I dont feel mad about LFS as it is....it is a great game, no doubts there. I do feel mad when developers say, in 2008, that they have new content to be release SOON, and then they dont even bother to either release it or report about it...... ( BTW, the word SOON apparently has diferent meanings to certain people i guess ).
If i knew LFS would stay the way it is now, and no more patches or updates would be released, i would have probably moved on to another sim......and come back only to have some fun or bring back some memories whenever i felt like it. But even in 2008, when the patch was anounced, scavier team had already released screenshots about the scirocco and rockingham.....so that obvioulsy made me lean forward and made me excited about the game again!
The big point here is that i feel that we where tricked to stick around and wait for nothing. Im pretty sure this wasnt scavier team intention of course, but the truth is that 5 years gone by, and we still got no new content.
It shows a big lack of responsability towards a client ( yes, because we are all clients/costumers here), to say you gonna make things happen, and then you dont do shit. Its really unprofessional. Also, the way this issue is being handled by the devs, shows no remorse about it. They prefer to ignore bad critics then to face them head to head. Its the attitude of a coward.
Please note this, im not arguing about the money i spent, im arguing about false expectations.
Amazingly that game doesn't develop, and admirers don't become less, all chase, someone is more someone less. Ieto in a look not modern graphics (it perfectly balanced), and in a type of an excellent network code and physical model.
Not clearly that prevents to remain on former physical model of the tires, till today any of large competitors didn't achieve such great results. It is a pity that filling of game isn't present, it is a pity.
Or even the message a week after the initial announcement;
Big unknown time in this case.
You tricked yourself, sorry. I don't get this I'm tricked for waiting thing anyway. I don't believe anyone waits if something better comes along in the meantime.
Well I paid my money and got a game, S2.
Now if S3 comes along I may pay my money and get a game.... just as I did with GTA, I, II, III, IV ect ect I never expected to get all those games just because I brought the first.
And if the last did not make money then the next is not made, but they will not realise the next until the current one stops making money.
Really don't see why you cry so much,,, unless its because of broken promises (in a loose sense) then I agree, don't say you will then don't, that's just wrong.
Other than that, I still play LFS, offline so I may only have 5 miles against my name, that does not mean I don't care or my opinion is worth any less than others.
Apparently (to a few here) money is largely an irrelevant factor. I don't share that belief. Bit like saying you don't need food to live. Common sense demands accepting there will come a time, where it will be the primary factor, if this trend continues.
Indeed, no one could argue that expectations were created, even if an official release date was never given (but it was pretty clear at some stages that new release should arrive in the range of weeks or at least months).
I do honestly believe that they did intend to release the stuff back then, and since then, and probably they still do.
However, life cannot always go as planned, stuff changes priorities, resources change, etc. They still keep the servers alive without any stream of income which I'm aware of, and I still think they want to release new stuff. I'd certainly like that as well.
Will it ever happen? maybe yes, maybe not. That's how it is right now. As long as the servers are still alive, and people can enjoy them (though personally I haven't raced for more than a year, but still visit the forum once in a while), no one is forced to stay. Bitching about it won't help anyone, and won't change anything - it's been done enough over the past few years.
I do hope new stuff will be released at some stage, however. LFS is IMO still one of the better and more unique simulators out there.
But still, nobody expected that the "unknown amount of time" would be in the order of several years regarding new content. I don't think even the devs expected that at the time either.
Whether it was the lost motivation or licensing it would have been nice to know not to expect anything for "unknown amount of time, development is now paused" etc. But of course that would have been bad businesswise. Better to keep things running with minimal upkeep so that the scene stays somewhat active with people who still have some faith left.
I'm still visiting mostly because of nostalgia. I'm not a driver who likes to compete and drive endless circles around the track just to get that last tenth. What first fired me up when I drove the very first pre-alpha version that was found on the net was the physics and how the cars reacted. Quick forward ten years and what was then new and refreshing feels somewhat dated and dull nowadays (track surface, sound etc). LFS had a great start and growing period which now seems to have totally stalled.
Development.....
I could give a rat's ass about the development. I like the game as it is and if S3 never happens, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.
But......BUT.
When S1 came out, my son was in Jr High school. I now have a 3 week old grand daughter......
Back in 2006 i loved looking at how the tyres moved arround, it was, and still is very impresive!
The awesome physics is also the first thing that comes to my mind when i hear or read something about LFS. If only they made it as big as Polyphony Digital, but then with a better product. Obviously.
Being a compiled application, the amount of time to decompile (as you would get out Assembly, not C) and then turn that into something useful.. the time is just incredible and not worth it.
Even if Scawen went on a crazy holiday into space for a few years.. he'd still finish S3 before us.