Fallen Earth is "Feature Complete"

[Mrbloodworth]

Fallen Earth™, the post apocalyptic MMOG in development using the Icarus Studios Tools Suite platform has reached the Alpha milestone and is now “feature complete.”
Before and after images of Watch Tower

Over the past six months, the Fallen Earth team has implemented new production processes which have allowed for improved product quality and a streamlined development schedule. Colin Dwan, who was promoted from Lead Engineer to Project Manager, said, “Fallen Earth has great technology and tons of content, but we needed to put a stake in the ground about all the features that were absolutely necessary to ship with. Now that we’ve finalized that long list, we’ve been able to spend all of our time making those features really fun.”

Link

Some shots of before and after (Click for comparison):





More on the article link.

[schild]

I hate to say it. Really, I do. Because I don't think the game will ever be a 'complete' game. But I like the final results.

[Mrbloodworth]

I hate to say it. Really, I do. Because I don't think the game will ever be a 'complete' game. But I like the final results.

Me too, the art and art direction really is better. Some of the changes, are really drastic (in a good way).

[slog]

Could be interesesting.  However, I will laugh (lol conan) at you early adopters once again though.

[Mrbloodworth]

Some of us enjoy fiddling about with broken games. I learn a lot that way.

[schild]

I hate to say it. Really, I do. Because I don't think the game will ever be a 'complete' game. But I like the final results.

Me too, the art and art direction really is better. Some of the changes, are really drastic (in a good way).

I'm particularly fond of some of the natural textures and lighting. For an indie team, it's exceptional. Triple A? No. Niche? Yes. Will it see the light of day? I hope so, now.

[Nija]

Some of us enjoy fiddling about with broken games. I learn a lot that way.

Beta test them.

Stop buying them, thanks.

[Mrbloodworth]

Some of us enjoy fiddling about with broken games. I learn a lot that way.

Beta test them.

Stop buying them, thanks.

I do both. Thanks.

[slog]

Some of us enjoy fiddling about with broken games. I learn a lot that way.

Beta test them.

Stop buying them, thanks.

I do both. Thanks.

I think his point was that buying incomplete games encourages developers to release more incomplete games. 

[Mrbloodworth]

Some of us enjoy fiddling about with broken games. I learn a lot that way.

Beta test them.

Stop buying them, thanks.

I do both. Thanks.

I think his point was that buying incomplete games encourages developers to release more incomplete games. 

Its not like i go "Hay, that looks like a broken piece of shit" and go buy it. Its just normally the ones i don't get to beta test, i end up buying, THEN finding out, by then i don't care however.

jesus, all i said was i like messing with broken, or incomplete games, and suddenly i am responsible for the industry not evolving. as if anyone here is a saint in that regard.

[Nija]

Its not like i go "Hay, that looks like a broken piece of shit" and go buy it.

You did EXACTLY THAT with Conan. STFU.

[Mrbloodworth]

Its not like i go "Hay, that looks like a broken piece of shit" and go buy it.

You did EXACTLY THAT with Conan. STFU.

Um, no.

[Sky]

You could've waited a month for the "What Went Wrong" f13 thread.

[Mrbloodworth]

You could've waited a month for the "What Went Wrong" f13 thread.

I didn't want to. I enjoyed my time in Conan. I also look forward to going back when/if they sort things out.

I am sorry i can't be a black and white extremist all the time. My bad.

Also, now i think we need a new thread.

[Signe]

What sort of new thread?

[Nija]

I'll give these guys props for one thing. Getting Alpha/Beta correct. They are feature complete. It's now Alpha.

Once all those features are working, they are going to enter Beta. This is How Everything Should Work.

Once they take their dev team of however few people they have and have sorted out all the stuff they possibly could with their FEATURE COMPLETENESS then they'll take in external testers and run through it and break shit for 6-18 months and then release a game.

Now, from alpha to beta could take them a decade like Darkfall. I'm not saying they have an actual game here, but at least they got the terms correct for the first time in 4 years.

[Mrbloodworth]

What sort of new thread?

For this one.

[Mrbloodworth]

I'll give these guys props for one thing. Getting Alpha/Beta correct. They are feature complete. It's now Alpha.

Once all those features are working, they are going to enter Beta. This is How Everything Should Work.

Once they take their dev team of however few people they have and have sorted out all the stuff they possibly could with their FEATURE COMPLETENESS then they'll take in external testers and run through it and break shit for 6-18 months and then release a game.

Now, from alpha to beta could take them a decade like Darkfall. I'm not saying they have an actual game here, but at least they got the terms correct for the first time in 4 years.

Its my understanding that they have been developing this for quite a long time, more than 5 years i do think. Thing is, this is also middle ware they are making here, i am sure this has extended things greatly as far as time frame. As it said in the article, they are now moving over to content. I bet the artwork revamp was one part "look" and one part "optimize" and one part "The world tool will now work like this".

Also, this is the closest thing to SWG-PRE-CU-like game i have read about in years.

[Surlyboi]

You buy an MMO, you're buying an incomplete game by design.

/thread

[UnSub]

I was going to post this, but I'm also at the point where I'm waiting for FE LLC to put up something other than PR releases. Feature complete? Great. How about something tangible*?

And they posted the feature complete message on June 19; it's just that they've only got around to developing a PR page for it now.

Icarus Studios is developing the middleware and spun out FE into a separate company (Fallen Earth LLC). I think FE has been in development since 2001, so I'm not going to hold my breath that beta HAS to come soon. That they are going to beta at feature complete and content complete is a good step... until people complain that there aren't enough features and FE is lacking in content.

That said, FE looks like it could carve out its own place. It's FPS-combat where slapping someone upside the head with a cricket bat is a valid option. There is a recent video that shows the FPS combat (no cricket bat though) that has kept me interested.

But we won't know until FE betas / launches as to if it is any fun and who it plays for. At one point they were talking about real-time crafting. Which, even if the FE world moves at 6x normal rate in terms of the day / night cycle, doesn't scream out 'fun!' to me.

*irony noted when discussing virtual worlds