204 replies to this topic

[Crisiss]

Oh, I thought he meant psychologically fragile. That makes sense I guess.

[Jaeger]

 

Your mother does a very honourable job, you must be so proud of her. 

Well I am also grateful for her she is the reason I know how to handle my diabetics so well and has managed to keep me out of the hospital a lot because of it.

[war5444]

Is there a release date for the update? Or like a release goal, (let's say end of AUG)?

[Mrbump]

Wouldn't it be easier to release and test in smaller packages? rather than one massive download?

[Crisiss]

Wouldn't it be easier to release and test in smaller packages? rather than one massive download?

I know this suggestion is tailored towards you, but I'm sure SPECTRE or somebody else can send you the files to download in smaller pieces. That'd probably be much easier.

Also, the release will happen when it's done.

[SPECTRE]

I know this suggestion is tailored towards you, but I'm sure SPECTRE or somebody else can send you the files to download in smaller pieces. That'd probably be much easier.

Also, the release will happen when it's done.

Actually it was quicker to send a USB. A few guys out in the falklands have really got into SoTP now.

[Crisiss]

Actually it was quicker to send a USB. A few guys out in the falklands have really got into SoTP now.

That's actually really nice to think about.

Yeah, I guess avoiding downloading anything would be easier.

[Unikraken]

Wouldn't it be easier to release and test in smaller packages? rather than one massive download?

Smaller/quicker releases break up the playerbase. Thousands of people really only swing by a few times a year or once a month, so they'll miss updates and then try to go into multiplayer and may be 3 or 7 updates behind. Another person may try to join their game and be some other number of updates off. Oddly enough, some people even prefer to wait to download the mod until larger updates are out for some odd reason. I think this keeps everyone on the same page much easier and allows for more explosive releases with better PR management. Case in point, Our New Years release jumped up to about 7,000 downloads in a day or so, but we had to throw out a very quick hotfix due to a bug that escaped our playtesters (which resulted in their names being turned a shade of pink - shameful pink). It took about a month for the same number of downloads to reach the hotfix. So people were running around for weeks with a sub-par version of the mod that wouldn't allow them to build the Covenant SuperDestroyer. I would much rather we have more frequent updates than we have right now, and I imagine that will be case after this upcoming release, but I would prefer clean and well executed releases that are less common, than the alternative the public thinks they want.

[Crisiss]

Smaller/quicker releases break up the playerbase. Thousands of people really only swing by a few times a year or once a month, so they'll miss updates and then try to go into multiplayer and may be 3 or 7 updates behind. Another person may try to join their game and be some other number of updates off. Oddly enough, some people even prefer to wait to download the mod until larger updates are out for some odd reason. I think this keeps everyone on the same page much easier and allows for more explosive releases with better PR management. Case in point, Our New Years release jumped up to about 7,000 downloads in a day or so, but we had to throw out a very quick hotfix due to a bug that escaped our playtesters (which resulted in their names being turned a shade of pink - shameful pink). It took about a month for the same number of downloads to reach the hotfix. So people were running around for weeks with a sub-par version of the mod that wouldn't allow them to build the Covenant SuperDestroyer. I would much rather we have more frequent updates than we have right now, and I imagine that will be case after this upcoming release, but I would prefer clean and well executed releases that are less common, than the alternative the public thinks they want.

 

TL;DR: The kraken knows what's best for you, you don't.

[Unikraken]

TL;DR: The kraken knows what's best for you, you don't.

Do you disagree? I'm willing to listen to sound logic.

[Crisiss]

Do you disagree? I'm willing to listen to sound logic.

Sir no sir!

 

Shitty joke. SotP is similar to a game release. Every year there's a CoD release, "Oh, another CoD game." Every couple of years there's a new Halo release. See which gets more hype. I'd rather people be "Oh gee wiz, a SotP release!" than "Oh, another SotP release."

[Adrien Victus]

Sir no sir!

 

Shitty joke. SotP is similar to a game release. Every year there's a CoD release, "Oh, another CoD game." Every couple of years there's a new Halo release. See which gets more hype. I'd rather people be "Oh gee wiz, a SotP release!" than "Oh, another SotP release."

^This, everything I could have thought of in one paragraph.

[SPECTRE]

I tend to disagree with both sides.

A faster release system would cause havok in terms of getting everybody up to speed in terms of mod version.

But due to the playing cycle of this mod its impossible to get a game in non US time game up and running anyway because it looses its play ability.

The last time i remember an EU non playtester game was april.

Here's a small graph to show what i mean, please note there is no actual data, and this is perceived by me. It should also be curved, but CBA to do that.

I feel as if a win- win solution would to post regular updates, say once a month, on a Thursday night (US time) would be ideal because that way you would have time for ModdB to validate it, press release, time to download and install for Friday night and weekend playtime.

This would also cut down workload for playtesters and staff.  

[Unikraken]

I tend to disagree with both sides.
A faster release system would cause havok in terms of getting everybody up to speed in terms of mod version.
But due to the playing cycle of this mod its impossible to get a game in non US time game up and running anyway because it looses its play ability.
The last time i remember an EU non playtester game was april.
Here's a small graph to show what i mean, please note there is no actual data, and this is perceived by me. It should also be curved, but CBA to do that.

Spoiler

I feel as if a win- win solution would to post regular updates, say once a month, on a Thursday night (US time) would be ideal because that way you would have time for ModdB to validate it, press release, time to download and install for Friday night and weekend playtime.
This would also cut down workload for playtesters and staff.

Let me clarify: I'm not happy about the 6 month gap in releases we have right now. There are circumstances which created this gap that were inevitable and unfortunate, and I'll go over some of them now.

• Internally the code of SotP is a huge fucking mess. It was worse six months ago and in order to speed up future development and ensure it was maintainable, we had to refactor the code and edit a lot of stuff, mostly file names that are referenced all over the place, so it takes time to do that right.
• Additionally, we had some very unfortunate internal drama that had been brewing for about 6 months. Everyone kept it together to meet our goal of a New Years release, but once that was done everyone gave up the fucks they were giving and infighting broke out. Several members quit the team or were let go due to the issues surrounding it, nearly everyone else wanted time away from the project to destress because a fan made project for fun shouldn't be this damn stressful, but this is what happens when you have a large number of people who are talented enough to have egos working together.
• Finally, the last minor issue was that because our artists are so talented they have real world obligations relating to those talents, so they pretty well dropped off the map for a time, some are still very hard to get hold of. HHF also seemed to take a very long break as well (some members are apparently still on break), and I'm not really keen on releasing another update until we have at least one single Covenant asset to show for the long break (which is nearly done now).

The next release is coming very soon, as long as our artists are able to pull their own weight. I hope that we don't have these extreme release gaps in the future, and I do intend on releases being about once every month or two, depending on what's transpired during that time. Every member of the team can attest to how hard I've been pushing for a new release since I came back from my own break, every single guy. I have a set of things I want to be complete before we pack this thing up for the next round of "how do I install this? no I didn't read the readme, why?" We're very close to that, but not close as in days, close as in a week or two.

[SPECTRE]

<Lord snipalot was 'ere>

Yeh i Totally understand. And am totally aware of the internal dramas, many people come to me to bitch about it.

But I'm saying a solution would be to reduce the amount of volume in an update, in exchange for more regular releases.

Its much easier to get a job done when you break it down and do it strictly by the numbers.

[SternuS]

• Finally, the last minor issue was that because our artists are so talented they have real world obligations relating to those talents, so they pretty well dropped off the map for a time, some are still very hard to get hold of. HHF also seemed to take a very long break as well (some members are apparently still on break), and I'm not really keen on releasing another update until we have at least one single Covenant asset to show for the long break (which is nearly done now).

 

And not only the artists, and not only for work obbligations. We all have IRL things to do, some more important than others, and as it is normal we tend to give those things priority over SotP.

 

I say "No press, no mess". Although 6 months is too much of a gap, there is no need to have dozens of releases in one month and fuck up everything just because "people want stuff quickly".

I was very happy when it was announced that Halo 5 will come out in late 2015, because 343i have their time to think about what their doing and to make it a good game. Because a good game requires a lot of work and a lot of time.

[Defender0]

less messy than CoD and we still release faster, ill take it

[Bornstellaris]

Uni, contact me about what needs to be done on the art side. I've got holidays coming up and I'm willing to help out again.

[Unikraken]

In the last week our art situation may have and may be changing. I've had three new guys show up, two of which can texture. I'll have more later.

[Bornstellaris]

In the last week our art situation may have and may be changing. I've had three new guys show up, two of which can texture. I'll have more later.