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Author Topic:   Mastering and Shipping

Darth Maul posted 12-20-98 07:22 AM ET
Here is an quote from an article in Next Generation:
"According to Sid Meier, Alpha Centauri is now complete and has gone to master." "We're sending it to be mastered this week," revealed Meier. "We've added a lot since E3: cleaned up the graphics and the interface, added bigger explosions, and more."
"Alpha Centauri is scheduled to ship on Febraury 2nd 1999"
Now don't take this the wrong way, I know the above date is not in any way "official" and I'm a firm believer that everything should be in order when the game ships, but why is there a 4 to 6 week gap between the planned mastering and shipping dates? Does EA and Origin still have to do some qa on the game or is there other work (manuals, ect.) that still has to be finished? Just wondering.....
Imran Siddiqui posted 12-20-98 07:50 AM ET
I've heard that manuals must be completed by EA. Hope that helps.
Imran Siddiqui
Gord McLeod posted 12-21-98 04:55 PM ET
Yup, apparently there was a problem with the manual translation - they want to simultaneously release the English version with several other langauges to cut down on sales slack of foreign langauge versions due to piracy of the English version. So it'll be shipping (we hope) in early-mid February.
Gojackal posted 12-21-98 07:14 PM ET
Just curious, how many of you are actually going to read the manual?
Old_Guy posted 12-21-98 07:17 PM ET
I found the Civ2 manual to be very helpful and I will definitely read the manual for SMAC. In fact Brian Reynolds said it would be around 200 pages which sounds great to me.
It seems that most games nowadays do not have good manuals. I think that's sad.
WAS posted 12-21-98 09:45 PM ET
I am a Manual Reader.
WAS
Brother Greg posted 12-21-98 10:18 PM ET
Definately. The manual can be one of the best things. I usually jump in play a game for an hour or so, then go and read the manual. Probably won't do that with SMAC, as I will have played the demo, so I'll most likely just jump in and read the manual first.
Spoe posted 12-21-98 10:22 PM ET
Agreed, BG. Sid & Co seem to put in nice, informative manuals with their games, unlike many games today. So, just remember kids, RTFM! :P
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Author	Topic: Mastering and Shipping
Darth Maul	posted 12-20-98 07:22 AM ET Here is an quote from an article in Next Generation: "According to Sid Meier, Alpha Centauri is now complete and has gone to master." "We're sending it to be mastered this week," revealed Meier. "We've added a lot since E3: cleaned up the graphics and the interface, added bigger explosions, and more." "Alpha Centauri is scheduled to ship on Febraury 2nd 1999" Now don't take this the wrong way, I know the above date is not in any way "official" and I'm a firm believer that everything should be in order when the game ships, but why is there a 4 to 6 week gap between the planned mastering and shipping dates? Does EA and Origin still have to do some qa on the game or is there other work (manuals, ect.) that still has to be finished? Just wondering.....
Imran Siddiqui	posted 12-20-98 07:50 AM ET I've heard that manuals must be completed by EA. Hope that helps. Imran Siddiqui
Gord McLeod	posted 12-21-98 04:55 PM ET Yup, apparently there was a problem with the manual translation - they want to simultaneously release the English version with several other langauges to cut down on sales slack of foreign langauge versions due to piracy of the English version. So it'll be shipping (we hope) in early-mid February.
Gojackal	posted 12-21-98 07:14 PM ET Just curious, how many of you are actually going to read the manual?
Old_Guy	posted 12-21-98 07:17 PM ET I found the Civ2 manual to be very helpful and I will definitely read the manual for SMAC. In fact Brian Reynolds said it would be around 200 pages which sounds great to me. It seems that most games nowadays do not have good manuals. I think that's sad.
WAS	posted 12-21-98 09:45 PM ET I am a Manual Reader. WAS
Brother Greg	posted 12-21-98 10:18 PM ET Definately. The manual can be one of the best things. I usually jump in play a game for an hour or so, then go and read the manual. Probably won't do that with SMAC, as I will have played the demo, so I'll most likely just jump in and read the manual first.
Spoe	posted 12-21-98 10:22 PM ET Agreed, BG. Sid & Co seem to put in nice, informative manuals with their games, unlike many games today. So, just remember kids, RTFM! :P