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(For the love of God, YES! We saw the forum bug report.)
How do we choose which bugs to fix? (A bug’s journey from the bug forum to
being fixed)
As I mentioned; we have a big database with bugs, improvement ideas and
feature-suggestions.
(Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it
is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but
that's just peanuts to our database.)
A lot of entries in this database, however, are related to the same underlying
system. Doing an overhaul on that system will get rid of a whole bunch of bugs.
These are things we prioritize.
A bug often starts out coming onto our radar by being reported, here,
in our bug forum.
(I really want to stress this point, because we occasionally see people posting
bug reports on reddit or other places. The odds of someone from Paradox
stumbling over those reports and carrying them forward into our database
are slim.)
The bug is transferred from here into our database. And we start looking into
it, by analyzing it.
We need to know how frequent the problem is. How serious, and how quick it is
to fix.
The more frequent or serious it is increases its chances of getting fixed.
Soon.
If it also happens to be quick to fix… well, that’s just a win-win.
If a bug is serious, frequent and quick to fix and it’s still not
being fixed… The most likely explanation to why we’re not fixing it ; is
because we simply couldn’t fit it into our schedule.
It might help to understand this, if you…
Think of the development process as a single work day...
Serious things you hear about, before lunch, will get fixed before the day is
done. For sure.
Then you might work on something else, with lower priority, for a while.
Until the next big problem pops up.
But, by then, you can’t start on it. Because you can’t get it all the way done,
before you have to go home. It’ll have to wait until the next day.
So, in order to not waste precious time, you squeeze in something else that
will fit.
This is how our development cycles work. Sometimes we simply can’t start on
something and get it fixed, or improved, before the expansion has to ship.
(This also illustrates how sometimes things with lower priority get done when
some higher prio stuff are left for later.)
Difficult judgement calls
Other bugs or suggestions are more up for debate.
Doing something that will make one group of people leap for joy - might
seriously anger another group. We have to stay on top of that.
The big time-stealers
Not to mention that some requests, like improving AI, is a perpetual job that
can’t be rushed.
As obvious as it is that an area needs work; some things are like hatching an
egg. It takes the time it takes. No matter how many bodies you throw on the
problem.
(Btw, this is how I imagine a Steam Summer Sale going. If Steam was a
physical store.)
The Breakdown & Estimation process
Moving on: Once the design doc is complete… The team takes the design and
breaks it down into bite-size tasks for coders, content designers, art,
UX-design, sound etc.
When we have everything broken down into a list of tasks; we sit down together
and “estimate” each task. Giving us an idea of how long the full feature will
take to develop, once you add it all together.
How are deadlines and release-dates determined?
Paradox has a plan for how many expansions/DLCs we should release per year.
HOI4 release dates are determined based on: 1. that plan, 2. how quickly we can
reach the desired sell-value of the release, and lastly 3. coordinated with
specific dates that our marketing team have selected.
(More on this subject in next week’s Dev Diary.)
Can we make the expansion-design happen within the
deadline?
After all features have been estimated; I can figure out if what we want to do
is possible within the deadline. With the people at our disposal.
If yes: Huzzah!
If not: This is where I have to crush the designer’s hopes and dreams.
Splat!
We need to cut something in order to be able to finish on time.
This is something we discuss and agree on, together. While I gently pat their
backs and hand them tissues.
What gets cut?
When cutting something I have to consider, for example:
Sometimes laying this complex puzzle, trying to fit high
priority pieces together, is trickier than trying to nail jello to a wall.
Things slip and change constantly. This is the very essence and nature of
development work.
In closing
Speaking of the nature of development work… While the example above mostly
serves illustrate problems with communication, which is always a factor when
people with different perspectives discuss something… I think it says something
about how frequent certain development problems are; that a site exists where
you can create your own project cartoon, like this one.
The issues that Paradox and HOI4 struggle with are the same problems that all
IT projects, everywhere, grind their teeth over. It’s terribly complex work.
Which is why, although the problems and risks are well known and can be
anticipated and planned around, to a degree… they remain.
The silver lining, I think, is that while our problems are the same… we at
Paradox have a hell of a lot of fun while working on them.
Next week, our Brand Manager will write a Dev Diary. Before handing the baton
back to podcat.
Don't forget to tune into World War Wednesday today at 16:00CEST on https://www.twitch.tv/paradoxinteractive! To see podcat
run Germany in massive co-op, with the other devs as generals.
이번에 왜 개발일지 번역이 없을까 하고 한 번 찾아봤습니다. 혹시 보지 못한 분도 계실까봐 그냥 미번역으로 올립니다. 다른 분이 번역해서 올린다면 그 때 이 게시물을 내리도록 하겠습니다. 그런데 이걸 굳이 번역할 필요가 있는지부터 의문..
간단하게 축약하자면 DLC 언제언제 낼 건지, 버그 처리는 어떻게 할 건지 그런 식의 이야기들 뿐인 것 같습니다. 결론부터 말하자면 다음 패치 관련 내용은 없어요 ㅇㅇ 아마 다음 주부터 제대로 나오지 않을까 싶습니다.
이번 개발일지의 댓글들도 비아냥대거나 부정적인 의견이 많은 편이네요. 이번 개발일지에 대한 판단은 여러분이 하시길.
첫댓글 결론:이 새X들 진짜 일안함
2연속으로 주저리만 하지 다른팀처럼 뭘 만들겠다고 구상한거 결과물을 보여준적 한번도없음
이로서 호4의 문제점이 캐주얼화?코어 게이머 포용실패?이런 문제가 아니라는게 밝혀짐.
......그냥 개발자들이 천하의 개XX들인것일뿐
뭐.. 일단은 저번 개발일지의 첫 문단에서 2주 동안 이런저런 썰 풀고 재정비 시간 갖춘다고 했었다네요.
저도 첨에 충격 먹고 이 무슨 짓이야 했는데. 음. 흠. 험.. ㄴㅁㅇㄹㄹㄴㅁ
네, 그런 이야기가 있었습니다. 그래도 막상 개발일지가 진짜 그렇게 나오니까 슬프네요..
@루모로마노 네, 그냥 팀이 어떻게 일하는지 간단하게 쓰고 끝나는 일지도 몇 개 있더라고요. 그런데 뭔가 보여줄 것처럼 대대적인 예고하다가 이렇게 넘어가는 건 처음인지라 ㄷ
에휴 재미라도있으면 피식이라도 할텐데 이건뭐 감동도없고 재미도없고..
호이4 개발자들만 유독 일을 안하는 느낌...
번역...번역이 필요하당!!!!
이게 개발자 일지인지 신변잡기인지... =_=;
아직 미완성이지만 발전가능성이 무궁무진한 호4인데.. 좀 일좀하자
휴가 갔다와놓고 또 몇 주를 밍기적거리네요. 지난 1년 간 내놓은 결과물이 좋았다면 모를까 이런 상황에 지네들 개발철학 운운하는 걸 보니 그저 실소만 나올 뿐..
빼애애애액?
게임으로부터 막대한 수익을 얻어내려고 빨대 꼽지 않는 이상 느긋하게 일하는 것도 이해는 되네요.
아... 다음주에도 이런거 나옵니다.