POLL- finished plugins or WIPs?

[carlinho]

I finished 90%
then we tested it 1 time with Point and zeph and 2 times with Point.
Then Point who was going to do more tanks, got his computer fried...
and me who was going to finish the details and making the units pick ammunition and drop/pick weapons...got lazy...

I'm going on a trip for 3 weeks...So I won't even touch it for that time...

I'm playing some other games, specially mount and blade warband...
what I noticed is modders port their wips mods and upload patches from time to time...

it seems to work, but somehow we in myth (at least I feel it that way) have the custom of beta testing to a select group, and then release once it's final...

sometimes I'm so perfectionist, that final is never...
would it work?
would a beta kill the final product?

let me know your thoughts, I leave in 4 days

[iron]

Personally I prefer finished. Public betas with plugins often end up in permanent beta mode, and eventually fizzle out as testers get frustrated at lack of progress. You also end up with people having different versions online, making for red game hell.

If you can get a core group of testers and perfect it, then release as final, it'd have far greater impact & be taken up far more than a never ending stream of betas. imho.

[vinylrake]

what iron said. about versions and betas dragging on forever.

onging WIPs diminish enthusiasm to try the final version. not because people like it less, just because the community is so small probably anyone interested in playing the map/plugin is going to play it and decide whether they like it or not long before the final version gets released. new plugins/maps sometimes get a 'surge' or high-tide effect when something long anticipated is released as people try it out and other people see it being played download it so they can play. i don't think that happens as much when there's an ongoing WIP.

not that it's particularly meaningful to project onto the whole community, but from my experience, there are several onging WIPs that get really good reviews from testers which i've never got around to trying out - not because they don't sound interesting but because they aren't done, or i don't know whose folder it's in or which version/plugin-patches I need to run to get the latest verion. if the WIP lasts a year or more i often forget to even try it when it's released because it doesn't register in my brain as a 'new creation', i've heard about it so much and for so long that it just flits by under the rader.

[Zeph]

What I tested was not 90% done, so I say wait for a finished product. I think the plugin will be ready for testing in 1 or 2 months when gameplay is tweaked.

[carlinho]

Aye, definitely what I thought so far...
And not really zeph. The bugs you experienced where easy fixes...and as far as I recall have been solved.
Shoot me a pm with the list of them just to triple check.

[Zeph]

not talking about bugs, i'm talking about gameplay.

All I had to do to win was switch to the bazooka and kill every with a single click.

[carlinho]

aye, yep, I need to make only 1 bazooka and 1 heavy MG available through picking up
and with limited ammunition
that will definitely happen

I see the poll goes 6 against 2....
very well
I'll come back to LA in october and then I"ll have some time to release a private beta testing start of october

[Jon God]

I am normally for final releases only. But having a testing group us helpful, I've had Deadfall be in a 'public' beta since I started working on it, and to this day people still play the newest betas.

However, I agree with them, that lots of public betas end up making the final project farther away, often.

[vinylrake]

I see the poll goes 6 against 2....
very well
I'll come back to LA in october and then I"ll have some time to release a private beta testing start of october

I voted finished product (outside of a testing group), but if the choice is really beta-incomplete-testing-version released NOW or delay till it's done with the possibility that it might NEVER get released, I will change my vote and vote for beta EVERY TIME.

[carlinho]

nah, don't worry
this will definitely see the light (unless of course I don't, or I do...depending how you look at it haha)
problem w/greek tagset (it's been 5 years!!!!!!) is scripting...

but this is a different puppy, no scripting at all
as Normandy dday is already scripted, and Carentan is just a multiplayer map w/no scripting

so I just need as Zeph said, work on playability, and that's all....
that's why I thought, maybe I release a beta....come back in october, read all the feedback on it...and work in releasing final product...

but a poll is a poll, and 7 against 2...is definitely a rotund no to betas...
so final (as subjective as final is) it will be...when I come back

thanks guys for the help, cheers

[Graydon]

It's a no to public betas.

[vinylrake]

It's a no to public betas.

yes, that was a no to repeated incremental PUBLIC betas.

don't skew the answers to mean something the poll didn't ask.

[Point]

I got half way through rendering the tanks before my computer hickup ...

of course my scope is a bit beyond just the HR Normandy version... I'm trying to finish up Warfare tagset and Overlord maps....

anyway Allied tanks got re- rendered... working on re rendering the lower res axis tanks now...

each side will have a Light Tank, Medium tank, Heavy tank, Tank Destroyer and a anti aircraft tank available for map makers..

[carlinho]

those are low res tanks? compared to the russian tank on left i rendered, they looked low res
I think we need to work on the textures
when you recover the files, send me all poser files of tanks and I'll work on textures

[Point]

yes the Russian tank is rendered at a higher resolution and with a dedicated color table with no hue changes.... I rendered the us tanks at a smaller scale, set up for hue changes and an all inclusive color table for all allied tanks and pieces... thus allowing for monster switching drivers etc... team and player colors... winter, desert etc skin changes.

as I said I set up so could be re rendered for your scope easy enough once a tank was selected and angles etc were confirmed for the renders. as far as retexturing goes I would say it would have more to do with increasing the scale of the rendering and adjusting the lighting to match your format also going with a no hue change palate. The sherman is pretty blan molded hull tank that could be dressed up though at current the tanks are bright green until collection reference and actually seem to look good in game and though less detailed than rusian tank though seems in keeping with the german jadgpanther

we are both perfectionist I'm sure... though with different priorities im aiming mainly at game play and map maker possibilities you can keep kicking my but into gear at the visuals...

and in the end this will turn out to be something we will both be proud of and satisfied with...