"There's a reason there's not a release every week&quot

[Kaysakado]

That quote is on SRB2.org's contact page. I've been wondering about this for a while - what is that reason? It would definently get more publicity to release betas every once in a while, and it would let people report bugs and make suggestions so there won't have to be another release after the final one.

 

[clairebun]

There's probably more than one reason, but a good one is the fact that expecting everyone to keep up with weekly versions is too much trouble, not with just compatibility for addons, but also for netgaming.

 

[Kaysakado]

Nobody ever said we needed to use the betas for netgaming.

Use the current stable release for public netgames, and the beta for Single Player and organized netgames.

 

[Cue]

AJ has stated before that releases are a nightmare as it is, it requires updating files on multiple locations, ensuring people update (generally a beta will break netplay with the normal 1.09.4) and such. Not to mention people would complain left right and centre about problems and such, a beta build is generally not a safe public release since too many people don't seem to know the definition of 'beta'.

tl;dr, nightmare.

 

[Prime 2.0]

lol 1.09.3.xx

That was the freaking renaissance, man.

 

[Mystic]

lol 1.09.3.xx

That was the freaking renaissance, man.

It was also a colossal nightmare to deal with from an administration front. We got CONSTANT questions of how it worked and how to set up the current copy, and those questions were unrelenting for months. It was terrifyingly difficult to maintain such a state. 1.09.3 IS the reason there isn't a release every week.

Don't get me wrong, a lot got done in there, but the only difference between 1.09.3.X and the rest of the development is that we were doing it publicly instead of privately. Private development has the major, incredible advantage of not having to explain to people how to get it working because the private dev guys already know.

 

[Autosaver]

Could someone explain to me what you mean by 1.09.03?
Something a long the lines you released a version every week?

 

[Mystic]

Before 1.09.4 came out, we had a period of time where we did a public beta, called 1.09.3, which we updated regularly to test various changes to the code. Basically you downloaded 1.09.3.8, if I recall, and then downloaded an EXE to updated to whatever the current EXE was, I think that ended around 1.09.3.44 or something like that. Basically it was us doing changes to the EXE publicly for a period of time, instead of privately like we normally do.

 

[I'll Begin]

The guy who made the Sonic Halo mod said that the reason he isn't releasing betas so close to the release is that if he does that then people would probably just take that version and run without coming back to get the finished version later, meaning LESS publicity. Or something like that, anyway. It was so long ago now.