Progress???

[koko_99_2001]

If the TSL Team gets some more updates or something fun to keep us busy the team might not get so many complaints.

Have you checked out the flash games they made for that very purpose? 

Not just the flash games, but we have monthly forum contests as well. I don't know about everyone else, but the entries keep me entertained. And, each contest has a prize of some sort

[noaheugene20]

Hmm I know about the flash games but they are old and boring now cause I played them a lot. However I got an idea that will make everyone happy including the fans, we could create a thread called the time machine which we will post there to pretend the year is 2015 and that all the 3 tsl games are released! 

PS: By the year 2015 the TSL asylum gets over crowded and forces the TSL manger to make a new TSL asylum II with HDTV's and sattelite TV channels including Cedric's cooking, desperate TSL  asylum house wives !! 

[GunHoMac]

Someone should lock this thread...it has independent thought in it, and we can't have that.

[Say]

It is that time again when I run my thoughts freely. Here it comes.


Everyone's got an opinion, everyone "know" they have the answers, and of course everyone has a side of the story.
Everyone is rather smart. Everyone can speak their mind.

It is rather amusing when I brought issues like: "Hey guys, the fans would appreciate a journal. How about you actually stick to writing a journal monthly?" We all agree, and eventually I cannot rampage on ranting on them for the sake of NOT being able to even reply to me back because sadly the 4 or 5 hours AFTER WORK they have available they spent about 20 different assignments being corrected, as well as reporting, updating, fixing, meeting, emailing and then repeat that all over again.

Neil and I pretty much put everything together in this website for a reason, not because we had one nice couple of weekends off and we decided to "Hey! let's make a journal!" But everything will always work best in black and white, but when you go into management and relating with people it will always be taken to a whole new level. Especially towards a project that might require about 8hr daily, yet we need to be rather thankful we actually HAVE folks working about 2 or 3hr a day. We don't pay them and sadly we won't ever, I don't even know why they agreed to join us in the first place because we all do is expect them to do more and more each week, yet apparently quoting the fans it is simply not enough.

You can tell people what to do but you can't do it for them. Yet, in this particular situation you should be THANKFUL of what they do no matter what. Because even though we might need (example) 10 people for a specific task, we have 3. Do they make the work of 10 people? of course not. They barely even make it as their own, but we are rather amazed we have the quality and talent of those 3 amazingly valuable folks.

And this is just a grasp of what coordination insight would be. As you can find forum drama there is always plenty and colorful team drama as well. Why? we work with people, and people go on vacations, people get sick, people move, people miss deadlines, people get jobs, people have babies, people get better soul consuming jobs, people won't change and we can't expect any different. If we were indeed PAID, and we could grab this people with a CONTRACT, then by all means they wont only give us their leisure AND sleep time, they will give us their freaking souls and every single unborn baby. Yes, they love the project this much apparently. It must be Cesar's new perfume?

Then again, I might be one of the few that is in direct contact with both sides and I hear complains from both sides and I must say it's a wonderful choir, I should write a book once this game is out. True story.


But you have read all of this before, because this isn't the first time I ever comment on anything like this.



Bottom line, no one will be truly satisfied and perhaps this time it's on the fans side. Everyone is working as hard as humanly they can, we are stuck in a bad position because legally we are still less than dirt. We do not have the money, we do not have the copyrights we do not even have the time to work on this yet we are making it happen!

Do you enjoy my rants? No, of course not because they don't give you the core information that you wish to know. Can I provide you a release date? I wish, because not even Cesar can. We would finish the game, then send it to VU then figure out what the crap is going to happen legally: Will they allow it to go through? (insert here all legal drama yet to happen which cannot be disclosed yet) Will Cesar snap and run away to China with the game? Will one of the directors die and then who might carry it on? I don't know, but I'm pretty sure whatever happens I will take my sweet time off work and sit here and write down an announcement, newsletter, fortune cookie and perhaps even smoke signals to let everyone and their mom know. Trust me, I feel like that lil' kid waiting for the big gossip so I can run and tell my best friend.

Everyone complains how POS is a company and we talk about this being our "product" and whatever else. Truth is, POS costs us yearly (it is indeed a registered company) and how much is anyone here making out of this? Not even free drinks. We have this large website, hosting and whatever other insane costs (even snacks we buy for those sleepless night) and who pays for that? Not VU that's for sure! Does anyone care? I think not, they claim we are ridiculously  amateur and how dare we have "clients" without letting them know the "status" or "future" of the product (insert here whatever else you have read in whatever quotes you might please) while in reality this whole thing costs more than what it has EVER produced, which is clearly NOT A SINGLE PENNY. Yet we demand portfolios, resumes, interviews, trial times and yes people can get kicked out of the team as well for not meeting deadlines or just not respecting the NDA. People get accepted, people get turned down. They are demanded more time than what they can give, but they get paid with just a kind  pat in the back, a virtual one at that. Kinda unfair if you ask me but they work with a smile on their faces!

Does this make sense? Perhaps it doesn't. Does anybody care what people do or do not do to make it happen? Probably not. It is rather easy to point out all the black empty spots instead of actually being reasonable and understanding of the reality of the whole. Very few would grasp the reality of what goes on behind the names, what people has to go through and what it really takes to be able to draw a dream and then make it happen. But whatever you want to think or make of it I can clearly assure you that this IS happening and it IS on full production. I get about 10 to 20 emails DAILY regarding production, assignments, uploads, comments, even freaking spam from users that get their account spammed and it's rather an adventure to go through that sea of words.

Just to have a sense of what it really is being a Director of such a project, I cannot believe how Richard Flores for example had to deal with the death of such a close relative yet literally shake it off and come back to work ASAP because only he's insane enough to carry on such large and chaotic department. Yes, we all have had to go through personal life changing moments throughout the development of this game.  Do I get mad that he doesn't give me 10 min of his WEEK to write down a single paragraph about development? Perhaps I should. Instead I'm thankful of everything he has done so far for as long as he has, I cannot do different but cheer him up and support him. No matter what I read and how many times I read it.

I'm not asking for pity, I'm not asking for money, I'm not even asking for sympathy! All I expect for is for people to be understanding and honest with each other (fans and team). I can clearly understand how anyone would get upset and pissed they don't have a game when it has taken as freaking long as it has. For crying out loud, I wanna play the darn game already myself. But then again, I look into the other side and I see people working so hard, meeting deadlines then somehow missing others. Seeing how enthusiastic and how devoted they are even though they might not be able to dedicate more than 1 or 2 hours a day or every other day. And It's difficult to not understand how they might feel, the pressure, the need to just get over with it because they are spending every living free moment working on something that does not give out any real profit but a personal gratification. It's a complicated situation, but I will not lie to anyone and I will not go out of my way to comply to rants.

I clearly have nothing best to say than "yes we are working on this" because we are. Regardless of the rants, disappointment, lack of communication (or anything to communicate for that matter) it is happening. Obviously I do not have the need to reply to every single post myself anymore, that's why I have mods who are wonderful enough to be able to deal with me and to deal with you. For free, with their best intentions, and with all the free time they have to give to you. They are on this website probably more than what they should, yet some call it "apathy" or such, also they reply to pretty much everyone even though when they probably don't have the time for every single reply.

Anyhow, this was just a long rant that had a while coming. The feedback as of lately has been rather negative and it's just because the frustration of not having the game downloaded in your computer ready to be installed. We are doing everything we can in the time we can and however we can possibly make it happen. If things were to be different I wouldn't have mods working for me, I wouldn't have this website up I would just set up a banner/announcement with whatever pertinent info/excuse you want to name for whatever drama/situation going on. Why waste anyone's time? I certainly wouldn't enjoy working for something that has no future or that seriously is not happening. I'd rather just call it good and let everyone enjoy their weekends however they'd find it more convenient than having a long annoying meeting to update them on what's going on so they can reply to whatever you ask them.


It boggles me how negative people can be just for the sake of being it, how easy is to get to conclusions without even truly thinking what they have to say before the run and type down whatever their frustrations tells them to. I get it, you want the game and that's what you'll get. It is not as soon as you (or we) might have wanted it to, but hey it is happening.


I hope you have enjoyed this long rant as much as I did. There's an update somewhere in that long post. How's that for an independent thought? Even Directors get to rant sometimes.





PS: It's 1am here and I should go to bed. I am guilty of *not* reading after writing to correct any typos, grammar or silliness.
No Cesars were harmed in the making of this post.

[Rosella]

*worships Say*

Wonderfully put.

And, by any chance, is Cesar exhibiting any signs of wanting to snap and run the game off to China?

[koko_99_2001]

Does he and Neil having a baby count? Oh...ya'll didn't know Neil was pregnant?

Wonderfully put, Say. I know the team's working hard, and yet, reading your post helped me to realize HOW hard. Thank you.

[PirateKingChris]

Hear, hear Say!  *applauds*

[Yonkey]

Well said!

No Cesars were harmed in the making of this post.

*is disappointed*

Does he and Neil having a baby count? Oh...ya'll didn't know Neil was pregnant?

We're expecting triplets.

[Cez]

I'm still aliveeeee!!!

Well put, Say!

I can't tell you the wonderful feeling that is getting 3 and 4 hours of sleep every night for the whole week trying to manage between my job at Actvision (and then coming home to continue to do more of the same) go to bed at 3 and 4 am, wake up at 7:30, go to work, rinse, repeat, and then come here and hear a bunch of people saying that we are not giving you what you want... hmmm... wonderful. My zombie like state of everyday due to lack of sleep is really appreciated out there by the people that keep bashing us...

Anyhow, Say couldn't have put it better. The only thing that I want to add is that if we decided not to show anything else is because it's not safe FOR YOU to be shown anything else. I can talk to you about numbers of production if those make any sense to you, but showing you more screenshots, characters, etc will completely ruin the experience for you.

What we have left that is still under wraps has a VERY good reason to be under wraps, but you keep on pushing, and I'll go ahead and release the "magic" side of it and ruin the whole experience to everyone.

Will that make you happy?

Cez

[kq fan007]

Thank you both Say and Cesar ,
Say your post was both touching and inspiring. I've been pretty negative on the forums lately and I'd like to make a public apology to the TSL staff,fans,moderatators,ect... who had to put up with my "aggravated" attitude recently. I do really appreciate what you guys do for us and I just want to apologize again for my rotten attitude.

[awesomeasapossum]

Yes, thank you so much say!

[GunHoMac]

All those words, and yet no hint of an end in sight.  Got it...thanks.

[PirateKingChris]

Appreciate everything you're doing, Cesar

GunHoMac: 

[Erpy]

I'm not asking for pity, I'm not asking for money, I'm not even asking for sympathy! All I expect for is for people to be understanding and honest with each other (fans and team).

All those words, and yet no hint of an end in sight.  Got it...thanks.

This just goes to show that even games without a price tag can be pirated. 

[Say]

Thank you for your pointless post Erpy. As uncalled as it was, I knew I couldn't expect any different from you.

[Petra Rocks]

 Ye gods, are you people still going on about this? From my not inconsiderable experience with internet conversation (greater than my experience with the face-to-face probably, but that's a whole separate story) I can inform you all this is going absolutely nowhere. The team is never going to satisfy the skeptics, and the skeptics are not going to get what they want either. In the interest of not having to see these blighted things crop up in my new posts section, I am going to respectfully recommend that you all shut up. Hounding the team more will not help anyone, and you people on the team don't have to reply to every post here either. Ignore them and they will go away sooner or later, keep posting and they keep arguing. So, if you will all be so kind as to be quiet, I think you will find we are all better served. 

Based on my internet experience, I am giving about 5% odds people will notice, 70% you will make a polite acknowledgment and go on arguing, and 25% this post might as well not exist. If current treads keep up, I will have enough threads to post things like this in to confirm or disprove my theory. So in the interest of science, I must say


KEEP AT IT GUINEA PIGS

Ah insanity.

[Erpy]

Thank you for your pointless post Erpy. As uncalled as it was, I knew I couldn't expect any different from you.

Commercial game developers ask for money as payment in return for their efforts, but there are people committing piracy by not paying the retail price, yet still downloading, playing and enjoying the game.

Freeware game developers don't ask for money, but instead (as you said) ask for patience and understanding for their position. Also in this case, there are people who won't come up with this patience and understanding, yet will in the end still download and play the game. In a way, that's also "piracy" if you think about it, in the methaphorical meaning of reaping the benefits while denying the developer the benefits, even though the game has no price tag.

I dunno, I thought it was interesting to think about it.

Uncalled? Meh, I've been reading some discussions here and I think my statement had SOME merit. Please note, my statement favors your team, not the complainers. I know the hurdles of game development first hand. Word.

If there's anything personal you have against me that warrants the statement that you kinda expected uncalled posts from me, please let me know, because I don't recall we actually ever gotten into a fight before. The ferocity of your reply towards me made me raise my eyebrows. Or perhaps you misunderstood what I was getting at, in which case we can leave it at that, now that I explained the meaning behind my post.

[Cez]

yeah your post was very ambiguous at first, but I do get your point now. Stretching it out a little though, but yeah, we are all in the same boat somehow.

[Delling]

*Agrees with Cesar (is too lazy to go to the character map, but not lazy enough to not type this comment), Say, Erpy, and Petra*

@ Petra: I get where you're coming from. I go from hating these threads to being entertained by them. (But, the "guinea pigs" may have been a bit much.)

@ Erpy: I love your analysis of pirating!

@ Say and Cez: I love you guys! *loves all of TSL/POS* ...and your posts are great.

...but you guys made me go against my decision not to post in these conversations... just so I could tell you all that you're just that awesome.

*goes back to not posting in these conversations*

[Petra Rocks]

Oh? I thought it was an amusing touch, but I can take it down if it bothers people.