TSR, WotC and Electronic Support: a loveless marriage

[Dausuul]

That's what got them into such trouble however in the first place. It was the in-house group that actually managed to produce what made it to market (albeit the folks who coded the majority of the builder are no longer there).

Are we talking about 4E's e-tools? If so, I wasn't aware there was an outsourced part of that. Which was it?

Of course part of not being a software company is also knowing how to manage outsourcing and ensure accountability, how much you're spending on what, etc.

Well, yes. Outsourcing is not a cure-all by any means.

I suspect that the new Neverwinter Nights game, with its fancy scenario builder, is a clever experiment by WotC in outsourcing the Virtual Tabletop. If Cryptic makes a go of NWN, it should be a relatively short step to turn the scenario builder into a working VTT.

 

[Andramelech]

Okay yes, that's true: I forgot about the magazines. And a $6 one time fee would be awesome. I think it was like $70 a year. I planned on using it for more than a month though. Okay so maybe I'm being a bit negative, but it's still overpriced. I though I remember seeing the price and thinking "that's as much as a WOW account". I guess I have a selective memory or something. I'm also in need of a job, so everything seems expensive to me right now.

Edit: Well, I am a cheap bastard, no question there. Looking back though, I realize I used to buy dragon magazine every other month or so, and I think it was about $6 a pop. When I look at it that way, it doesn't seem so bad anymore. Maybe I'll check it out when I have a couple of bucks to spare. Thanks for the info.

 

[Echohawk]

You didn't mention it, but do you remember TSR's Forgotten Realms interactive Atlas? Wizards put out one for Eberron via Code Monkey.

Are you sure? I was under the impression (seemingly confirm by this thread) that the Eberron interactive atlas was never actually released.

 

[SkidAce]

The forgotton Realms interactive atlas was by Profantasy (Campaign Cartographer folks).

 

[Remathilis]

In the end, WotC is not a software shop, and neither was TSR. Building software isn't something they do well. Until and unless they hire on (or contract to) a real pack of solid developers, QA, PMs, and so on who know software, their offerings will always be second rate.

My point was TSR had a good track record of picking decent developers for their software: Evermore did a bang-up job on CR2 and they even got ProFantasy to give them a stripped down CC2 as their map-maker. It just seems they lost steam with the e-tools debacle (and yes, Code Monkey did a lot to make that program usable, but it was never as widely received as CR2.0 was).

When it came to 4e, WotC did the sensible thing and released the important parts (chargen and monsters) but it seems there will be little else. After all the promises made about DDi, it just seems they are keeping their track record they started on Master Tools. (One could say WotC learned their lesson from how MT was done and make the generators first, then worry about the frivolous parts. Good for them, but it still doesn't make the DDi tools a fully-functional suite, esp. lacking the Adventure Tools and Mapmaker).

 

[fanboy2000]

Are you sure? I was under the impression (seemingly confirm by this thread) that the Eberron interactive atlas was never actually released.

I'm sure it was released. But...

The forgotton Realms interactive atlas was by Profantasy (Campaign Cartographer folks).

I'm not sure it was released by CMP. I was visiting both Profantasy and CMP websites at the time. Now that you mention it, I believe you're right. (Profantasy still has the WWII interactive Atlas up for sale.)

 

[Umbran]

Okay so maybe I'm being a bit negative, but it's still overpriced. I though I remember seeing the price and thinking "that's as much as a WOW account".

Looking at Blizzard, the cheapest you can get an account for WoW is $12.99 per month (prepaid for 6 months). The most expensive DDi subscription is $9.95 for one month, and the cheapest is $5.95 per month (prepaid for 1 year)- less than half as much as the comparable WoW account.

 

[knifie_sp00nie]

WotC's mistake was talking about their plans/projects before they were (mostly) complete. If people had never heard of the virtual tabletop none of this nerdrage would exist.

 

[vic20]

In the end, WotC is not a software shop, and neither was TSR. Building software isn't something they do well. Until and unless they hire on (or contract to) a real pack of solid developers, QA, PMs, and so on who know software, their offerings will always be second rate.

I think that your perception of software development success metrics may be... not in touch with reality. The team that has delivered the Monster Builder and Character Builder tools have put in our hands stable, extensible, simple-to-use tools that deliver on the requirements that they were given. Granted, there are many features floating out in the collective community imagination that haven't been delivered, but that's not something to measure those folks by.

 

[nedjer]

WoTC's core business has been based around hardback books and going electronic presents a whole mess of complications, including sustaining hardback income, DRM, rapidly changing technology options and, particularly, avoiding a further no tech/ high tech schism along the lines of the . . . yawn . . . snore, . . . oh, sorry, edition, yawn, wars. Make the wrong move and you're dead kind of encourages them to take their time.