Dwelvers Journal - 2014.04.19 - Left to do before releasing Dwelvers Alpha v0.7

[Rasmus]

Yeah, I thought if I want others to add new languages I should be the first to add Swedish, what example would I be setting otherwise

Knowing certain phrases is good, I usually get by with some gesticulations, fortunately for me I have managed to get by without having to gesticulate that I need to use the restroom

[Seriously Unserious]

I can just imagine the "i have to go to the bathroom" gesticulations --- no, wait I don't want to imagine it!

[Rasmus]

The Dark Mother appearance have been improved! And a fog of war spell has been added to the list.

[Seriously Unserious]

I think the "fog of war" spell is really the smoke from you being on fire with production, Ras.

[damiant]

It's been 3 weeks since you initially posted this thread. What is your estimate of time remaining before 0.7 release?

[Rasmus]

I am aiming towards being able to release the next version on the website on the 25:th, I hate to set dates because I know I am not the best at keeping deadlines, there is always something unexpected coming up that I didn't count on. If I were to post a list on all the minor details I have fixed during these three weeks this list would be 4 times as long.

Lets just say that when the to-do list is finished I will go into the final polish and from there it will not be long..

The fog of war spell has been implemented.

[TopperHarley]

What do you think about the update interval after Version 0.7?
Will there be minor updates or more major releases?

Was this already answered and I missed it? :-)

[Rasmus]

The updates will be a lot more frequent. The reason for the long wait now is because I had to add the modding ability and tutorials and more, also because I got accepted to steam and I don't want the game sold there to be to close to the free version.

When released to steam most of the foundation of the game has been finished, and the updates will mostly be about adding new creatures, items, balancing the game, fixing bugs and more, and that is something I can do very quickly

[Rasmus]

I guess I can add this to the list and set it as finished http://forum.dwelvers.com/showthread.php?tid=811

I haven't posted any progress here in the last days because I have been working on "Further bug checking.", with all the features added since the last release I have bumped into 25 bugs that are now solved. I will not check Further bug checking of the list because I will probably have to do at least one more search for bugs before releasing the next version

[Seriously Unserious]

Bug checking is also pretty much an ongoing thing as there always seems to be more bugs that you have missed, no matter how much bug checking you do and how perfect your code seems to be, those bugs just keep finding their way in there as fast as you can fix them.

So I don't foresee the finish bug checking as ever truly being checked off the list as there will always be a few more minor bugs to clean up, and new ones coming along with each update. That's the lot of the modern software developer...

[Rasmus]

I am actually finished with most of the bugs, right now I am polishing the game and building tutorials for the player. I want the game ready for release, it is more important that it is polished and ready for release than if we have an extra workstation or creature, they can always drop in after the 0.7 release.

I don't know if I will post a newsletter before the release, I will most definitely do it when I release the next version, but now it is so close and I work day and night trying to get it finished

So this left to-do list is still active, but it is possible that I release the next version before the list is fully finished. The plan is to release it on the website first for the pre-orderers, and see if you can find any bugs When all the bugs are solved and you guys and gals think it is ready for steam early access, then I will release it there.

[Seriously Unserious]

Awesome. Don't worry, any bugs you missed, we will find and flood the bug reports forum with our findings so you can go to work fixing them.

Hopefully that flood will be a mere trickle, but if not, at least that's that many less bugs making it through to the big Steam release.

[Sebt]

Exactly folks!
Every new Dwelvers version before it come to Steam will be released for all recent copy recipent first to give them for testing new features, find bugs/issues & glitches, etc (let's call it pre patched version). After making a stabile version, nice and clean, a patched version will be released on Steam. - so we will maybe break the stereotype that early access games are buggy! :d And BTW I aware any YouTube gamers or reviewers to talk about patched versions.

We came to this, that with adding more and more features to game we need to solve all previous problems, otherwise game will not satisfy anyone to the full even with new features, we're learning from others mistakes - after all, some bugs disable some from trying a game or some features right? This can happen.

I hope we could back to our promise that we release news weekly, Rasmus is really doing many things and especially now has tons of work to do, Ben also is very busy, oh he is, believe me. Omri is working for more evil music theme and I'm working at new forum and some PR and collaboration stuff (well only it's on blueprint ATM).

Anyway, I apologize in name of our team to had make you waiting for new release so long. Hope you'll forgive us after playing 0.7. :3

[Mello Tonin]

It's all good. I want just as much as you guys for the Steam release to be a resounding success, and I know it will be. You guys all do really good work which is worth waiting for.

[Seriously Unserious]

I agree with MT.