trenker wrote:Yeh this is all fine but leads me to think that something may be inadequate in the Ryzom engine. Let me explain this theory...
If you release software early or without all the bits in it that you advertised, as is the case with Ryzom, then when it comes time to implement those bits you face two outcomes:
1) You designed the software so well in the first place that all the new bits slot in nice and work well without upsetting too many other things. The system remains consistent and does not get overly complex, leading to steady improvements.
or
2) Your new features do not really sit well in the existing software infrastructure and need serious fudging (and oiking!) to get them to work and then only with an annoying tendency to effect other things. Overall complexity goes up making every step forward slow and cumbersome. A dev's nightmare.
An example:
I mean how hard can Rites be - you click on NPC, you get speach, you get lots of little missions (that already work) then yellow blobs appear and maybe you get +50 focus or some reward. Now this sounds easy and when coding from scratch probably is. But if you have to add these features onto a software framework that can't handle it, it could be a seriously complex and troublesome job.
Anyway, it wont stop me playing in Atys as it is, for a good while at least.
Have to say I don't agree with this at all. Software is never that black and white - it works or it doesn't? Never happens like that.
The very nature of software means that one small change to even the simplest and most elegantly designed code can introduce unforseen bugs. The Ryzom code is NOT a simple piece of software, I would imagine it is very complex indeed. One 'minor' change can have numerous knock on effects that need to be checked and fixed. Trouble is when you fix that, you might break something else.
Glad to see the majority agree with my point of view. Also glad to see Nevrax realise we're mature enough to accept delays if they keep us informed and don't release broken stuff.
