as we wanted, etc, etc, etc,
etc.
So, why didn't the game come out like we originally wanted, or like we
envisioned? Why didn't we just make the game to be exactly like we
wanted? Because we ran out of time, pure & simple. Partly because the
underlying world model of the game was inherently unstable--we're STILL
fixing bugs in it (a fact that annoys us to no end, believe me). We, as
programmers, didn't put more schedules in because we were fully occupied
with just trying to get the game to work without them. Period. We had no
time, no time at all, to try to figure out why, when people moved around
the world, one time out of a thousand (or even more often) they'd fall
through the ground; or fly up into space; or get stuck in a door; etc,
etc, etc. The designers: same story! They didn't have time to set up
detailed schedules for all the NPCs, or for even a few; they were just
trying to get all their triggers, lifts, and conversations working! In
other words, just having the plot in place, the NPCs in place, the
buildings, plants, animals, monsters, etc placed in the world, was a
full-time job for the entire team. When our deadline came, the world we
had was the one we shipped. A harsh business reality. But wait, it gets
harsher: Why didn't we take the extra 3 months & simply add NPC
schedules? I've said it before, I'll say it again: we had a fixed
release date. If we'd taken the extra time, we'd have had all the time
in world--get it? Was this desired by us? No! Is it "fair"? ....yes. It
is. Because it's not MY game, and it's not YOUR game, and it's not even
Richard's game; it's Origin's & EA's game, they foot the bills. And as
harsh as that is, it's reality. What, Richard doesn't control the ship
date? Yep, that's right--he's a creative force, not the business force.
And don't get me wrong--I'm not crying "we were treated unfairly" here.
Origin & EA had every incentive in the world to get this game out; it
wasn't anyone's desire to just plunk it out on the shelves in a slipshod
state. You mean, Origin, EA, and the dev team make mistakes? Yup.
I'm going out on a limb here. I've tried to answer the question about
"Why did we ship the game in the state it's in" before; I'll try again.
Did we intend to ship bugs?
No! We KNEW about a lot of minor problems, called "known shippable bugs"
(like NPCs getting hung up here & there, creatures going stupid, etc),
but we did NOT know about plot-stoppers & crashers. Why didn't we know?
Because we didn't spend enough time in QA. Why didn't we spend enough
time? Because we didn't have time, AND our play-throughs at that time
led us to believe the game was solid. Why didn't we have time? See
above. Was it a mistake to ship it out with crashers & plot-stoppers &
dog-slow D3D frame rate? Yes, we've repeatedly said it was a mistake.
What are we doing about it? Well, from my point of view, pretty much
everything, up to & including replacing your original version with a
shiny new CD! Now, let me make sure there's no misunderstanding here: Am
I saying you have no right to be upset if you've bought a new 700 MHZ
computer to run this game on, and it still has problems? No, that's not
what I'm saying at all. But, I urge everyone to re-examine the situation
before attempting to hang anyone, whether its Richard, EA, Origin, or
whatever; the conditions under which a product ships are not as
cut-and-dry as a lot of you wish it were. And, if your game doesn't run
well now, it will in just a few more weeks...so hang on.
Finally, are we, as developers, proud of this game? YES!!! Resoundingly,
absolutely. Even though it doesn't contain all the features we wanted
(and, I fully understand & respect that many of you feel it SHOULD have
those features, we share your disappointment in many cases), it's STILL
enormously complex, a fabulous achievement (after the bug-fixes, of
course).
Since I'm on a bit of platform here anyway, I'll address an engine
performance issue: Ever wonder why the game runs so slow at times? Look
on your screen. There's a cost, a heavy cost, for that look, that
density. I know for a fact that our engine runs in excess of 100fps in
very simple cases; in "levels" that have very few world objects, and
only consist of large walls & floors, with a few creatures. But, none of
our game looks like that. That's not the game we wanted to make. So,
Ascension's outstanding blessing, its appearance, is also its
performance curse. Want fast frame rate? Rip the world up. Want a
complex world? Run slow. Guess which way the Ultima team went?
So, that's it--enough of a tirade here. That's about as close as any of
you will get to hearing my personal view; as I've said, this isn't a
forum for any of the dev team's personal views, as tempting as that is
at times, so go easy on Cynthe & LadyMoi & the moderators, huh? They
conduct themselves in an exemplary fashion in the face of adversity.
See you around!
--Bill

megasnip
Sigh....
Sarebbero bastati pochi mesi...cosa erano dopo aver aspettato CINQUE
anni....

anni....
Non è vero !!!! Sarebbero bastati pochi mesi per far uscire un gioco
che girasse e si giocasse degnamente, ma non sarrebbe stato mai
quell'Ultima 9 che molti si aspettavano... :-((
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