Did I offend these guys?

[Dave Gilbert]

So I've been looking into rpg engines lately, and I came across this nifty piece o' software called "Explorations".  It's not freeware, but it looked cool so I thought I'd check it out.  In looking through their site, I couldn't find any demos or game samples.  There were small demos of the engine itself, but no examples of games actually made WITH it.

This was a surprise, since they have a small but active community. 
So, I hopped on their forum to ask about it.  The results were... unexpected.  I get the strangest feeling that I totally offended the community there, without intending to.  It seems like a reasonable question to ask. 

Here's the thread:

http://www.explore-rpg.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=ERPGInfo;action=display;num=1158249580

Am I totally offbase?  Or are these guys being totally oversensative?  Has anybody out there heard of this engine?  It looks quite nice assuming it can do what they say it can do, but the unwillingness to provide a game demo totally turns me off.  Even AGS has a small demo that, while certainly not epic, shows the basics of what it can do. 

[CaptainBinky]

Sounds fine to me. I certainly wouldn't want to purchase an engine without having a good idea of what it can actually do. I get the impression from that chap that he's not especially bothered whether anyone buys his engine or not. He certainly didn't come across as trying very hard to sell it to you despite the fact that you pretty openly stated that you would be prepared to buy it.

Very odd.

[Nikolas]

It seems fine to me Dave...

He didn't sound really offended, just didn't try too hard to sell the engine... Don't see any real problem.

[ManicMatt]

I cannot see any problems either. I don't think they've taken offence.

Just some person who has little tolerance for people in general, and doesn't want to sell their engine apparently.

[Dave Gilbert]

Ah.  When I saw this:

I can't solve other people's immaturity. Anyone who flames is banned and the post deleted. This is supposed to be about fun & learning, not a place for immature people to cause trouble.

I thought he was referring to me!   He's referring to other newbies who come to the site and start trouble.  OK cool.  I'm less guilty now.

[monkey0506]

Huh...he specifically said that in the two years the project has been available...that he has done nothing to advertise his system. As if he doesn't even really want people to know about it.

And...I'd say that the second post here has some valid points.

Just reading through those three threads (Dave's thread, the one I linked to, and the one that the one I linked to links to)...I really don't think I like this "Tye" guy. But...good luck Dave.

[EagerMind]

He seems a little touchy about "noobs," but I wouldn't worry about it. He doesn't quite seem to understand that you're the costumer here, not him.

It looks like you can grab a fully-functional demo of program off the downloads page. Not really what you're looking for, I realize, but at least your could play around with it and see if it does what you want.

This program seems pretty resource intensive. Were you looking for something this high-powered? VERGE seems like a popular system, if you haven't come across it already.

[DGMacphee]

I think it was the choice of word "flamed" -- how he interpreted it was different to how you intended using it, if I understand what happened between you and him correctly.

Seems just a miscommunication/misunderstanding between you both. No one's fault, really.

[MillsJROSS]

I'm just not sure why it's taken ten plus years to work on database management issues. Or really how that relieves that much code off the user of his application. But I'm not interested enough to research it myself.

-MillsJROSS

[Dan_N]

Nope, mr. Gilbert, you seem cool, I see no problems.

Well, that Tye guy is the only problem I see. Why? He complains a lot about how "he's worked hard" on databases and such for 10 years. Hey did anyone ask you, man? I have a half a mind to join to post once in which I would knock some sense into his skull my way. And then I'd get banned and I wouldn't care. But I think I'm going to do that 'cause I've grown. But still, it doesn't mean he doesn't deserve it. He seems to say "flame" a lot, which could mean that you're not that far from it. Why? 'Cause he's got nothing to show you except some screenshots and a shotty demo to showcase his "miracle game creating engine" for which he charges a lot of money. Now, just look at AGS, it's free, but still, there are numerous demos to showcase it, as well as what, hundreds if not thousands of games to prove it's worth. I don't know, I think that this whole "explorations" thing is a sham. It doesn't feel right. Proceed with caution Mr. Gilbert (I'm calling you that as I'm not worthy of calling you Dave, you're that good).

I would recommend, if I may, the ultimate tool to making a game the way you want it: a programming language. Yep, pick up a book and start learning. That's why I love Borland Pascal so much, it's easy (the commands resemble english) and allows to do whatever you want. Even make windows games. Start out with a simple language like Basic, or Pascal, or their windows counterparts and move on to C++, which is very hard and tricky I've found.

And, mr. Gilbert, if you don't mind, I have a complain of sorts... The Shivah, which is a wonderfull game, is coemrcial. Now, I'm part of those who haven't got any money and can't buy it. But I've heard that the Shivah Deluxe is comercial and that the original is not. Could you elighten me, please?

[lemmy101]

The customer is always right I certainly wouldn't buy an engine without getting a comprehensive demo of what it's capable of.

His attitude is probably why there ARE no demos to look at.