Matrix Games Forums

1.03 still isn't up despite it being announced on 6/17 as having a target date of "next Monday."

Now I like Matrix, and I own and play a lot of Matrix games and I have for a long time, but lately I am thinking that maybe Matrix is Greek for "behind schedule."

If I ran late on delivery dates on my consulting work, let alone on my regular job, then I'd quickly be without customers.

Matrix, you need to put more effort into timeliness. Excuses don't feed the bulldog, and they don't appease the non-fanboy customers. Now I'm sure that the fanboys will rise up and make marvelous excuses for everything being late and/or cancelled and blast me for posting this, but that won't change the facts of the matter: being consistently late just doesn't cut it. I'm not posting this out of meanness or frustration or anger, this is intended purely as constructive criticism, but as a long time customer and an owner of many of your products I'm telling you that you really need to make some improvements here. It's hurting your bottom line more than you think.

http://www.grapheine.com/bombaytv/index.php?module=see&lang=uk&code=ff6d676e202e709d3a16ffe7fd5976f3

The solution is simple: Not mention release dates until the actual release.

ORIGINAL: Steely Glint
Matrix, you need to put more effort into timeliness. Excuses don't feed the bulldog, and they don't appease the non-fanboy customers. Now I'm sure that the fanboys will rise up and make marvelous excuses for everything being late and/or cancelled and blast me for posting this, but that won't change the facts of the matter: being consistently late just doesn't cut it. I'm not posting this out of meanness or frustration or anger, this is intended purely as constructive criticism, but as a long time customer and an owner of many of your products I'm telling you that you really need to make some improvements here. It's hurting your bottom line more than you think.

Release quality comes before release timeliness in our priority list.

We've found that it's far more detrimental to customer enjoyment and our bottom line to get something out earlier that isn't actually ready. Obviously, its nice to have both but this isn't a perfect world and we do have to make choices and trade-offs when faced with reality.

With that said, the release is already in motion. I'm waiting for the final green light based on the installer we finished on Monday. Only a last minute quality issue would delay it further.

Regards,

- Erik

In the meantime, this is giving me an opportunity to get to re-establish myself
as head of household (even though it may be too hot to wear the pants! heh).
I am a patient fellow and when it gets released (I will pop the cork off of a nice
vintage Wine as well! c'est le magnifique!).
 
After all, c'est le guerre! [;)]

Red Zinfendel, I hope.

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins
Release quality comes before release timeliness in our priority list.

Erik, you do realize that people get fired and businesses go under for adhering to that philosophy? And that getting a reputation for being consistently late can be a kiss of death in the business world? I like you guys and what you do, and I wish you well, but as a customer a consistent lack of timeliness gets way old way fast.

The outcome here? I gave up on waiting for the patch and bought another game elsewhere. You might think about how many other people do the same thing and never, ever post about it...and what that may be doing to your bottom line.

To paraphrase George Patton, a good patch today is better than a perfect patch tomorrow.

Come on guys, l've been wargaming with boardgames and figures for almost 40 years before switching over to PC games, these games are terrific value for money and the support is top notch.
Been PBEM WitP and HPS campaigns for the last last 4 years and get between 2 to 4 hours per turn most days, sometimes all day.
Decided to buy this UPGRADED version as the game still has amazing graphics, but more importantly with all the new enhancements were moving forward in the right direction, and with hints of more to come.  

ORIGINAL: Steely Glint

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins
Release quality comes before release timeliness in our priority list.

...

The outcome here? I gave up on waiting for the patch and bought another game elsewhere. You might think about how many other people do the same thing and never, ever post about it...and what that may be doing to your bottom line.

The flip side of that? Matrix releases a buggy game/patch before it's ready, Matrix is deluged with problem reports, the game looks bad in the forums, and other people decide not to buy it. It's a tradeoff, and Matrix probably knows that patiently waiting and "doing it right" outweighs releasing prematurely to an arbitrary deadline.

(Worse still, what about the games sold in stores to people who don't visit these forums? The general public buys buggy games, decides the company turns out low-quality crapware, and never again buys any Matrix product.)

In short, I suspect Matrix knows what it is doing, and knows that in the end, commitment to QA over meeting deadlines increases sales in the long run.

a good patch today is better than a perfect patch tomorrow.

Wrong, given that the next patch is years away. Delaying and updating during the delay was the best thing Jason/Matrix could have done. There are other more important things in life to be worrying about than a ...patch.

Anyway, see you later, I hope you enjoy your new game.

cheers

Sadly, this is true.....


"The flip side of that? Matrix releases a buggy game/patch before it's ready, Matrix is deluged with problem reports, the game looks bad in the forums, and other people decide not to buy it. It's a tradeoff, and Matrix probably knows that patiently waiting and "doing it right" outweighs releasing prematurely to an arbitrary deadline.

(Worse still, what about the games sold in stores to people who don't visit these forums? The general public buys buggy games, decides the company turns out low-quality crapware, and never again buys any Matrix product.) "

I'm not as 'picky', nothing is perfect, ever! But in more than one instance, this exact sort of 'delay' and release of 'buggy' software has happened to people in the past. I have several 'friends' that I tried to get into JTCS. They won't do it for exactly what is going on with 1.03 right now, and they 'point' it out to me! I like the game, I'm willing to 'accept' whatever 'support' comes. Many are not! And these are not people that just started playing the games.

Dennis [;)]

It's worth keeping in mind that while v1.03 is a fantastic update, it was not for the most part a "required" update. It's largely an update that adds on to the game an addresses many wish list items that never worked or were absent in the final versions of the originals. so it moves the game forward to a level it hasn't been at before and this is part of why it has been a challenging update to finish.

It has certainly taken some time, but we feel that the point of updating these re-releases is to give you better versions of them for the long haul. The goal is that this will be the Campaign Series compilation you can still play 10 years from now. I realize the delays are making some of you unhappy - I'm not sure why playing v1.02 isn't allright for you, but we are going as fast as we can while still maintaining quality.

Regards,

- Erik

Eric and Jason and all participants in this process,
 
I have been playing the new version, from the members area, quite a bit, and having a ball.  Just enough change to see a new unit in a generated scenario, once in awhile.  I have liked this game from my first taste, Talonsoft, and am delighted it is getting the support provided.  This is a game I have played for years, and, yes, I think I will be playing it ten years from now.
 
Thanks to all, for V1.03, and for the great forums, and your patience with us.
 
Chuck

Steely Glint
 
Im sure you will be complaining once the patch is out anyway..you remind me of one of those customers that can never be made happy...A patch fixes a glitch in a game....this is an upgrade so its like getting EF 3, WF 3 and RS 3 for free! Why dont u take a nice walk in a forest and count some trees while you wait, your negative attitude is not needed nor welcome..As far as Im concerned matrix can take another 6 weeks to release the upgrade and I would be fine.
 
Have a nice day
 
Osiris
 
 

ORIGINAL: osiris

Steely Glint

Im sure you will be complaining once the patch is out anyway..you remind me of one of those customers that can never be made happy...A patch fixes a glitch in a game....this is an upgrade so its like getting EF 3, WF 3 and RS 3 for free! Why dont u take a nice walk in a forest and count some trees while you wait, your negative attitude is not needed nor welcome..As far as Im concerned matrix can take another 6 weeks to release the upgrade and I would be fine.

Have a nice day

Osiris

Typical fanboy response. You should be ashamed of yourself.

HI
 
Yes I am a fan of CS..hardcore not quite..but I will plead guilty that I wanted matrix to delay the patch so that the graphics update could be completed rather than waiting for 2 years and I wasnt the only one. I agree with Erik..quality is better. Theres absolutely nothing wrong with the 1.02 version
 
Osiris

Typical fanboy response. You should be ashamed of yourself.

you still here?  Does your new game have bugs?  [:)]

is it true v1.04 comes with a free pizza and beer coupon?thats what i heard anyway.

ORIGINAL: Steely Glint

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins
Release quality comes before release timeliness in our priority list.

Erik, you do realize that people get fired and businesses go under for adhering to that philosophy? And that getting a reputation for being consistently late can be a kiss of death in the business world?

There are no universal laws, in the gaming industry I'd say it's more damaging for a company to release a patch that adds new bugs than to be late with a patch. I'm afraid that this criticism will enforce the rule made up by Johan from Paradox Interactive - not giving a release date at all and not allowing people to ask about a release date...

Folks, please do not pile on Steely Glint. I've been on the other side of game updates many times and I understand the impatience.

Borsook - yes, that's probably the real lesson but between us and our developers, we can never quite keep quiet so I doubt this will realistically happen. We're just too excited to share what we're working on. [;)]