bsimser

Goals - delivered or not, a checklist Hi guys, I've been reading this thread, and many like it, and scratching my head about the goals. There are countless people defending the developers but let's put this up in the open. Many time people have asked about this or that or whatever but there's no clarity on what was promised (and I do use the word promised here because it shouldn't IMHO be treated like a flippant statement) vs. delivered. There has been a "checklist" of sorts but nobody has created one. Hopefully this might serve as one, or at least a catalyst for one. The aim here is not to call anyone out or bash the developers over feature creep or whatever. It's plain and simple. There were a set of features listed and goals promised and it's been a year since the initial release and the Kickstarter surpassed the $500,000 mark (although the original KS page says it didn't meet it in the goal list, the funding amount surpassed it). So have the goals/features listed been delivered? You be the judge but consider this a checklist to help the team keep on track (yeah, I know, they are big boys and girls and can do fine themselves with that however are they? where are some of these features asked for? is there a timeline for any of them? do we want to keep seeing new ones introduced because of shiny object syndrome or do we want the team to deliver the original goals, the ones you paid money to because you were told they would be coming). I'll start with the list of Kickstarter "features" (the blurb above the goals). While these can be more vague, there are things mentioned here that have yet to surface. For example I don't see motion detectors, auto-turrets, or potions mentioned in the looting section. No skyscrapers in the city (although you could build one). There's mention of domesticating animals which isn't there. The dynamic story generation using note quests seems to be absent. There's really no sign of the XP or skill trees mentioned (and I haven't noticed if I get faster at crafting things over time). For the goals themselves I'll put them here in point form (with the ones I think are delivered crossed out) $200k Part-time artists and programmers join full time (I'm assuming this happened) $250k Existing worlds expanded, more locations added (I see a new hotel in the 9.2 release) More items and weapons (vague but seems to have delivered on this since the early alphas) More special infected enemies, with more abilities! (delivered but kind of an ongoing goal, again vague and intangible) Skill tree and exp system enhanced further (the original skill tree has yet to be delivered) $300k Additional player characters (I don't recall if new ones have been added?) Seasonal weather effects implemented (other than snow in the snow biome I don't see this) Temperature based survival effects (not delivered as far as I can tell) Occuls rift support (has this been delivered?) $350k Enhanced, professional soundtrack (it sounds good, is that met?) More wild animals! Mountain lions, coyotes, cats and dogs living together, mass hysteria! (zombie dogs only) Animals can turn into zombies too! (zombie bears!) (but sadly only dogs and they didn't turn) Post release goals. The goals above were release goals and while it's labelled "alpha" I guess they can claim they're still working on these ones? In any case, the funding amount for all of these was met. $400k Character customization tools (you can change clothes, is that this goal?) Interchangeable clothing system (delivered I guess, but then is this a duplicate goal of #1?) Expanded story/missing programming (since the original story element isn't delivered yet, nothing to expand on here) NPC characters and merchants (nope) NPC controlled safe houses added (nope) $450k Professional voice actors hired to record lines (what lines?) Multiplayer mode expanded with new features (pretty vague so can't tell what this is) Random world generated expanded (delivered) World building tools expanded (again vague but they have been getting better) $500k Major world terrain enhancement (I left this in but it mentioned "world remains fully destructable and buildable, but it already is by design so what's the delivery here?) Drivable and customizable vehicles added (no) New additional NPC characters to discover (I guess once the first ones are delivered) Expanded story missions (once the first one is delivered) Apologies if this sounds harsh and feel free to reach out and criticize me if you wish, but lets keep our eyes on the prize. A community funded project like this should be first and foremost accountable to the community that funded it. Hopefully some of you agree with me and even more so, hopefully someone from The Pimps will chime in here specifically. A timeline, an explanation, or are we all comfortable with whatever they deliver and this type of thread just needs to stop? Thanks for your time.