How Long?

[Tunes_Steele]

Just curious,

How long was DDO in development before being released? Anyone know?

[Kraldor]

2 Years IIRC

[Tenkari_Rozahas]

I heard that Sierra was originally developing the game back in 1998, then turbine got the game who knows when and remade it pretty much, dont know if its true though.

[blakbyrd]

My understanding was about 2 years as well. However I remember hearing about about 3 years or so before it came out. So, my guess is about 2 maybe 3 years, which is the typical time span for most big named MMOs. Although hearing about it and something actually hitting the developement stage is quite often different.

[teddok]

It was in development for about 2 years. It was also originally slated to be release around Christmas of 2006. Due to Atari having financial problems they forced Turbine to release 10 months early thus the problems with the game. I applaud Turbine for what they have done to and with the game. It is truly a great game.

[The_Cataclysm]

I heard that Sierra was originally developing the game back in 1998, then turbine got the game who knows when and remade it pretty much, dont know if its true though.

That was LOTRO.

[Tenkari_Rozahas]

That was LOTRO.

Oops. XD


Well, if you read the fine print on the launcher loading screen, it says 1995-2007.... so guess thats when they got the liscence and went about the pre-development planning.

[The_Cataclysm]

Oops. XD


Well, if you read the fine print on the launcher loading screen, it says 1995-2007.... so guess thats when they got the liscence and went about the pre-development planning.

No, that is how long they have held copyrights on certain technology they have developed and are using for this game (like the launcher maybe). Would make sense this they have been around since '94 developing MMOs.

[Bombalo]

It was in development for about 2 years. It was also originally slated to be release around Christmas of 2006. Due to Atari having financial problems they forced Turbine to release 10 months early thus the problems with the game. I applaud Turbine for what they have done to and with the game. It is truly a great game.

If this is indeed the case then it explains so much about the game. I truly believe that if this game would have had another 8-12 months of development time we would have had way more content on release and I dont think you would be hearing so much about people that are bored. In all honesty though this game is meant for casual players that only intend to play this game as much as they would play PnP in a given week (about 10 hrs). If your playing significantly more than that a week you are going to burn through all the content that turbine is putting out in a couple of months.

[blakbyrd]

No, that is how long they have held copyrights on certain technology they have developed and are using for this game (like the launcher maybe). Would make sense this they have been around since '94 developing MMOs.

Its legal jargon for the most part. It could be as you say or it could simply be the time the rights D&D were obtained by WotC (dont think that is right, not positive, who cares), or possibly the rights of the Eberron campaign setting. They have to cover those bases and chances are that copyright notice is not so much DDO itself but what it is based on.

[Riddikulus]

This, from 12/15/03, talks about securing $18M in funding for DDO, and here is another $30M a year and a half later.

Looks like 2 years is about correct.

That funding alone is 266,666 subscriber years worth... wonder if they made it back yet.

[The_Cataclysm]

Its legal jargon for the most part. It could be as you say or it could simply be the time the rights D&D were obtained by WotC (dont think that is right, not positive, who cares), or possibly the rights of the Eberron campaign setting. They have to cover those bases and chances are that copyright notice is not so much DDO itself but what it is based on.

When it says "Game Technology and and certain software © 1995-2007 Turbine Inc. and patents pending."....

[negative]

Don't forget though, that the game engine was already pretty much finished (AC2 or something, right?) and that makes a big impact on developement time. I think this MMO released at about the same amount of completion as most MMO's. It seems to be a trend in the industry.

[Klattuu]

That was LOTRO.

Actually DDO was originally being developed by another company and they fell short of target goals of developing a viable product which is why Turbine was able to bid on the new contract.

The current graphics engine was developed for Asheron's Call 2 (which at the time, and maybe still is, the state-of-the-art system) which helped a lot in development time.

Now while it is generally accepted that DDO was about 50% complete as far as content goes upon release, this turns out to have been a blessing in terms of how the game has developed. A lot of changes are being made to the game as of late because they can now visualize how level 20 is going to look from billions of collected data points and statistics based on actual gameplay and can make small changes now to alleviate the need massive changes later.

If you really examine though how complicated races and classes are and really how much hands-on development goes into environments and adventures, it is really quite remarkable how much they actually got done in 2 years time.