Xbox one release

[Steven_Manning]

I hope the April Fools joke that goes with that art was “This is what we’ve got finished all these years for the port. The rest of the game is on its way in just a mere 5 more years!” Golf clap

[Killbomb]

So, any updates?

[CEAndrew]

We’ve got a few things that certification has flagged for us to fix before the build can be uploaded. Nothing too big, but work to do nonetheless, and then we’ll send it through again and hopefully that’ll do it.

[Davor]

I am getting worried. Seeing how a lot of broken stuff is allowed on Xbox, does this really mean it’s really broken that Xbox won’t allow it? Like is this really in a worse state than Anthem, Fallout 76 on release?

Mind you I don’t know what certification means and what it does, only guesses.

I am so looking forward to buy this on Day One. Just worried now. Just confused not understanding. I know, company can’t say anything or the whys/reasons, but I love this game and want to play on console with my family.

All I want is a fully functional game. If it means another year, so be it. Do not do a Fallout 76/Anthem launch.

[eisprinzessin]

Apparently certification is not about a bug-free console release:

Grim Dawn FAQ - Compilation of Dev Feedback

we do want to ensure as bug-free a release as we can but certification is more about compliance with all the esoteric UI conventions, feature support and such that Microsoft requires.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/GrimDawn/posts/3531564293524740?comment_id=3531670993514070&reply_comment_id=3531917906822712 - Date: June 16, 2020

[powbam]

I am getting worried. Seeing how a lot of broken stuff is allowed on Xbox, does this really mean it’s really broken that Xbox won’t allow it? Like is this really in a worse state than Anthem, Fallout 76 on release?

Mind you I don’t know what certification means and what it does, only guesses.

How certification requirements are holding back console gaming

[Zantai]

I am getting worried. Seeing how a lot of broken stuff is allowed on Xbox, does this really mean it’s really broken that Xbox won’t allow it? Like is this really in a worse state than Anthem, Fallout 76 on release?

Let’s just say that certification standards aren’t created equal across the industry.

In the last certification pass, I believe there was one issue that was the root cause of 3 others we got dinged for. That has since been addressed, but now the loop starts all over again.

[Davor]

Thanks for the link @powbam. You would think after 10 years it would be easier. @Zantai thanks for the reply. I am rooting for you guys.

[sircaw]

Used to play Grim dawn a few years back, 1200 hours on my steam account before my pc died a horrible death.
Have been looking so forward to the console version for so long now, i was wondering if there was any particular information on what resolution and fps we should be expecting on Grim dawn’s performance.

I was looking at buying a series s to play the game and was wondering if you have any targets like 60 fps or 4k, i have no idea how taxing grim dawn is on modern consoles will be.

thank you for your time

[SomerRandomWhoever]

No more excuses, no more BS. Tell us what TF is going on. You announced this in 2018 https://wccftech.com/grim-dawn-wont-have-xb1x-enhancements/. What the hell is going on with this port. We just had E3, they just announced Diablo 2 remastered, as well as the Ascent on Game Pass. Do you guys not want sales? It seems like the most ill-sighted attempt to not sell your own game ever. Don’t give me that about certification, it doesn’t take 3 years. Be honest, be open. You made a great game, excellent on PC, but this whatever with Xbox is completely unlike you. Is there something really wrong with the engine, like how THQ Nordiq had to patch Titan Quest? (but even they still got out the Ragnarok and Atlantis expansion, of which I have both BTW). I don’t care about responses, but please, release the goddamn game. You guys are great, but whatever the hell is going on with this port is utter and complete $@#^.

[medea_fleecestealer]

They did tell us last month.

Let’s just say that certification standards aren’t created equal across the industry.

In the last certification pass, I believe there was one issue that was the root cause of 3 others we got dinged for. That has since been addressed, but now the loop starts all over again.

[Zantai]

No more excuses, no more BS. Tell us what TF is going on. You announced this in 2018 https://wccftech.com/grim-dawn-wont-have-xb1x-enhancements/ . What the hell is going on with this port. We just had E3, they just announced Diablo 2 remastered, as well as the Ascent on Game Pass. Do you guys not want sales? It seems like the most ill-sighted attempt to not sell your own game ever. Don’t give me that about certification, it doesn’t take 3 years. Be honest, be open. You made a great game, excellent on PC, but this whatever with Xbox is completely unlike you. Is there something really wrong with the engine, like how THQ Nordiq had to patch Titan Quest? (but even they still got out the Ragnarok and Atlantis expansion, of which I have both BTW). I don’t care about responses, but please, release the goddamn game. You guys are great, but whatever the hell is going on with this port is utter and complete $@#^.

Ok, you got us.

Instead of outsourcing the port, we chose to keep the work in-house with our small crew.

Instead of spending big bucks to, um, let’s call it “expedite” the certification process like some big titles you may be aware of that came out shockingly buggy, we opted to learn the process ourselves and release a product we are proud of.

We went through the mess of documentation that’s become a maze of new and old docs, some linking to sections that no longer exist and others requiring you to sign in specifically with a Microsoft Edge browser, otherwise they won’t work (but you will spend hours in Chrome trying to troubleshoot it first).

We remade the main menu UI to fit Microsoft’s strict console standards, we addressed a number of issues that would not pass certification, then we passed everything on to a certification testing company. We worked with them over a lengthy period of time, going back and forth with builds and reports to address issues we did not foresee.

Finally, we submitted the thing to actual certification, and failed it the next day because we were not told that there is a way to do a soft-release where the game appears on the XBox store, but only for you, so you can test the download/installation process…which failed. A trivial fix, but yet another thing that rolled us right back to the back of the line.

So, if perhaps on the off-chance we earned a reputation with our PC release of doing quality work, then just maybe we are doing the same thing for console and when we don’t post updates about it then maybe, just maybe, there is nothing of note to report.

Did we announce the port too soon? Perhaps. Hindsight is 20/20 and this was our first foray into porting a game. Is it hurting us financially? Um…If it is, certainly not enough to warrant crapping something out prematurely and hoping for the best.

Was that honest enough for you?

[Ceno]

We went through the mess of documentation that’s become a maze of new and old docs, some linking to sections that no longer exist

Silly devs, this is just industry-standard software development!

[powbam]

[toapeiron]

Crate should have Cyberpunk’d the game. They could have just blamed Microsoft then if there was any game-breaking bug.

[mamba]

We remade the main menu UI to fit Microsoft’s strict console standards

now I am curious what that looks like

[Sempronia_hobgood]

No more excuses, no more BS. Tell us what TF is going on. You announced this in 2018 https://wccftech.com/grim-dawn-wont-have-xb1x-enhancements/ . What the hell is going on with this port. We just had E3, they just announced Diablo 2 remastered, as well as the Ascent on Game Pass. Do you guys not want sales? It seems like the most ill-sighted attempt to not sell your own game ever. Don’t give me that about certification, it doesn’t take 3 years. Be honest, be open. You made a great game, excellent on PC, but this whatever with Xbox is completely unlike you. Is there something really wrong with the engine, like how THQ Nordiq had to patch Titan Quest? (but even they still got out the Ragnarok and Atlantis expansion, of which I have both BTW). I don’t care about responses, but please, release the goddamn game. You guys are great, but whatever the hell is going on with this port is utter and complete $@#^.

Ok, you got us.

Instead of outsourcing the port, we chose to keep the work in-house with our small crew.

That’s fair. You have what? Maybe a dozen employees…so assigning a single member is probably all you could afford anyway.

Instead of spending big bucks to, um, let’s call it “expedite” the certification process like some big titles you may be aware of that came out shockingly buggy, we opted to learn the process ourselves and release a product we are proud of.

That’s actually a load of bs. Certification is one of the easiest things to do and if smaller indie devs can pull off the same within a month (I’m a couple titles deep myself on X1 and Series S/X), being at it for over a year has absolutely nothing to do with spending extra money to grease the wheels or whatever you’re implying. You went in half-cocked and now you’re throwing shade at MS for something you were unable to do properly. Just own up to the failure and chalk it up to not knowing what you were getting into. Also, certification isn’t to ensure a bug-free environment in your game, it’s to ensure basic compliance with common industry standards, of which Xbox is the easiest of the console platforms to certify for. If this is the way you’re acting about porting to Xbox, I can only imagine how any Nintendo porting process will eat you alive…but I guess people “expedite the process” with them too lol

We went through the mess of documentation that’s become a maze of new and old docs, some linking to sections that no longer exist and others requiring you to sign in specifically with a Microsoft Edge browser, otherwise they won’t work (but you will spend hours in Chrome trying to troubleshoot it first).

Proper documentation is an industry standard…and it’s also easy af. Again, you went in half-cocked and, no, the browser really isn’t that big of an issue. Sure, Edge is trash compared to Chrome but using it does very little to hinder the process unless you had no idea what you were doing or had a bigger documentation problem in the first place. Plenty of devs can attest to this.

We remade the main menu UI to fit Microsoft’s strict console standards, we addressed a number of issues that would not pass certification, then we passed everything on to a certification testing company. We worked with them over a lengthy period of time, going back and forth with builds and reports to address issues we did not foresee.

Strict console standards? You mean making the UI console compliant and not PC-centered? Having little button prompts listed for skill usage and hotkey replacement specific to an Xbox? Having proper resolution options for various screen sizes and capabilities? Those “strict” console standards? Good grief.

Finally, we submitted the thing to actual certification, and failed it the next day because we were not told that there is a way to do a soft-release where the game appears on the XBox store, but only for you, so you can test the download/installation process…which failed. A trivial fix, but yet another thing that rolled us right back to the back of the line.

Actually, the soft-release issue is in the documentation MS provides to you when you attempt to publish a game on their platform. Did you read the documentation? The download/install failure can happen but it is typically due to a clerical error or bad folder paths.

So, if perhaps on the off-chance we earned a reputation with our PC release of doing quality work, then just maybe we are doing the same thing for console and when we don’t post updates about it then maybe, just maybe, there is nothing of note to report.

I wouldn’t want to report on failing certification for a year straight either.

Did we announce the port too soon? Perhaps. Hindsight is 20/20 and this was our first foray into porting a game. Is it hurting us financially? Um…If it is, certainly not enough to warrant crapping something out prematurely and hoping for the best.

You did announce far too early so you can just own that already. Yes, it’s your first foray into this (that much is clearly obvious) so here’s hoping you actually learned some industry standard development practices because developing on PC only teaches you so much but very little about professional developer requirements and expectations.

Was that honest enough for you?

You could have actually owned your mistakes instead of shifting the blame onto MS (and other platforms) for insisting people pay their way through certification. You’re certainly not fooling actual developers with this story. Here’s your award

Read bold portions.

[ibugsy]

I’ve never done XBox certification.
However, I could have done it in a day.

Sad, lazy devs.

Love from a person who doesn’t know what they are talking about, but still claiming they know it.

LOL!

#humor

[Ceno]

Proper documentation is an industry standard

Which very few in the industry actually do.

Imagine implying that Microsoft docs are anything to write home about, lol.

[Zantai]

Thank you for your professional opinion!