So what is a development life cycle?

[xmlviking]

Question: What is a development life cycle?

In my personal experience, as a developer, I would have a different response for different products. Shrink Wrap products have a much larger development life cycle as juxtapositioned with business applications.

But why would someone diliberately decide to wait years and years on there product. I can't think of a single product that has survied the market space Game or Business Application for that matter, that has pushed the 2 year + timeframe. I mean from a cost perspective how do you pay for it?

If I had a software development company that borrowed millions of dollars and then produced nothing worth a shit in 2 years I would fire them. But then again if I had core group of dedicated programmers and staff that were willing to forgo exhorbinate salaries for years on end...because they had a vision....and then waited to realease that 'artistic vision' on the world when the time was right...

What I'm getting at is that Valve and Gabe have grown to be something of an occult. Why would any company not produce a product in it's flagship line for years is beyond me. Case in point "unreal" ....

Unreal has begun to devoure the youth of halflife...in 4 years you go from 6th grader to 10th grader right? You have an entire " 7 computer years for every earth year" generation. What valve will have to do is introduce halflife all over again to a new generation!

I'm very happy with all the incarnations of unreal...it's a different game entirely...no story...just action and team play. But what is the internet all about? TEAM PLAY! My point here is that Half Life had better bring it's 'A' game to the online multi-player world or they will fall flat after the intial surge of purchases.

you are missing the boat Gabe and Valve....get them out early and often...the average 16 year old these days has the attention span of the next demo....


Shock is good...its ok....but these days...it's not everything.

p.s. if you need a good beta tester.....


Signed ....... gordon's maniacal twin nimrod.

XmlViking

 

[epsil0n]

well said... i agree with alot of what you wrote.. but keep in mind that Valve is still a baby.. i mean Half Life was their first product and its engine was a licensed one. it took them roughly five years to make their engine, and after they presented their engine and e3 content at the expo someone had said something to the effect of "and now were focusing mainly on content" ...so theyre new, sure.. but at least theyre catching on fast as far as modification communities go. (they still gotta work on the whole radio silence and Steam's updating methods as well as security. ::slaps forehead:: .....outlook....::rolls eyes:

-Epsil0n :thumbs:

 

[Brian Damage]

So you think that Half Life 2 should be primarily multiplayer, and that Half life games should be released every year or so, Xml|Viking?

 

[xmlviking]

So you think that Half Life 2 should be primarily multiplayer, and that Half life games should be released every year or so, Xml|Viking?

'Touche'

What I'm saying is that they need to decide on what they do?

Now think about it... Is half life a Story Based "Interactive Scenairo" game?

Or is it the most enriching first person multy player interactive intercourse you have ever seen? *ooops....fruedian thing there"....

What I'm saying is that Valve and team Half-life need to decide what they do?
Do they do chicken and do chicken right? Hopefully we can tell the difference between tasty wheat and chicken.....


Eric

 

[Brian Damage]

Err... It seems to me that it's primarily a single player game that they want to use to tell a story and give the player a fun experience. We know nothing at all about the multiplayer.

Or, if you meant the original: Half Life is primarily single player, too. The better multiplayer Half Life-based games were mods.

 

[xmlviking]

Err... It seems to me that it's primarily a single player game that they want to use to tell a story and give the player a fun experience. We know nothing at all about the multiplayer.

Or, if you meant the original: Half Life is primarily single player, too. The better multiplayer Half Life-based games were mods.

so your are saying that at it's roots Half Life is a panoramic view of Gordon's life. Ok I agree....but.....

Is the story worth an extra 3 years? Unreal and company turn out stuff in less then 1 year for each build, let alone multiple.

Eric

 

[Brian Damage]

Err... they finished the engine in september 2002, and they've been doing content and the story since about then, according to some of the interviews.

This is the first build of Source. The next few games from VALVe might be released at somewhat shorter intervals, if they just update Source.

Anyway, if it's a good story, then I'd say, yes, it is worth a lot of time, even if that length of time is 3+ years.

 

[MultiVaC]

There's a huge difference between churning out purely multiplayer titles and creating an interactive story-driven game. I think that a lot of people on these forums would agree that Unreal games are relatively shallow in comparison to HL. Now that's ok, but I'm very reluctant to buy a game without a decent singleplayer. I got Wolfenstien: Enemy Territory for free, and I downloaded DoD, NS and CS plus many more as mods for HL, and I liked them a lot better than UT2003, which is a retail-only product.

 

[Mr-Fusion]

Yes, these huge intervals between game releases are justified. Frustrating and damn annoying for us fans when we're told they exist years before release......but in the end they are worth it. Though that's not a ticket to screw us around like the DNF team do.....

I'd MUCH rather Valve take a huge risk on one game than release generic pap every year, like the Unreal team seem to be doing.