[MUD-Dev] Jeff's Rant: A World Full of Wheel-Makers

[Brian Hook]

At 06:42 PM 5/22/01 -0400, Dave Rickey wrote:

> Granted, but the list of games burned by that "throw out the code"
> approach starts with Daikatana and goes on at great length.  A lot
> of companies assumed (yes, assumed rather than read what the
> liscense actually said) that they could start development for the Q1
> engine and port to Q2.

I find very little sympathy for this, because when you hand over
several hundred thousand dollars for a license that will give you the
core technology for your game you had better understand what you're
getting.  A fundamental assumption like "So, we can just get the Q2
source, recompile, and we're done?" is something you'd establish up
front.

DK was not burned because of the Q1-> Q2 upgrade, DK was burned
because they were horrifyingly late and they couldn't pass up the
temptation to upgrade to Q2.  Changing core technologies in the middle
of a product cycle is nearly always going to be suicidal unless you
really, REALLY have to.

So I refuse to accept that Quake's relevance as an engine is
inherently flawed because the licensee's management may be
incompetent.

> Yes, true.  3D technology was going through a generation every 6
> months, making predicating anything but a straight shooter on it a
> very tough trick.

Actually, I would disagree.  A shooter was actually probably the
toughest thing to adapt because the spec of hardware was wildly
divergent and yet shooters were doing the most hardcore technology.  I
would argue that games that that were innovating more at the
scene/object level than the pixel level (e.g. flight simulators,
racing games) had it the easiest, by far.  Followed by fighting games
and sports games.

Brian Hook

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