"Aiming for the Game to be Reborn for the 2nd time" - YoshiP Interview

[NegativeS]

Did we though? I absolutely cannot tell whether the "spaghetti code" thing is real or a myth invented by players. Even if it's real and the code base is a mess, it's not necessarily the devs' fault. Management if often unwilling to give devs the necessary time and budget to deal with technical debt.

Well, after working and living with back end developers for most of my life, I am confident enough in saying that technical debt so bad that nobody can change it without breaking everything is, unironically, a skill issue. One that no other company seems to have with as much frequency as CBU3 seems to.

Then again, we did just get confirmation for universal glam after being told that spaghetti prevented it for years, so maybe that was just a huge lie.

Either way, I have no problem with firing a bunch of managers and directors instead of the ground floor keyboard jockeys. Something needs to change, urgently, so start from the top, work your way down, and see what sticks.

[ForteNightshade]

Maybe if they do a completely separate game, perhaps with some story/world continuity with 14 I could perhaps believe it.

There is zero chance whatsoever they are making a separate game. Not only would something of that scale not be hinted at in a sidebar interview, but would take substantially longer than the length between expansions. It also makes little financial sense as despite the sub decline, XIV still prints money hand over fist.

[Shinku_Tachi]

Did we though? I absolutely cannot tell whether the "spaghetti code" thing is real or a myth invented by players. Even if it's real and the code base is a mess, it's not necessarily the devs' fault. Management if often unwilling to give devs the necessary time and budget to deal with technical debt.

"Spaghetti code" is real.

It's not a thing exclusive to 14 though, it's a thing with all MMOs, due to years and years of stacking features and systems on top of features and systems.

[DynnDiablos]

My thoughts are this is going to be a reset, where it allows folks to start fresh with the story in 8.0 and not have to go through ARR-DT. I wonder if this comes with a total stat, level squish redo as well. My one fear is they are shifting to F2P, which if that happens - BYE.

[YumieYumiki]

Well, after working and living with back end developers for most of my life, I am confident enough in saying that technical debt so bad that nobody can change it without breaking everything is, unironically, a skill issue. One that no other company seems to have with as much frequency as CBU3 seems to.

Being an actual video game programmer (on a live service game) I can tell you, from my direct, personal experience spanning a couple decades, that technical debt cannot be dealt with if it's not included in planning and budgets, and that even in my current company that is fairly good at it we still need to work at convincing producers of the necessity of doing it. (and that despite our lead producer being a former programmer himself!)

Honestly, if you are not a programmer yourself, you have no business calling "skill issue" on that.

Then again, we did just get confirmation for universal glam after being told that spaghetti prevented it for years, so maybe that was just a huge lie.

???
We have been told for years that is was about "job identity", not technical reasons. One thing where they invoke technical reasons is adding glamour dressers in houses, but even that doesn't necessarily mean "spaghetti code", it could very well just mean "server architecture limitation", in itself not a sign of bad quality, just that the use case doesn't fit the existing technical design.

Either way, I have no problem with firing a bunch of managers and directors instead of the ground floor keyboard jockeys. Something needs to change, urgently, so start from the top, work your way down, and see what sticks.

My god, changing things doesn't have to involve firing anyone. It could just be management greenlighting a plan that is different than yet another iteration of the exact same expansion pack template.

[Jeeqbit]

I read this quickly and my interpretation was that he was saying how the team had to re-evaluate their processes due to how quality had gone down due to all the procedures they've added over the years which tangle them up, which was already explained to us on the lodestone. He was also talking about how people have less time like he always does, which could mean the ultra casual content being even more casual, although he acknowledged this is different depending on the region. For the most part, I think he was referring a lot to the issues that specifically concern that region, and I'm not expecting much change here really.

He has teased a big announcement before, and while I'm sure it will be big I wouldn't get hopes up for it satisfying concerns regularly put on these forums.

[Carin-Eri]

"Spaghetti code" is real.

It's not a thing exclusive to 14 though, it's a thing with all MMOs, due to years and years of stacking features and systems on top of features and systems.

Not to mention staff members familiar with said features and systems moving on to other jobs, leaving less familiar staff to take over and then move on and pass their limited knowledge onto someone else.....

Actually did see this happen with an MMO I used to play. The old guard who produced the game moved on. And then their replacements moved on. And then the gaming studio was sold and replaced the staff from the old studio with their own employees. And whether or not there is anyone left who can make sense of what they inherited is questionable.

[Shinku_Tachi]

My one fear is they are shifting to F2P, which if that happens - BYE.

Thankfully, I think we're safe there if you're on the retail version, since the mobile version is out there to eat that slice of the pie.

[ovIm]

With the current track record of Yoshi-P's promises, we all should take any statement with multiple grains of salt. He is very careful with how he words things, and makes sure to never say anything substantial, so until things are announced and clearly defined, no one should be praising what has been said.

[YumieYumiki]

Not to mention staff members familiar with said features and systems moving on to other jobs, leaving less familiar staff to take over and then move on and pass their limited knowledge onto someone else.....

Actually did see this happen with an MMO I used to play. The old guard who produced the game moved on. And then their replacements moved on. And then the gaming studio was sold and replaced the staff from the old studio with their own employees. And whether or not there is anyone left who can make sense of what they inherited is questionable.

Those are common issues with long lived projects, yes. It doesn't mean that every project fails at dealing with those issues. Don't make the mistake of believing that what you have experienced is what happens everywhere.