Author Topic: AI War: The Light of the Spire Expansion Now Available as Game Hits Version 5.0  (Read 101570 times)

Offline keith.lamothe

  • Arcen Games Staff
  • Arcen Staff
  • Zenith Council Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 19,505
Well, Valve Time hasn't applied to their figuring out release dates for our stuff, or it'd be months if not years before you'd see LotS on steam ;)

We've already taken Valve Time getting it ready ;D
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games? Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline TechSY730

  • Core Member Mark V
  • *****
  • Posts: 4,570
So have you guys decided if you are going to do an early-ish maintenance stable release for this version?
And when can we get our hands on the next beta? (Yes, I am already asking for more  ::))

Offline x4000

  • Chris McElligott Park, Arcen Founder and Lead Dev
  • Arcen Staff
  • Zenith Council Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 31,651
So have you guys decided if you are going to do an early-ish maintenance stable release for this version?

We are not planning to.  Next official would be in 1-2 months.

And when can we get our hands on the next beta? (Yes, I am already asking for more  ::))

This week!  So I guess that means tomorrow, as we're running out of week.  There's just been a lot of transitional stuff this week (a fair bit of it involving AI War) that has taken away from our normal schedule for AI War maintenance stuff.
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games?  Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline TechSY730

  • Core Member Mark V
  • *****
  • Posts: 4,570
So have you guys decided if you are going to do an early-ish maintenance stable release for this version?

We are not planning to.  Next official would be in 1-2 months.

Aww, I was hoping the new players could soon see the polish that even the next beta version will bring. Oh well.

And when can we get our hands on the next beta? (Yes, I am already asking for more  ::))

This week!  So I guess that means tomorrow, as we're running out of week.  There's just been a lot of transitional stuff this week (a fair bit of it involving AI War) that has taken away from our normal schedule for AI War maintenance stuff.


No problem. I know you have been trying to get AVWW off the ground, so I can understand development on AI war to slow down some. It is just that the next version already has some new balance tweaks I kind of want to test, so that is why I was asking.

Offline x4000

  • Chris McElligott Park, Arcen Founder and Lead Dev
  • Arcen Staff
  • Zenith Council Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 31,651
The distributors get a bit annoyed when we do official releases too frequently, and it takes about a full day out of my schedule if I do full builds of the game.  If we run into anything super serious I'd do a maintenance release without the builds, but we don't plan for those in advance.  So far no super serious issues are known.
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games?  Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline Zeba

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 144
  • Grumpy Olde Man
The distributors get a bit annoyed when we do official releases too frequently, and it takes about a full day out of my schedule if I do full builds of the game.  If we run into anything super serious I'd do a maintenance release without the builds, but we don't plan for those in advance.  So far no super serious issues are known.
I for one would be perfectly happy with a one month official patch release cycle just for the performance boosts and general fixes. Especially now that the game has reached a point it can stand on it own for months or even years with the current content if you have all the expansions. Up till 5.0 a combined approach to patching with a mixed bag of fixes and experimental changes made sense but tbh I think the game is at the point it can ride for a while and just concentrate on refining the current mechanics. Been plenty of times when I read the patch notes where I would think that hmmm these fixes would be awesome for the game if only they could be seperated from the reinvention.  :)

Offline TechSY730

  • Core Member Mark V
  • *****
  • Posts: 4,570
The distributors get a bit annoyed when we do official releases too frequently, and it takes about a full day out of my schedule if I do full builds of the game.  If we run into anything super serious I'd do a maintenance release without the builds, but we don't plan for those in advance.  So far no super serious issues are known.
I for one would be perfectly happy with a one month official patch release cycle just for the performance boosts and general fixes. Especially now that the game has reached a point it can stand on it own for months or even years with the current content if you have all the expansions. Up till 5.0 a combined approach to patching with a mixed bag of fixes and experimental changes made sense but tbh I think the game is at the point it can ride for a while and just concentrate on refining the current mechanics. Been plenty of times when I read the patch notes where I would think that hmmm these fixes would be awesome for the game if only they could be seperated from the reinvention.  :)

Far be it from me telling you how to do your jobs, but here I go anyways. ;D

How about a 2-3 month reinvention, experimentation, and bug fixing release cycle. Then push that stable version. Then have a 1-1.5 month release cycle for mostly bug fixes and performance boosts (and balance tweaks that don't require reinvention) and release that as a "maintenance" stable release. Repeat.

This way, you sort of get the whole "reinvention betas" and the "polish betas" separation some people have been asking for, but without having two separate code bases. It seems like a workable compromise, without adding that much more in terms of frequency of stable releases.
« Last Edit: February 04, 2011, 07:17:17 am by techsy730 »

Offline x4000

  • Chris McElligott Park, Arcen Founder and Lead Dev
  • Arcen Staff
  • Zenith Council Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 31,651
Guys... We're doing the best we can. There's only two of us on code, and there's only so much we can accomplish that way.
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games?  Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline Oralordos

  • Sr. Member Mark III
  • ****
  • Posts: 434
  • Suffering from Chronic Backstabbing Disorder
I think the game is at a decent place the way it is right now. To be honest, I wasn't expecting any work on it at all for a while, what with AVWW needing development and all. But it appears we'll be getting a patch shortly to balance out the parasite ships. I'd say that we're getting a lot more than what we would get from anyone else.
Keep up the good work guys, but don't burn yourselves out. I don't think Minecraft has ever fully recovered from when Notch burnt himself out.

Offline BobTheJanitor

  • Master Member Mark II
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,689
Guys... We're doing the best we can. There's only two of us on code, and there's only so much we can accomplish that way.
But I want a PONY!!

No seriously, you guys work harder than any dev studio I can think of. Don't feel like you need to keep churning away all the time, we appreciate all the hard work but having you guys burn out would leave a sad community here.

Offline TechSY730

  • Core Member Mark V
  • *****
  • Posts: 4,570
Guys... We're doing the best we can. There's only two of us on code, and there's only so much we can accomplish that way.

Sorry. Sometimes I forget that  :-[

Besides, it seems you are already sort of alternating between reinvention development cycles and polish development cycles.

Again thanks for your hard work. I really do appreciate it. :)

Offline x4000

  • Chris McElligott Park, Arcen Founder and Lead Dev
  • Arcen Staff
  • Zenith Council Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 31,651
Thanks for the support. :)
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games?  Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline Zeba

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 144
  • Grumpy Olde Man
Quote from: x4000
Guys... We're doing the best we can. There's only two of us on code, and there's only so much we can accomplish that way.
Yes, we know but we are greedy little gits.  :-*

Offline keith.lamothe

  • Arcen Games Staff
  • Arcen Staff
  • Zenith Council Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 19,505
Yes, we know but we are greedy little gits.  :-*
EvE has trained you well ;)
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games? Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline Zeba

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 144
  • Grumpy Olde Man
*bows eloquently*