For those of you that have been following SEE (for a long or short period of time), I guess if your devotion for this mod is high enough, you're well aware of all the numerous problems we've had in trying to see this mod to the end. There have been countless of efforts and an equal amount of halts due to a stock pile of never ending problems. These halts all have something in common - they're all releated to one thing: Sûlherokh's incredibly complex coding that basically noone can match (deal with). And without my former Head Coder (Sûl), the task at hand is like trying to climb Mount Everest in your underwear. The history of SEE is scattered around several topics and some of them have went haywire after clashes between me and some forum members with personality traits incompatible with mine
The last time I described a halt in production, the topic was accused of being over dramatic, so I'll try to be less dramatic, less emotional and less sensitive this time... and just give you the news like a Terminator asking for Sarah Connor Seriously though - I'm really sorry to have to tell you that the last effort to finish SEE also failed!
That is not "last" as in "final", but last as in what we had lined up for now. The problem - ever since Sûl left SEE and the modding scene for the second time - have always been to find his replacement. I lost track of how many people have contacted me offering help. But most of them never get to anywhere beyond the PM/mail they sent. If I see no real evidence of serious modding experience, die hard dedication, loads of motivation and genuine interest in the SEE mod and Lord of the Rings concept (movies in particular)... I see no point in even trying. Some guys have gotten further and we have actually started working together coding SEE, but all 5-6 have failed pretty fast. Seeing Sûl's advanced, complex and very MESSY coding is enough to scare most coders on the run. There has only been one coder that have been able to (even pretty easily) deal with Sûl's coding, and that's Ridder Geel. However, due to the never ending work load of his own mod; the RC mod, Ridder Geel's skills won't matter in the long run as there's no time for him to work on SEE, with me.
His younger brother, Ridder Blauw, is basically and almost as skilled as Geel despite his very young age. So the "modding force" is truly strong in that family indeed, and Blauw offered to step in when Geel realized he didn’t have the time needed! But once again, there was no real time for Blauw either to work on SEE as he's also involved in his brother's mod. When the Ridder brothers offered to help the SEE mod progress, I guess it was out of a combination of being extremely helpful, non selfish and with a slight will to flaunt their skills. Whatever the reason was, it was naturally very welcome to me, as the Mod Author and Team Leader of a shattered team consisting mostly of people that have come and gone though a period of more than 4 years now... Along the way I even lost some of the members closest to me in strange conflicts I don’t even understand as to this day.
Other forum members told me "don't put your trust in the Ridder boys", and some even trash talked and flamed them to some extent. Personally I don't have that many personal opinions about that many people here (with a few exceptions). And if someone that seems to be very skilled and has a grand portfolio of work to display is willingly offering help, I'm not gonna miss the chance to finish this “Life time achievement” - regardless of what others think of the person/s offering this help. Now, I was fully prepared that it was just a chance and that it might fail as well, like all other attempts before. So when it finally did, around Xmas, I wasn't really that surprised. Disapointed? Yes! Annoyed from all the COUNTLESS of hours, days and weeks I spent chatting with them compared to the relatively small leaps in production? Yes! Am I angry with them, or in Blauw in particular since he was the one that did most of the hysterical chatting, immense planning and eager coding? No, I appreciate the effort! I’m annoyed at the situation, not at any person. Well, except maybe a little at Sûl for leaving the mod in this state...
Besides the problem of finding a capable coder, there also the problem of finding equally skilled modelers. There are several really talented ones out thee, but basically ALL of them lose interest after 1-2 models. I lost the two most recent modelers this way:
- Valaquenta10 (made the new Fountain Guard)
- Elrond99 (assembled the new Easterlings)
So, once again I stand before some obvious options and some possible outcomes:
1) Cancel the mod? If you belong to this category, I hope you haven’t even read this far. I don’t need negativism and I never have. I will never cancel the mod as in “it will never be worked on again”. I’ve considered this before and realized it’s not a real option.
2) Start over from scratch? We tried this, and Ridder Blauw grew tired of the immense coding needed pretty quickly. Also, since EA’s codes is in a truly messy state of their own, starting over would mean you have to “clean” EA’s codes as well as Sul’s codes! Not a very appealing option, even if it WOULD be for the best, if possible. We’d need months or more with free time and die hard devotion. It’s just not there!
3) Hire (!?) a coder? When I hopefully have the funds needed to “motivate” – that is HIRE – help, I’d go look for possible candidates. There might be a slight possibility of getting Sul “back” this way, but I’m not sure. Working for money is not the same as working out of interest, motivation and dedication. Nothing can beat that! But… if we ever wanna see this mod to the end, hiring help might be the only solution left. Especially to go on working on this messy WiP beta. Most people realize that money makes the world go around, and the vast majority of people going to work in the morning, does it for the same reason as most others – to see a pay check at the end of the month. There’s not a hell of a lot of folks that get to work out of sheer joy, so spare me any moral debates on this please
I think option #3 is the only reasonable option left to even consider now… after we yet once more, hit this new dead end!
And finally… why don’t I do it myself? Well I WOULD if I COULD:
- My life is pretty different now, from when I started SEE many years ago! At the time I was unemployed and at the moment I have several jobs, assignments and projects IRL!
- I haven’t coded in years myself and thus my skills are lacking!
- I could never match Sul’s coding, even if I tried to. Not now and not even when I was a decent coder!
- Motivation comes and goes, especially with progress and setbacks! Currently, there’s no progress (again)!
So, there you have it! Looong post I know, but considering my lack of presence lately and the recent events of some great progress reports, I felt this was necessary. I will NEVER give up on SEE. But don't hold your breath for any new beta/version soon. That's just the sad reality of it all
Edited by Nazgûl, 14 February 2011 - 06:04 PM.