It’s okay guys, maybe we’ll get an October update since the August one is delayed. (September doesn’t exist)
Everything we do is subject to licensing. Everything. We cannot show or talk about anything until the licencors have signed off on it and are happy for us to go ahead, it's their branding afterall. If they ask us to change something, we have to change it. Even talking publicly about what we're working on before signoff could jeopardise the views and opinions of the license holders, we cannot do anything to upset them because they can just withdraw altogether. And they have every right to, as I said it's their brand, they want to protect it. That's often why I can't give reasons to why things get delayed, it's often a sensitive subject and it most certainly happens behind closed doors. If anyone gets the view that project X is on hold or delayed because licensor Y wont sign it off or is demanding we go back and make changes, that would be very very bad.
Whilst that's true, it doesn't preclude you from producing a plethora of articles across a huge range of subjects, none of which would compromise commercially sensitive infomation. For example, you could provide updates on which bugs from previous DLCs are being addressed or how the next DLC will introduce a new element to the game engine which will allow new things to be done in future DLC. To blame a lack of communication on licencing issues seems like a bit of cop-out to me.
^Indeed. We’ve had very little information on the news of any bug fixes, some of them which are still present from when the game was released over a year ago. Great Western Express, for example, still does not have the correct signalling and safety systems working properly. Even before, we used to have, dare I say, quite frequent updates and bug fixes, minor or major, it was still something. Today, everything has seemed to have slowed down to a snails pace with no fixes having been released for quite some time now.
It seems like communication within DTG isn't very good either. Luke's been in this thread accusing people of pressuring him to leak infomation and blaming the delay on the update on licencing issues with branding, meanwhile Steve has posted the August update, which it transpires has nothing to do with any TOCs or railroad's branding. I feel a bit sorry for you Luke, they clearly should have done a better job of keeping you in the loop. At least we've had an update on the tools, which to me is probably the most important aspect of TSW development, so that's certainly encouraging news.
Digital Draftsman, I’m curious how you’d conclude no licensing of any kind was involved or the cause for the article to be delayed? Obviously using the UE4 Editor is subject to at least 1 license being Epic’s since it’s their editor and software. I’m sure there’s more parties involved but simply stating nothing license wise was to blame is a bit premature in my opinion. Edds
OK, I can accept some information cannot be disclosed due to all kinds of legal issues. I cannot imagine a simple question on the next studio update has anything to do with licensing issues. Maybe this can be explained when the issue is resolved, afterwards. This would incrase our understanding. Also it would be nice to have at least some idea on which bugs aer addressed and which will not. It even would be better to publish the know issues, allow us to vote on them. This may save a huge amount of support tickets on issues that are known. Again, remember we are fans of this product. Treat us as fans and not as potential enemies. And to be very honest, I believ there is a clear need for better quality checks. But again, we are quite willing to help by accepting products with a beta status and give feedback on these. Some products have a quality far below standards, even if you are very tolerant to issues. If a scenario is not working with a clear cause, this really must be repaired. The policies of DTG in this are causing annoyance. It would be OK to say we have X budgte to fix five issues for route R, which ones have highest priority?
It’d be nice to know what and if there are any bug fixes which are being worked on. This is one area of the game which has been particularly quiet/avoided discussing recently. We all know plans, priorities and timescales change etc but I genuinely can’t remember the last time a bug fixing update was last talked about. A simple ‘bugfixes are planned to be making their way to routes x, y & z’ will do.
