Sorry if I sounded a bit blunt before but I really see a future in DE and things posted didn't leave much bright thought left, especially when I have written thousands of lines of code for DE already :D
>Well, I think you look at this from the perspective like if the Engine was complete. Maybe we did not communicate this well in the beginning, but all we have released so far are beta builds and things change over time.
Of course this is not my perspective, I too am a developer and know the meaning of beta. It just worries me how things will develop in the future concerning all things You posted.
>> 1. Public version for Delta Engine is developed less
> True, but we made this choice very early (in fact even in 2009). Our development team is just not big enough to provide every single feature needed. Game teams always have their own needs and focus. With a engine it is hard to focus everything. So we develop with examples and learn from mistakes and improve constantly.
Yea true, but I for one don't even want an engine that is focused too much on some type of a game and neither I want an engine that tries to do every genre possible. I want a solid base to work on, basics, that's enough given that they are implemented well (heck I'd consider DE production ready if all the primitive stuff could already be deployed to ALL target platforms).
>> 2. Major features hangs on the enthusiasm of Your game teams to back port them to Delta Engine
> Yes, this is certainly not how we planed it. But there are two sides to this. If we just have bunch of crappy games and port back the features into the Delta Engine early, it won't be useful to anyone wanting to do serious stuff. So the game teams take a little longer with SoulCraft, ArenaWars 2, etc. but building a useful starter kit out of a complete powerful game is much better in the end.
Good points, but what about after the big games You have? I bet as a company You are aiming to forge money at constant and improving rate, games do that but not an engine(except UE3 it seems). Will Your teams have time to back port the features before they get sucked into developing a new game?
>> 3. iOS, Android and non native .NET platforms hangs on a big IF considering You are looking for alternative solution to Xamarin (which IMHO is wrong since Xamarin is industry proven, has free emulator nowdays and has quite stable runtime and compilers)
>I think you misunderstood maybe. We use Xamarin and Mono all day and we will support it as long as it makes sense. Currently we have no alternative for iOS or Android, we just thinking out loudly for the long term because we don't think the "Xamarin" way will persuade the masses. Some people will like it, but 99% of students or private hobbists won't want to pay thousands of dollars each year.
I too think Xamarin is WAY to overpriced for indies/students but it's a double edged sword. I for one would prefer stable/maintained solution for multiplatform release as to one that has yet to be proven effective. People using DE will surely build their game on windows first and then consider buying the stuff related to mp release(Your license, Xamarin etc). Can the free emulator stuff be made to work with DE? At least people would see how their apps run on the mobile platform before buying the licenses? This would help the issue a bit.
>> 4. The build solution for markets are pushed further by quarter(s) ...
> Yes, that is sad. But it is not like thousands developers are waiting for it. We are still early in beta and since demand is still low we can change our plans more often. We still want to provide the build system for professional teams, but we don't have an easy and cheap solution yet for everyone.
Agreed, good points. Though everyone would like to see the market stuff work, that sells this engine to masses IMHO.
>> 5. ... which could mean the 1.0 is being pushed further too
> To be honest we don't have the ability to plan so far ahead while we still changing so much every release. We still are targeting v1.0, but it all depends on how "finished" the engine looks in 6 or 12 months. When it is all good and ready, the official release will come, otherwise we probably continue improving until it all is very solid.
*Fingers crossed* I too would like to see a stable/final release like in the original schedule.
>> 6. All coupled by the fact that release schedules are already slipping (yes yes, I know it's beta but no need to advertise the dates if One can't make them keep)
> Yes, bad communication on my part. Sorry about that. I always wanted to make the release despite of the other things going on, but reality kicks you in the butt.
I think it is not bad communication. To be honest if Your time taken in these forums reflect the state of the engine in the future we have nothing to worry about. Honestly, Your support in these forums is top notch
I think the problem is that You put a monthly release schedule active in the first place. That creates pressure from both sides: You have to release it in time X, and we bitch about the release around the time X. Just release stuff when ready, then nightly release stuff is great though and should fix this :)
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