I've seen a number of posts saying that people are contemplating or planning to stay here, even when Voat returns.
I'm doing my due lurking dilligence and trying to get a feel for the site myself, but I thought I'd ask in case I miss something.
Is it just the responsive admins and the lower traffic? Or are there other things that make this place superior?
Thanks.
It was a bit of a synopsis so I did skim over some things. Lumberyard did/does have issues, for sure, but it was hands down a better deal than what CIG was getting from CryTek. CIG ended up scooping up a lot of ex-CryTek employees and part of the reason for that was because they weren't getting much support from CryTek. The modifications CIG was doing to CryEngine weren't minor by any means and it required a lot of in-depth knowledge of the engine.
Speaking from personal experience, I will say this: The game performs a lot better now that they have switched to Lumberyard. Network binding issues have been getting better over the past year, FPS has been increasing, and the stability of servers has seen improvement. The current roadmap for this year focuses on improving the experience for the player. Granted, they still have to add features which were promised but they are making headway on that subject. We're seeing salvaging starting to come into play, mining is being shown off with in-dev tech, improvements to the AI subsumption have been impressive to say the least, and if you compare this current version to the version from last year, there are some stark improvements all around.
Some people at Voat still call this game a scam but frankly, if it's a scam then CIG is doing scamming wrong since they're actually making a game and new technology which they are providing to other developers. The funding methodolgy may concern people but I like it. Yes, they may sell pledges for large sums of money but this means they are less likely to rely on big publishers like EA or UbiSoft. I feel that the majority of current big name publishers are what is wrong with gaming in general these days. We don't have a lot of limitation pushing games because it's not a safe development for larger companies. The risk/reward ratio isn't there from a business standpoint. I truly believe that there is a market for a game like Star Citizen and clearly there is since it has broken funding records again and again and has steadily made progress.
Just my two cents on this though. I could never have these conversations on Voat because they tend to hate this project, so thank you for asking in earnest.
I'm starting to remember now, I do know parts of this story as I know someone who is roughly involved. I think they may disagree a bit with the statement:
The creation of Lumberyard did not go that smoothly, by some accounts.
Thanks for the writeup, obviously I am not familiar with the exact details surrounding the agreement that was made, but from what you've said it does just sound like Crytek are trying to desperately do something about their sinking ship.