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Starsector 0.97a is out! (02/02/24); New blog post: Simulator Enhancements (03/13/24)

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Author Topic: Update on the Update  (Read 39220 times)

Cosmitz

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Re: Update on the Update
« Reply #15 on: August 19, 2015, 02:07:25 PM »

Dwarf Fortress updates are interesting pure for the 'the hell is he talking about and do i even want to know?'.

Random: " Philosophical study opens up different avenues of discussion that allow people to pass their values to both individual readers and to a lesser extent through the underlying civilization when there's a library with a copy." That's something that'll go into the game. Insane.
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TJJ

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Re: Update on the Update
« Reply #16 on: August 19, 2015, 03:19:09 PM »

Alex, you could setup your version control system to post each and every commit comment to the forums  :D
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Alex

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Re: Update on the Update
« Reply #17 on: August 19, 2015, 03:28:21 PM »

You could try what the highly successful and lone Rimworld dev does - basically a super brief day by day update.

Here is what he does: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ma3kFSDZHA4aE_7SSw8CyKCccWF4Dfj0KDQ_A8UB-hI/pub

I think players just want something to read.

Hmm. If it works for him, then I can't really knock it, but man, is that ever Not My Thing.


Alex, you could setup your version control system to post each and every commit comment to the forums  :D

<shudder>
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Tartiflette

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Re: Update on the Update
« Reply #18 on: August 19, 2015, 03:38:39 PM »

You could try what the highly successful and lone Rimworld dev does - basically a super brief day by day update.

Here is what he does: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ma3kFSDZHA4aE_7SSw8CyKCccWF4Dfj0KDQ_A8UB-hI/pub

I think players just want something to read.
Josh Parnell from Limit Theory tried that and it drove him to depression and other serious illnesses because he couldn't cut himself some slack when the day wasn't good enough in his opinion. To each his own and personally I wouldn't try to fix something that works. (Especially when writing a daily dev-log can easily cut a couple of hours of work each weeks if something interesting happens)

...
Scratch that, I'm pretty sure it can be done in advance for 0.7:
from 20/08/2015 to release date:
  • Bugfixes
  • Balance tweaks
Yeah, now I'm being a smart-ass
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TheDTYP

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Re: Update on the Update
« Reply #19 on: August 19, 2015, 04:30:27 PM »

Eeeeek! The community is getting restless!


Josh Parnell from Limit Theory tried that and it drove him to depression and other serious illnesses because he couldn't cut himself some slack when the day wasn't good enough in his opinion.

Oh yeah I followed Limit Theory very closely, we were all distraught when he vanished. I always complain about Alex's working pace (Sorry, Alex!!!) but we have it good compared to the people of LT. Sucks what happened there.

I wouldn't mind some kind of devblog, but as Alex so clearly said, it is "So not his thing"

Back to the daily checking of Blog Posts I go, peace!
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Soychi

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Re: Update on the Update
« Reply #20 on: August 19, 2015, 07:50:28 PM »

Should I drop by here to say that development is very much active and ongoing? Probably should. So: development is very much active and ongoing :)


I'm kinda on the fence of preassuring for more updates and just respecting the fact that Alex is doing work, but i'd like to say I found that comment very reassuring. :) Thank you
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StarSchulz

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Re: Update on the Update
« Reply #21 on: August 19, 2015, 09:14:56 PM »

It keeps getting better in every update  ;) Just remember the longer we wait, the better everything gets.  ;D

Tartiflette

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Re: Update on the Update
« Reply #22 on: August 20, 2015, 01:54:27 AM »

Oh yeah I followed Limit Theory very closely, we were all distraught when he vanished. I always complain about Alex's working pace (Sorry, Alex!!!) but we have it good compared to the people of LT. Sucks what happened there.
Fortunately he is back on track with a new workflow. The main changes being: No daily dev-log never ever again, and a workplace out of his house.

You can also check the DSS team duo method: monthly updates. Great? Well for the past few months the coding side of the updates have been exactly this: "I coded some stuff that will be useful to the game but it's boring to talk about. Now onto the graphics..." It's indeed not interesting and time costly. You can also check how Megasphere's dev did a couple of 8h streams of himself working on the game. And surprise, it's BORING, because those things takes a awful lot of time to get together. There is no magic button that makes everything works in a snap and as he show, you can take 2 days to make 2D door opening (in this case a very cool door though).  Even a small team as the one on Kerbal Space Program (6 people on the dev side) need to have a CM in charge of collecting and formatting weekly reports, and they did said at some point that it was taking them often an hour each to write those, each week. That's 6 man-hour of work lost each week, as if one person never showed up on Fridays.

I understand why people want more updates, but frankly past a certain point in the development cycle it's a burden for small teams, does nothing but slow down the process, and is but an endless stream of "today I squashed some bugs" bullet points anyway (like RimWorld's devlogs). Given Alex is active on the forum 7/7, I'd say that's an indication enough that he is still working on the game.
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Sproginator

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Re: Update on the Update
« Reply #23 on: August 20, 2015, 02:06:05 AM »

I'll be honest, these kinds of threads are growing tiresome. Perhaps there should be some sort of stickied thread on the announcements subforum detailing the reasons why you don't do a devlog(to the same effect as lT, for example)

But yeah, just don't burn yourself out Alex. This is a community of friends, not just gamers. If the pressure is too much just let us know :)
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Histidine

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Re: Update on the Update
« Reply #24 on: August 20, 2015, 04:22:54 AM »

TJJ's idea of piping the VCS commit logs to forum or another online page would be practically free aside from the initial coding commitment, and judging from that Rimworld log it'd be just as good for the purpose as anything manually written.
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Gothars

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Re: Update on the Update
« Reply #25 on: August 20, 2015, 04:31:31 AM »

TJJ's idea of piping the VCS commit logs to forum or another online page would be practically free aside from the initial coding commitment, and judging from that Rimworld log it'd be just as good for the purpose as anything manually written.

I find the idea of a whole community constantly peeping over your shoulder and judging if you did enough work today pretty terrifying.
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The game was completed 8 years ago and we get a free expansion every year.

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Cycerin

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Re: Update on the Update
« Reply #26 on: August 20, 2015, 04:44:07 AM »

Alex doesn't owe us that. Just do something else while waiting for the update, it's a big and horrible world. I'm sure you can manage to be distracted for another few months.
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Tartiflette

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Re: Update on the Update
« Reply #27 on: August 20, 2015, 05:10:47 AM »

I find the idea of a whole community constantly peeping over your shoulder and judging if you did enough work today pretty terrifying.
I concur wholeheartedly! I did a bit of freelancing far from the clients some time ago, and having them checking my work every 2 days was a real pain, especially when you hit a set-back and have to justify a day where basically nothing has been done. Well, I'm no longer freelancing from home anymore...
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TJJ

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Re: Update on the Update
« Reply #28 on: August 20, 2015, 05:13:46 AM »

TJJ's idea of piping the VCS commit logs to forum or another online page would be practically free aside from the initial coding commitment, and judging from that Rimworld log it'd be just as good for the purpose as anything manually written.

Just to be crystal clear; I was joking!

Updates on progress just delay the progress itself.
The best thing we can do is to just sit back and wait.

Or better yet, get modding yourself!
With enough ingenuity there really are no bounds to how much this game can be modded!
« Last Edit: August 20, 2015, 06:12:53 AM by TJJ »
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Linnis

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Re: Update on the Update
« Reply #29 on: August 20, 2015, 05:31:36 AM »

You know what the biggest problem is?

Too much passion, no outlet. (for the followers)


Thats why I said before if it was possible to setup a easy way and a platform for players to create multiple linked missions, or maps etc. Not asking for a mission editor or something, but just a different outlet for community content.

otherwise, yall just need to chill.
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