A Moo3 Reject

Loser · #1 June 10th, 2003, 03:47 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Atrocities:
How is it possable that one guy, Aaron, working on his own can invent such a game as SEIV whereas a team of "motivated" people working at QS could only come up with a lame assed game like MOO3?

There is a word for this. I have heard it called Guruware, though I cannot find that term in Google, so it must not exist. While Guruware tends to have limitations, if it is done right a Guruware application is the only place you will find elegant code anymore.

Since the Algorithm, Application, and Solution are all under the control of a single individual, there are no communication issues, no short-sighted managerial decisions, and nothing to cloud the unity of vision and purpose.

The limitations of Guruware are found in scaling and maintainability. Since it is the work of one person, scaling the solution up to support the amount of features commonly found in Bloatware, or to service a larger number of Users, a larger quantity of data, or to run on a larger number of processors challenges the inherent limitations of mortal men. In addition to that, the author is human and things happen to individual humans.

As well, the author tends to be an inflexible control freak who refuses to bend to the will of his Users and views his code, and the decisions he made in that code, as sacrosanct and above question. After all, he wrote it and it works. Should another body come into possession of the code they may have trouble troubleshooting, rewriting, or even understanding it. Interestingly, Aaron and SE IV do not seem to suffer this issue: Aaron has allowed others to change the way his game works and I cannot think of a more flexible game.

Erax · #2 June 10th, 2003, 04:09 PM

Aaron listens to his customers. Then he gives them what they ask for.

I suspect he also listens to his testers, which puts him ahead of 99% of the game companies out there (game companies in general, not just computer game companies).

raynfala · #3 June 10th, 2003, 05:06 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Chief Engineer Erax:
Hey, let's look at the bright side - maybe the MoO license will become so cheap that a small, high-quality developer can buy it and make a halfway decent MoO 4.

With the reception that MOO3 has generated, we could each kick $5.00 into the kitty and buy the license outright!!!

It would make a nice birthday present for Aaron, wouldn't it? He could mount it on his wall like a hunting trophy...

--Raynfala

raynfala · #4 June 10th, 2003, 05:11 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Chief Engineer Erax:
Have you noticed how no one ever asks about the 'cheat codes' in SEIV ? Have you noticed how the opposite of that (how to make the AI smarter; how to make the game harder) generates so much traffic here ?

sarcasm mode: on

could somebody tell me were i can get an app to give all my ships and fleet max exper.

thanx

sarcasm mode: off

--Raynfala

Slick · #5 June 10th, 2003, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Atrocities:

How is it possable that one guy, Aaron, working on his own can invent such a game as SEIV whereas a team of "motivated" people working at QS could only come up with a lame assed game like MOO3?

That's why you never see a statue of a committee.

Slick.

Iggiboo · #6 June 10th, 2003, 06:19 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by raynfala:

quote:
Originally posted by Chief Engineer Erax:
Hey, let's look at the bright side - maybe the MoO license will become so cheap that a small, high-quality developer can buy it and make a halfway decent MoO 4.

With the reception that MOO3 has generated, we could each kick $5.00 into the kitty and buy the license outright!!!

It would make a nice birthday present for Aaron, wouldn't it? He could mount it on his wall like a hunting trophy...

--Raynfala

I think 5 dollars is over pricing that series, don't you think? Maybe 30 cents from the couch and a few paper clips....

Erax · #7 June 10th, 2003, 06:34 PM

Dredging up another interesting post from this thread's history :

Quote:

Originally posted by Ack:
Side question. Have computer games(PC) been getting steadily worse in quality, originality, and playability or am I getting old? There have always been bad games released, but it seems recently (Last 5 years or so) they have gotten much worse.

Check Greg Costikyan's
Game Design page. It's a bit too fast-paced for me but he comes up with a new theory every week as to why the computer game industry is going downhill.