Don't let the forums trick you. There are a lot of perfectly happy people who love rf2 as it stands, and eagerly await every update. The whiners always outnumber the content by 100:1 if you count posts. That's just the nature of forums.
usually I'd agree with you, but the latest build has split the forum a lot more than other builds have, that and the god awful way they're distributing their own mods currently. Hope ISI turn it around...
Have a look around other forums and you'll see that most people are not satisfied with rF2. Most agree that the car physics are excellent and is the game's strong point, but I see continual complaints about the game being a mess. Builds aren't showing enough progress, the mod system is convoluted, the graphics look dated and lack optimisation, the game's UI and menus look horrid, ISI's communication is poor, etc, etc....People are losing patience with this game, which has been in development for a long time, remember. I share these complaints even though I love the driving experience in rF2 and see the huge potential of this game. So many concurrent developments are happening in the background and long-running issues are being ignored. This project needs some focus and direction. And I'll say it again - ISI's communication is woefully inadequate.
Agreed. I think their main priorities right now should be the menu and the mod management. The graphics point doesn't bug me too much; it's good enough for me. But it's also true that ISI seems to develop behind very closed doors... You'd think that with the public beta and everything, they'd interact a bit more with the community... But it doesn't seem to be much other than financial support for ISI. But I'll admit I still love rF2
I disagree. As beta testers we bring our problems to ISI, and they will work on them. We don't need to know everything that everyone is doing at work all the time; we are not shareholders, we are (albeit paying) beta testers. ISI devs do interact with the community. We have Tim here who answers forum posts and tells us what ISI thinks we need to know about what's going on, and we have Jeremy Miller posting stuff on Twitter. You have read the forums. Can you imagine what would happen if Tim were to write "we are working on the such-and-such" and then it's not ready for the next build version? It'd be pandemonium! ISI are quite capable of prioritising their workload, and have limited resources to do it with. rf2 isn't their only current project, either. Maybe they have to juggle a bit? So forgive me, but I am not seeing any problem here other than the usual regular forum whining I generally try to avoid. Carry on.
Actually, no, I think there would be less forum whining if ISI were a bit more interactive and more open about the development of this game.
I agree that Tim does a great job. But it would be nice if they had a development blog or something just to show off cool new features. You know those images that they tease every once in a while? I think it would be nice if they talk a bit more about that. Like for a new car, just have a short video showing off the model or something. Or for something like the weather changes, show a quick clip. Kind of like they used to do with the tire deformation and stuff, or with F2. Just more frequently. If they had a little blog talking about some of the technical side of things, I'm sure plenty of people would find an interest in that too. EDIT: I know Tim has his blog where he puts RF2 things sometimes, but it would be nice if there was something official if you know what I mean
The cry of the community for more transparency on development progress has been resident since the start of the beta and so far remained unheard. Did you even think about them, not being able to give any information just because they simply do not know or are able to estimate? rf2 seems to be just a niche production for ISI and obviously does not have the (financial) value to get the attention we’d wish for, unfortunately. The rate of development taken a closer look, you have to wonder whether the longed insight would be as gratifying as expected. Unfortunately the game will have become old prior the final release, ...I assume. And if you’d anyway tackle adequate changes as the dx9-dx11 switch by then, the alpha-beta "vicious circle" will start again.
This is a very interesting discussion and I can honestly relate to what appears to some, as complaints. I have been a hardcore flight sim fan since before Falcon4 -- And a racing sim fan for just as long. Game\sims back in the day were released almost as bug-free as humanly possible, with a few patches post-release issued to clean things up. That was the norm! We now, seem to have entered the era of perpetual-game\sim-development, where the product in most cases will not be considered complete for many years to come, if ever. Whether this is a good long-term business model or not, remains to be seen and in the early release stages {Beta}, can be measured by continued consumer interest. I honestly do not believe most consumers can be satisfied with the two-steps forward, one step back methodology, experienced with the current crop of perpetual-game\sim-developments. In a sense, this can be more frustrating than not having anything in-hand at all. That being stated, I can understand the original poster's point very clearly. And at the same time be sympathetic with ISI, who {thankfully} was willing to release rfactor2 to the community, when in fact it wasn't ready to be released. This can be viewed as a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. Normally when you have such a situation, a happy medium should be considered. I believe that happy medium would be to finalize currently offered features, with the understanding within the rfactor community, that other features will be added in the future. This way the modders\users have in-hand a product that is stable, fully functional and more importantly usable both online and offline. ******* Final thought\observation: {Beta Software release life cycle} The process of delivering a beta version to the users is called beta release and this is typically the first time that the software is available outside of the organization that developed it. The users of a beta version are called beta testers. They are usually customers or prospective customers of the organization that develops the software, willing to test the software without charge, often receiving the final software free of charge or for a reduced price. Beta version software is often useful for demonstrations and previews within an organization and to prospective customers. Some developers refer to this stage as a preview, prototype, technical preview (TP), or early access. Some software is kept in perpetual beta—where new features and functionality are continually added to the software without establishing a firm "final" release. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_release_life_cycle#Beta ******* The introduction\implementation of the perpetual-game\sim-development business model, brings up some very interesting thoughts. I used to complain non-stop about Microsoft releasing their OS full of bugs and then offering continuous patches to correct, what should have been corrected prior to release. It would seem that many developers have adopted that model, and we the consumer, are becoming perpetual testers of software releases. IMHO, I don't think this is a good idea.
well, as a greek you obviously got used to being punked - by your politicians and economic fellow men maybe you see those things different^^
Useless thread as always! there has been about teen of this type of threads, ISI freez the features, ISI should comunicate more with community...blablabla....! The truth or the realty of the facts that ISI has his own work method and they didn't, aren't and won't change it, because some one like the OP would want to change it! I do not deny that I like the weekly updates Pcars, because it keeps the interest high and keeps the Sim alive and in continuous change and improvement and they add new contents every weekd, but I love rF2 physics and ffb, so I will wait in silence!
you are as alone as you feel..... the winter has gone......every hour we have, we are on the road.....together...look at my picture
It's posts like this that will and do create the environment you're complaining about. Something not changing because it is considered more detrimental to do so, is not the same as someone not listening at all. I do. Too early, IMHO. For just about the hundredth time, the intention with most of what we do right now is to give info to people who already have the product. If we do more, we will attract difficulty (and did by being too communicative prior to the beta). The little bits of information given out and given out to our existing community, made quietly in forum posts, twitter, facebook comment replies, etc. That's the whole point right now in there being nothing official, no trumpet playing and big announcements of anything much. If that's what you want right now, or before now, it isn't the time, and hasn't been the time.
