Unfortunately, there is no excuse for the handling of this bug, the handling of the customers, and the lack of communication here. I feel that both I and the affected community have been more than reasonable and understanding. In fact, I have a lot of respect for almost all of the users here because of it.
Yeah, if you go back almost 6 months a lot of us were saying things like "oh it's okay, things happen, let us know when you have a fix." Then as time went on we got a little more forceful, saying "hey guys I know you're busy but we can't play the game at all!" It's only gotten now to the point of anger and disappointment because it's been almost 6 months.
And I know everyone is going to hate hearing this but this issue only affects a small portion of the people who bought the game.
Specifically, the "people who bought the game". Not, as you suggest, anything related to QA. I thought it was very clear.
Seriously though.
As far as I'm concerned, this is the only real pock mark on telltale I've ever encountered. Granted it's a huge @$$ pock mark, and it'll take me some time before I trust you guys enough to preorder, which is what I always used to do.
The silver lining is that now that they have the series 400 cards, they have NO REASON TO NOT USE THEM IN TESTING TO MAKE SURE THIS CRAP NEVER HAPPENS AGAIN.
I'll just go put my torch and pitchfork away for now...
And I know everyone is going to hate hearing this but this issue only affects a small portion of the people who bought the game.
Amy said, that a small portion of people who bought the game were affected by the issue. Nothing more.
She did not explicitly say, that that's the reason for the delay. That's just interpreted into it now.
Even if it was not related to how extensive the play testing was, and how that resulted in only a few people having issues, it was more likely meant to put things into perspective, than to mock anyone.
Given that I (we) bought the game months ago and have been unable to play it, a free copy of Poker Night or some other compensation would be appreciated. ;D
It's probably moot because the patch is on it's way now, but did anyone try if it displays correctly on a Windows installation in VMWare Player on an affected host system, as i suggested as a possible workaround a couple of weeks ago?
Configuring Direct3D features with 3DAnalyze, as some did for Poker Night, could also help.
Just wanted to say I've got one of the GTX 4xx series, and I've been watching this thread silently for months, waiting for a fix. I watched a whole bunch of people yell and scream about what an awful company Telltale must be for releasing a game with a bug and not fixing it immediately. I'm very glad to say they have fixed the bug, and I thought it might be appropriate to overreact just as much as those people, but in the other direction.
OH MY GOD TELLTALE; YOU ARE THE BEST COMPANY EVER! THANK YOU FOR FIXING THIS BUG!! NOT FIXING IT CLEARLY MADE YOU THE WORST COMPANY EVER, SO NOW THAT YOU HAVE FIXED IT, YOU MUST BE THE BEST!! TELLTALE FOR PRESIDENT OF EVERYWHERE; VOTE NOW!!
Seriously, thanks for keeping us informed and getting this fixed quickly. For a (relatively) small studio like yours, with so many other irons in the fire, I'm impressed you stayed on this and got it done. Thanks, I can't wait to play (which I am going to do as soon as I click "submit").
Seriously, thanks for keeping us informed and getting this fixed quickly.
Hahahaha...
Wait, this was sarcasm right? You think 6 months is quickly? And actually the clock is still ticking, it hasn't been fixed for telltalegames.com customers (amazingly).
No, seriously, no sarcasm. According to their site, Telltale has 4 full-time engineers and 5 full-time content programmers, plus 5 full-time testers. Compared to the Sam and Max franchise and Back to the Future, Puzzle Agent is relatively a small deal for them. I certainly don't feel like 6 months is an outrageously long time, given that number of engineers (four) and the amount of other stuff they have to do.
Look, I'm angry that I paid for a game that didn't work, and they certainly should have done a better job of informing the public about the bug, and of making it easy to get a refund. I don't like spending money on a game and finding out it's broken. But graphics card compatibility is HARD. That's why developers like consoles so much. And as a developer, I'm certainly not outraged at the 6-month time frame it took 4 engineers to put all their other games on hold and do extensive testing on a brand new line of graphics hardware.
I think Telltale's failing here was in PR: they needed to do a better job of keeping us informed, and they CERTAINLY shouldn't have released a Steam fix before releasing a fix for their own site's customers (although I'm personally very glad they did ). But the time frame for the actual bugfix, in the grand scheme of things, just doesn't seem that bad to me.
Any news on when the fix will be released? Specifically for the Adventure Pack copy? I'd really like to play this on the weekend while I still have time...
No, seriously, no sarcasm. According to their site, Telltale has 4 full-time engineers and 5 full-time content programmers, plus 5 full-time testers. Compared to the Sam and Max franchise and Back to the Future, Puzzle Agent is relatively a small deal for them. I certainly don't feel like 6 months is an outrageously long time, given that number of engineers (four) and the amount of other stuff they have to do.
It's all about how you use your resources... Telltale had the people to get this patched in no-time, they chose not to. You can talk about how small the company is all you want but indie games with much smaller teams get patched quickly with fixes and new content, and I don't just mean 2D simple stuff I mean games like Zeno Clash.
The simple fact of the matter is that because the number of people effected was small and refunds were offered Telltale did not make the patch a priority. 6 months for a game-breaking issue to be fixed is not quick by ANY stretch of the imagination and you saying this is frankly ridiculous. You can say it didn't bother you or that you understand if you want, but don't say it was quick when it was anything but.
The silver lining is that now that they have the series 400 cards, they have NO REASON TO NOT USE THEM IN TESTING TO MAKE SURE THIS CRAP NEVER HAPPENS AGAIN.
I can assure you, we are definitely testing on 400 series cards now.
You guys sure and not confusing it with the Poker Night update? Since the file has the same name, while there they atleast put v2 behind it to indicate a new version...
The installer is rather silly, though. It detects that you have the game installed, and allows you to keep your settings - but the game looks in a different directory now, so it doesn't actually use them.
It also leaves the old version files on your hard drive, because the game folder is just called "Puzzle Agent" now, rather than "The Mystery of Scoggins", so it doesn't overwrite the files (nor does it run the uninstaller in the background).
Also a slight annoyance: even though it detected the game was already installed, it still defaulted to the standard install location. Seems rather silly when it knows the game is already installed.
Edit: Hassat, it is indeed a new version, even though Telltale haven't said anything about it themselves. The new installer file size is almost 50 MB smaller than the old one.
Edit 2: On closer inspection, it looks like this might just be the Steam version with the DRM removed. There's no launcher, and instead of the launcher-related files, it has a "steam_api.dll" file instead.
Admittedly, I suspected as much when my bug wasn't mentioned in the changelog. Yay, they forgot about me! Spectacular communication as always.
Y'know. I bought this game when it came out, haven't been able to play it yet and got a copy with BttF (which I marked as a gift so I could send it to someone). I think I'm going to ask for a refund on my original purchase and just play my spare one some time. One day. If it's ever fixed. At least I won't feel short changed because it will have just been something I got free with BttF.
Edit 2: On closer inspection, it looks like this might just be the Steam version with the DRM removed. There's no launcher, and instead of the launcher-related files, it has a "steam_api.dll" file instead.
Hmm, this and the fact that the patch came out on steam first makes me think that they basically didn't care until a whole bunch of copies sold on steam in that bundle. =(
Hmm, this and the fact that the patch came out on steam first makes me think that they basically didn't care until a whole bunch of copies sold on steam in that bundle. =(
The problem with that logic is that you can't know if people bought it because Puzzle Agent was in there, or if they've just considered it a sort of bonus. I bought that pack too, but only because it had Recettear. I'm not saying I won't enjoy the other games, but they didn't influence my decision to buy at all.
Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean you're wrong.
The problem with that logic is that you can't know if people bought it because Puzzle Agent was in there, or if they've just considered it a sort of bonus. I bought that pack too, but only because it had Recettear. I'm not saying I won't enjoy the other games, but they didn't influence my decision to buy at all.
Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean you're wrong.
I wasn't suggesting that people bought the pack because it had Puzzle Agent, just that there were suddenly loads more owners of Puzzle Agent and the steam version was priority.
Inside my "Puzzle Agent" map I now have both "Puzzle Agent" and "Mystery of Scroggins", the Puzzle Agent one being the one with loads less files and indeed the steamap...
Though it did give the launcher for me so... what?
EDIT: Nvm, that was my old launcher on my desktop, the new one from start menu does indeed not give a launcher.
EDIT: Overhauled my save, said I had nothing done. Loaded it anyway, and it's completed as should... now trying the puzzles who had reported issues on Steam...
EDIT: Cut your losses, check.
EDIT: Diners and Dishes, check.
The simple fact of the matter is that because the number of people effected was small and refunds were offered Telltale did not make the patch a priority.
Isn't there also the fact that iPad/iPhone development could have made Puzzle Agent a moving target? Whilst it may not make sense to pull resources to work on an unreleased project, it is important to prioritise development within a single codebase. If a nVidia specific bugfix was conflicting with the in-progress iPhone version, letting the iPhone version settle first would certainly be an option with merit (though I'd be wary of it myself).
I think that we don't really have enough information at this point to be making too many assertions regarding the company's motives with regards to this bug. Something good may still come out of all this (if any of DjNDB's suggestions regarding a transparent bug tracking system and higher version visibility were implemented, I'd consider that pretty positive).
Another point for consideration is the type of game that Puzzle Agent is and what it represents. I've gotten the impression that Puzzle Agent is not only a pilot for Grickle style games, but also for a new production model and style of exploring potential IPs that, unless you count tech demos and public betas, is unseen in the industry. If Puzzle Agent is seen internally as a "beta", then perhaps the refund mentality and apparent slow release of fixes is understandable. Puzzle Agent's sole purpose may have been to gather information on whether or not the pilot model is viable.
If that *is* the case, then there's a communication problem at work here as well - I am certain that every person posting in this thread considers Puzzle Agent to be a "proper" game on equal footing with any of TellTale's previous releases (as evidenced by the comparisons to existing TellTale's games' quality and the company's history as well as attitudes expressed regarding future TellTale products).
On a more positive note, I can confirm that puzzle #2 behaves correctly and is solvable under Linux with a GTX460
Thanks to everyone involved with this bug. I hope that the discussion continues to a point where all sides have greater understanding of what has happened.
I've been playing through and out of interest, I viewed the "How?" solution summary for A Quorum of Crows, and the vertical overlapping photos which were present down the left hand side when I played on my girlfriend's laptop are no longer visible. The FBI emblem is displayed instead.
Edit: Whoops, the attached screenshot has a spoiler in it. Sorry!
For what it's worth, I just downloaded and installed the new version on my Ubuntu 10.10 "maverick" machine, and everything now seems to work as expected. Thanks for the fix!
Are you guys sure the standard telltalegames.com version is updated? It just says the same old "puzzleagent_pc_setup" filename for me.
Yeah, I know, but I installed it in Wine, and it put it into a new folder in my Wine prefix. Both my Linux machines encountered the problem before, and now they both work. FWIW, the MD5 sum of the copy I just downloaded yesterday that worked for me is:
I still have the no ESC key function problem, I bought it on Steam as part of the Indie Smarts pack.
Time of this report: 12/16/2010, 16:59:16
Machine name: ANTHONY-PC
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7600) (7600.win7_gdr.100618-1621)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Acer
System Model: Aspire 5736Z
BIOS: InsydeH2O Version V1.03
Processor: Pentium(R) Dual-Core CPU T4500 @ 2.30GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.3GHz
Memory: 3072MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 3002MB RAM
Page File: 4016MB used, 1985MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
User DPI Setting: Using System DPI
System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
DxDiag Version: 6.01.7600.16385 32bit Unicode
Comments
Yeah, if you go back almost 6 months a lot of us were saying things like "oh it's okay, things happen, let us know when you have a fix." Then as time went on we got a little more forceful, saying "hey guys I know you're busy but we can't play the game at all!" It's only gotten now to the point of anger and disappointment because it's been almost 6 months.
Seriously though.
As far as I'm concerned, this is the only real pock mark on telltale I've ever encountered. Granted it's a huge @$$ pock mark, and it'll take me some time before I trust you guys enough to preorder, which is what I always used to do.
The silver lining is that now that they have the series 400 cards, they have NO REASON TO NOT USE THEM IN TESTING TO MAKE SURE THIS CRAP NEVER HAPPENS AGAIN.
I'll just go put my torch and pitchfork away for now...
Amy said, that a small portion of people who bought the game were affected by the issue. Nothing more.
She did not explicitly say, that that's the reason for the delay. That's just interpreted into it now.
Even if it was not related to how extensive the play testing was, and how that resulted in only a few people having issues, it was more likely meant to put things into perspective, than to mock anyone.
Configuring Direct3D features with 3DAnalyze, as some did for Poker Night, could also help.
OH MY GOD TELLTALE; YOU ARE THE BEST COMPANY EVER! THANK YOU FOR FIXING THIS BUG!! NOT FIXING IT CLEARLY MADE YOU THE WORST COMPANY EVER, SO NOW THAT YOU HAVE FIXED IT, YOU MUST BE THE BEST!! TELLTALE FOR PRESIDENT OF EVERYWHERE; VOTE NOW!!
Seriously, thanks for keeping us informed and getting this fixed quickly. For a (relatively) small studio like yours, with so many other irons in the fire, I'm impressed you stayed on this and got it done. Thanks, I can't wait to play (which I am going to do as soon as I click "submit").
Hahahaha...
Wait, this was sarcasm right? You think 6 months is quickly? And actually the clock is still ticking, it hasn't been fixed for telltalegames.com customers (amazingly).
Look, I'm angry that I paid for a game that didn't work, and they certainly should have done a better job of informing the public about the bug, and of making it easy to get a refund. I don't like spending money on a game and finding out it's broken. But graphics card compatibility is HARD. That's why developers like consoles so much. And as a developer, I'm certainly not outraged at the 6-month time frame it took 4 engineers to put all their other games on hold and do extensive testing on a brand new line of graphics hardware.
I think Telltale's failing here was in PR: they needed to do a better job of keeping us informed, and they CERTAINLY shouldn't have released a Steam fix before releasing a fix for their own site's customers (although I'm personally very glad they did
It's all about how you use your resources... Telltale had the people to get this patched in no-time, they chose not to. You can talk about how small the company is all you want but indie games with much smaller teams get patched quickly with fixes and new content, and I don't just mean 2D simple stuff I mean games like Zeno Clash.
The simple fact of the matter is that because the number of people effected was small and refunds were offered Telltale did not make the patch a priority. 6 months for a game-breaking issue to be fixed is not quick by ANY stretch of the imagination and you saying this is frankly ridiculous. You can say it didn't bother you or that you understand if you want, but don't say it was quick when it was anything but.
Thank you.
I can assure you, we are definitely testing on 400 series cards now.
I can confirm that the issue is fixed for me... I was able to play for more than 3 minutes.
The installer is rather silly, though. It detects that you have the game installed, and allows you to keep your settings - but the game looks in a different directory now, so it doesn't actually use them.
It also leaves the old version files on your hard drive, because the game folder is just called "Puzzle Agent" now, rather than "The Mystery of Scoggins", so it doesn't overwrite the files (nor does it run the uninstaller in the background).
Also a slight annoyance: even though it detected the game was already installed, it still defaulted to the standard install location. Seems rather silly when it knows the game is already installed.
Edit: Hassat, it is indeed a new version, even though Telltale haven't said anything about it themselves. The new installer file size is almost 50 MB smaller than the old one.
Edit 2: On closer inspection, it looks like this might just be the Steam version with the DRM removed. There's no launcher, and instead of the launcher-related files, it has a "steam_api.dll" file instead.
Admittedly, I suspected as much when my bug wasn't mentioned in the changelog. Yay, they forgot about me! Spectacular communication as always.
Y'know. I bought this game when it came out, haven't been able to play it yet and got a copy with BttF (which I marked as a gift so I could send it to someone). I think I'm going to ask for a refund on my original purchase and just play my spare one some time. One day. If it's ever fixed. At least I won't feel short changed because it will have just been something I got free with BttF.
Hmm, this and the fact that the patch came out on steam first makes me think that they basically didn't care until a whole bunch of copies sold on steam in that bundle. =(
The problem with that logic is that you can't know if people bought it because Puzzle Agent was in there, or if they've just considered it a sort of bonus. I bought that pack too, but only because it had Recettear. I'm not saying I won't enjoy the other games, but they didn't influence my decision to buy at all.
Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean you're wrong.
I wasn't suggesting that people bought the pack because it had Puzzle Agent, just that there were suddenly loads more owners of Puzzle Agent and the steam version was priority.
Inside my "Puzzle Agent" map I now have both "Puzzle Agent" and "Mystery of Scroggins", the Puzzle Agent one being the one with loads less files and indeed the steamap...
Though it did give the launcher for me so... what?
EDIT: Nvm, that was my old launcher on my desktop, the new one from start menu does indeed not give a launcher.
EDIT: Overhauled my save, said I had nothing done. Loaded it anyway, and it's completed as should... now trying the puzzles who had reported issues on Steam...
EDIT: Cut your losses, check.
EDIT: Diners and Dishes, check.
Isn't there also the fact that iPad/iPhone development could have made Puzzle Agent a moving target? Whilst it may not make sense to pull resources to work on an unreleased project, it is important to prioritise development within a single codebase. If a nVidia specific bugfix was conflicting with the in-progress iPhone version, letting the iPhone version settle first would certainly be an option with merit (though I'd be wary of it myself).
I think that we don't really have enough information at this point to be making too many assertions regarding the company's motives with regards to this bug. Something good may still come out of all this (if any of DjNDB's suggestions regarding a transparent bug tracking system and higher version visibility were implemented, I'd consider that pretty positive).
Another point for consideration is the type of game that Puzzle Agent is and what it represents. I've gotten the impression that Puzzle Agent is not only a pilot for Grickle style games, but also for a new production model and style of exploring potential IPs that, unless you count tech demos and public betas, is unseen in the industry. If Puzzle Agent is seen internally as a "beta", then perhaps the refund mentality and apparent slow release of fixes is understandable. Puzzle Agent's sole purpose may have been to gather information on whether or not the pilot model is viable.
If that *is* the case, then there's a communication problem at work here as well - I am certain that every person posting in this thread considers Puzzle Agent to be a "proper" game on equal footing with any of TellTale's previous releases (as evidenced by the comparisons to existing TellTale's games' quality and the company's history as well as attitudes expressed regarding future TellTale products).
On a more positive note, I can confirm that puzzle #2 behaves correctly and is solvable under Linux with a GTX460
Thanks to everyone involved with this bug. I hope that the discussion continues to a point where all sides have greater understanding of what has happened.
I've been playing through and out of interest, I viewed the "How?" solution summary for A Quorum of Crows, and the vertical overlapping photos which were present down the left hand side when I played on my girlfriend's laptop are no longer visible. The FBI emblem is displayed instead.
Edit: Whoops, the attached screenshot has a spoiler in it. Sorry!
Can anybody else confirm this?
Yeah, I know, but I installed it in Wine, and it put it into a new folder in my Wine prefix. Both my Linux machines encountered the problem before, and now they both work. FWIW, the MD5 sum of the copy I just downloaded yesterday that worked for me is:
55d030bbd578050cd788fd9b77799d32
It's definitely the new version. Telltale are awkward and just used the same file name.
Thanks, downloaded it and it does work. Thank God!
They also removed the DRM too, which is a nice gesture.
It's the Steam version de-Steamed. It appears that they patched the Steam version first...
Time of this report: 12/16/2010, 16:59:16
Machine name: ANTHONY-PC
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7600) (7600.win7_gdr.100618-1621)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Acer
System Model: Aspire 5736Z
BIOS: InsydeH2O Version V1.03
Processor: Pentium(R) Dual-Core CPU T4500 @ 2.30GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.3GHz
Memory: 3072MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 3002MB RAM
Page File: 4016MB used, 1985MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
User DPI Setting: Using System DPI
System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
DxDiag Version: 6.01.7600.16385 32bit Unicode
Card name: Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family
Manufacturer: Intel Corporation
Chip type: Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family
DAC type: Internal
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2A42&SUBSYS_048A1025&REV_09
Display Memory: 1308 MB
Dedicated Memory: 64 MB
Shared Memory: 1244 MB
Current Mode: 1366 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor Name: Generic PnP Monitor
Monitor Model: unknown
Monitor Id: CMO1599
Native Mode: 1366 x 768(p) (60.001Hz)
Output Type: Internal
Driver Name: igdumd64.dll,igd10umd64.dll,igdumdx32,igd10umd32
Driver File Version: 8.15.0010.1892 (English)
Driver Version: 8.15.10.1892
DDI Version: 10
Driver Model: WDDM 1.1
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 9/2/2009 03:54:14, 5617664 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: n/a
WHQL Date Stamp: n/a
Device Identifier: {D7B78E66-6902-11CF-F174-8024A9C2C535}
Vendor ID: 0x8086
Device ID: 0x2A42
SubSys ID: 0x048A1025
Revision ID: 0x0009
Driver Strong Name: oem9.inf:Intel.Mfg.NTamd64:iCNT0:8.15.10.1892:pci\ven_8086&dev_2a42&subsys_048a1025
Rank Of Driver: 00E60001
Video Accel: ModeMPEG2_A ModeMPEG2_C ModeWMV9_B ModeWMV9_C ModeVC1_B ModeVC1_C
Or is it something else?
It doesn't work even when out of a puzzle or dialogue.