Hyperion wrote:

(how nice, AI exploiting bugs )

Hmm, so were they just taking advantage of the free ride, or did they actively seek it out? The first one is interesting, the latter is downright scary.

Scary, but entirely possible. I've had it happen.

So, as you may have picked up on, at the last writing of the devlog I was indeed starting filming. All was going great. Until I noticed an AI fighter blazing past me at nearly the speed of light I figured, you know, I'll play that one off and investigate later Now is not the time for perfection. Kept filming. A minute or two later a frigate did the same. Except, you know, it's a frigate. Severely more visible Then another. And another. By now it was clear that this couldn't be ignored. Stopped filming, and it's been one of those days ever since

And the director shouts: CUT!!!!!!!!!!!!

Haha.. would have been funny if it had been a live stream..


Small fighter zips past: "Whoah, what was that..?"

Large frigate zips past: "ARGH! WTF WAS THAT?!"

Space is suddenly filled with a hail of ships...

lol

Josh needs a blooper reel for after release. It would be hilarious for us at least.

It would appear that Josh has stumbled upon a variant of the "6 foot" rule.

Those of us that work in IT and Service Desk related tasks may be well aware of that nagging problem that consistently manifests itself up until the point when a suitably qualified person comes within 6 feet of the troubled computer, upon which everything starts working perfectly.

In this case, the symptoms are reversed - everything going right until the desired audience approaches. There must be some magnifying virtual potential energy being emitted by the screen capture software...

One way to make testing over longer timeperiods easier without taking up all your time would be have someone else do it, for example to start the beta soon(tm)...




If you deliver a working code each 1-2 weeks for testing you would see problems like this reported within a day.

Ixos wrote:One way to make testing over longer timeperiods easier without taking up all your time would be have someone else do it, for example to start the beta soon(tm)...




If you deliver a working code each 1-2 weeks for testing you would see problems like this reported within a day.

The problem with the beta is that people will immediately start making videos and journalists who have kickstarted LT will start reviewing the beta and there will be loads of people who won't understand that it's a WIP and whine about no gameplay.

Vartul wrote: The problem with the beta is that people will immediately start making videos and journalists who have kickstarted LT will start reviewing the beta and there will be loads of people who won't understand that it's a WIP and whine about no gameplay.

You mean like happened with the Prototype that was released already and people even were allowed to make videos?

If an NDA is included there wont be videos or reviews of the Beta if that is a problem.

Vartul wrote: The problem with the beta is that people will immediately start making videos and journalists who have kickstarted LT will start reviewing the beta and there will be loads of people who won't understand that it's a WIP and whine about no gameplay.

That some people have forgotten what Beta means isn't really something Josh can do anything about. Also, no serious journalist would start making official reviews of an obvious beta, more of just first impressions.

The easiest way to cope with this is to splatter BETA in one of the corners of the screen in big letters. That way even a person with the least attention to detail can see it's a Beta. I agree though, Josh needs to release a beta version and let people start to test with different systems, only then can you iron out all the bugs. It should also help to crystallise his mind into realising that at some point a full release needs to happen !

I think a lot of people look at what's happening with the dev videos as a microcosm of the game as a whole, there is always just one more thing that needs doing, one thing that could be better, but at some point you have to bite the bullet and go for it. Draw the line in the sand and say, that's it.

Ixos wrote: You mean like happened with the Prototype that was released already and people even were allowed to make videos?

If an NDA is included there wont be videos or reviews of the Beta if that is a problem.

I wasn't asked to sign an NDA, and it wasn't part of my pledge anywhere. We are also talking about open beta forums with no hidden bits. NDA is probably not going to happen, just like how LTP had a public forum and videos made of it too.
Josh needs publicity more than he could afford to lose it by caging in the game, and anyway, based on what we see from him we are actually going to see a beta in the traditional sense - a feature complete release.
Besides, I'd be concerned with a lackluster beta release too, because it predicts the actual game pretty well.

i'd enjoy seeing the lightspeed fighters in the video at some point

"and now, one of the many errors i've seen during the development of warp rails"

*SWOOOSH*

NDA would be counter productive in my opinion. You want people creating videos, which in turn creates publicity which in turn drives sales. The more people that stream or make videos the better.

Bugbear wrote:It would appear that Josh has stumbled upon a variant of the "6 foot" rule.

Those of us that work in IT and Service Desk related tasks may be well aware of that nagging problem that consistently manifests itself up until the point when a suitably qualified person comes within 6 feet of the troubled computer, upon which everything starts working perfectly.

In this case, the symptoms are reversed - everything going right until the desired audience approaches. There must be some magnifying virtual potential energy being emitted by the screen capture software...

This variant is called "Demo Mode", wherein a product works optimally until put in demo mode (hence the name) to demonstrate its abilities to the appropriate audience. It happens enough that it's actually a joke among programmers in certain circles - does your dog sit when you tell it to until you're trying to show it off? The dog is in demo mode.

Philip Coutts wrote:The easiest way to cope with this is to splatter BETA in one of the corners of the screen in big letters. That way even a person with the least attention to detail can see it's a Beta.

You'd think. :\ Remember that YouTubers are notorious for not even bothering to read the description - or even other comments - before leaving. Somehow they have evolved (or devolved) to where they've become incapable of reading written text, and can only mindlessly watch videos and comment - most often with critical or derogatory remarks.

since when do YouTube comments drive sales? video reviews sure, but comments?

Hyperion wrote:since when do YouTube comments drive sales? video reviews sure, but comments?

Technically, any form of media can affect a customer's opinion of a product - reviews, videos, articles, comments, etc. Humans are social creatures, and more than that, the majority of us try to "fit the mold", so to speak - we try to blend in with those around us. If a person read enough negative things about a product from other viewers of it, they would eventually shift their opinion on it as well, though how much required for such a change varies greatly between individuals. As you've often said before - if there's anything that's good at changing, it's the human mind. In the long run, nothing will stop some idiot from posting ignorant comments on your videos. Taking necessary precautions is a good idea, but there's no way to stop all of them, so it's best not to fret too much over a naysayer here or there.

I think I split off onto several different tangents while replying to your question, but I also feel I answered it in full, so I'm not too bothered by my digression.