TLOPO's Groundhog Dog?

  • Thread starter Shamus The Brute
  • Start date

Today, should TLOPO be developed EFFICIENTLY or PROFICIENTLY?

  • Efficiently (means fast & very quickly)

    Votes: 1 2.2%

  • Proficiently (means steady but also deliberate in support of 'quality')

    Votes: 45 97.8%
  • Total voters
    46
S

Shamus The Brute

Note/Disclaimer - This thread could upset a lot of TLOPO players. Given the general lack of patience currently, myself writing this thread would like to remind everyone to revisit this thread given the POLL results acquired, at the time.

If you are teenager and nothing matters to you other than playing a remake of POTCO "right now," this thread is not going to please you! That is OK. You don't have to respond to this thread. :thumbsup: Nobody is forcing you to do so. Just know you'll be responsible for what you do write to this thread and with that said...keep in mind, please, what actor Johnny Depp had said: "The problem is not the problem. The problem is your attitude about the problem," savvy?
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Question: Much like the groundhog pokes his head out of the ground:treasure: to catch glimpse of his/her own shadow, should TLOPO in the same way delay the TIMING of it's own expected release some time after the 5th POTC film (Dead Men Tell No Tales) is released?

The reasoning:
  1. Doing so keeps TLOPO out of the the spotlight (on the internet) during a time when Disney will be heavily monitoring the net for "any" POTC-film piracy attempts which will result
  2. Doing so gives TLOPO extended time to work on their remake which assures the whole quality versus efficiently strategy many a pirate do value in light of poll results acquired from (again) this thread
  3. Doing so provides a more (general) timeline for pirates waiting impatiently to play TLOPO now to where this forums is no longer flooded with "impatient" posts and threads
Thoughts? :confused: (Please keep it civilized and at least read the points made above ^).
 
Shamus The Brute said:
Doing so keeps TLOPO out of the the spotlight (on the internet) during a time when Disney will be heavily monitoring the net for "any" POTC-film piracy attempts which will result
Click to expand...

As I have stated in the past regarding remakes of Disney games, I do not feel that this is going to be an issue. My reason for this is my go to remake, VMK. VMK was originally made to celebrate the Disneyland 50th Birthday Celebration. The remake name is now MyVMK. MyVMK is for the most part exactly the same as when Disney had it. I say for the most part, because the new team of devs for MyVMK have made new items to wear, new furniture, and new pins, etc.

Shamus The Brute said:
should TLOPO in the same way delay the TIMING of it's own expected release some time after the 5th POTC film (Dead Men Tell No Tales) is released?
Click to expand...

I think it has been stated numerous times, no one knows when the game will be reopened. If it is before the release of the 5th movie, that would be freaking fantabulous!! If it is after the release, that is still freaking fantabulous!!

The bottom line is we, the community, want the game back up and running. When this will happen, no one knows.

But every day that passes brings us one day closer to being a Pirate again.

:pirates::pirate ship::pirates:​
 
The time line doesn't really pose any real issues. In my humble opinion, I believe the devs should take as much time as needed to complete everything they are trying to accomplish so we have a much better end product. Yes everyone is getting antsy with anticipation of getting back on the game, but if we can be patient we will have a fantastic game!!! For this pirate from the original game, I for one want quality before quantity.
 
For what it's worth, I see all of what goes on behind the scenes - bug by bug, commit by commit. Let me tell you, the developers make leaps and bounds of progress every day. It may seem like nothing is happening to the average person, but behind the scenes we are extremely productive, taking things piece by piece and ensuring everything is working correctly the first time.

I read a lot of the posts by folks who are tapping their feet impatiently in the downtime megathread. Yes, I can understand that impatience - but look at it this way: you endured 3 years of there being no game. One month is not going to kill you. We've already stated that this was not going to take longer than the Alpha to Beta transition as well (~3 months). The reason why we are not going to disclose an exact date is that things can unexpectedly happen - and if we commit to a date, not only do we pressure ourselves to work in a manner that is not conducive to quality, but if we fail to deliver, folks will be disappointed, angry, and confused. In essence, we are vague in our release times to save the sanity of both parties. It's not that we want to keep any secrets from the community, we just think it to be best for both parties to not have an expected date of release.

I know I and many others have posed the same question in the past, but would you rather we took our time and created a polished product that works and doesn't crash every 5 minutes, or would you rather have the game out faster but in an unplayable, buggy, crashy state? We seem to have folks on both ends of the fence, but the folks who want the game out faster always trip over their words when the point about it being "unplayable, buggy, [and] crashy" that way is brought up.

Another thing I'd like to address (and I've said this before): you are not entitled to play this game. You aren't. Plus, you're not meant to play this game right now. You're a tester and you're meant to work and help us further stabilize and refine the game. Once we are in the live release can you say that you are playing. Additionally, it was gracious of the developers to even consider making this project public. The community could very well not have any access to this project, and we'd just have an internal team of testers making the bug reports. Be grateful for what you are given. I know the vast majority are grateful - and we appreciate that - but it seems like those who cannot understand any of these points yell the loudest.

Thank you to those who have shown their continual support and especially to those who are helping to answer questions and make others informed about the way we do things. We appreciate it a lot!

I hope I was able to shed light on a few points here and I look forward to seeing everyone around in the community and the game.

JFR
 
John Foulroberts said:
For what it's worth, I see all of what goes on behind the scenes - bug by bug, commit by commit. Let me tell you, the developers make leaps and bounds of progress every day. It may seem like nothing is happening to the average person, but behind the scenes we are extremely productive, taking things piece by piece and ensuring everything is working correctly the first time.

I read a lot of the posts by folks who are tapping their feet impatiently in the downtime megathread. Yes, I can understand that impatience - but look at it this way: you endured 3 years of there being no game. One month is not going to kill you. We've already stated that this was not going to take longer than the Alpha to Beta transition as well (~3 months). The reason why we are not going to disclose an exact date is that things can unexpectedly happen - and if we commit to a date, not only do we pressure ourselves to work in a manner that is not conducive to quality, but if we fail to deliver, folks will be disappointed, angry, and confused. In essence, we are vague in our release times to save the sanity of both parties. It's not that we want to keep any secrets from the community, we just think it to be best for both parties to not have an expected date of release.

I know I and many others have posed the same question in the past, but would you rather we took our time and created a polished product that works and doesn't crash every 5 minutes, or would you rather have the game out faster but in an unplayable, buggy, crashy state? We seem to have folks on both ends of the fence, but the folks who want the game out faster always trip over their words when the point about it being "unplayable, buggy, [and] crashy" that way is brought up.

Another thing I'd like to address (and I've said this before): you are not entitled to play this game. You aren't. Plus, you're not meant to play this game right now. You're a tester and you're meant to work and help us further stabilize and refine the game. Once we are in the live release can you say that you are playing. Additionally, it was gracious of the developers to even consider making this project public. The community could very well not have any access to this project, and we'd just have an internal team of testers making the bug reports. Be grateful for what you are given. I know the vast majority are grateful - and we appreciate that - but it seems like those who cannot understand any of these points yell the loudest.

Thank you to those who have shown their continual support and especially to those who are helping to answer questions and make others informed about the way we do things. We appreciate it a lot!

I hope I was able to shed light on a few points here and I look forward to seeing everyone around in the community and the game.

JFR
Click to expand...
Thank you for reiterating the fact that we are testers in this phase of TLOPO and not players!!!
 
Yes, I do actually think releasing the game at some time after the hype for the new POTC movie has died down is a good idea. It gives in a way some respect to Disney and their brand as it respects the fact that they want full attention on their movie at that time. As you have said in the past Shamus, POTCO is more than just a old Disney game remake, its an IP that is still very much in use by Disney (unlike VMK, the majority of Toontown, etc). While I personally do not think TLOPO in its current state of running things will ever bother Disney enough to issue a shutdown, possibly interfering with the release of the last POTC movie might.

Yes I know you are refering to in the last stream where a developer mentioned possibly coinciding the release with the movie release.
Just my two cents on the matter.
 
Bart Gunshot said:
Yes, I do actually think releasing the game at some time after the hype for the new POTC movie has died down is a good idea. It gives in a way some respect to Disney and their brand as it respects the fact that they want full attention on their movie at that time. As you have said in the past Shamus, POTCO is more than just a old Disney game remake, its an IP that is still very much in use by Disney (unlike VMK, the majority of Toontown, etc). While I personally do not think TLOPO in its current state of running things will ever bother Disney enough to issue a shutdown, possibly interfering with the release of the last POTC movie might.

Yes I know you are refering to in the last stream where a developer mentioned possibly coinciding the release with the movie release.
Just my two cents on the matter.
Click to expand...
Well not to be pushy but that would definitely make the timeline of this transition longer than the Alpha to Beta one. The movie comes out May 26th, more than a month away. And the hype around the movie won't die till 2 weeks after the release. That would make the wait time just about the same time as the Alpha to Beta if not longer. I'll wait that long if it means a better game but I don't see the point of prolonging just because we want a outstanding turn out for the launch date.
 
Sorry, English isn't my native language, I can't understand everything in that long text.
But I need to ask, does opening a closed/semi-open/open beta prevent the developers from effectively improving the game?

If no, I don't see why keeping a POTC inspired game in beta would be any bigger threat for Disney than a POTC inspired game closed at the moment.
If it slows down development at all, it would be a wise idea to open only after the death of the movies hype.

Yes I'm in my teen years, but I'm not really that eager to play this game, I have other things to do, and even other games to play.
 
Hector Hullgull said:
Well not to be pushy but that would definitely make the timeline of this transition longer than the Alpha to Beta one. The movie comes out May 26th, more than a month away. And the hype around the movie won't die till 2 weeks after the release. That would make the wait time just about the same time as the Alpha to Beta if not longer. I'll wait that long if it means a better game but I don't see the point of prolonging just because we want a outstanding turn out for the launch date.
Click to expand...
I'm speaking of the full release from Beta to release.
 
MarkPlankwalker said:
Makes sense, there's no way Disney doesn't see us. For God's sake when you search "pirates of the carribean" tlopo.com is on the front Google page...
Click to expand...
Because the URL (description) of TLOPO's website explains that TLOPO is a remake of Disney's (past) Pirates of the Caribbean Online, the description itself permits TLOPO to become front-and-center on Google if you conduct a search only for "Pirates of the Caribbean." Filter the same Google search to the past 24 hours, you'll notice TLOPO's website is even more so highlighted.

When the first trailer for POTC 5 (Dead Men Tell No Tales) came out, I conducted a search on Google for only Pirates of the Caribbean (filtered to 24 hours) and instead of ending up on one of the first one or two pages listed as normally seen...TLOPO's website (because of the site's 'description') was pushed back but only pushed to no more than the top 10 pages provided on account of the search conducted. *So Shamus, why does this matter - ye ask? :confused: It matters because neither Club Penguin, nor Toontown Online, nor VMK have the challenge of a movie based off of their same intellectual property (IP) to where such a movie will create internet moderation made to alleviate the thwarting of online (film) piracy. The point I am trying to make is, why put TLOPO at such an added risk in light of such action?

Obviously, there are some people working for Disney whom are both aware of all of these (game) remakes. Much to our own community's benefit, they have chosen thus far to remain lenient towards what everyone is doing. However, I highly doubt these same people also have the job responsibility of thwarting online piracy to the point to where a newly released (Disney) film requires. If TLOPO's website is caught in the cross-hair, do you mates feel that those whom discover what TLOPO is all about will take the time to encourage other people in Disney to further understand that TLOPO is OK given how well (NOT) varying departments "inter-communicate" effectively within a large corporation? :confused:

From what I can personally share from my own experiences, incredibly large corporations almost always fall short in communicating things properly all of the time...between departments. So during my spare time, I Google search "Pirates of the Caribbean" on a regular basis (since before the days of POTCO being shuttered) and I just don't see Disney being much different with the challenges they do have when it comes to various people speaking together/being on the same page when it comes to a particular thing, issue, or concern.

*This is just a suggestion but, if TLOPO doesn't mind the fact of owning such risk at least maybe adjust your (website) description to where it doesn't work against you. Everyone expecting/wanting to enjoy playing TLOPO would likely be OK with this - I feel.

Thank you. ;)
 
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IMG_3658.JPG
 
Just throwing this out there, in case there is any misunderstanding with the above:
  1. The giving of a (general 'ball-park') timeline does not necessarily mean it must be set-in-stone. As someone "adamantly" against any particular date set, I feel that this does not mean that an extension of any rough-estimate has to be conveyed as such. Rather instead, it provides players a open-ended timeline to where TLOPO has not only a targeted goal to press forward towards...it also permits a mindset within those players whom value PROFICIENCY over reckless EFFICIENCY to at least understand said goal keeping in mind always that things could change at a moment's notice
  2. Given the majority of TLOPO supporters on this forums (in addition to those whom have participated within 'two separate' polls explaining their opinions as such), TLOPO should trust in the patience of those players whom voted for PROFICIENCY over EFFICIENCY in so far as taking into consideration what this thread suggests. In other words, TLOPO shouldn't be overly worried about a "minority" of players whom might become upset if a open-ended, targeted goal had to be adjusted
  3. Waiting until some time after the film's release puts other POTCO (competitor) remakes front-and-center to both what this thread is most concerned about and pre-determined (competitor) release dates moving TLOPO out of the cross-hair during a time when the risk would have likely peaked
  4. I already know that TLOPO will not agree to this! :eek: Rather instead, I am hoping that between now and May 26th...at least some consideration (and a dog's bone) could be thrown in the direction of this thread's suggestions.
@John Foulroberts - Your thoughts?
 
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