Is Assetto Corsa dying?
- Thread starter Mike85
- Start date
It's not hard to set up your own server with a password to play with friends.
Last Saturday I followed this guide and although it was my first time setting up a dedicated server on any game ever, it only took me like 10 minutes to have the server running and race with my friend.
http://www.raggedracing.com/2014/5/10/setting-up-an-assetto-corsa-multiplayer-server
Kind of, from my point of view is basically dead for YOU. Quiet alive for me and for many people, as I can see.
I still enjoying it, being multiplayer, AI racing, carrier mode or hotlapping.
How do you figure all PC development has ceased when Stefano has been live streaming himself doing exactly that for the last couple weeks?
He's doing these videos in his free time, and working on some low priority things. The scheduled game coding happens during the whole week, so he's actually just doing these live streams coding in his free time, which happens to be work.. he works for the game in his free time. And sharing part of it with the community.
Unless they miss the currently projected 'sometime in July' date, AC and ETS2 are updating on similar cycles - 4 months between major updates, with minor bugfixes following each. I don't know why it feels slower when it's AC. Of course there's no way to compare the actual content in the updates; but it doesn't look to me like they're getting more done over there.
I don't know if i posted it in this thread, or even this forum, so i'll just repeat myself:
One of the biggest problems in the video game industry is the lack of communication:
* Devs/publishers ignoring consumer input
Of course that's a nifty task, because: who do you trust more?
The supposedly core of your community voicing their opinion in forums?
Or the majority of players staying silent?
* Devs not informing consumers about what's being worked on and what's planned.
And no, following 60 guys on twitter randomly sending out short chunks of informations is not acceptable, we're talking about official updates on the game's website, Steam news, official forum and so on.
There are good guys (eg. ZPS) and bad guys (eg. DICE) when it comes to communication.
The less information the consumers get, the more unhappy they are.
The less you value your consumers, the less respect you get in return.
One of the biggest problems in the video game industry is the lack of communication:
* Devs/publishers ignoring consumer input
Of course that's a nifty task, because: who do you trust more?
The supposedly core of your community voicing their opinion in forums?
Or the majority of players staying silent?
* Devs not informing consumers about what's being worked on and what's planned.
And no, following 60 guys on twitter randomly sending out short chunks of informations is not acceptable, we're talking about official updates on the game's website, Steam news, official forum and so on.
There are good guys (eg. ZPS) and bad guys (eg. DICE) when it comes to communication.
The less information the consumers get, the more unhappy they are.
The less you value your consumers, the less respect you get in return.
Neither form you explain is perfect and good for all situations. For example, SpinTires game, they posted on steam news and their forum development plans and stuff like that, and even giving dates.. guess how many of those were met on time or stuff that changed in the plan. Then people will just complain about delays and say things you said and detailed is set on stone.. when in software development that's not true.
Devs can inform about the general idea of what they want for the more distant future of the game, but not too much.. as people will think what they said is set on stone, and people don't understand if you don't/can't stick to the plan.
The best thing is to just inform about your upcoming update, general ideas of what's gonna be included, because at least there's some security here since the development is already deeper.
And that's what Kunos did so far, they informed us in May/June what's going to be the general plans for v1.2 and the bonus pack. Then along the weeks, they released smaller piece of information about more specific things, either in the forum, facebook/twitter.
In either form, not everyone is gonna be happy about, but most of the it is gonna end up being talked on official forums, steam, reddit, facebook, twitter... maybe what's left is just a more central place of info, but even then just the most interested will be aware, because not every visits ac forums, not everybody uses steam forums, facebook/twitter.. so no matter how much you try, people aren't going to hear about your plans then come to the forum and complain the game is not being updated.
What to do in this situation is just to give them a link to where that update info is, or explain them what's going to be in the upcoming update.
Devs can inform about the general idea of what they want for the more distant future of the game, but not too much.. as people will think what they said is set on stone, and people don't understand if you don't/can't stick to the plan.
The best thing is to just inform about your upcoming update, general ideas of what's gonna be included, because at least there's some security here since the development is already deeper.
And that's what Kunos did so far, they informed us in May/June what's going to be the general plans for v1.2 and the bonus pack. Then along the weeks, they released smaller piece of information about more specific things, either in the forum, facebook/twitter.
In either form, not everyone is gonna be happy about, but most of the it is gonna end up being talked on official forums, steam, reddit, facebook, twitter... maybe what's left is just a more central place of info, but even then just the most interested will be aware, because not every visits ac forums, not everybody uses steam forums, facebook/twitter.. so no matter how much you try, people aren't going to hear about your plans then come to the forum and complain the game is not being updated.
What to do in this situation is just to give them a link to where that update info is, or explain them what's going to be in the upcoming update.
Stefano is live streaming coding and Q&A sessions; how much more transparent can a dev team be? He is literally going through the live chat and giving honest, no BS answers to just about every question.
I'm no software developer per se, but in my job i am developing solutions.
Guess what?
I have deadlines too.
And i hold them, because, that's my job - planning resources, estimating workload and then calling a realistic date at which it will be done.
If i couldn't tell IF or WHEN i finish the request, i would have lost my job already.
The strange thing about game development is that for most games it seems like it's a completely loose and non managed development, without milestones and deadlines.
Like everybody running around in the office, drinking coffee, playing video games and not working.
I of course know game development is extremely stressful and great people work there, but when it comes to planing and management, i get the impression that those positions aren't really handled correctly.
The thing is AC is not a software for professional clients*. It is a game software that was already released and everything promised for the product you bought was delivered already. Now it is in open development, where devs can sorta get creative with where the path goes.
*The AC software tech (not the game product) is also for professional clients, where those clients may have certain requests, so I guess Kunos is able to cope with that as well as you are in your job.
But here we are talking about a game product that was already released, and there aren't any deadlines they have to meet for the people who already bought it and played it, only the console release has to be in Q1 2016 (I think).
And that brings me to: Kunos has and has had plans for AC throughout the times, because announcing lamborghini and other licenses, announcing console version release, didn't happen in one day. They kinda committed themselves last year to laser-scan Zandvoort, Catalunya, Brands Hatch. And their plan to laser-scan those tracks was just fulfilled recently.
The car and track licenses are their long distance plans, and everything revolves around them, with possible content packs. And the game software development is the result of that, they have short-medium plans for game updates to be included with those content packs. And more than that, this kind of work also has a certain path and deadlines, because what we see is being added in terms of updates and content, is also to be packaged and released for the consoles in 2016.
The new server system/api Stefano has been creating in the last times that gives more customizations to the community, can also be the start for a more detailed path of where the game goes, which will evolve in more features and improvements for online and offline.
*The AC software tech (not the game product) is also for professional clients, where those clients may have certain requests, so I guess Kunos is able to cope with that as well as you are in your job.
But here we are talking about a game product that was already released, and there aren't any deadlines they have to meet for the people who already bought it and played it, only the console release has to be in Q1 2016 (I think).
And that brings me to: Kunos has and has had plans for AC throughout the times, because announcing lamborghini and other licenses, announcing console version release, didn't happen in one day. They kinda committed themselves last year to laser-scan Zandvoort, Catalunya, Brands Hatch. And their plan to laser-scan those tracks was just fulfilled recently.
The car and track licenses are their long distance plans, and everything revolves around them, with possible content packs. And the game software development is the result of that, they have short-medium plans for game updates to be included with those content packs. And more than that, this kind of work also has a certain path and deadlines, because what we see is being added in terms of updates and content, is also to be packaged and released for the consoles in 2016.
The new server system/api Stefano has been creating in the last times that gives more customizations to the community, can also be the start for a more detailed path of where the game goes, which will evolve in more features and improvements for online and offline.
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When talking about Kunos or ISI, they are highly dependent on one main developer (Stefano or Gjon) so, if they wake up in a bad mood and decide going away to tibet, probably nothing could take the project on. These guys must find some "clones" in order to develop faster, but I understood from some Kunos interviews that hiring people is more a talent and/or training problem than money sometimes. IMO, AC is going well but some minor issues, or lack of dev, can split the community and thats bad for a sim that intend to go serious on multiplayer platform. I really like rF2 also, but it took so long to dev that as result the graphics engine is totally outdated.
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Inappropriate Language tye again
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I'm not so sure.
I think it's mostly the inverted motivational model we see all too often these days.
Make big plans.
Get money.
Fail to fulfil big vision, but perpetually promise it.
Start selling more product for an unfinished platform to generate revenue to finish the underlying platform to original vision (a sub-model that is still revenue ahead of content)
While customers are happy to pay up front for products, then they're gonna get poor performance from the producers, and poor delivery on the original vision, in my opinion.
Which is exactly why I'm waiting for AC to be 'finished' to the vision they promised, before I'll spend any more money on DLC and the like.
Well, that's advertisement.
Just like we see on TV every day.
By now i hope everybody is educated enough to know that what the marketing department says always has to be taken with a truckload of salt.
(I too think that this shouldn't be needed, but that's just how it currently is)
But if i don't know what's happening (or more important: what's not happening and why), then of course i'm way more likely to jump on speculations or even the hate wagon.
Just like we see on TV every day.
By now i hope everybody is educated enough to know that what the marketing department says always has to be taken with a truckload of salt.
(I too think that this shouldn't be needed, but that's just how it currently is)
But if i don't know what's happening (or more important: what's not happening and why), then of course i'm way more likely to jump on speculations or even the hate wagon.
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