Question about next stable release

[TechSY730]

Are you planning on releasing a stable release of AI war before work on the next expansion comes out (to get all the major bugs and balance fixes out there), and then release another one after the expansion is released, or are you just going wait until after the next expansion comes out before pushing the next major, stable version?

[x4000]

Most likely we will do the next stable release right before substantial work on the next expansion begins, but we'll see how that plays out in practice.  Right now the current beta is really quite stable, so we just need to make sure and keep it that way!

[Buttons840]

Why can't you do stable releases more often?  Does it take extra work?

[keith.lamothe]

Why can't you do stable releases more often?  Does it take extra work?

Iirc, at least a solid day of work.  And I think it actually works out to more.  Much of it involves getting the new files to the distributors, etc.

[x4000]

Why can't you do stable releases more often?  Does it take extra work?

Iirc, at least a solid day of work.  And I think it actually works out to more.  Much of it involves getting the new files to the distributors, etc.

Yep. 

- New installers x2 equals a couple of hours because I have to build on the PC and Mac, and make sure I get all the diffs.
- Then get the non-installer-based files to Steam and Impulse, which both have to be in different formats, and make sure THOSE work.
- Then get the installer to everyone else who carries to the game on their store, which is quicker but still takes some time.

Generally speaking we tended to do those about every 1-2 months, but frankly with the current state the game is in there's not a lot of incentive to do that these days.  It's quite solid on its current stable release, and even moreso on its current beta.  Most of the playerbase seems inclined to get the bleeding edge beta anyhow, making the stable releases even more of a formality during this sort of period.

It's when we start really making drastic changes to the betas that really shake up stability in a bad way that we need to make sure and do a rock-solid stable release first.  That way people who don't want to get caught in that morass can play the latest stable, and anyone who upgrades to the latest beta and has a problem can revert to the latest stable if absolutely needed, etc.

[TechSY730]

So basically, all the stuff you mentioned you have to do for stable releases on top of what I posted earlier of what you had to do for releases in general, yikes!

For reference, here is what I said earlier.

Somewhere in the past there was a discussion about what needs to go into deploying a stable, full update. It was quite a lot!

However, what about deploying a beta update? (This question applies not only to AI War, but the other products as well)
From what I have seen, things that need to be done include:

• Checking out and building the SVN revision that the devs have agreed to be the next beta release
• Generating a patch archive, consisting of all files that changed from the last version. Also, determining which previous patch archives are now also completely obsoleted by this new one, and thus can be skipped when updating to this version. (Do you have a tool that can do this sort of change analysis for patch file packaging, or do you do it by hand?)
• Uploading the patch file to your update server (currently, some Amazon cloud service, right?)
• Updating and uploading the updates xml file to indicate the new patch version (possibly including the previously determined information about which past patches can now be skipped with this patch)
• Come up with a "clever" name for the patch (optional, but recommended )
• Update the release notes page on the wiki to indicate the version is released. Also, create the blank entry for the next version.
• Write a summary of what is new, changed, and noteworthy fixes, and possibly some other stuff about the patch or short term future goals
• Post that summary on the official Arcen blog
• Post that summary on the appropriate forum, and sticky it (unsticking the previous version if needed)
• Update the previous version's post indicating a new version and give a forum link to that new version
• Wait an hour or two before calling it a day just in case there is some sort of "game will not run" or "my save games got corrupted" or "it blew up my computer and my dog" level bugs in it (also optional, but we greatly appreciate when you are able to promptly fix those kinds of bugs in the rare cases they turn up)

Wow, while considerably shorter than deploying a stable update, that still is a lot of things to keep up with. Props to Chris for being able to do this several times a day.
Anything I missed?

[x4000]

Yep, and actually for stable releases we tend to pair those with a press release as well as an aggregation of statistics from all the beta releases since the last stable release.  Thankfully Josh now handles the aggregation of stats and Erik now handles the press release itself, so that saves me a fair bit of time on a stable release, but any way you cut it it's still a man-day of work, even if it's now split between 3 people at least a bit.

Plus every time I do a stable release, it takes half an hour at the very minimum on the part of some engineer at Valve and another one at Impulse, so I try to be sensitive to that when it's not going to make a material difference to players.

The litany of things adds up pretty well, really.  It's really good that we have such a straightforward beta-patch-pushing system, all told, because that's the only way we can push so many releases so fast.