2320AD

[Malenfant]

I have paid attention to what has been said here, actually. I guess we'll see soon enough, but releasing it like this just strikes me as being really rushed, slap-dash and amateurish. I really don't think you're doing anyone any favours this way, and you're certainly not doing the product justice.

I've had the playtest files sitting on my computer for at least two years, probably longer. I know I'd rather wait another couple of months if I was certain the publication process had started again (and that it wouldn't suddenly stop halfway) and I'd be getting a properly done, fully-formed product at the end. Maybe I'm a freak for thinking that, I dunno.

All I know is that I'm a customer who's waited a hell of a long time for this, and when finally there's movement to produce it, the first thing I'm offered is a half-formed product that is needlessly split into three sections that won't even have art or layout in them. Why on earth should people settle for a rushed, sub-standard, preliminary, staggered release earlier when you can give them a full, professional looking product all at once later on if you just take a bit more time on it? Which version do you think is going to inspire more confidence in the company? But again, I guess I must be a freak for wondering that.

Whatever. I'm just sorely disappointed that a rush-job is the first thing we're offered after so long. Like I said, 2320AD deserves much better treatment than this.

 

[Colin]

I have seen the interim product that Hunter is talking about, and it looks quite good, and is eminently usuable. It does contain artwork, though not as much as the final version, but it's not just pages and pages of text. It is quite readable, and fully on par with the quality in the THB.
Please remember that people who purchase this interim version will be entitled to get the final version for free, and that the interim version ain't bad at all.

 

[hunter]

Mal I swear for a man I know to be quite intelligent you can be absolute dense at times.

You are literally bitching and whining about nothing. You say that you would rather wait for a finished product that take what for some reason you believe to be a vast inferior product. Well then shut up and wait for it.

The final version isn't going to be here any faster or slower this way than if we just waited for the finished one. This just gives folks an opporunity to get their hands on the material and start playing with it.

And it is apparent that you think that what will be initially released is nothing more than the playtest files in Word format...

If you don't want what's offered, then wait for the one you do want and quit whining. Should those who DO want it ASAP have to wait because, oh noes! Mal does not approve?

Get over yourself Mal.

 

[hunter]

Don't bother Colin, Mal is like this when he gets going. It's all par for the course with him. He believes what he wants to believe and damn what anyone else tells him that doesn't conform to his preconceived notions...

 

[Colin]

That wasn't solely for his benefit, but as much for those reading this and getting a tad concerned.

2320AD is coming out, and that's good. It will soon see the light of day in Ted's really excellent design, and that's good, too. But first, it's being released in Hunter's pretty good design. And by pretty good, I do mean "As good as the THB", just a little less art. Not absent, but not as much as could be, or will be.

Let's just all give this a chance. I think that people who purchase the interim product will be pleased with the quality, and the quality of the final will blow their boots off.

 

[hunter]

Very true Colin.

And yes, Ted's work simply freakin rocks.

 

[Malenfant]

Oh yeah Hunter, carry on - you're acting really professional here.


For starters I'm going by what you said yourself:

As to why I am doing it this way, it is because there are a LOT of people who would like to get their hands on the material as soon as they can, rather than wait for a final version with all the frills (ie: artwork and a snazzier layout).

Now, the way that's phrased that looks to me like the initial versions do not have artwork or snazzy layout at all. i.e. that only the final versions have those. If that's not what you meant then you should have damn well phrased that a lot more clearly. It sure as hell sounded like all we were getting were tarted up playtest files.

I'm really not the one that needs to "get over myself" here. I'm not a friend of yours, I'm not even an acquaintance - I'm a potentially paying customer, and you are acting VERY unprofessionally here. I can sympathise with your personal problems as a fellow human being, but ultimately all I really care about are the products that your business puts out and how you treat your customers. Same applies for any business that I'm a customer of.

And lately I've just run out of patience with you, particularly after you claimed you were back earlier and then promptly disappeared on us for a while again leaving us all with no idea of when (or if) you'd be back. Given the generally appalling lack of communication you've offered to your customers (and your writers, for that matter) over the past year and a half I think I'm quite entitled to have high expectations on your declared return, but it seems I'm disappointed yet again.

Do what you damn well want, Hunter. I just hope it doesn't bite you in the ass.

 

[hunter]

Well Mal, that's a shame, I have considered you a bit more than just a customer. But now that I know where you stand...

I really don't give a rat's ass what you think of my professionalism, nor your opinions on how I run things, T5, or generally any of your other favorite things to whine about.

If you don't like it you can carry your troublesome ass elsewhere. I really don't give a damn. You've been run off enough forums as it is to be nothing new to you.

 

[Malenfant]

Fine. If you want to be all bitchy about it (which is all you've done so far) then that's how it'll be.

I see no reason to support you or your company any further (and you know what, I've sprung to your defence a hell of a lot in your absence, but lately you've managed to successfully destroy my faith in you, and this is just the last straw). You'll certainly not be getting any more money from me (that said, you've been sitting on about C$70 of mine for the past couple of years for a pre-order that's never going to come - ditto for all the other mugs who preordered TNE:1248 - that you've probably forgotten about completely and have made no attempt to reimburse anyone for either).

I find it somewhat odd that you suddenly sprang back on the scene after I persuaded Colin (who is a very decent chap and has shown far more patience with you than you deserve while his work's been sitting in limbo for a year) to get in touch with Marc directly. I'm guessing he poked you into doing something, but I wonder if you'd have come back now and been so keen to get things moving again without that nudge.

I'm glad it is moving again, so I guess my work is done - but given your repeated and sudden lengthy absences you've got absolutely no right at all to be pissy at me for saying that I'm going to reserve judgement on whether or not you're really back til I see some final product. The reason for your absences isn't the problem, it's the fact that you never deign to tell anyone where the hell you've gone or how long you'll be, and you leave nobody else to cover for you while you're gone. That's what's destroyed people's faith in you and your company.

But hey, you don't give a damn what I say, so I don't give a damn what you say either. I don't even know why the hell you decided to get all pissy and personal about all this anyway (or why you didn't just take it to PMs), particularly since a lot of my annoyance stemmed from you not explaining yourself properly in the first place.

I mean really, after all that's happened (or not happened, as the case may be), where the hell did you expect me to stand?

 

[hunter]

Yes Mal, you are the one who got 2320 moving...can your self-importance get any bigger? That's your problem. You don't talk to people, you talk down to them, as if somehow you are superior. You aren't. Not by a long shot.

If you don't like getting taking down a peg when you act like that, either change your ways or go someplace that will tolerate it. Oh wait, you've already been booted from more than one forum for your attitude now haven't you?

This time you picked the wrong person to do it with. You come here, you act that way with me, I'll tell you like I see it. You don't like it, you know the way out. If you want to stay, feel free, but if you want to deal with me without me biting back, lose the attitude because I won't put up with it.