Frank...David....Eric...Marc...Anybody?

[Hanal]

I am just wondering if this game is still a potential buy, as even my usual optimism about this title is starting to wan...........

Regards

JP

[wodin]

My optimism has more or less vanished.

[sol_invictus]

I'm closer to suicidal![:(] You see, I payed for this game when it was Trench on July 28th, 2002 in order to get free shipping. I did the same with ACW4. I'm sure that the games will eventually be released but my God, this is getting mildly annoying.[:@]

[anarchyintheuk]

Don't have money invested in it, but I've been waiting for years for a real WW1 computer game. I've kinda put this on the mental back burner tho.

[Hanal]

ORIGINAL: Arinvald

I'm closer to suicidal![:(] You see, I payed for this game when it was Trench on July 28th, 2002 in order to get free shipping. I did the same with ACW4. I'm sure that the games will eventually be released but my God, this is getting mildly annoying.[:@]

I know Frank said that all preorders will be honored, but if you compound the interest on the money you payed, you should get a second game free.....[:D]

[jchastain]

ORIGINAL: J P Falcon

ORIGINAL: Arinvald

I'm closer to suicidal![:(] You see, I payed for this game when it was Trench on July 28th, 2002 in order to get free shipping. I did the same with ACW4. I'm sure that the games will eventually be released but my God, this is getting mildly annoying.[:@]

I know Frank said that all preorders will be honored, but if you compound the interest on the money you payed, you should get a second game free.....[:D]

I find this to be completely curious. Was this a matrix product back in those days? I am a big supporter of this company and their products as I fit nichely into their target niche, but to accept pre-orders and then not have a product 3 years later is quite honestly management incompetance bordering on literally criminal behavior. Your patience should be rewarded and at this point I would hope/expect they would give you a free product as the minimum compensation for having to endure horribly mismanaged expectations and some of the worst project planning imaginable.

[Balthazar Gerards]

ORIGINAL: Arinvald

I'm closer to suicidal![:(] You see, I payed for this game when it was Trench on July 28th, 2002 in order to get free shipping. I did the same with ACW4. I'm sure that the games will eventually be released but my God, this is getting mildly annoying.[:@]

Yeah, I ordered it november '02 (when he was still ADANEC by himself) & paid by paypall. Since then i got another email, forgot my password and moved to another house so I can forget about my prepaid game. But what's most important (as already pointed out by so many): will the game actually appear some day?

[jchastain]

As I have said before, I am a fan of matrix. It is satisfying to know that the pre-orders were taken before their involvement. But they still owe you guys an explanation.

Any admin want to wade into this one? I believe the record here needs to be set straight both expeditiously and definitively.

[Hanal]

Well back when Frank moved his Adanac game over to here, he made it very clear that all preorders will be honored....as far as the delay in the game, it went through an overhaul once MATRIX staff became involved which caused the first major delay. In the most recent (by recent I mean 2 months ago) posts by Frank, the game was just about ready for beta testing. That is when this site basically grinded to a halt. It was mentioned here that Frank became involved with the other Napoleon game which Matrix is producing, hence another delay...

The main thing that bothers people is that there is absolutely no communication from anyone about this game.....I purposely titled this post with their names, and I have seen some of them post in other forum topics so they must have at least run their eyes down the screen and saw this post, and yet still silence. Now I realize this is only a game, and though I almost preordered it I never got around to it, so a simple shrug will be generated by me if the game never sees the light of day. However, those who did preorder have more of a right to question what is going on than I do, and hopefully everyone will be provided a response...some day...

[jchastain]

Yep. I agree with everything that you said JP. It is just a game and as a company they need a degree of wiggle room to set priorities and adjust their product mix as makes sense. Ordinarily I believe in giving a company a significant degree of latitude. Even though I may wish for or even ask for more information, I understand that sometimes it is not in their best interest to do so or they may not respond simply because they themselves don't know. But all of that changes when they accept payment for a product. At that point, they are assuming a legal liability and promising to provide a certain good or service. When Matrix acquired rights to the game, I believe they assumed that liability. Hopefully they did so knowingly. If Matrix is adjusting priorities and reassigning resources and thereby preventing people from receiving the good that they have purchased then they are without question a participant in the transaction. But there can be no doubt that someone owes an explanation to people who paid for something 3 YEARS AGO and have yet to receive the product they PURCHASED.

It does not surprise me that there has not yet been a response. Were I in their position, I would want to be sure I had my facts as straight as possible before coming in here to reset expectations. But any respect for basic integrity demands that some explanation be given and I expect no less from Matrix. They are ordinarily a very good bunch. But to have even allowed things to progress this far, they should be ashamed.

[Hanal]

I wonder how many preordered this game when it was still ADANAC?....the forum base here is very small, and so far, only Arinvald and B G have acknowledged that they preordered...my guess is that it is a small number but hopefully they are aware where their game went to...

[Paul Vebber]

If pre-orders were made to ADANAC before we got involved, that is between those that pre-ordered and ADANAC.

Its our policy not to do pre-orders in these situations in order to preclude this sort of issue from arising.

Other than honoring the commitment, when the game is completed and taking a lesson learned forward, its an unfortunate situation we recommend developers avoid in the future.

[sol_invictus]

Oh I'm not bitching at anyone; especially Matrix, since the pre-order was made to Adanac and not Matrix. Hell, I'm not even mad at Frank; I would just like to hear from him what the status of the game is. If it is released in Aug-Sep; great; if later, well, I'll be here.[:)]

[Paul Vebber]

We appreciate your understanding - I'm sure Frank feels badly that such a situation has arisen. The best situation is hoping folks take the understanding attitude you have and consider that multiyear projects by basically individuals-as-developers, don't progress always progress in the manner desired. When others then get invovled it becomes complicated.

Your understanding in this is greatly appreciated!

[scriibe]

I've been following this forum since -- well, how long has it been up? I am still hopefull the game will be released. Given the scarcity of WWI titles and the quality of Frank's past designs, it should be worth the wait.

[Fred98]

ORIGINAL: Paul Vebber
I'm sure Frank feels badly that such a situation has arisen.

But, what is the situation?

-

[Hanal]

The situation is that an August Update thread will be posted in one more day!......[;)]

[Erik Rutins]

I've just posted a brief update in the thread I moved over from the General forum. Sorry I don't have more info at the moment, but while it's not at the point of imminent release, things are continuing to move along.

[*Lava*]

ORIGINAL: Paul Vebber

Other than honoring the commitment, when the game is completed and taking a lesson learned forward, its an unfortunate situation we recommend developers avoid in the future.

Hi!

Wasn't the game in development before Frank signed on with Matrix.

Not sure I understand what is the lesson to be learned.

Ray (alias Lava)

[Hanal]

I think the lesson learned is to make sure existing game designs no longer have any pre orders attached to them before Matrix takes on the title....my guess (and this is only a guess) is that future agreements where preorders are involved will include the need for the developer to refund all preorder money, before Matrix takes them on...anyway, that is my speculation on what lesson was learned....