Re: [Wesnoth-dev] Aiming for 1.0

[Karol 'grzywacz' Nowak]

David White wrote:

> Firstly, what should version 1.0 be? 1.0 should be the first version
> which we can happily show to everyone: even end users who have no
> interest in game development. It should be a stable version that the
> team is committed to maintaining and supporting.
> 
> It doesn't have to be perfect. It just has to be good enough so that
> someone can play it, and have fun, without noticing badly incomplete
> features or awful bugs. It certainly doesn't have to have every feature
> imaginable, and it's not realistic that it will be completely bug-free.

That's surely what one would expect from a version with "full" number.


> Now there is a danger, and I think this danger is large, that Wesnoth
> will never reach 1.0. The reason for this is that as a community and
> development team we have shown ourselves to continue to want to add
> features. The more features we add, the more features we think of to
> add. The game has been in a state where it needs "only feature x, y, and
> z and then it's feature-complete for 1.0" since perhaps version 0.3. I
> remember when it was "feature complete; all it needs is multiplayer".
> Now that's not to say the features we've added have no value: on the
> contrary the game has improved immensely since 0.3, imo. However, the
> more features we add, the harder it is going to be to stabilize.

Adding features is always more fun than boring bugfixing... As far as
the idea of feature freeze goes, I think that Wesnoth has reached a
level of quality, which justifies a "final" release and it well deserves it.


> In terms of multiplayer, I still think Wesnoth is not nearly as good as
> it is in multiplayer. The interface is a little mediocre, and options
> which I think are important such as time limits on turns aren't
> available. However, Wesnoth could be considered a complete game with
> only single player. Multiplayer is also a luxury in many ways, and it's
> not *that* bad. I think we can ship 1.0 without any multiplayer
> improvements.

Even if multiplayer is not perfect, Wesnoth already has a lively MP
community. I guess that they'd also be happy to have a stable version,
with no constant unit rebalancing caused by new additions.


> Now, in terms of adding new units, these are my thoughts:
> 
> - no new factions in multiplayer.
> - adding level 3 units to existing factions, such as the Drakes is fine,
> since I don't think it changes the balance that much.
> - tweaking units is fine, mainly if the multiplayer community thinks
> it's necessary
> - no new level 1 units that are put in multiplayer
> - new level 1 units, e.g. the high elves, could be added but they would
> only be used if a campaign developer wanted to use them. They wouldn't
> be in multiplayer in 1.0.

Sounds reasonably, also from a perspective of translation maintainer.


> Some things which I think we really need for 1.0, which can be done
> 'safely' in that they will not de-stabilize the game:
> 
> - better documentation in the help system
> - better sound effects
> - Heir to the Throne should be made much easier on 'easy'.
> - complete animations
> - completed translations

Given the rough timeline you wrote below, I think it might be even
possible to finish our (Polish) translation before the final release,
even if the documentation was to be expanded... All I'd like to know now
is whether we're going to be presented with a deadline any time soon. :)


> I think that Wesnoth 1.0 could be produced in 3 months. Here is the
> schedule I would propose:
> 
> Weeks 1-6:
> 
> - work on bug fixes, including cosmetic cleanup and making the game
> acceptably fast in all areas
> - continue to work on translations
> - work on documentation
> - add animations, new units, sound effects, etc.
> - finalize list of campaigns for 1.0
> 
> -- STRING FREEZE --
> 
> Weeks 7-9:
> 
> - work on bug fixes, including cosmetic cleanup
> - start working on finalizing translations
> - no more new units
> - animations, sound effects, can still be added
> 
> -- COMPLETE INTERFACE FREEZE --
> 
> Weeks 10-12:
> 
> - work on testing and fixing any remaining critical bugs
> - finalize translations
> - animations, sound effects may still be added.
> 
> -- RELEASE 1.0 --
> 
> Of course, this is a rough outline of what I think is possible, not a
> 'strict schedule'.


To sum things up - go for it! :)

-- 
pozdrawiam
Karol 'grzywacz' Nowak
-> Jabber: address@hidden
-> WWW: http://kolos.math.uni.lodz.pl/~grzywacz/