MMO Development Lesson #24
Know when to stop. Beta is not a time for you to pack in new features that you weren’t sure you could get into the game, it’s a time for you to polish all of your core features and ensure that everything that will be in the game at launch is up to snuff. If you find yourself with the desire to add that neat little feature you always wanted, ask yourself two questions: 1) Is everything currently in the game polished and ready to go for paying players? 2) Do we have time to implement this feature and get it polished to a fine sheen? If the answer to either of those questions is “no,” under no circumstances should you try to implement it. Know when to stop, and quit while you’re ahead.
Is polish really that important??? I almost feel NEW/UNIQUE features to MMO’s is more important. Really what is polish?
Have classes? check
Have quests? check
etc etc
I need a definition of MMO polish.
Polish is the stuff you put on your furniture to make it shiny! Duh…
Know when to stop.
Advice that might have been prudent to follow 23 “lessons” ago.
Oh man, Danuser - I just spit Mountain Dew all over my keyboard. Thanks =P
Daven: Polish is working out the kinks, making systems cohesive, making the game function well, removing errors (even grammar errors, please), and generally making every aspect of the game as good as it can be. If what is in your game is not polished, your game is likely to suck no matter how many new features it presents.
Moorgard: I hate you. Interestingly, some of the lessons posted here came from you in the first place, so if you think they all suck, you are criticizing yourself. Anyway, yeah… I hate you.
I’m going to find a corner now to cry in.
You’re still a newlywed. I’ve got a wife and a young daughter. Polish brings to mind nails.
But I agree. I talk to many folks all day who just don’t know when to stop. A tweak here, a tweak there. It can become neverending, and people don’t realize that for every new feature added, you are exponentially increasing the possibility that it will break when of the currently polished features.
There HAS to be a point where a line is drawn, and enough is enough. Otherwise, gold status will forever be “1 year away”
I really agree, that we have to polish existing features instead of adding new ones. But we can’t see this “polishing effect” in most of existing MMOs.