inXile team members to join forum conversations

[Grampybone]

In Kickstarter message I was promised a discussion with the devs on these forums. I've browsed most of what looked to me most prominent topics, where important game areas are discussed, sometimes heatedly, and I haven't really noticed any devs participating.

Unless I'm completely wrong and they are, in fact, talking with us under normal users logins?

It just feels a bit pointless to talk about something and go deep, if they aren't gonna let us know which ideas they like and which they don't. Just as they want (or claim they do) feedback and ideas from us, I want the same from them. It would help me think in the right direction and invest myself fully.

[Mandemon]

Well they are here already:

memberlist.php?mode=group&g=8

Tough as you can see they are not that active. I assume this is because they are making the game and not rolling in the cash.

[Brother None]

I don't know quite how this'll change as the forum develops. I can imagine a guy like Chris Avellone posting more further down the line. I know they're reading the forums from communications I have with them, and requests to adjust/remove certain threads.

Fact is: posting on forums can become very, very time-consuming. There's a reason they needed volunteers to do some of the forum policing and community management stuff (me and Ben are sort of officious community managers). That said, they're dedicated to it, but the time might not be right. They're reading most if not all of it, between them, but when crunch comes around, how much time should they spend with us?

Keep an eye on boilerM. He should hopefully start interacting more with us in the future. Part of his job is to single out and communicate the best threads and posts to the rest of the team.

[DarkTwinkie]

Hey guys,

I'm Chris Keenan, the Producer on the game. Wanted to give you all a quick update on the subject.

I browse the forums for a bit everyday. We also have someone in office that spends most of his day reading through the forums and pointing out the hot items as well. We've seen some great threads and are daily modifying our design to get your input in the GDD. BoilerM sends out a daily report to the key team members on threads we need to focus on. If there is something you think needs to have our attention, don't hesitate to send him a PM.

We have also been hard at work on the vision document. It's currently 9 pages that explain all of the high level, core principles of the game. Once we kick this to you guys, it should open up some great discussion. I think you'll see that your forum posts had a major impact on the direction.

We're just now starting to get our feet underneath us again. It's been a crazy few months but things are getting more organized. We appreciate the detail design discussions and can't wait to see more!

[ffordesoon]

Sounds cool, Chris! Thanks for the update!

[Ronin73]

9 pages huh? Sounds like some good reading ahead for me looking forward to it.

Also looking forward to the discussion becoming a bit more focused when the vision document is released. Don't get me wrong spit balling ideas is good, but really only serves a purpose up to a point.

[paultakeda]

Don't get me wrong spit balling ideas is good, but really only serves a purpose up to a point.

I feel like we passed that point weeks ago.

[Lucius]

Yeah I feel like the forums are dying out some due to the repeat of topics and lack of direction. Hopefully the vision document will spark up focused conversation more.

[Grampybone]

I wasn't trying to pick a fight with this topic, just needed some reinsurance. Thanks for letting us know, Chris.

I remember how fan and forum input meant a lot during the creation of Fallout 2 (unwashed villagers!), and I'm hoping for something similar. I think our devotion is high enough to "meaning of life" on any given topic, given the proper guidance.

Cheers.

[Zombra]

Thanks DarkTwinkie! The contact is appreciated. Looking forward to the vision document.

Also thanks to Brother None, you do good work here.

Also thanks to Grampybone himself for cunningly luring out a dev.

I guess I should also thank the Academy.

Who did I miss?

[Woolfe]

Thanks DarkTwinkie! The contact is appreciated. Looking forward to the vision document.

Also thanks to Brother None, you do good work here.

Also thanks to Grampybone himself for cunningly luring out a dev.

I guess I should also thank the Academy.

Who did I miss?

Yer Mom

Seriously tho, thanks DarkTwinkie, and any lurking devs. These little tidbits do appease us to some degree, and spawn off ways of thinking and arguments(and some "I told you so's").

I can't wait to hear more and look forward to seeing comments from you guys. (Even the light on detail ones that leave us with more questions than answeres)

And thanks to Brother None for the work he has been doing.

[Seytan]

Uh huh....

[Gigabiggle]

really hurting to see this design document myself. I've made some compelling posts for certain features and I'm really hoping some of them make it into this game. Can't wait to start the focused discussions, all the conjecture discussions can cause headaches.

[Zombra]

really hurting to see this design document myself. I've made some compelling posts for certain features and I'm really hoping some of them make it into this game. Can't wait to start the focused discussions, all the conjecture discussions can cause headaches.

Hang in there Gigabiggle. With a year and a half (?) to wait for the actual game, we gotta learn patience. That said, I'm very much looking forward to the design doc and subsequent conversation as well.

[Zeronet]

Is there a easy way to tag devposts like on the SWTOR forums for instance?

[Valka]

really hurting to see this design document myself. I've made some compelling posts for certain features and I'm really hoping some of them make it into this game. Can't wait to start the focused discussions, all the conjecture discussions can cause headaches.

Well if you say they were compelling than the devs must have been compelled and there's nothing to worry about, right?

[CaptainPatch]

What I would like to see from the devs is a post that says something like

To the community at large: What are your thoughts on (a list of topics with separate threads for each).

That way some possibilities concerning "Should we put this in or leave it out?" could be ascertained _before_ things get hammered into place in the vision statement.

[Lucius]

What I would like to see from the devs is a post that says something like

To the community at large: What are your thoughts on (a list of topics with separate threads for each).

That way some possibilities concerning "Should we put this in or leave it out?" could be ascertained _before_ things get hammered into place in the vision statement.

Honestly I think this is a better way than scouring the forums for fan opinions. Some topics are split into several different threads spread out over several weeks. This way the devs would only have to read through a few threads that they created.

[Gizmo]

Fact is: posting on forums can become very, very time-consuming. There's a reason they needed volunteers to do some of the forum policing and community management stuff (me and Ben are sort of officious community managers). That said, they're dedicated to it, but the time might not be right. They're reading most if not all of it, between them, but when crunch comes around, how much time should they spend with us?

It's also a double edged sword that can make you too common, and can also get you asked questions (in public) that you are unprepared to answer, or that have an unpopular answer.

[SniperHF]

Fact is: posting on forums can become very, very time-consuming. There's a reason they needed volunteers to do some of the forum policing and community management stuff (me and Ben are sort of officious community managers). That said, they're dedicated to it, but the time might not be right. They're reading most if not all of it, between them, but when crunch comes around, how much time should they spend with us?

It's also a double edged sword that can make you too common, and can also get you asked questions (in public) that you are unprepared to answer, or that have an unpopular answer.

The time is definitely not right. I think it would be great to have developers comment on specific milestones or announcements, where actual feedback can be more useful. So like for the most recent example of the Unity announcement, having some people working on the engine give a few thoughts could be instructive. But InXile certainly doesn't need to be involved in the day to day shenanigans 'round here. Also that eliminates the time consuming aspect quite a bit if you just deal in specifics.

As for the latter, I'd hope as the community here matures a bit we'll be willing to take "I don't know" for an answer a lot.