Also would like to point out that I do understand how important terrain is in this game.

Each biome is unique, this isn't just for appearance but plays a huge role in tactics.

Doing the concept first to understand the enemies you want to develop then doing the terrain to match that is key in how they do their world crafting. An important step you need to do in order to populate the area properly with the enemies you want to introduce.

So it isn't as though I deny the importance of the work being done... or think it is a waste of time or think they could do it faster or anything.

I always like to refer back to a saying we had in a fiber optics communication development lab I worked in for a super large corp. Management always hated this saying lol (understandable for those not doing the work).
"You can't schedule invention."
At the same time the lab 'had' to give a best guess timeline that all sides knew had a small probability to even be within 25% of the ultimate reality. Management tacitly knew this but still they had their own 'masters' that required a schedule.

Software development is not that easy. Sometimes you have a problem that you think can be solved in 5 minutes and then you spend a week working on it. Or one problem leads to another one, and so on, etc.. that's why hardly any developer agrees to fixed deadlines or if so, then it often comes down to crunch times.
It's done when it's done.

or another saying (bit sarcastic) : The last 5% of a software project often takes as long as the first 95%

edit2: or in the case of games in general: you have a plan, you make the game and in the middle or end of the process you see the features are no fun. so you adjust and adjust and adjust till it is fun. fun cannot be planned, fun has to be experienced.

Originally posted by Mr. X:

Software development is not that easy.

Na, it really is generally speaking (time consuming =/= hard), there's just huge differences between the different industries within software development and for entirely explainable reasons game dev takes a lot longer.

In game project, time frames be damned. A biome could be done sub 9 months, it could be 15+ months.

translated with help from google:

Take it as "Game development is not that easy to plan" @Sea Base
For me programming is "easy", for another person it's maybe "magic".


@guns:
or another possibility: due to the success, they now have the financing to expand the game more extensively than originally planned. and now they take 12 months instead of originally planned 6 months. But who knows except for the developers....

Well of course other things can come up. Cross play I am sure is taking some of the team away from Mistlands right now.

I do understand the real world.

But the time frames I have posted have come from "official" like sources. I am just wondering if that is realistic.

Basically the devs put out 6 to 9 months per biome.... but that is incomplete as there is more work involved.

Giving them the full 9 months then adding on another 6 months for concept I don't think is being unreasonable to base an expectation on.

And even if that expectation isn't met I would at least like to have a proper time frame of reference. Even if it takes longer it isn't like I am trying to build a cross to crucify them on.

I just want to get a grip on what is realistic to expect according to the devs.

Originally posted by Mr. X:

translated with help from google:

Take it as "Game development is not that easy to plan" @Sea Base
For me its "easy", for another person it's maybe "magic".

As a rule of thumb, no, as experience, yes. But that has little to do with game development being inherently not easy to plan. There are clear reasons why just as and more complicated projects in wider software development are done way quicker on average. Even John Carmack talks about it.

Would it be more fair to say 18 months per biome?

6 month concept
9 month full team working on
3 month beta build

add a month for each biome for cross play issues?

It would be more fair to say that apart from the developers (or maybe publishers), no one has any idea.

Originally posted by esbenmf:

It would be more fair to say that apart from the developers (or maybe publishers), no one has any idea.

So when the devs say 6 to 9 months per biome we should just think they are lies?

Originally posted by GunsForBucks:

Originally posted by esbenmf:

It would be more fair to say that apart from the developers (or maybe publishers), no one has any idea.

So when the devs say 6 to 9 months per biome we should just think they are lies?

More like complete rough balling it.

Originally posted by Sea Base:

Originally posted by GunsForBucks:

So when the devs say 6 to 9 months per biome we should just think they are lies?

More like complete rough balling it.

Well I suppose it looks better than saying 2 years between biomes. Not that I would have an issue with that either ... they have made a great quality game and I hope they keep up their standards shown thus far.

Maybe they're just tired of saying something. because you would always get the same answer from the community anyway. 6-9 months sounds realistic to me for the size of the team. but they probably can't work on it in one piece and communicating every interruption would only delay everything further and wouldn't interest anyone anyway

And if I were a developer of the team and had to listen to some feedback here, I would pay them back the money and ban them from buying the game... if it were possible...

Originally posted by Mr. X:

Maybe they're just tired of saying something. because you would always get the same answer from the community anyway. 6-9 months sounds realistic to me for the size of the team. but they probably can't work on it in one piece and communicating every interruption would only delay everything further and wouldn't interest anyone anyway

Well they do seem to communicate ... I just avoid their stuff since I don't like spoilers.

But it was <I think a moderator here> who pointed out in those monthly things about how it took 6 months for concept and prep... the Oct to march time and in march it officially started to work on mistlands.

So they are communicating but in bits and pieces ... just trying to get a grip on the whole picture if they are willing to share that.
It was also stated it was basically only one person doing the terrain work and concept stuff so that time might be rolled into the previous beta/bug time or something.

I can put together a timeframe from what they have said and done but I just want to see if that is realistic to them.

and don't forget: it's not a team of robots. they are humans like us :)
they make and made mistakes like all of us.

i also wish i would know more and get more information. And i also cannot await the final release and then maybe a Valheim 2 but.. things change and a lot of ♥♥♥♥ happened the last years too