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Apr
09
A recap of Q1 development.
We made a lot of development progress, in January through March, even if it wasn't the progress we would have intended at the beginning of the year.
For example, the prototype for the new "Persistent Event" mission-system architecture went awry at one point, and ended up briefly taking down all the tutorial missions. Not good. But, the improved prototype is now far more scalable and should be able to handle a lot more complex content.
We were expecting to need to improve the prototype, we just didn't plan on that in Q1.
The same happened with the new high-performance networking system for the client, which was shipped to help solve a problem some players were encountering, and then had to be reverted later as it created entirely new problems that have to be investigated.
These kinds of frustrations happen when you're working a lot on updating or expanding "fundamental" game architecture, in a live production game (effectively "building a plane while in flight"). Big changes can lead to big problems, which then result in delays. But, overall, we've been making good progress.
* Where are we going from here?
Big-picture, we're still focused on the "Game Development Direction" sticky thread at the top of the Suggestions Forum.
That being said, we're also doing a lot of behind-the-scenes changes to the way we develop, test and update the game. We're adding more automated testing to reduce the chances of future bugs, and generally modernizing a lot of our processes. Once completed, this can save us a *lot* of time, which can instead be spent on "forward" development.
* Content Updates
Assuming we don't encounter any major "fires" in the form of critical game instabilities, we expect to ship more player-facing content during Q2.
I don't know exactly what it will include. Probably new Persistent Events, at least, along with likely some other changes and improvements.
I have a "wish-list" of changes, but I'm not going to speculatively comment. These days, we don't announce features until they've shipped. Stay tuned!
For example, the prototype for the new "Persistent Event" mission-system architecture went awry at one point, and ended up briefly taking down all the tutorial missions. Not good. But, the improved prototype is now far more scalable and should be able to handle a lot more complex content.
We were expecting to need to improve the prototype, we just didn't plan on that in Q1.
The same happened with the new high-performance networking system for the client, which was shipped to help solve a problem some players were encountering, and then had to be reverted later as it created entirely new problems that have to be investigated.
These kinds of frustrations happen when you're working a lot on updating or expanding "fundamental" game architecture, in a live production game (effectively "building a plane while in flight"). Big changes can lead to big problems, which then result in delays. But, overall, we've been making good progress.
* Where are we going from here?
Big-picture, we're still focused on the "Game Development Direction" sticky thread at the top of the Suggestions Forum.
That being said, we're also doing a lot of behind-the-scenes changes to the way we develop, test and update the game. We're adding more automated testing to reduce the chances of future bugs, and generally modernizing a lot of our processes. Once completed, this can save us a *lot* of time, which can instead be spent on "forward" development.
* Content Updates
Assuming we don't encounter any major "fires" in the form of critical game instabilities, we expect to ship more player-facing content during Q2.
I don't know exactly what it will include. Probably new Persistent Events, at least, along with likely some other changes and improvements.
I have a "wish-list" of changes, but I'm not going to speculatively comment. These days, we don't announce features until they've shipped. Stay tuned!