DJ Software Development Speak: Don’t Rush Art
I’m a consumer, just like our PCDJ customers and everyone else on planet earth.
I buy a lot of tech specifically, most of it I really don’t need but much of the time I feel like I do — after all, I’d hate to miss out on all the fun. I like to game a bit in my “free time” (an XBOX One is now the entertainment epicenter of my family room), although I’d hardly consider myself a gamer. I have a younger brother who lives a thousand miles away in Baltimore and it gives us a great excuse to hang out and catch up (and save the world, one zombie at a time!).
One game I was looking forward to purchasing and playing this summer was Dying Light – another one of many “zombie genre” games, but one that promisingly mixes parkour gameplay with horror. An interesting spin on a popular genre. Recently, the makers of Dying Light made the following announcement:
“After careful consideration, we have decided to release our upcoming game in February 2015,” Techland said when announcing the game’s delay, citing the game’s “Natural Movement” system as something they’d like to perfect.
“The new date ensures that we can fully realize our vision of an innovative open-world game. We won’t need to make compromises or trade-offs on any of the five platforms we’re working on. For you, it means an outstanding, original game that makes the wait more than worthwhile.”
Grrrrr. My kneejerk reaction was “Well, that sucks. How could a big time game studio get a release timeline that wrong?”
I know better. I’ve been with PCDJ now for 15 years, and have worked with a few amazing and innovative developers over that span. One thing they have shared in common is a passion for programming, and DJing. They get to live their dream, combining both of the things they love best into a J O B. To them, creating professional DJ software is art; crafting a product with their minds eye, doing their best to match their lofty expectations.
Set Your Deadlines, But Never Rush Art
As many are already well aware, PCDJ DEX 3 is close to launch. It’s going to be PCDJ’s most
ambitious DJ software to date, and it’s largely a new application, built from the core foundation up. It’s been designed so that we can build features on top of the version 3 platform for the next 5-10 years. So even more so than in previous DEX 2 updates, testing and addressing issues are paramount.
We always set tentative release dates for any new PCDJ product launch. As a business, a lot of other items, such as marketing, depend on a (somewhat) accurate release date. There’s web info to update, box art to create, reviews by industry publications and DJ blogs etc. We do our absolutely best to hit our target launch date without delay.
However, if we’re in a beta test phase, as we are now with DEX 3, and our DJ beta testers are finding features that could use improvement – or different ways to implement features that make sense and keep within our design goals – we’ll take the time to do it, and do it right. It’s more important that our DJ software meets our expectations, and yours, than speed to market.
For most DJs, DJ equipment and DJ mixing software help them to DJ better – they depend on it not only for creative freedom while mixing, but to make a perfect impression on their clients. They want to create their artistry, without worry. We at PCDJ understand this, and as such our “art” will never be rushed.
While DEX 3 will be launched soon publicly, this statement from the makers of Dying Light rings true for us:
“We won’t need to make compromises or trade-offs on any of the five platforms we’re working on. For you, it means an outstanding, original game that makes the wait more than worthwhile.”
Replace “game” with “DJ software”. Now back to the batcave, we’ve got coding to do.
