Posted by Monthly "Roadmap" Update - 156+/-4

Fraekincense (#57572)


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Posted on
2023-12-15 21:05:28
Before I begin this thread I highly discourage people from commenting only because I know emotions are high when it comes to the topic of development transparency and I do not want this thread getting closed because of people being unkind or unfair to staff and other players. If you support, please click the button - same for no supports. I am more than happy to listen to feedback via PM though and may add your comments here!

Recently, as addressed in the news post today, there has been some discontent around the transparency of game development - which has raised tempers and resulted in people making unkind comments or inciting code of conduct breaks.

I would like to propose that staff replace one of the monthly community updates (or add onto the end of a community update) with a roadmap update.

I am not asking for it to have specific dates / release times - rough quarters for release as was done in todays news post are ideal. I do not want the artist/development team to be under even more pressure by having "deadlines" but it would be nice to actively know things are being worked on, and if there are any delays and why.

Ideally it would list whats being worked on, perhaps with previews of things such as a breed only bases being worked on, or the jaglion art, or spirited pose - or even further displays of the recode would be awesome. It would aim to not create pressure for the staff but increase transparency with the playerbase as from watching these past few days there is certainly discontent on the recent silence from staff.

I feel this would really boost the playerbase's confidence in staff as a whole and help create general hype for the upcoming features instead of resentment that it's taking so long or we've just had no updates in months.

If you comment please remember to be respectful.



This suggestion has 163 supports and 4 NO supports.



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Edited on 14/09/24 @ 23:49:59 by Fraekinn [Semi Hiatus] (#57572)

Fraekincense (#57572)


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Posted on
2023-12-15 21:07:03
Reserved just in case i guess πŸ˜…



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🐟 whales0ng (#138230)


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Posted on
2023-12-15 21:29:14
sounds like a good middle ground. could definitely help smooth some ruffled feathers in a way that works out well for everyone.



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🦎Rango (Main) G7
NRLC Murky (#334921)

Bone Collector
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Posted on
2023-12-16 13:37:41
Agree, it's understandable that deadlines are everchanging, and it would be nice to know which updates are on track, which ones are getting pushed, etc.



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Fraekincense (#57572)


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Posted on
2023-12-18 10:18:07
I want to thank all the supporters so far and for the respectful responses!



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Bandit Gambit
[Project] (#98263)

Nightmare
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Posted on
2023-12-18 10:20:37
I think it could fit in nicely with the monthly Development updates! :3



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Fraekincense (#57572)


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Posted on
2023-12-18 10:22:17
That could work too!
I just made this suggestion because I really think there needs to be a middle ground of communication between staff and players regarding upcoming developments. I'm not entirely fussed how they do it, just that its considered!



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Scykol (#90520)

Unholy
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Posted on
2024-01-02 00:39:02
im kind of surprised this isnt already a thing



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πŸŽƒ Jen
O'Lantern πŸŽƒ (#177530)


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Posted on
2024-01-09 03:43:22
This is definitely neccesary in some form or other.
I feel like it would be beneficial for players and staff to have some sort of progress/achievement section added to the weekly update that acts to celebrate what's being done rather than a more imposing/pressured progress report. Just a thanks section with a simple sentence along the lines of "This week the moderators have got through X modbox tickets, thanks guys!" or "This week we're in high spirits because ARTIST/art team has finished work on the last mane shape to be added to the spirited pose!"
This way they wouldn't need to give a full rundown on what theyre doing but players would have a better idea that things are being done behind the scenes.



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Fraekincense (#57572)


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Posted on
2024-01-09 04:00:23
I do not agree that modbox ticket numbers should be published - it could make new players go "oh no theres THAT many scammers/art thieves/etc" every week?!

The idea of it being monthly, not weekly is to remove the pressure - having announcements very week derails the very idea of this topic, where staff mental health/workload is prioritised just as much as keeping the players happy.

The idea basically is a devlog, where they list whats been done over the month. Not what they're working on in future, but whats been achieved so we can see progress without implying any pressure on staff for deadlines etc. For example like you say;

Development Log #1
- Jaglion Lineart completed
- Recode update, needs voting in poll here.
- Fixed xyz art bug.
- Slight delay predicted for modbox tickets on xyz date due to staff training.

Just things like that to let the players know things are ticking over.



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Edited on 09/01/24 @ 04:03:04 by Fraekinn [FullBO6xSeal] (#57572)

Kalech (#457567)

King of the Jungle
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Posted on
2024-02-14 05:37:10
Definitely support.
Not only because I think communication between devs and players are important, but also because I love the game! Seeing stuff the devs are working on would be fun I think. Hopefully not just for us, I think it might be both fun and nice if we can cheer on specific devs that are working XYZ this month/week/whatever. Let us be excited about development along with them!

I know you said no future projects but Imo future projects would be really good to show, it kinda gives you a hum about where the game is going, where priorities are right now etc, and it doesn't have to be monthly. Just maybe a basic list of... "Here's what we're working on, here's what we're planning to work on, here's what we've completed", and the regular news/updates can just include updates about things finished/started/added.

I wonder if something like canny.io would be useful to devs? It's basically this forum + roadmap in one feature. Devs can post a generic roadmap (without deadlines) and it allows players to post suggestions and upvote them... Essentially what this forum does, but instead of going through an entire forum they have all their feedback in one go and can sort it by what has most support etc. It could make things easier for them? I'll attach some pics from House Flipper 2's Canny to show what it looks like.





ps: showing number of tickets is a terrible idea, there are things players don't need to see. Plus it would just result in undue pressure for the devs.



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Edited on 14/02/24 @ 05:45:22 by Kalech (#457567)

Fraekincense (#57572)


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Posted on
2024-09-14 15:40:18
Bumping because there is still discourse and miscommunication happening.



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Ricky/Infinightive (#177615)

Deathlord of the Jungle
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Posted on
2024-09-14 23:48:05
A monthly update is much more reasonable because imagine trying to fit a month's work into a week, and limiting yourself to doing a huge workload into one week, when spread amongst a single month with time to do other projects would guarantee higher quality products - but also allows for there to be a nice deadline for staff to aim for. deadlines are important in the real world, and allowing small projects to take months when that time should be dedicated to largr projects like spirited pose, or the jaglion release when that happened. I feel like a time of the month dedicated to different aspects of their to-do list [such as saturdays being spent on bases and marks, and maybe dedicating the first week-two weeks of every month to new event art; just some ideas]. It adds routine, and it feels like more would get done rather than what I presume is that the artists are starting projects, and not being able to finish them due to having more ideas shoved into their arms just for us as a community to reject them - it's disheartening I can imagine.

A roadmap monthly or even bi-monthly, or bi-yearly would provide us a reasonable time-line to expect things, and would allow a lot of us to settle down with the increase in communication. Small, simple notes like 'delays in spirited pose due to staff illness' or 'event idea discontinued due to community feedback being negative' would be so useful!

edit: typing is bad, i apologise in advance lmao



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Edited on 14/09/24 @ 23:48:32 by Infinightive (#177615)

Before (#25066)

Cursed
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Posted on
2024-09-28 15:40:52
Support for occasional roadmaps, though I feel monthly would be too often. We get a Development Update once a month, so I feel it wouldn't be all that much more useful than the polls we get previewing upcoming features.

But yes, getting occasional updates on bigger features we've been told/polled about and some aim of where in the development release order it currently lies would be great. There are some planned updates that I recall but the blurb saying they're planned has been removed from that event's news page, so knowing if that decision is a cancellation or just making it lower priority than other features would be nice for sure.

I'd support once or twice a year, maybe once every three months at most, but not for every month. I just don't think there'd be enough to talk about on a monthly basis that isn't just what's being released in the development update, since the projects that take longer, well, take a really long time.



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