Can't wait to see how the salt lords spin this as a negative.

Pros:

• They're adding much-needed talent that was obviously lacking. The first step to solving a problem is admitting that you have one so this is a big move in the right direction.
• The website will get more priority and attention, so we may actually see features like personas and a much more contemporary look and feel.

Cons:

• The links they shared were to LinkedIn postings that are secured behind a login. That's great for LinkedIn maybe but I'm not sure about the wisdom of limiting yourself to candidates that have LinkedIn accounts. A venue focused exclusively on software development like StackOverflow might have been a better choice. The SBS website careers page does not list these openings, which neatly sums up their struggles in a nutshell.
• It's going to take weeks if not months to find good candidates. It's going to take weeks if not months for new hires to come up to speed on the work that has been done. And this will be a perpetual cycle/headache for a small sudio.

A more time sensitive alternative would be to hire a firm that specializes in web development and to simply manage that relationship going forward. Hopefully they are pursuing/considering that option as well. The most obvious advantage to this apart from the ramp up time is that a firm will also have access to a much wider range of expertise than two guys they hire off a job posting, should the need ever arise that requires it. So it's probably a more future-proof option for SBS, and if there's anything to be learned from the past year it's that the unexpected always happens. Plan for it.

Just a few thoughts. Godspeed SBS.

Posted By Ineluki at 06:54 AM - Thu Jan 23 2020

Can't wait to see how the salt lords spin this as a negative.

How come you're hiring a front-end dev now, after such a while in development? After you were supposed to drop your latest web release? Where's the last web dev(s) (at least one, ZRO, used to be there a couple years back) have gone? Why have they left or been fired? Maybe it was harder to work at SBS than it should have been, for some reason unbeknownst to us?

I'm just asking questions, here, there are many ways of answering them and still make sense and come clean from a software development standpoint, and community, too.

But SBS usually doesn't apologize for errors or mistakes (like the copyright infringement on a recent shiny), which denotes a great lack of maturity, imo.

Sad.

Well my "Salty" reply is we have heard they were hiring before and yet here we are.

Hey, on face value this seems good but I am at the point now where I want results and not conjecture.

I mean honestly, who cares about the website? most website complaints are based around them not updating info on the website, which surely shouldn't require a specialist. I guess if its for web based applications like the dss map I can see it, but that worked fine before they foolishly made the sale revolve around the map instead of just doing it for limited numbers of titles in the store. Even then it seemed like that could have been fixed if they actually tested the site properly before hand under stress by, I don't know, letting the community members who paid money to be able to test help them? The whole thing is a mess and this would ultimately just result in them hemorrhaging funds even faster.

Posted By Tulloch at 3:45 PM - Thu Jan 23 2020

I mean honestly, who cares about the website? most website complaints are based around them not updating info on the website, which surely shouldn't require a specialist. I guess if its for web based applications like the dss map I can see it, but that worked fine before they foolishly made the sale revolve around the map instead of just doing it for limited numbers of titles in the store. Even then it seemed like that could have been fixed if they actually tested the site properly before hand under stress by, I don't know, letting the community members who paid money to be able to test help them? The whole thing is a mess and this would ultimately just result in them hemorrhaging funds even faster.

A working enterprise-level web site -- for the ongoing domain sales, the EP store, the Organization fair, and Personas features, and the other online experiences -- is essential to the stated development plan of the game. Those were always planned hires at some point. You know, like every studio has. Because they do.

There's plenty you could be frustrated about. Surely you can do better than this? Or not. Probably not, given that every post you make is the same. Ah well.

@zyzax

I know this is going to be a difference of opinion, but I have always viewed their choice to run complex web events, and link web based systems to the game, as something they have dedicated far too much focus on, from the beginning.

Now, understandably, their original intent was to have launched the game by now, so I can see how it made sense at at the time. However, even when it "made sense", I viewed them as tangential to the main project - nice to have, but in no way necessary for a game like this.

Now, we are in a situation where they have pushed ahead with what are arguably over-engineered events, that far outpace relevant tie-ins to the game itself.

Almost a "cart before the horse" situation.

That being said, I understand they still need to do something to bring in money, given that their initial plan to have the game be marketing itself at this point did not come to fruition.

I know Ineluki referred to it as "being salty", but my honest, constructive criticism is that I think they are still focusing too much on the web-based interactions.

Everything, from TSP, to the lost vault, to DSS, and now, especially, to SoE, they have created events that are far more complicated than they need to be.

Given limited resources and time, I would have preferred they use those FTEs and salaries to bring on more people to actually make the game.

In the end, obviously, it's their call.

Just throwing my 2 cents out there based on what limited info I have, and what I am able to observe.

Hopefully, this doesn't come across as a slam on SBS. I am not trying to be negative...I am working on softening my tone.

I just think that it seems like an odd choice given where we seem to be in actual game development.

As others have pointed out, the sourcing, hiring, onboarding, and familiarization process for new hires usually takes months, so I can't see this being something that is intended to get SoE up and running - unless the intent is to not have it up and running for months.

So, again, based on limited info, this seems like a "long term" addition.

Which, if that is the case, I point back at "too much focus on web integration".

Anyway, will be interesting to see what this eventually produces.

Posted By Marovec at 12:49 PM - Fri Jan 24 2020

See, that's real constructive criticism there, not even a dash of salt.

@marovec

I'm not saying you can't (and don't regularly) disagree with their overall, stated plan for features and focus, only that they're doing exactly what they said, so the pearl-clutching and Doom-speak about it seems -- as usual -- over the top.

Of course it takes time to get those resources up to speed. That's exactly why I suspect they're doing it NOW, instead of later on, when it would be too late to avoid missing subsequent deadlines. Their work is entirely complimentary to what Kain was brought in to do.

But I don't want to interfere with your good-cop/bad-cop tag-team routine, here. You've got this sh!t down to a daily science. ;)

Carry on...

I am neither clutching pearls, nor predicting doom.

I am simply pointing out that I think they have spent way to much time focusing on the web events (past and planned).

While things like the personas and org faire sound neat...I view them as, frankly, a waste of time.

People have been RPing and recruiting for "organizations" in computer games for decades. The amount of social platforms and publicly available tools for the community to take advantage of is greater than it has ever been in gaming history.

We have communities with hundreds of members, with organization plans and focuses, all done without needing any extra tools from the devs.

Additionally, community built tools and specialized sites almost always end up better than what studios try to make, even the AAA ones.

Yet, despite that, how many man hours, and hundreds of thousands of dollars will SBS dedicate towards creating these "extra" web based tools and events?

I understand it may be a design choice, but it is one that I dont understand from a small studio with very limited resources.

The scope of the game they are planning is orders of magnitude greater than anyone has tried before.

Yet, despite that, they still feel they need to add more bells and whistles?

Again, I get the funding aspect. However, and I admit this is speculation given I don't know their budget, I am not seeing how what they are planning will result in bringing in more money than it would cost to implement.

In other words, I dont see the expense being justified from a business perspective.

As to your comments about my "routine", I am not sure what you are referencing.

I have always been straightforward with my feedback. I don't troll, and while my tone is often harsh, I always provide justification for my views (I am not claiming everyone agrees with my justifications, just that I try to have a rationale for my comments).

Not everyone who is critical wants SBS to fail. In fact, I imagine very few of us who are critical do.

But, there are those who don't believe SBS is currently presenting a plan or current status that warrants positivity.

When it does, or when they do something I like/agree with, I will be just as vocal and positive as I have been critical - which I have demonstrated in the past as well.

Posted By Zyzax at 8:05 PM - Thu Jan 23 2020

Posted By Tulloch at 3:45 PM - Thu Jan 23 2020

I mean honestly, who cares about the website? most website complaints are based around them not updating info on the website, which surely shouldn't require a specialist. I guess if its for web based applications like the dss map I can see it, but that worked fine before they foolishly made the sale revolve around the map instead of just doing it for limited numbers of titles in the store. Even then it seemed like that could have been fixed if they actually tested the site properly before hand under stress by, I don't know, letting the community members who paid money to be able to test help them? The whole thing is a mess and this would ultimately just result in them hemorrhaging funds even faster.

A working enterprise-level web site -- for the ongoing domain sales, the EP store, the Organization fair, and Personas features, and the other online experiences -- is essential to the stated development plan of the game. Those were always planned hires at some point. You know, like every studio has. Because they do.

There's plenty you could be frustrated about. Surely you can do better than this? Or not. Probably not, given that every post you make is the same. Ah well.

I would hope they can do better than web events, sales on items for a game that doesn't exist yet, and text shinies with stolen art but since everything they do is the same I guess not. Maybe you're happy with the subpar quality, constant delays, and focus on unrelated events but some of us would rather see something from this game they have been claiming to make so much progress on for several years now.