Utopia Developers’ Update 9th September
Here is the Blog for this week from Brian - please post comments here as usual:
Greetings Utopians,
Sean and I have been trying to get all those bugs fixed over the last week. There were about 260 bugs, most of which we’ve already fixed but there’s still a few left. We’re not going to reopen the Alpha until those bugs are killed. We want the next Alpha round to be a big improvement. We’ll email all the Alpha testers when it’s back up.
A while back, we announced the Utopia wiki. A small group of volunteers put in some great work to get it where it is today. We all know there are a few mistakes in it, but it’s a really good basis from which to build a rich and accurate resource for Utopia players new and old. Today, we’re opening up the wiki so anyone can edit it. Let’s all help make it better.
So, questions from last week:
Luth: Can we PLEASE just end genesis now?
That’s not going to happen until the new game is ready to go.
Luth (re, Spell page redesign): Are you still going to split them into “instant”, “timed”?
We haven’t decided yet. We’ve gotten both positive and negative feedback on that.
Palem: As I take this, when they start up Gen on the new code and end WoL at the same time. Then assuming the start goes smoothly, WoL will be launched on the new code. My problem is, what if the start doesn’t go smoothly, which is exactly what I’ve learned to expect out of OMAC?
1st: We make sure the Alpha is running smoothly.
2nd: We run Genesis on the new code and make sure it is running smoothly.
3rd: Once Genesis is shown to be stable, we’ll end WoL and start a new age on the new code.
We want to minimize the risk. We’re working so hard on the Alpha because we want Genesis to run smoothly. If there still happens to be problems with Genesis, then at least we can be 100% focused on getting them fixed as soon as possible.
Hurlin: When you open up the beta to try and get real time testing done …. will you let people try out multiple accounts at the same time ?
Perhaps. We’ll see how many players we have at the time and decide if we need to do this. Thanks for the suggestion.
Luth (re. Spell page redesign): It was my understanding that we were supposed to be receiving essentially the same product we have currently … So why, exactly, B&S, are you making such changes? because it seems to me that could be contributing to the continual delays.
We said from the outset that save for a few navigational changes the game would be the same. We knew that this was important to the community. We’ve gone to incredible lengths to ensure that this new version is a true representation of the original. If anything, it’s largely our dedication to faithfully replicating this game that has delayed us, not making fanciful changes on a whim.
VT2: So, I ask you - again - why should we give you more of our patience?
For too long this game has been in decline. Bugs have gone ignored and new features haven’t been possible because the code base became too unwieldy to amend and the original developer lost interest. Sean and I decided to open this can of worms, make sense of it and get it back on track. We’ve been working non-stop on rebuilding it for over 6 months. In just the last week we’ve fixed over 150 bugs. Ask yourself, when was the last time that so much work was being done on this game? This game now has a fantastic chance of renewed growth and long life.
Brian