Fez developer Polytron says it is aware of, and working on, a number of "pretty serious" bugs in its XBLA puzzle-platformer.
Since the game launched on Friday users have reported a range of issues, including corrupted save files, freezes, slowdown and, in some cases, the game failing to boot at all. In a post on the Polytron blog, programmer Renaud Bédard apologises and assures users that a patch is on the way.
"Fez had more testing done in the past 24 hours by about 20,000 people than it had in five years," he writes. "So, as it happens, bugs popped up. Some [of which are] pretty serious.
"A small subset of older Xboxes with smaller hard drives can't run the game at all. The game has trouble running off a USB stick. Crashes are occurring in specific levels or situations. In a rare situation, the save file becomes unusable. Nasty stuff.
"We will be working internally and with Microsoft on those issues and let you know more later. It makes sense to issue a patch, but we don't currently have an ETA on it.
"Sorry, and thanks for understanding! We're thrilled to see that the vast majority of you are enjoying the game as it was meant to be."
Bédard invites those with game-breaking problems to get in touch at support@fezgame.com. Many issues, he claims, already have workarounds, and the developer may be able to help struggling users get back up and running.
While Bédard's honesty is welcome, it's disappointing that a game that has been in development for so long - it was first announced in July 2007 - has launched with so many issues. Thankfully, they appear to only affect a small number of users, and the majority of those 20,000 day-one buyers are enjoying a title which won the Grand Prize at the Independent Games Festival Awards last month, and which our Fez review describes as "pure playfulness… an unexpected heir to Super Mario."
Source: Polytron
Comments
64 "day one" bugs for me in a 4hr session.
#1 - demo wouldn't let me buy the full game. Had to fully quit, purchase, and start again.
#2 - I pushed a box into a spot from which I couldn't retrieve it, and didn't make physical sense it could be there.
#3 - A bit of floor that should have been solid let me fall through it (and no, this isn't just me being a bit rubbish will spotting what was and what wasn't okay to stand on, a good last part of a singularly solid bit was not solid).
#4 stood in the corner of some 'room's I was able to rotate the screen, get stuck in the scenery and fall out to my death - I thought I'd found a secret at first!
Still, no broken game, all manageable; it's a lovely title, but it is a trifle disappointing it's so buggy.
How many did Skyrim launch with?
And how much more complex is Skyrim than Fez?
@mesonw: not sure that's a valid point given how many more people were involved in Skyrim's development than Fez's..
For most, Fez's bugs sound annoying/inconvenient rather than game-breaking, unfortunately it takes the gloss off what sounds to be a great experience.
I will be getting Fez and happy to pay the full asking price, but may wait till I hear news on a patch, that way I can appreciate the game in pristine condition (and clear some of my backlog in the meantime.
@evild edd - I still maintain that the bugs found in Fez are more surprising than those found in Skyrim, and that is down to the scale and complexity of Skyrim's world. With a vastly more complex system you have vastly more chance of something going wrong; even with a huge development team, the chances of not spotting something must* be greater.
*I say "must" but hey I don't know the actual sizes of the teams nor the ultimate complexity of the code behind the worlds. I speculate that even if Skyrim's dev team was 100x as big, the complexity far exceeds 100x that of Fez.
I'd say though that it hasn't spoilt he game for me; the disappointment registers purely on a superficial level where I am happy to criticise the status quo. Within the game itself, it doesn't bother me.
Let's be fair
Fez - literally a one-man development team for most of those 5 years.
Skyrim - Probably a 1000 people strong team including QA testers, to developers to marketing people
It's like comparing the downfall of Barclay's bank to why the shop on the corner of your street closed.
I can live with bugs, it's the game breakers and preventers I hate. It's one thing to have to repeat a section because of a bug but another when you can't complete a side quest or section because of a glitch.
Wonder if MS is instigating the $40k patch fee?