[Shift 2] Patch ufficiale

[Guest Uff]

News sulla seconda patch:

The collision optmizations got finished today. I'm looking at the harder AI at the moment. There are a couple more daily builds before the patch is finalized, so it'll be close - there was quite a lot of balancing done with the original AI difficulty levels and I've got to be conscious of that, and potental knock-ons if I'm rushing to get something in at the last minute.

Are collision improvements just performance ones or the infamous "sticky" walls and AI cars going to be a part of that too?

Performance - to avoid the stuttering people reported, most noticeable with heavy grids on the first few corners etc.

[Guest Uff]

Ancora news da Griff:

The harder AI was completed today. There is some testing feedback - but the 'Max' Game difficulty will be 3-5% harder - I hope our effort here, gives extra longevity to the hardcore racers (Personally, my old bones can't do better than 5th or 6th on a grid of 12 on this setting!)

awesome. thanks griff. when you puting it up? and whats coming after patch 2?

It's scheduled to get submitted to EA before the end of the week.

I'd like to qualify some of the comments made here about what we decide to fix. A few people have observed that there is a discrete line between technology fixes and gameplay elements.

It really boils down to the fact that SMS owns the core-tech and has choosen to enhance parts of the game that they own in a forward looking way. So if there is a disjoint here it's because of publisher apathy on their IP elements - from their point of view the game is 84/85 meta-critic and furthur investment isn't a good business proposition with a normal sales curve. ( Note, that's my opinion - it's somewhat more complicated, but I'm happy to support the game for another few patches either way)

[Guest Uff]

Griff porta qualche buona news... e qualcuna un po' meno buona.

As you guys know, the DLC is now in the second patch for PC. This has now gone to final EA testing (there is a separate quality 'cert' test aside from the direct testing that happens with our builds, for independence). There is some bad news... When we submitted our final changelist for the patch a few weeks back, EA said that the non-requested features such as MLAA, Max graphics settings and AI would take significant test time on their part and couldn't be included, because the DLC in itself required significant test resource.

In all honesty I didn't see that coming - some of the smaller features we got through, but we weren't able to argue the other points - an example cited was that Max AI would require multiple (think 10+) playthroughs to ensure all career paths etc could be completed. Even though we know the code and game more intimately than they do, ultimately the publisher writes the cheque for these patches. That isn't a signal to slate EA btw - they do have a point, but I'm a little gutted since we did put a significant effort on these extras. Fingers crossed we can convince them to include them in the next one

Indubbiamente anche lui è amareggiato. Vedremo se con il nuovo progetto basato sugli investimenti della comunità tutto questo diventerà solo un ricordo.

These features were finished, and a no-brainer. Reverting the changes were actually quite a pain in the arse and nearly as much work as the extra testing (IMO), because we understood the scope better than they did when this stuff was tested internally. It's probably a key motivation for WMD to get away from publisher control - they are a dieing breed : aside from marketing money, any developers with talent will be able to shape their own future.. and that's much better for people who give a shit about the games that they play, and for those who wanted to be involved in the community development.

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[Guest Uff]

In merito alla patch 2 Griff (reduce da un brutto incidente in auto) ha detto:

The date has been set. It's coming out. Let EA PR do their thing. Patience