A lot left to do...
Adul
Member Posts: 2,002
So I've taken a look at the beta, just started a few characters in BG1 and fooled around a bit with the new UI, the new features, etc. I regret to have to say this, but I don't think it's quite in top shape right now. It seems like there is a lot of stuff left to fix, based on the sheer number of bugs and issues I've run into in just a couple of hours. And, well, not a lot of time left to do it before release.
I've written up a few feature requests, but the bug reports will have to wait until I have more time to dedicate to this. There's a lot of bugs already posted on Redmine, and searching up each issue in order to avoid posting duplicates is a chore.
Good work so far, Beamdog, but it seems there's a lot left to do. IWD:EE had a fairly smooth release, and I'm hoping you'll manage to do the same for SoD.
I've written up a few feature requests, but the bug reports will have to wait until I have more time to dedicate to this. There's a lot of bugs already posted on Redmine, and searching up each issue in order to avoid posting duplicates is a chore.
Good work so far, Beamdog, but it seems there's a lot left to do. IWD:EE had a fairly smooth release, and I'm hoping you'll manage to do the same for SoD.
3
Comments
The zoom in/out animation for the area map is cool as hell, however.
(I'm at 18 now. Do you guys hate me yet?)
There's 155 open bugs in the BG:EE public beta tracker, and only 32 are "in progress". Each day there's about 10 new bugs being reported and only a couple of them go into progress. I have 30 reported bugs, out of which only 2 are in progress. As far as I can tell no bugs have been resolved yet. And then there's all the feature requests, the vast majority of which haven't even been touched even though some of them cover quite important usability issues.
Is this perceived shortage of developer action in the BG:EE public beta tracker only temporary? Will this change at some point?
But the already announced release date puts an extra pressure on them: they have a strict date and in the same time they have an increasing amount of bug reports, with new and new bugs being found.
I think a possible solution can be to increase the amount of QA members, actually.
There're definitely quite experienced beta-testers busy with this testing, and if they had some developer tools as well, it would help, I think.
Like @Tresset who has been here for a long, long time, and knows a lot about the in-game mechanics, who is skilled in using programs like NearInfinity and DLTC, and who has some experience in modding BG in terms of fixing bugs on his own (the fix of the sleep effect in the 1.3 patch, for example). Tresset is one of those in the line of @Troodon80 and @Gate70 - and these people are already a part of the team.
And I'm sure there're other skilled testers as well.
So maybe you could discuss it "with those who decide", @Dee?
What I'm worried about is the slowness of the process and the fast approach of the release date.
That doesn't mean the dev team is sitting on their hands, though. The next update to the beta builds will be bringing more than a hundred fixes, some of which may address the concerns people have been having.
All I can say is that if you want to help the process go more smoothly, make sure you follow the guidelines and formatting described in "How to Report Bugs". Any report that we don't have to rewrite from scratch will save us valuable minutes.
First, QA must alter the bug report to our standard form, confirm the bug, then transfer it to our internal tracker. If the bug report needs work (usually better repro steps or a save game) that effort can take around 20-30 minutes per ticket. If it is already a well formed bug report, the whole process takes about 5 minutes. The most valuable thing folks can do to help us get more bugs fixed is to follow the How To Report Bugs post to the letter.
Second, in this tracker "In Progress" means that the bug has been reported to our internal system. What is significant here is that a number of reported bugs are already known, either in this game or another (we generally fix a given bug for all 3 games at once when applicable). So the pace you are seeing is not how fast bugs are being fixed, but how fast they are being transferred to our internal system.
All that being said, we've moved someone to help us pick up the pace of triaging the bug tickets you see on the public tracker, so we can get the bugs into our developers hands quicker. All hands are on deck for this release, and we want to make it the best it can be. You are not only help make the BGs better, but SoD as well. Please keep the bug reports coming!
I suspect you'll see a rash of bug closures in redmine at that point. I also suspect a number of the bugs being reported in redmine were already reported internally and so the rate of incoming new bugs is not quite as great as people believe.
That's my hope anyway!
Now you have to rush to finish 2.0 and SoD at the same time.
What do people think about it? Is it ready to go live?
My opinion: the games are much more stable right now, and if 80% of reports made until now find their fixes in the final build, the patch is fine to be released, especially if we have a chance to see 2.1 and 2.2 patches not long afterwards (based on further implementation of fixes) and if the redmine system stays.