Free Amun!

[fluffy_muffin]

Originally Posted by niclam

This is not a decision we have taken lightly but over the years, reaching to the current conclusion. So far, the situation has improved a lot and while not perfect we are now able to locate and fix in time a lot more bugs than before.

Regards

I was gona ask if it is so good then why we still have update, hot-fix, hot-fix, patch, update, hot-fix, hot-fix... exactly like it was before. And how come NGD is putting updates with major bugs on Ra knowing about those bugs.
Anyway. Thank You for response.

[niclam]

Well,

I'd expect that you know our situation already Fluffy Muffin, since you have been here for a long time. But I'll humour you since it's good for others to know as well:

Of course, the situation is not perfect and we would like it to be better but in time we have improved our processes a lot.
When an update contains a major bug and slips into Ra is not an arbitrary decision but an accident that is addressed promptly (So called Hotfixes).

Also, one could easily believe that any bugs that slip through was something exclusively to small self-published development teams but then again, it's not uncommon to see bugs slipping in several major MMO's and this is because the complexity of these games is big enough and they are not ever going to be perfect. For instance, a game that goes out for consoles, has to be as flawless since you cannot sell something that you have to patch the other day in order to play (funnily enough, this has happened) but then again, a single player game usually has a precise set of features that need to be tested.

Regnum and every other MMO out there on the other hand, are live games that receive updates all time, and every tiny change that you introduce creates a ripple that touches everything else so the amount of problems that could arise is staggering.

At the end of the day, what really matters is that we are aware of the situation and we keep communicating with the community in order to gather information and react as quickly as possible.

Regards

[fluffy_muffin]

Originally Posted by niclam

Well,

I'd expect that you know our situation already Fluffy Muffin, since you have been here for a long time. But I'll humour you since it's good for others to know as well:

You did :P

Originally Posted by niclam

At the end of the day, what really matters is that we are aware of the situation and we keep communicating with the community in order to gather information and react as quickly as possible.
Regards

I will stop if you will assure me that Testing Team did whole set of tests including balance. That they did at least few big fights, pvps or even hunting and that devs ware part of it. And all is working even in 800*600 resolution and my fps on 64bit Turion with 2 giga ram and nice nvidia card will not drop again (atm i have 35 fps) and that Ra will not die after that update :P
And no Somos pocos (tm) is not an good response.
Regards and have a nice weekend.

[niclam]

Originally Posted by fluffy_muffin

I will stop if you will assure me that Testing Team did whole set of tests including balance. That they did at least few big fights, pvps or even hunting and that devs ware part of it. And all is working even in 800*600 resolution and my fps on 64bit Turion with 2 giga ram and nice nvidia card will not drop again (atm i have 35 fps) and that Ra will not die after that update :P
And no Somos pocos (tm) is not an good response.
Regards and have a nice weekend.

I thought this was going to become a rumbling discussion but you mentioned a couple of interesting points, so you get a new answer from me .

Since we have a dedicated Quality Assurance employee, things have been sharpening in terms of testing the game.

Part of improving the process is learning how to talk to the Testing team and making the most out of it. Sometimes we are not able to give them what they need in terms of what's there to test and how.

We are now diligently trying to communicate better what's new and what to test. QA and the Testing team usually perform a variety of tests regarding several areas, stability, functionality and balance. You'd be surprised the amount of bugs we catch privately and never see the light of the day.

Performance wise, which is an entire topic for another day, we are working on the engine and making modifications to squeeze a little more life out of it What I mean is, our engine works but it's starting to show its age and in order to give it a facelift we are redoing several parts that in term will allow us to offer more features and performance. More public nformation about this, coming soon (TM) (Sooner than you'd expect).

Btw, in order to avoid flooding this thread with posts, here goes my other answer to Dracus:

Originally Posted by _dracus_

You do that so no one will question your work like for animations of warrior (which are still unfinished ...), it's not nice to treat your users (potential clients) like that.

It's exactly because of that, that we are keeping Amun closed so in the end we can offer a better service for current and potential clients.

We used to spend a lot of time discussing what's broken and how it could be fixed in 500 different ways (Which basically meant, one for every person involved). We are now sticking to one way and doing it. Believe me, ironically what usually keep us from advancing the game more (fixing or adding new features/content) is the amount of time we debate about it, and this is true even internally. So what's best for you and everybody else is that the game keeps changing, improving, becoming something better. If after a while you think the game has not improved for the better, then maybe our vision for it was a game that you won't like but the best we can do is to be sure we are in the right direction and go...

Regards

[Snoid]

Thanks for replies.

Originally Posted by niclam

More public nformation about this, coming soon (Sooner than you'd expect).

Regards

you forgot the (tm)

[fluffy_muffin]

Originally Posted by niclam

Part of improving the process is learning how to talk to the Testing team and making the most out of it. Sometimes we are not able to give them what they need in terms of what's there to test and how.

We are now diligently trying to communicate better what's new and what to test. QA and the Testing team usually perform a variety of tests regarding several areas, stability, functionality and balance. You'd be surprised the amount of bugs we catch privately and never see the light of the day.

Performance wise, which is an entire topic for another day, we are working on the engine and making modifications to squeeze a little more life out of it What I mean is, our engine works but it's starting to show its age and in order to give it a facelift we are redoing several parts that in term will allow us to offer more features and performance. More public nformation about this, coming soon (Sooner than you'd expect).

Regards

Ok as psychologist i have skill named Read between the lines.
Let's do this way: I will expect worst and you will supprise me. O.k. ?

BTW. if you want to sell this game and make it better then better then stop talking that You know You sucks. You should feel that you are working for 100% and this game is best you can make.
Would You hire coder who would come and say:
- Sorry that i am alive but i was thinking that You need new guy. I am not best but hey i can work for free. Actually i will pay You for this job.


For the future:
Somos pocos (tm) is bad idea, worst you can imagine :P

[niclam]

Oh,

From a software development point of view, accepting that a software may have bugs and one is fixing them all the time is like saying that water is wet (Unfortunately we are sometimes forced to state the obvious).

In fact, the problem usually is the other way around, when a company won't accept its mistakes (which _ALL_ of them make, no matter what).

By stating that we need to work on this and that, Im just being honest.

And your analogy is not really on point, it would be more appropiate if the coder actually says "Okey, I might not be the best coder out there _yet_, but Im constantly learning and improving so if you give me the opportunity, you will see great things from me!".

Regards

[Miraculix]

Originally Posted by niclam

And your analogy is not really on point, it would be more appropiate if the coder actually says "Okey, I might not be the best coder out there _yet_, but Im constantly learning and improving so if you give me the opportunity, you will see great things from me!".

Regards

Most companies would not hire that developer...

[Comp]

Originally Posted by Miraculix

Most companies would not hire that developer...

Actually - one would hire that developer before the one that declares their uberness

[Snoid]

Free amun!