https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kg_3uOst1sg&feature=share
James turner (previously the sims supply) posted this video on his channel. I’m a huge advocate for sims 4 and I genuinely enjoy the game as a whole. I know he does as well, but he makes so really good points in this video. It’s ridiculous when bugs slip in to everyone’s game, to me this proves they aren’t doing as much play testing as they should. I don’t think they are doing it intentionally, I think they are rushed by EA and are forced to come out with the product in a certain time which cuts the amount of time needed for proper play testing.
But some of the quality cuts he mentioned are just weird. He makes a point about the new island living island counter being very poor quality. I didn’t know how bad it was until this video. It doesn’t match up properly with the already included counters, one swatch of the counter has no matching island swatch, and the waterfall edges of the island counters are very poorly done which is massively disappointing because that is my favorite part of these counters. It’s just weird that when asked about it from the game changers before IL released the devs said it was a tagging issue and that the island counters were made but weren’t showing up properly in the game. The amount of time it took for us to get them and the quality of them makes me think this just wasn’t true. They weren’t made initially so they took three months to make them and they still look rushed. Hopefully they fix this because it’s really sad.
Anyway I just wanted to post this to see what others thought about it. I agree with him a lot. I love the game, it’s one of my favorite versions but it’s hard to ignore the quality issues with the game when it comes to certain things. I think something needs to be addressed here for sure if they really plan on continuing the game for a few more years.
Comments
There wasn’t another post on it when I made the topic. I just thought it was important to be seen and had some good points. They do need to be merged but I have a feeling it won’t be done till Monday.
And let me guess, we'll have to wait until next year for them to fix it, if at all? Yeah, I'm not surprised.
r/woosh
He doesn't get patches early which is where the counter problem was released and he may have spoken directly to staff, just because he hasn't specifically said he has doesn't mean he doesn't pass feedback on directly. I don't see the problem with James sharing with his community, I've seen Lilsimsie do the same. I think nitpicking James is petty.
Gamechangers were only recently criticised on this forum for NOT making videos like this. Unfortunately for a lot of people the lack of visible feedback means the GCs don't give Maxis feedback at all and only praise the game.
(which is not true of any of those I've watched, none of them are blindly praising the entire game at all times).
Their job is also not bug testing - that should be done before anyone outside of Maxis gets their hands on the game - but changing the game based on a) what they think needs to be done and b) what their viewers think needs to be done. So part of his responsibility is connection with the players who watch his channel.
Attacking someone who doesn't actually work on the game is kinda pointless. And advocating for crunching to bugfix pre-release, really?
The big issue is that there's a lack of quality testing at the appropriate time, one that leaves the developers space to fix bugs without panic.
I would have hoped that as they sign NDAs EA/Maxis could trust and pay some to do early bug testing as sometimes it needs an outside eye to detect things that programmers "cannot see for the trees", being too close.
I'm sorry but they don't work in QA. They're normal people like you and me who happen to have put a lot of work into making their channels and getting out regular, good quality content. YouTube isn't a carefree job, it's a very unstable environment and it takes a lot of work. People have to stop hating on them for actively working towards something, this didn't come for free.
They get the game a few days early so that they can play it and tell us what's actually in the pack and whether they believe it's worth it - not to test bugs. And honestly, 3 days is less time than you might think to play the game, get a somewhat objective opinion on it, create good footage, write a coherent voiceover, and turn all of that into a decent, qualitative and informative video.
These bugs should have been thoroughly tested and fixed before early access starts. That is the devs' job, not GC's job. They do give feedback, point out bugs and voice discontent over low quality materials all the time btw. I don't know why people think they don't. And considering his reach, it's actually a good thing he made this video, because it will garner more attention than you and me discussing it on the forums. Is he not "living up to his obligation" by doing that, if he has any obligation at all?
Game changers aren’t quality testers, they get the game free and early to allow them to make content and advertise for EA. I’m not a huge fan of the program myself but they don’t do testing.
In the comments section on the video posted, someone said their Friend does do quality testing for EA and that they don’t get a lot of time and a lot of the reports they submit on bugs before a pack is released is ignored by EA.
While it can be argued anyone can say they know someone with connections, looking at the state of the game recently and the bugs that are fixed, then break then fix then break, it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if it were true.
There still are a lot of things that need to be addressed, such as :
- Restaurants where it takes the whole day to eat -if your sims is even served-.
- Get Bugs To Work (The Detective career is very buggy)
- Dog walks that require for your sim to take the day off to complete.
- Moschino Bugspack (game freezing while taking a pic, sims not coming to pose)
- Lagging, routing issues.
Etc....
It's very unfortunate people are having so many issues with DO. I use it all the time and it works pretty well, dinners take a fairly normal amount of time. I wish others had the same experience, and I keep wondering what may be causing it
I don’t play that often but I do know when I turned my game on yesterday the restaurants taking a day to serve sims and dog walking seems to be improved? Dine out is still buggy and there appears to be simulation lag there that wasn’t there pre the patch last week (I reported it to SG Nick who says they will investigate) but sims could eat quite quickly.
This is the problem that I have with the whole "Game Changers" title. What do they change, exactly? From what I understand they have no input on the game. Once they're let in on the process for a pack, the pack is weeks from release and all but set in stone. So the title is a misnomer. The only change that I see Game Changers making is possibly increased sales for EA. Some of them have a real talent for making the game seem much more interesting than it really is.
I agree. Mods help with that.😉
Some game changers get flown to the studios for meetings. It was on one of those meetings that Deligracy requested either a white or dark coloured door (she tweeted about it as she left the devs a message) and what do you know? A few months later we get door swatches. That being said, I have a friend in the programme and she does not get that opportunity nor does she get invites to events. As far as I can see it’s free advertisement for EA and increased views for the influencer so it’s a win win for everyone.
Lets make this a reality!
Yeah, game changers for EA, not us.
I've always thought them as an extension of marketing for EA. They broaden the reach and pump up the sales.
A game changer to me would be brought in at the end of the alpha and beta phases, and to do some play-testing, to give their opinion on how the game is shaping up. Time would then be given to implement "changes" to improve the game.
That's a game changer to me.
I was going to post this until I noticed your post.
But yeah, game changers are from the EA perspective, it allows them a more 'personal' approach to marketing the game the 'Hey (s)he's a gamer, just like me' concept, instead of their usual (and usually poor quality) Dev playthroughs.
Pretty shallow really. But, well... EA.
When they start advertising and streaming other games, maybe it's time they break their ties with EA and carry on like LGR with no commitments.
I'm sure some fresh Simmers would like the free flights, previews of upcoming games and early access to fresh packs. The flights might equal some Simmers monthly pay.