Let's be honest, how is development going along?

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This is what you call open source.

Err... I think going past srb7 would be a bad idea... :P
 
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Lastly, a lot of our team is old. We're either starting college, in college, getting out of college, working, or raising a family. We don't have contiguous chunks of hours to spend on the computer anymore. A lot of the fresh meat here doesn't seem to have the talent we need either, so everybody's aging.
This goes back to what Ice said; that the dev team is a little too fixed. If only the requirements for becoming a developer were a little less tight, we'd have more--and more enthusiastic--hands to work the thing. Obviously it's a terrible idea to take on any unskilled shmoe, but I think there are at least a few people out there with passable capabilities to be of some assistance. Most notably, I think that Neo Chaotikal and Spherallic would be suited to the job.

It might be easier to choose developers if you also favored a more decentralized approach. What if you picked people for very specific skills--excellent spriting, for instance, or an aptitude for spotting bugs--and asked them to do what they're best at? They would be much less likely to lose sight of the big picture, because they will have been charged with one clear task.

As you so rightly said, many of the original developers are getting too old or too bogged down with other responsibilities. Rather than either continuing to bear the full burden of working on SRB2 or retiring outright, couldn't you become overseers of a larger group? You could still be involved; someone's gotta make sure that the new developers are meeting your expectations, after all. But perhaps the time has come to rethink the way in which Sonic Team Junior is managing the project.
 
The thing is, we actually already DO do that. We are rather slow about it, but that's because there is a lot of stuff we'd rather not get leaked, so there is a slow process in recruiting new people.

2.0 would not have happened the way it did if we didn't recruit from the community.
 
Also, everyone's gone on strike and Mystic is having to code it himself.
That's freaking hilarious. I would love to see that happen.

I'm guessing the reason the Staff won't add people with skills to the group is because that person might not be trustworthy enough. Omega was added to the team, and then he got kicked out. Leaking, I think. Prime was wrongly accused, but I won't go much further. And JTE.. well I forgot as to why he isn't a member yet. But the Staff can always give out excuses for any small detail they find. And I think I heard somewhere that Neo admitted to go crazy with power if he was an admin. Maybe the same will happen if he was a staff.
 
I think, with that hard work, you'd never pass(at least SRB2) the game to other people work on it, because of a simply desire of see this version get finished by your own hands.Even if it get slowly progress. XP
 
It's really too bad we didn't go the Megaman route, because I always thought SRB2 would have been a perfect fit for that kind of game. Slower moving, tighter stages focused on platforming and puzzles, and a blocky style with minimal slopes. You can see a little bit of how this might have worked in ERZ1.

Megaman? Puzzles? Blocky style, no slopes?

If you feel like that, why DIDN't you make a Megaman game to begin with?

And guys, honestly, getting alot of unofficial betas to be released is NOT a bad thing. 1.09.3 was one of the most awesome things to happen to SRB2, as I could look 2 days later and suddenly see a bunch of new things in the list that might interest me. And, if you release beta's actively, it keeps the development active too. In 2.0, there were a hell load of bugs and things that didn't feel right a single bit. If you had first released everything in chunks like with 1.09.3, you would've gotten informed by the actual community who plays the game something doesn't feel right or is much buggy. A thousand people can do and say more than a few beta testers.
 
Well, SMS, I can't say much about how I felt about 1.09.3, but I can tell you that a lot of people would disagree with you on the assertion that it was at all a decent period of time for the community.
 
When I was first a member of the Sky Sanctuary team, my attitude towards SRB2 development was "It's a great outlet to occupy my extensive amount of free time, thanks to my stagnant high school life." When I turned 18 last week, I came to the following conclusions:

1) I am a part of several ongoing projects (both offline and online) which take priority over a non-profit fan-based production.
2) As a result of #1, my free time has been reduced considerably.
3) SRB2ME was our swansong. We poured all our effort into one release, we put all the eggs in that basket. Nothing can really top that, as I see it.
4) As a soon-to-be university student, I should be focusing my time and energy into worthwhile avenues that benefit both me and my future.
5) AJ, whether he knew it or not at the time, was the glue of this project. He was the spark that could start the engine at any time. Having that responsibility passed down to Mystic and myself made me realize just how much he meant to everything.
6) As a result of #5, generating motivation for an entire team of people became even more difficult.
7) My desire to work on the project was being offset by my desire to work on anything else.

I'm sure you get the point by now.

For those who think there should be more betas passed around: Try sitting in our shoes for a few days and you'll wonder how we ever got 2.0.6 out. A lot of us here are die-hard perfectionists, and when SRB2 means this much to you, it's hard to let a release squeeze by without considerable scrutiny.

I got my way onto this team several years ago with incredible ambition, determination, and a strong desire to assist in any way possible. After three or so years, you really lose the energy to push forward.
 
I've encountered that before over on the SFGHQ when re-uploading old files. this was before I became more active with SRB2.
 
I can say with complete authority that we will not be using the 1.09.3.X model again. It was impossible to manage and complete hell to maintain.
 
There's also, of course, the problem with netgaming if you have a beta come out every few days.

"I'm getting stuck at the 'contacting the server' screen"
"Did you get the new 2.7.9?"
"I'm not sure, was that the one that came out on Wednesday?"
"Nah, it came out two minutes ago"
 
Couldn't you just compile what's in the svn and play the unstable version, I mean come on. Just smashing one in a RAR-Torrent wouldn't work.
 
Srb2 netgame...

There's also, of course, the problem with netgaming if you have a beta come out every few days.

"I'm getting stuck at the 'contacting the server' screen"
"Did you get the new 2.7.9?"
"I'm not sure, was that the one that came out on Wednesday?"
"Nah, it came out two minutes ago"

That reminds me so much of SRB2 2k3!
 
And JTE.. well I forgot as to why he isn't a member yet..

Correct me if I'm wrong, but he isn't a Dev member because some of the devs (Mystic and Spazzo?) don't like him too much. I wouldn't imagine why, IMO he's not a bad guy :P

I'd imagine, though, that if SRB2 were to be coded by the current members and JTE, who obviously knows what he's doing (he made encrypted code, player-exclusive abilities, a new gametype that's completely reversed, and a bunch of other crap. I think he knows what he's doing). But eh, it seems that may be a lost cause. :/

As to the topic's subject, well, I think Cue, SSN, and Mystic just explained it in a nutshell. They're not paid, not the same age as when they started, and in Mystic's case/maybe the case of others, they're lazy. If I got rich, I'd pay Nev3r to make levels (maybe Mystic also, considering how cool the new CEZ seems to be), JTE to program, and the devs to include his programming. :P
 
Couldn't you just compile what's in the svn and play the unstable version, I mean come on. Just smashing one in a RAR-Torrent wouldn't work.
You could, but of course that is only the EXE, and even then not every revision is uploaded to the SVN immediately.
 
I'll just state this before everyone gets the wrong idea.

JTE doesn't work well in teams. We tried to set things up so he could help us out anyway, and they didn't work out.
 
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