Programming Department Status Updates

[Solfius]

I was just thinking of the demands sometimes made of the staff, in particular the programming department to make adjustments, and thought it would help to have some kind of feedback as to what is being developed and how far it has progressed.

This would, I think, help people to be able to see that things are being done, and help them understand how hard the department works, which is why so many thigns aren't done straight away.

[Nick]

cantr.net/flyspray

[Spectrus_Wolfus]

i think he means something more like this screen from another game i play where the groups doing things can report about hor far they have gone with something and how long till done and hopeful completion date
http://www.swcombine.com/community/comingsoon.php

[formerly known as hf]

flyspray could do that - it lists 'feature requests' as well as bug reports and fixes. It's just not as thoroughly updated...

[Jur Schagen]

If you're talking about the ProgD accounting for their actions towards the players, sorry, but no. Inevitably, discussions would start about the desirability and priority of certain developments at hand; however, you have to be aware that Cantr is not a democracy, and the direction of Cantr is to be decided upon by Jos with some assistance from the GAC. Player input is welcome, but, in the end, without any voting right. Publishing the ProgD work schedule might suggest otherwise.

Let's take the repair as an example. There has been a lot of hassle on the forums recently about this; "why can't we repair things", "deter shouldn't have been implemented without this", "we'll all be without any tool soon", etc. ProgD has announced that we were working on repair, yet these threads continued. At the same time, no tool (except the primitive bows, which were intended to be very fragile by the RD) actually disappeared.

Deterioration was introduced early december. Now, let's asssume there had been an initial indication of "repair will be implemented in four weeks time" (which would have sounded reasonable back then). Then, as we stumbled across various problems, we would have to re-estimate the remaining work time and time again. I do not think this would make the players (worrying about the tools of their chars) feel any better.

Side note - having said all that, work on repair is in the closing stages and will be implemented soon.

If players want to know why "things aren't done straight away", I can only give the standard answer: this is a free game with volunteer staff, we're doing our best, but all of us have our daily life too and time dedicated to Cantr is limited. If people can't understand that, perhaps it is indeed better if they leave.

Oh and flyspray only works when it is maintained... which is currently not the case.

Jur.