A suggestion re: communications

[Harvey Birdman]

I've been thinking about the little discussion re updates, etc. from the other day. I really think that Planetside would be well served by some sort of periodic communique with registered users giving some idea of the current state of affairs; update content and schedule as currently envisioned, etc. There are a number of concerns/factors that would have to be balanced; protection of proprietary information vs the user's desire to know more, the time consumed in preparing it vs. the lost production, to name two. The communique could be in the form of a blog on the site, an emailed newsletter, whatever is easiest and appropriate.

It may be that the financial benefit of the registered user program isn't the true meat of Planetside's budget, and the time spent couldn't really be justified at all. Being ignorant of the financial dynamics of the company I have no idea. I do feel, though, considering the nature of the relationship between registered users and the company, that some sort of communication is appropriate in lieu of updates.

Any thoughts?

[DeathTwister]

Hay Birdman,

  Now I am not a programmer and color this artist stupid at times when programming/scripting is involved but.....Wouldn't it be easiest to just put a auto updater in the program? and when you fire tgd2 up you would get a message saying it sees an update and do I want to update the product?  That would sure save allot of posting and everyone would get there updates according to what package they have weather it is the Free version or the Full deep version,that way you could have 2 different types of up-daters. Or is that to easy? /smiles.....I been thinking this for a while now and I really think it would solve a lot of issues from the user base to the staff at Planetside.

DeathTwister

[Oshyan]

The last update included an update checking system that will notify you the 2nd time you start the application after an update has been detected. What Harvey is talking about is just a regular posting, newsletter, etc. to give people an idea what we're up to, that progress continues, etc.

Harvey, this is not a bad idea and is something we have considered. I think it could be kept simple and should not then be too big an impact on time available for other things. The question is just what would be reported. Clearly, even if it was sent to registered users only, the information is going to get out there.

We are quite wary of making any release date committments aside the general time frame of the final release, for reasons we've discussed. I think you can agree that's probably for the best at this point. After all making a release date promise for anything doesn't actually make it come out faster (assuming consistent, diligent work on the part of the developer of course). It either works out, or it makes it delayed or worse yet released prematurely, but either way it's going to come out when it comes out. So I think making release date promises would not be something that could be a part of such communications.

We could talk about upcoming features, but again this just creates potential disappointment if they don't make it into the next version, or (as is sometimes the case) don't make it in at all. Users are (I think) mercifully hidden from many of the trials and tribulations of development. Some people definitely enjoy being exposed to those inner details - I know I always did. But the majority of users don't have enough development experience to temper the raw information with understanding and appropriate levels of expectation.

Anyway as I said the idea is good. It's just a question of what to be communicating. What is actually of benefit both to the user base and to Planetside? What would you the users like to hear about, given the issues I've raised above?

- Oshyan

[JohnnyBoy]

I just want to say that Nevercenter seems to have a great fomula for user/developer communication. http://www.silo3d.com/forum/
I would look at "News," "2.0 Beta Feedback/Suggestions" and "Feature Requests" on their forums as something to strive for. It seems to create a lot of good will in the community when developers take an interest in the needs of users. Good luck.

[Oshyan]

As you're probably aware we already have a "news" section (we call it Announcements). It's not used as much as we might like or as much as the Silo section (updated once or twice a month from what I see). But that is partly because we don't have as many releases as they do. They are working on a 2.0 product, an update to a previous release, which is generally easier to make regular public releases of than a ground-up rewrite like TG2. If we could make more frequent releases our Announcements section might look similar to theirs.

The rest of the differences are largely structural and debatable whether they're fundamentally different from what we're already doing. Our Support section for TG2 is similar to "feedback/suggestions". We don't have an explicit Feature Requests section, although we have considered it, but we do respond to almost every post, feature request or otherwise, that is directly related to TG2.

I'm very interested in improving the community and individual user experience, but I honestly think we already have a very good community here, and any remaining problems are largely down to fundamental bottlenecks in our development process that changes in the forums or news updates can't remedy. We could put out more regular information updates but they wouldn't necessarily tell you much. I think the best use of resources and time is trying to establish a more regular public update cycle which you can be assured we are working on.

We will consider a separate Feature Request section for organizational purposes if nothing else.

- Oshyan

[Harvey Birdman]

Hi, Oshyan et al -

I'm afraid I don't have a lot of specifics to suggest - I was just tossing the concept out to see if what everyone else thought.

I recognize the difficulties. You might be afraid of revealing too much to your competition, information disseminated privately would inevitably end up being public knowledge, it could conceivably cause even more misunderstanding... but I think it would be possible to strike a balance between nothing at all and too much, and still give the users a sense of when and what to expect from the next update.

I could see something as simple as just a bar graph showing percentage progress towards the next planned update. Maybe a half-dozen (or whatever is appropriate) smaller bars underneath it showing the current status of individual features being worked on as part of that update. It could be loaded with disclaimers explaining that the presence of a feature on this week's graph (or this month's, or whatever) wouldn't guarantee it would actually be part of the update; it might not even be in the next status report. A paragraph or two as needed to explain significant changes from the last report, perhaps.

What do you think?

[JohnnyBoy]

Here is another blog that is quite nice- if you notice the last update it says nothing about the development, but it lets you know the guy is still alive and working.

http://www.world-machine.com/blog/

That might require ten minutes of work every two to four weeks. I believe that would satisfy customers that wonder if anything is going on. Personally, I have no concerns about how things have been progressing, but I've noticed all the negativity that can be created by a lack of information (ex. ZBrush 3.0) is in stark contrast to an open approach (ex. Silo). Peace.

[rcallicotte]

Since the process here is different than how I program, which is with a list of already pre-determined and (supposedly) well thought out requirements (in writing), I would suggest making a simple list of known basic requirements that Planetside know will most likely never change.  These would be the basic building blocks and other features along with other additional content could just come up under this forum or under the Support forum in the form of conversation.

But, I think you're already doing this.   

[BPauba]

Here is another blog that is quite nice- if you notice the last update it says nothing about the development, but it lets you know the guy is still alive and working.

http://www.world-machine.com/blog/

That might require ten minutes of work every two to four weeks. I believe that would satisfy customers that wonder if anything is going on. Personally, I have no concerns about how things have been progressing, but I've noticed all the negativity that can be created by a lack of information (ex. ZBrush 3.0) is in stark contrast to an open approach (ex. Silo). Peace.

Nice, I was actually trying to find the WM blog as well to give an example of what would be really cool. I love how he does his blog and if planetsides blog was similar to the WM blog it would be perfect.

[RealUser]

The WM blog was mentioned frequently here and in the mailing list by users. I don't think an extra blog is neccessary anymore now, because we have this phantastic forum. A weekly, fortnight's even once in a while report or so in the announcements area would be good enough to keep the users updated. A progress bar or a roadmap showing roughly what is coming next could be interesting, even when it doesn't shows the "killer"-tools/features (only roughly circumscribed?) for protecting reasons. A brief letter to the community by the dev. crew is another option which could fit well the needs of the community.

[mr-miley]

I'm going to throw in my two penny worth....

I beta test a Geotechnical Graphical Database for an american company, very specialised and heavy duty software and they have a most excellent way of updating their beta testers (and lets face it, we're all beta testers here  ) Every month or so (depending on what they are doing) we will get an email saying that there is an update on the website. This update may well only include a few bug fixes that have been reported or maybe a couple of new functions / abilities for us to play with and try to brake, sometimes there will b a load of bug fixes and new functions etc. Those that want to can download the update and install it (the software also has an auto update feature, but this is only for proven "finished" updates) as part of the downloaded files there will be a plain .TXT file detailing what the functions are and how to use them. This way we are constantly provided with updates to play with, some of them very minor, some of them major. Every 6 months or so they will release a full program update install which encompasses all the updates from the last 6 months or so that are "proven"

My point is, they don't wait till there si something major to update, you get it bit at a time. Now, maybe the guys at Planetside are not programming in such a "modular" way, and that this would not be  an appropriate way to update the software, but if they are, it wouldcertainly be an update method to consider, because the end users all feel that "work is being done" on the software all the time, and this keeps us happy 

Don't get me wrong, I know that the guys at planetside are working all hours of the day and night updating TGTP, its just that updating the above way makes everyone fell that they are getting "work in progress", which is great if you are a beta tester (as we all are) and it keeps us quiet, and stops us nagging for release dates etc 

Anyway, thats my rant over.... keep up the good work

Miles

[Will]

can I put that on my resume now? "second tier beta tester" Interesting point I would be happy even with a brief little check list or something where we can see what has been fixed but I can see it being an issue in some cases.

regards,

Will

[Harvey Birdman]

can I put that on my resume now? "second tier beta tester" ....

[Kevin F]

Hi all, Been away for a while and come back to some heavy posts!
My opinion is that we do indeed need a more regular and easy method of communication between Planetside and the the users of TGTP. The WM blog would be my preference- it's concise, regular, friendly and most of all informative.
I still find Planetside a bit of a mystery! Just how many staff do you have and more to the point how many actually developing the software - just one I suspect - Matt!  I realise that this is most likely commercially sensitive information, but who outside Planetside actually knows?
If it's just Matt producing code with Jo "converting" to Mac, Oshyan on the forum helpdesk and John McLusky doing Subsciptions and writing guides? and split between 3 continents then it's gonna be a long time before a final release. Or am I wrong? is there a team of software developers beavering away in a nice office on the Wirral all under the guidance of Matt?
How many Alpha testers are there? Will it go to full Beta testing anytime soon? What issues have been resolved in the latest Alpha release? What progress has been made on the single biggest issue - rendering speed?
Of course Planetside might not be able to answer any of these questions for obvious reasons, but some information would keep the troops happy. The number of problem issues raised in the forum that are to be "resolved in the final version" is worryingly long.
Regards
Kevin.

[DeathTwister]

Hay guys,

can I put that on my resume now? "second tier beta tester"

haha what he said.

My opinion is that we do indeed need a more regular and easy method of communication between Planetside and the the users of TGTP. The WM blog would be my preference- it's concise, regular, friendly and most of all informative.
I still find Planetside a bit of a mystery! Just how many staff do you have and more to the point how many actually developing the software - just one I suspect - Matt!  I realise that this is most likely commercially sensitive information, but who outside Planetside actually knows?
If it's just Matt producing code with Jo "converting" to Mac, Oshyan on the forum helpdesk and John McLusky doing Subsciptions and writing guides? and split between 3 continents then it's gonna be a long time before a final release. Or am I wrong? is there a team of software developers beavering away in a nice office on the Wirral all under the guidance of Matt?
How many Alpha testers are there? Will it go to full Beta testing anytime soon? What issues have been resolved in the latest Alpha release? What progress has been made on the single biggest issue - rendering speed?
Of course Planetside might not be able to answer any of these questions for obvious reasons, but some information would keep the troops happy. The number of problem issues raised in the forum that are to be "resolved in the final version" is worryingly long.

  I have been wondering that myself, and there are alot of good sugestions, lets hope they find a happy meeting ground for everyone.  For myself? I'm good atm but would love to see what ya'll talking bout get a bit better /smile

DT