That has nothing to do with software development; it has everything to do with new product development run by a small group of people who CAN control their destiny. That is the most enviable professional position for any creative person to be in too. I've been fortunate enough be in a similar position (very different business), thats how I know.
We don't even know what need improving ... what are you asking ??? The Q&A and the threads suggest continued work post release which is really a great piece of news. Who knows about the schedule for updates but the fact they are planned is the big news here! [Edit] by the way I absolutely do not want a pay to play solution for rFactor2
I'm still really baffled by these screenshots. They are now two years old and they look fantastic. Recent posts from Scott made it sound like the team has been feverishly working on texture and lighting passes for nearly all of the tracks so why do these look so finished and complete?
To be honest, first two looks like rf1. Moreover, I've seen better ones on rF already. But two other are impressive indeed.
They will have been what they call 1st pass. The artwork gets updated as the gfx engine advances. They may also have been shown with parts of the graphics engine which have been totally changed.
Well, the vegetation textures have received another pass and look much better, our poly usage is strong, and much of the temporary textures have been replaced. I think once we have our final post fx in place we will look current. If you've seen some of the other recent games with post fx turned off, where it is only base art and lighting being looked at, they look pretty plain, too. So yes, I think we'll look better than what you see in those early screens. With such a small art team (Luc doing textures and some props and myself doing the modeling, object placement, etc) you have to work in passes. We can't work a track from start to finish in one go for two reasons: 1) If Gjon says it's time to ship we have to have content. If we worked a track from start to finish then we may end up with two GREAT looking tracks and that's it--not cool. So, we work all the tracks up to a certain level, and if we have time, we work them up to the next level, and so on. I'd rather have several decent looking tracks at release that can be updated as opposed to only one or two completely finished tracks. 2) We are STILL adding new features to the graphics engine, so we couldn't completely finish a track completely yet even if we wanted to. Anyway, I have to admit, once you're in and racing the visuals just seem to become secondary anyway--you are so focused on racing, caring for the tires, watching the weather, etc., that you don't have time to find flaws. I'm not saying this is an excuse so we can produce mediocre tracks, which is why we are doing pass after pass to make them look as good as possible, but it does play into our hands that we could maybe let slip a few glitz things that we want to put in and add them later if we feel that it's time to ship the product. If that makes sense... It does to me anyway
As long as there are many options to tweak and adjust the level of post FX I will be happy. Games that look like dirt2 make me want to puke.
Well, you'll be able to turn them on and off for sure, beyond that I'm not sure exactly what Joe will implement in the way of tweaking. That said, Joe and I believe in less is more, so the effects WON'T be overdone for sure...
Makes perfect sense Scott! Although I do hope historic Spa gets preferential treatment I'm really looking forward to running 60's Spa in suitable cars with a spot of rain and the new tyre model. Like everyone else I'm getting impatient for release but I know I'll be happy with it when Gjon says it's ready! I've enjoyed the WIP stuff and can't wait to see it polished with a little post-FX. Keep up the good progress and don't take too many tea breaks Dylan.
Thanks for the reply. I've really enjoyed interacting with everyone at ISI on these forums and I appreciate that you guys give us such honest answers.
Ah a space sim fan eh? Good on you. There's not enough space sim/mech sim fans around anymore which is why these games are never made... Any chance of a sci-fi mech in rFactor 2? sci-fi mechs in the wet at EAU ROUGE FTW =P
No, but I hope to get back to tooling around with my home-grown space-sim after we release rF2. I haven't had time to work on it for about a year now (used to work on it nights after I finished up my daily track work)--rF2 takes up just about every waking minute for me I started it as a project to teach myself a bit of c++ and I just kept working on it here and there... But yeah, I love the X-series. I feel in love with the genre playing "Elite" on the Commodore 64 (showing my age now), and played probably every space, flight, and mech sim that has come out since... Flight sims are making somewhat of a resurgence lately (new IL2: Cliffs over Dover, the A-10 addition to DCS from Eagle Dynamics to name two new offerings). I really wish space-sims would make such a comeback. Now that it's rather easy to use typical console controllers on the PC there's no need for gamers to go out and by special joysticks and such (although I couldn't imagine playing one without my Saitek X52). The only thing missing is someone willing to make a GOOD, deep, title that could reach both the "hardcore" and mainstream audiences. That would have to be a task for an independent studio though, as I doubt any large publishing house would take a chance on it. They have their sure fire, tried and true, etc, etc game formulas that they feel safe with. I miss the X-Wing series. I miss Wing Commander and FreeSpace and MechWarrior. I miss 300 page ring-bound flight manuals and games that took time to learn and get into.... Ah, the good ol' days... Edit: Geez, where the h*ll did THAT bit of nostalgia come from?
Nice read ...... and that 'ferry boat' has alot of passengers LOL ! The MMO platform seems to have the hold on Space sims these days but the monthly online subs models kinda kills it for me anyway.
