Dev. cycles?

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snowdrop
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Dev. cycles?

Post by snowdrop » Sun May 08, 2011 08:33

To further improve structure of the development of rules, cards and patches for existing clients I want us to start using some kind of development cycle for the three mentioned categories of work. (Cycles etc for all other stuff like for example CS, SS or Overmind, should still be up to the developers of it to decide, if any.)

I suggest that we try out something that uses a month as a base, along the following lines:
  • w.1 brainstorm & discuss new cards / (dis)approve them / rule mods
  • w.2 create the graphical cards for them (doesn't matter if card art is around or not) + update lackeyccg.
  • w.3 - 4 play/concept test game, document testing and discussing it.

Thoughts? Is one month too short of a time frame? It seems very rapid to me, maybe two months would be better? Share.
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Q_x
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Re: Dev. cycles?

Post by Q_x » Sun May 08, 2011 13:12

Honestly, speed will depend on how much manpower will we have, and only that.

Problems I see would be as follows:

Deciding when to continue to the next step - how to do it? By criteria? By feeling? After given time passes? After completing a given (or agreed upon beforehand) goal or reaching a target?

There has to be a reward after completing a cycle - release, announcement, doesn't matter, just "something" that make all feel rewarded. And there could be a major goal agreed upon for each cycle - for example if we would start a cycle now, we could end on testing multifaction decks, or checking balance and ORC across single faction. Something that will tell us all clearly towards what we are progressing.

Also, maybe cycle should rather start from testing and end on release? Just for sake of logic...

Weekly meetings may help to structure things a bit, but I'd rather avoid binding weekly rhythm to this type of cycle permanently. We can chat a bit during meetings and set weekly goals or tasks to coordinate stuff better, but not always this goal would be equal to one step forward in dev cycle.
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Ravenchild
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Re: Dev. cycles?

Post by Ravenchild » Sun May 08, 2011 13:19

I think brainstorming on new cards should rather be done in the forum or in CS once its done (just did some coding :) ). At least I don't see an advantage in doing this in a scheduled meeting.

And new cards should be proposed whenever someone has a good idea. That's just something you can't schedule.

And I don't see any reason why we should only playtest every two weeks in a row. We should rather do it every time we find a proper timeslot in our busy lives^^.
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Re: Dev. cycles?

Post by snowdrop » Sun May 08, 2011 18:29

Ravenchild wrote:I think brainstorming on new cards should rather be done in the forum or in CS once its done (just did some coding :) ). At least I don't see an advantage in doing this in a scheduled meeting.
My bad - I have been unclear on that point: I do not want to schedule meetings to create new cards. Meetings I suggest are there for other reasons, could be pretty much anything, and to make people get in touch in a more structured way at least every now and then. It's just a way to make it easy to meet up and get a chance to catch up as well as discuss whatever needs communication.
And new cards should be proposed whenever someone has a good idea. That's just something you can't schedule.
Agree.
And I don't see any reason why we should only playtest every two weeks in a row. We should rather do it every time we find a proper timeslot in our busy lives^^.
I don't think that a dev. cycle should be there to prohibit or somehow hinder people from play testing if they want to - that, as any of the other processes, should be possible and perfectly ok whenever if a person wants to do it and will indeed do it.

From our experience we (ok, maybe just I) have however concluded that too little happens on this front. I turn to myself and know I should have solved plenty of issues long time ago, but haven't, since I know that I as a person need a "push" and some more structure to get more productive. I am easily distracted and also spend time on a lot of stuff that is non-essential.

I only want the cycles there in an attempt to insure more continuity in our work. Not less. I'd consider them as being some kind of "guarantee" that some tasks get the proper attention they deserve, in this case the rules and card dev.
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Re: Dev. cycles?

Post by Q_x » Sun May 08, 2011 20:04

Well, what I can add...
Maybe it will be good to do reporting progress, estimating "where are we with X" and "what to do next", and also "guys you should look at this" or "could someone help me with this?" within meetings? Kind of fixed point during meetings? Basically activity report, estimating if we could proceed to another step, keeping people informed about important stuff and troubleshooting. Does it sound reasonable for a (still more or less informal) part of meeting?
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