#World Builders
7 messages in this thread
>He seemed to suggest that WB was an experimental product,
Was he speaking to you in Russian or English? <BG>
Seriously, I think he was either pulling your leg or there was a serious
communication misunderstanding. There is absolutely no way this is a
"training" project — this thing is as elaborate and fully featured as
Photoshop, and even approaches 3DS. If someone was doing this as an exercise,
they certainly wouldn't waste their time writing games for a living (they'd
probably be writing MAX, or a MAX Killer!).
And if this simply was a little "knock off" then I have no doubt they can spend
a week or so and add all those wonderful features. Hell, if they're that good,
I'm sure the NT port will only take them a weekend!
Mike,
I have to agree. Everything I've heard so far, seems to elude to an NT version
being in the works. If I didn't think this product had a future I would be very
hesitant to invest in it. Frankly, I didn't expect it to work very well in the
Siggraph 0.9 version, but I've been pleasantly surprised so far. Not to say it
doesn't have some problems, some real, some possibly my inexperience.
Mike –
He was speaking English, although I did want to try my Russian out on him – but
he kept switching back to English (must be a comment on my quality of Russian)
What he specifically said is that it was literally a year-long exercise by a
group of 8 to 10 programmers who originally worked in defense in Russia (under
the Soviets), and now needed guidance to move into the private sector. From
what I saw of the product, it is very powerful, but he definitely said that
this was an "experiment" and that there were no immediate plans to continue
development. He said that he (as the chief of programming) and his staff are
primarily directed at game development.
He added that the development cycle on this project was partly intended to make
clear to his programmers what the west expected in terms of product development
and release quality, so that they would be ready to move to other work.
I am not exaggerating here.
Bob
Mike –
Then again – he may have wanted to sound nonchalant – thinking this was a
standard western marketing move – in which case, I fell for it!
Bob
I've received enough direct confirmation (both from Digimation as well as other
sources) to assure me that World Builder not only will have an NT version this
year, but will be actively improved and developed that I'm not worried.
This is truly an impressive product, and even if the version I have now is
never improved it would still be worth it, though. I really can't imagine life
in 3DS without it. (And for those who think that Vista Pro is "enough" —
they've never seen WB, obviously, and I've seen Vista Pro).
Mike,
>> they've never seen WB, obviously, and I've seen Vista Pro <<
what they really need then is a demo version. Has anyone mentioned this?
officially then:
I think WB needs a demo version. That way people will see just how extensive
this thing is.
Mike –
I finally got a PERSONAL word direct from the lead developer, via the Internet,
who seems to recall where our conversation went wrong. He assures me of the
same.
Good news! And ditto what Martin says, about seeing a demo version that people
can explore. . .
Bob