Re: cheating

["Mark Collins" <me@thisisnurgle.org.uk>]

> Mark Collins wrote:
> 
> > Another reason for cheat codes: DEBUGGING!
> 
> Yes - during development - but when the game is
> release:
> 
> #ifdef IN_DEVELOPMENT
>   <cheat>
> #else
>   <no cheat>
> #endif
> 
> It should be amazingly easy to turn off the cheat code at the last minute.
> 
> The true reason for cheat codes in commercial games is because when you
> first release the game, you get lots of publicity.  But a couple of months
> later, all the excitement has died down and the magazines stop giving you
> free advertising in the form of reviews.
Reviews are generally done before the public get the game (magazines have
HUGE lead times). By the time the game is acually released, all the reviews
are written (in 99% of cases). Hell, they don't even do their own
screenshots...

 
> So, you release a few 'cheat codes' - the magazine prints them and VOILA!
> more free advertising.  The next month, you release a few more - for as
> long as you think you can sustain the interest.
> 
> This used to be done rather subtly by 'leaking' them to the right players
> who would pass them on to the magazines - but nowadays, it's all planned
> rather formally.
> 
> The 'big heads' option in many sports games, the ability to
> race as a Panda in a snowboarding game, being able to make mirror-images
> of all the courses in a racing game - you can't tell me that's anything
> to do with debugging...its' simply to sell more magazines and get more
> free publicity to extend the life of the game.
They're easter eggs. They're there for a reason.

Imagine you've just spent 36 hours straight working on fixing the last few
bugs before release, and you're really bored, and you've still got another
36 hours to go... you need something to cheer you up a bit, so coders do
silly things. Remember, we do generally have twisted senes of humour. You'll
find most easter eggs are only added in the last few hours of development,
mainly out of sheer frustration.
 
> The *TRUE* cheat codes that are for debugging are less frequently revealed
> and may even have been compiled out.
While that's sometimes true, I think the Quake/Quake II cheat codes are
really debugging codes (but I think this has something to do with the patch
development, so people can test their patches properly)

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