by monkeyfrogstudio » 03 Jun 2019, 18:07
To be frank, none of that bothers me (the developers pulling back from the community to concentrate on development of the engine and tools, the NDA that testers are under, cool features being added, etc.). But the developers need to understand that virtual silence does not help those that are currently interested in the engine. Especially in light of the fact that it was announced several months before the end of the last year that the new engine would be soon forthcoming. Delays happen and it's understandable that the developers want a release to be as feature rich and as bug free as possible. So, I (personally) understand this. I also understand that it's difficult to put a date on a shifting target. Even so, it wouldn't hurt to state something along the lines of, "Our plan is to have version X released by Q3 of this year, but unforeseen issues may prevent that." I would guess the developers have at least a basic idea for when they would like to release the engine. Why not share that with a clear statement that anything can change?
I am getting close to completing a non-computer game project I am working on. I hope to have it near completing in the next few months. After that, I plan to start my first planned PC game. Because of this, I will soon be looking at engines to use for this. I already have a license for a few, have Unreal downloaded, and have Godot (my current choice of engine). However, there were things about Skyline that made me want to consider it for my project instead. I would hate to start my game project in one of the other engines a few months from now, only to discover that Skyline gets released a week later. If the developers state that the next version won't be out until Q1 of 2020, then I will know to not consider Skyline for my next project, but perhaps the next one or the one after that. But if Skyline is coming out this year, then I might consider it and, as a result, purchase a license.
Silence, in this sense, does no one any good. A proposed date, even if that date keeps moving, at least shows us the intent of the developers.
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