181 replies to this topic

[ticklemyiguana]

DaPheel, on July 15 2014 - 07:52 AM, said:

Thanks for the mini update . I would be quite happy if the result of the backend work was the return of VoIP and stable server perf.

Or like... no sticky walls/floors. Oh man.

[Ker4u]

KejiGoto, on July 15 2014 - 07:28 AM, said:

You do seem to suffer from short term memory loss as well because the last update discussed a decent amount.

Then i'd like to hear from you about upcoming content, what  are some of the things they are working on_ can't remember anything confirmed

Quote

This may not be the kind of stuff you want to hear about but it is information and shows work is being done on the game.

exactly, its good to hear how many cheaters got banned,  pm's and support tickets answered , but is not very satisfying when this back end stuff is heaviliy overweighting everything else.
When i first heard about  Hughes  starting this dev update thing  i thought it will be a  place for discussions about the actual game,  their vision and  features being work in progress, for example;
- their thoughts on siege, it's flaws, and how they are approaching 2.0 version,  what the end goal is ( making it more intuitive for beginners, adding more variety and strategy, e.t.c.)
- New mech,  it's role, why it's needed in game, how it will affect gameplay
- why incinerator is not fixed yet_

and at first dev update was kinda close, just compare it to last ones

Spoiler

So what's going on_ In short, we're putting the final touches on the October update, and are working on the November update.

Last week we spent the entire week stabilizing and bug fixing; no new development. This work included investigating the team balancing edge cases that continued to surface after the hotfix went live. We fixed quite a few of the related issues for this October release (thanks to the community) and have almost locked down a few more edge cases to roll up into the update as well; another day or so should do it. We have quite a few priorities for the game but high on the list is ensuring that players get into balanced matches. It's a big focus for the entire company and extra content means nothing if we don't get matches right. Now what's going on with balance and matchmaking is a topic for a different post however but I digress… back to the topic at hand!

We are looking to have patch notes posted sometime next week and I must say, this update is a pretty big one for us. Outside of a new mech, more customization items and a mess of bug fixes, this will be the first time we're launching a new game mode since… well since Missile Assault, and most of you probably don't even remember HAWKEN before Missile Assault. Co-Op Bot Destruction (COBD) was something we originally wanted to have out there with Ascension, but it was a mode that we felt would really benefit from a few extra weeks of work and benefit it did! We have some COBD fixes and polish already in the works for the November update but we will be looking for feedback as we work on the next round of features for the mode. What you'll be playing soon is just the beginning of what's in store so please have some fun and let us know what you think!

This week we enter a sprint of development work as we finalize the content for the November update and work on features and functionality intended for release in 2014. We won't have new features coming in November, but there will be some functional improvements and very impressive new content. Until then there's plenty in October to keep you busy and as always we'll be reviewing your feedback! We'll also do another round of Q&A in the near future so keep your eyes open on a post from ZamboniChaos asking for the next round of questions!

We'll do another post like this in another week if you found this helpful, and we continue to thank you for your interest in HAWKEN.

Edited by Ker4u, July 15 2014 - 08:53 AM.

[zorin1]

I love how everyone speculates of what is going on.  My prediction is that Hawken is being sold or there is a merger in the works.  That is why they don't want to say anything because they don't want the cost to inflated/deflated because of the wrong communication being said. Plus, people might not want to go to jail.

Headlines we might read:

Facebook buys Hawken to show off new features of Oculus.

[DaPheel]

zorin1, on July 15 2014 - 08:53 AM, said:

Facebook buys Hawken to show off new features of Oculus.

NO, NOT THE ZUCKERBEEERG!

[Skrill]

DaPheel, on July 15 2014 - 10:32 AM, said:

NO, NOT THE ZUCKERBEEERG!

[ticklemyiguana]

zorin1, on July 15 2014 - 08:53 AM, said:

I love how everyone speculates of what is going on.  My prediction is that Hawken is being sold or there is a merger in the works.  That is why they don't want to say anything because they don't want the cost to inflated/deflated because of the wrong communication being said. Plus, people might not want to go to jail.

Headlines we might read:

Facebook buys Hawken to show off new features of Oculus.

God I hope not. Honestly I'd be content if they'd just been fixing bugs this whole time. VOIP, Sticky walls/floors, party issues, Meraple not having any friends. Yes, flashy updates are nice, but I really want to be able to play all my games without ever being able to blame a death on getting stuck on the goddamn floor. The game is really, really great as it is. And maybe flashy stuff will bring in new players and keep old ones entertained, and you know, that's probably worth more in the long run, but I would still totally be satisfied if they were just fixing bugs and glitches for three months straight.

[Pastorius]

Disney buys HAWKEN  to make the sequels...


Edit: forgot the smiley Hughes sorry!

Edited by Pastorius, July 15 2014 - 11:14 AM.

[zorin1]

ticklemyiguana, on July 15 2014 - 10:48 AM, said:

God I hope not. Honestly I'd be content if they'd just been fixing bugs this whole time. VOIP, Sticky walls/floors, party issues, Meraple not having any friends. Yes, flashy updates are nice, but I really want to be able to play all my games without ever being able to blame a death on getting stuck on the goddamn floor. The game is really, really great as it is. And maybe flashy stuff will bring in new players and keep old ones entertained, and you know, that's probably worth more in the long run, but I would still totally be satisfied if they were just fixing bugs and glitches for three months straight.

I thought that getting stuck on walls and floors was part of game.  Are you telling me in the real world that a Mech would not get suck sometimes_  I personally like that this happens because it makes it feel more real.  I'm serious here.  It is like driving down the road and you hit a pot hole.  Might be nicer if there was a hole were you get stuck.

Matt

[Aregon]

ticklemyiguana, on July 15 2014 - 10:48 AM, said:

Meraple not having any friends.

Found this way too amusing.

[Meraple]

Aregon, on July 15 2014 - 11:48 AM, said:

ticklemyiguana, on July 15 2014 - 10:48 AM, said:

Meraple not having any friends.

Found this way too amusing.

u wot m8_


I have to say I laughed though.

Edited by Meraple, July 15 2014 - 12:08 PM.

[ticklemyiguana]

Aregon, on July 15 2014 - 11:48 AM, said:

ticklemyiguana, on July 15 2014 - 10:48 AM, said:

Meraple not having any friends.

Found this way too amusing.

THEN LIKE THE DAMN COMMENT. JEEZ.

[KejiGoto]

Ker4u, on July 15 2014 - 08:46 AM, said:

KejiGoto, on July 15 2014 - 07:28 AM, said:

You do seem to suffer from short term memory loss as well because the last update discussed a decent amount.

Then i'd like to hear from you about upcoming content, what  are some of the things they are working on_ can't remember anything confirmed

Quote

This may not be the kind of stuff you want to hear about but it is information and shows work is being done on the game.

exactly, its good to hear how many cheaters got banned,  pm's and support tickets answered , but is not very satisfying when this back end stuff is heaviliy overweighting everything else.
When i first heard about  Hughes  starting this dev update thing  i thought it will be a  place for discussions about the actual game,  their vision and  features being work in progress, for example;
- their thoughts on siege, it's flaws, and how they are approaching 2.0 version,  what the end goal is ( making it more intuitive for beginners, adding more variety and strategy, e.t.c.)
- New mech,  it's role, why it's needed in game, how it will affect gameplay
- why incinerator is not fixed yet_

and at first dev update was kinda close, just compare it to last ones

Spoiler

So what's going on_ In short, we're putting the final touches on the October update, and are working on the November update.

Last week we spent the entire week stabilizing and bug fixing; no new development. This work included investigating the team balancing edge cases that continued to surface after the hotfix went live. We fixed quite a few of the related issues for this October release (thanks to the community) and have almost locked down a few more edge cases to roll up into the update as well; another day or so should do it. We have quite a few priorities for the game but high on the list is ensuring that players get into balanced matches. It's a big focus for the entire company and extra content means nothing if we don't get matches right. Now what's going on with balance and matchmaking is a topic for a different post however but I digress… back to the topic at hand!

We are looking to have patch notes posted sometime next week and I must say, this update is a pretty big one for us. Outside of a new mech, more customization items and a mess of bug fixes, this will be the first time we're launching a new game mode since… well since Missile Assault, and most of you probably don't even remember HAWKEN before Missile Assault. Co-Op Bot Destruction (COBD) was something we originally wanted to have out there with Ascension, but it was a mode that we felt would really benefit from a few extra weeks of work and benefit it did! We have some COBD fixes and polish already in the works for the November update but we will be looking for feedback as we work on the next round of features for the mode. What you'll be playing soon is just the beginning of what's in store so please have some fun and let us know what you think!

This week we enter a sprint of development work as we finalize the content for the November update and work on features and functionality intended for release in 2014. We won't have new features coming in November, but there will be some functional improvements and very impressive new content. Until then there's plenty in October to keep you busy and as always we'll be reviewing your feedback! We'll also do another round of Q&A in the near future so keep your eyes open on a post from ZamboniChaos asking for the next round of questions!

We'll do another post like this in another week if you found this helpful, and we continue to thank you for your interest in HAWKEN.

Not everything in the development process is going to be interesting and contain new details on what is going to be coming next. You built up the expectation that the development updates would get into deeper details about things you described above. The development updates have always been there to let us know what the team is currently doing, read the update you posted and you'll see exactly that. Hughes even states several times in there they are putting the finishing touches on that patch and that it will be rolling out soon. Right now they aren't in that position because of the back end work which is sometimes necessary for a game like Hawken. Sorry it's not exciting and up to the standards you created for what these updates should contain but welcome to reality.

Chances are the reason things haven't been balanced (there are a number of mechs and weapons which need this) is because of the back end work is taking priority over all other tasks. I'd be willing to wager all my MC that the next patch we get from Adhesive once this work is complete will contain a decent amount of balancing.

Have some patience and realize they want to talk about this stuff and release a whole lot more than you want it to be released. Sadly we can't always get what we want.

[ShadowWarg]

Pastorius, on July 15 2014 - 11:12 AM, said:

Disney buys HAWKEN  to make the sequels...


Edit: forgot the smiley Hughes sorry!

Disney buys everything. If they buy capcom I'll be one angry fuzzy bunny

on topic:

I'm just hoping for 3 things
-New internals
-Artillery mech
-Fight club game mode (the 1v1/specter prototype from a while back)

[SS396]

Onebullit, on July 15 2014 - 12:57 AM, said:

Btw, a good two weeks ago, i noticed that we are all "full members".
It's right under the avatar and it wasn't there 2 - 3 weeks ago (i think)

What other kind of members can we expect in the future_

It seems your post went on unnoticed, so I'll clue you in on why I think there are 2 separate kinds of users.  It was to combat babaji and his one man spam army.  Now first time users are forced to have their first few posts authorized before the post goes live on the forums.  It sucks for the new players that have to wait until someone gets to it and clear their post, but it stops the spam dead in its tracks before the rest of us even see it.  It still however doesn't stop the clogging up of the "new" posts that need to be manually verified.  Once a new user has created a few posts, then they are upgraded and considered a "full user" and no longer are on the new user watch list.  The good news is babaji doesn't read the forums or he'd know exactly how to defeat this sort of thing and continue his reign of spamming.

[_helios]

Infyrno, on July 14 2014 - 04:44 PM, said:

Just a suggestion, make smaller updates more frequenty so players don't get bored.  We wait seemingly forever for the update, it comes out, we have a buttload of fun for a week or 2 with the new things, then it mellows in and we're waiting again.  Now you think, less content=less new-update-enjoyment-feeling things.  No.  If you add a mech, people will have fun for weeks.  You add a mech and a map, people will have fun for equal time.  You add a map.  Same thing. (Maybe that's just me I don't know)

Thanks for posting this though, i understand you're all hard at work making the update.  Please don't interpret this negatively

Interesting idea. Apple seems to use this tactic and it seems to work for them. I hardly ever realize what's changing when I do an update, but the minor updates do keep things interesting in a way.

I'm glad to see they're keeping the forum posted on the happenings behind the scenes. T'is a good sign fo sho! I'm not sure if it's people BS'ing ingame, but it seems like every match I play there's at least one or two "first-timers". Really hoping that momentum keeps up!

[EM1O]

Wouldn't it be special, if some of the Really Big News is Hawken going live in its final Release Candidate_
I'd miss that little "BETA" in the top left corner of the garage thingy (not really).
On the notion that a major vendor might buy out ADH, that's not so far fetched--research the transition of MW4/Mercs from a dying MicroSoft label into what it is today. In that vein of thought, going "commercial" might be a Good Thing if the fan-base will support it, figuratively AND financially.
Just sayin'

[Barbie_in_a_Mech]

EM1O, on July 15 2014 - 08:39 PM, said:

On the notion that a major vendor might buy out ADH, that's not so far fetched--research the transition of MW4/Mercs from a dying MicroSoft label into what it is today. In that vein of thought, going "commercial" might be a Good Thing if the fan-base will support it, figuratively AND financially.
Just sayin'

Barbie_in_a_Mech, on July 14 2014 - 04:50 PM, said:

My guess is that they are about to make a contract with a wonderful company like Funcom or EA and solve all the F2P funding issues that way.
It will work well, like it did for Bloodline Champions over there (you may notice the last news was from one year ago.)

I don't see what could refrain them from sharing details other than negotiating a contract with another company.

It's really risky.  EA are notorious for buying games and killing them.  Funcom bought Bloodline Champions and didn't seem to care.  There wasn't much advertising, and just like Hawken right now, everyone in BLC played on the European servers and the US servers were empty.

Edited by Barbie_in_a_Mech, July 15 2014 - 08:52 PM.

[FakeName]

I'll Check the patch notes 2015

[EliteShooter]

FakeName, on July 16 2014 - 12:08 AM, said:

I'll Check the patch notes 2015

[kazuya989]

I always find Dev's communicating with their games community interesting.

On one hand Dev's want to give away as little as possible, keep things under wraps until they are dead cert, so as not to upset people by missing deadlines.  This is a sensible business practice, under promise and over deliver. Anyone with a job that sets targets and objectives will appreciate this one.

On the other hand the community have a thirst / passion / psychotic craziness (delete as appropriate) for news about a game they love and/or are heavily invested in.


As a player from the start of open beta (February 2013 i think) my thoughts on this are as follows......

1.  The Dev's communication of updates are far too specific, and therefore too infrequent, leading to wild speculation and the community splitting into 2 camps (the Rage monsters and the Dev apologists).

We don't want/need to know the exact date of the next update, or the exact new mech or map in the works.

We need to know that stuff is being worked on.  Are we going to see new content this year _ That's a 6 month window that could put peoples minds at rest without committing Adhesive to anything.  Post a teasing screenshot like with wreckage with the crab Tech that everyone though was a railgun, and let the community fill its time in wild speculation (but a positive excited type).

There has been no content for ages, not even cockpit decorations, I would have assumed we would be drowning in bobble heads by now, they must be simple to make compared to a map or mech, and make some easy cash.  
It's the complete lack of any content that worries me - and others from the negative type of wild speculation going on.


2.  Content Updates have historically been too big, and changed too much at once.  This causes chaos in the community and has caused people I know to quit altogether as the game changed overnight to something they didn't recognise.

Steam has improved this allot, but it still happens.  

Sometimes though holding your cards to your chest can backfire and freak people out unnecessarily.  But it is a fine line.


Of course right now I'd take anything new.

In fact I'd take a few teasing screenshots and the knowledge that new stuff is being worked on, even if its a long ways off.

But to be honest, an update telling us that we cant be updated isn't all that helpful, even though the intent is clearly a good one.