Early September Update

[nukkxx5058]

senarios? we dontcare about senarios ! just give us a full campaign, that's all what we need. If you want tto develop additional scenarios, to it in coming patches.

I thing this game should be released now. It has been annonced so many times in the paset...

[timewalker03]

Nah! I am for sucking up to Marshall and his play test team and making them feel good about themselves. Then when nothing is being done we can give them a free pass and defend their honor when someone posts negatively about them.

Or maybe a good swift kick in the pants is in order. You choose which way to go. Patience is over rated.

[Mark Breed]

After all, you get more results with insults than praise!

Regards,
Mark

[ASHBERY76]

Matrix should sack the bloke and give it to someone capable like Frank Hunter to finish.

[gazfun]

ORIGINAL: Mark Breed

After all, you get more results with insults than praise!

Regards,
Mark

Seems you havent priased enough people then, to know the differance[:-]

[donkuchi19]

ORIGINAL: dinsdale

ORIGINAL: gazfun

ORIGINAL: Thresh

If it's a matter of more playtesters, I know more than a few people (including me) willing to volunteer their time.

At this point I think the game has come to far to be canceled, but then I ain't the guy writing the checks....

YMMV,
Thresh

I doubt whether your attitude to the "niche game at best" in another forum will do you any favours actually. LOL

Given that the game is >4 years late and suffering from a shortage of testers, I should think any sane development group wouldn't be fussy about some forum comments provided the person can test.

Then again.....

I don't really recall Matrix giving a release date 4 years ago. I have only seen it said that it was in development. The only places that I saw release dates were at Amazon and EBgames. They make up their own release dates all of the time and they seem to be wrong most of the time. Just give it a rest. Complaining isn't going to make the game come out any quicker.

[StCyr]

I don't really recall Matrix giving a release date 4 years ago.

Not to recall does not mean that there was no release date... but well, 5 years ago [;)]

Matrix Games News Release

For Immediate Release

Press Contact:

David Heath

Matrix Games

davidh@matrixgames.com

Matrix Games and ADG To Bring Empires in Arms to the Computer!

Deal Signed to Develop Classic Napoleonic Wargame

Staten Island, NY, September 23rd, 2002 - Matrix Games and Australian Design Group (ADG: www.a-d-g.com.au ) are pleased to announce that the classic game of Napoleonic Grand Strategy, Empires In Arms, will be adapted for computer play with some new enhancements and features. Development is already well underway, with an expected release date of mid-2003.

[jchastain]

While I believe it is healthy to take "them" to task over the grossly missed estimates and continued foolish expectation management around this long delayed title, I do hope we all realize that no one can be more disappointed and frustrated with the delays and missteps than Matrix and the Dev team.  While we might like to play the game, they are trying to run a business.  They have their time and money invested in making this happen and every day of delay is a day with ongoing costs but no offsetting revenue.  I won't suggest that we cut the team slack because they likely deserve some of the grief they are getting here.  But the indignity seems a bit thick.  This isn't a conspiracy where they are secretly trying to keep us from getting this game.  They WANT us to have this game.  They would have LOVED to publish it three years ago, start making their money back and all gone off to do new projects.  The fact that it has been delayed for so long means that there have been a string of problems - some of which were certainly their fault and others that were almost equally certainly not.  Nothing gets this messed up from one cause alone.  And the fact that it hasn't been published can only mean that it is still in a state where releasing it would be worse for them than yet another delay - which is to say we really don't want it yet.
 
NOTE:  This is in response to no one person or message in particular, but rather to the overall mood that this thread seems to convey.

[StCyr]

I do hope we all realize that no one can be more disappointed and frustrated with the delays and missteps than Matrix and the Dev team. While we might like to play the game, they are trying to run a business.

well, just as Marshall is only part-time programmer, I expect him only to be part-time disappointed [:D]

And the fact that it hasn't been published can only mean that it is still in a state where releasing it would be worse for them than yet another delay

Well, perhapse Matrix will never release it, so I disagree with your "only mean"...

And indeed I wonder why to ask for a relase if it is for sure that any patch will also be done part-time, how to expect the suppport for this game will be any better than the development process itself ?
It is not very smart to ask for release at once.

[dinsdale]

ORIGINAL: donkuchi

I don't really recall Matrix giving a release date 4 years ago. I have only seen it said that it was in development. The only places that I saw release dates were at Amazon and EBgames. They make up their own release dates all of the time and they seem to be wrong most of the time. Just give it a rest. Complaining isn't going to make the game come out any quicker.

There was an infamous "we're close" post, and a pre-release slot on Gamespot. Followed by the inevitable "we have just a few more things to sort out" right after Christmas. Take a look in the forum, 11/12 2004. That was already a year after the first "close."

BTW, I know you probably can't read so well with that knee-jerk of yours, but I'm not complaining about the date. They can release it in 2008 or 2080 for all it matters.

[donkuchi19]

You can lay off the personal attacks. There was no knee-jerk reaction. I was making a statement that people should stop complaining that it hasn't been released yet. It won't make it come out any faster. I like coming here to check for updates, not people complaining non-stop.

I have been here since 2004 when I first found out about this game. Since this was announced, I have purchased many other excellent games from Matrix and I am willing to wait for this one as well.

[donkuchi19]

ORIGINAL: StCyr

I don't really recall Matrix giving a release date 4 years ago.

Not to recall does not mean that there was no release date... but well, 5 years ago [;)]

Matrix Games News Release

For Immediate Release

Press Contact:

David Heath

Matrix Games

davidh@matrixgames.com

Matrix Games and ADG To Bring Empires in Arms to the Computer!

Deal Signed to Develop Classic Napoleonic Wargame

Staten Island, NY, September 23rd, 2002 - Matrix Games and Australian Design Group (ADG: www.a-d-g.com.au ) are pleased to announce that the classic game of Napoleonic Grand Strategy, Empires In Arms, will be adapted for computer play with some new enhancements and features. Development is already well underway, with an expected release date of mid-2003.

That was posted before I came to these boards. It does say expected though [:D].

[nukkxx5058]

this wasn't the release announcement but the starting of the development ...

[StCyr]

ORIGINAL: nukkxx

this wasn't the release announcement but the starting of the development ...

Neither donkuchi nor me used the term "release announcement", we both spoke about a date mentioned for release. Funny to bring up this term only to find out it does not fit [;)]
And why do you know better about the timeline than Matrix, calling it "the start of development" while D. Heath wrote "Development is already well underway" (because a former project was used for it) ?

I dont think this is relevant by now, I just wanted to give donkuchi an info, the current problems are not based on this topic.

[jchastain]

ORIGINAL: nukkxx

this wasn't the release announcement but the starting of the development ...

Purely out of curiosity, I did a search on this forum for release predictions to see what the real history was. Here's what I found.

THIS post was the first I found, saying that he was "optimistic" for (but not guaranteeing) a release before the end of 2004.

By July of 2005, he was "hopeful to be finished in the next month or two" as stated HERE

By October of 2005, you could see the frustration as Marshall elected to stop providing HERE estimates because they were continuing to prove inaccurate.

He continue to not prove updates except for an update HERE that served only to reinforce that there would not be any more updates until there was more definitive news.

The real frustration here didn't begin to build until THIS post in March of this year when the long silence was broken to say that release was "very close".

Since then there have been various additional updates, but I'll omit that history as it is likely well known to the majority here.

Anyway, I just thought the actual history was interesting. I do think it is worth noting though that Matrix consistently leaves all the history out there - good and bad - for potential customers to review. I have to respect that level of transparency.

[David Heath]

Hi Guys
 
Look we are not trying to hide anything and this is why we do it this way.  Like real life thing need to be replanned and work on and this is what you are seeing here.  I also fully understand those who are upset over the LONG delay and we openly admit this being a lot more of a project then we gave it.  Remember this was signed back in our more youn and newbie stage [:D].
 
All kidding aside we are working on this very hard and whatever we decide you should here it here first from me.
 
David
 
 

[Gil R.]

I generally make it my policy not to post in other developers' subforums, limiting anything I have to say to the FOF or COG subforums, the General Discussion area, or the pillow I occasionally scream into. However, after reading the posts here from the past two weeks or so, I thought that I would share a developer's insights briefly. My main insight, based on being involved in developing two games and several significant patches -- including one patch that appeared months and months after I had originally made optimistic promises about its near-completion -- is that those of you on the outside often have no idea of what is going on on the inside and why release dates are being pushed back. Giving advice to this team on how to finish the game, therefore, is a waste of time, since you really don't know the exact nature of the hold-ups the team has encountered. Although I have had zero interactions with anyone involved in this project (other than David Heath, of course), I have little doubt that the delays are caused by the desire of the development team and testers to release a product worthy of the game on which it is based. Trust me, unless you've been on the inside of such a project, you really can't appreciate the sorts of things that can push back release times -- things that may or may not be in the developers' control. (And being one of this subforum's ubiquitous computer programmers only partly qualifies one to have a sense for this range of potential issues that can crop up.)

So, you might just want to consider these points before your next angry post.

[SamuraiProgrmmr]

Hear Hear!!!
 
 

[denshiblocks]

ORIGINAL: Gil R.
Giving advice to this team on how to finish the game, therefore, is a waste of time,

finishing this game is a waste of time.

i have worked in the videogame industry at Electronic Arts and Activision, so my opinions while they are justopinions are still tempered with experience.

heres a question for david: how many testers are currently working on this game? how many programmers are working on the bug fixes?

[Mark Breed]

ORIGINAL: gazfun

ORIGINAL: Mark Breed

After all, you get more results with insults than praise!

Regards,
Mark

Seems you havent priased enough people then, to know the differance[:-]

I am being sarcastic!