T2D development process transparency...

#1 Have a look at this resource www.garagegames.com/index.php?sec=mg&mod=resource&page=view&qid=7396. Its a drop in class for using text fonts in T2D. It might not do exactly what you need, but might make a good starting point if you decide to make your own version.

Edit: BTW If you see Melvs comment at the bottom of that resource, you can replace the two references to "getCurrentCameraScale" with

Point2F cameraScale=window->getCurrentCamera().mSceneWindowScale;

#2 I'd like a project management list like TGE's, though I'm also very interested to see where TDN leads us.

#3 Yeah TDN will be very interesting... also the Google Mini should help out a lot.

#4 Hear, hear!

Knowing what to invest time into is very important for someone who's selling their games. Time wasted is money wasted, afterall.

#5 Thanks for the link Gary -- very cool.

Josh or Melv? Any thoughts on helping create a roadmap for us? Again, I'm not looking for something "binding" or something that commits you to dates. It can be fuzzy swags (super wild ass guesses, is what we call 'em). But features and priorities would be really helpful!

#6 We already covered this last month on this forum, it's buried deep. They (Josh / Melv I think) said they don't want to give away all the secrets... yet.

#7 The joys of early adopter.

#8 Howdy,

I understand the desire to see a roadmap. For now, I can at least speak in general terms about what we're trying to tackle.

We are basically trying to kill the most painful problems first. So, after the initial release we've primarly focused on fixing bugs (though there are still bugs to nab, sure). There are four main areas we're focusing on: documentation, editors, core tech, and feature enhancements. Core tech is hard stuff like networking, etc. Feature enhancements are extensions of existing functionality tiles, animation, bug fixing, etc.

As for the general devplan, we've already posted what's coming in 1.1, so you should know what to expect there. As for future updates beyond that, to be honest, I don't think posting the details is a good idea. Causes a lot of trouble if/when you need to change things. Even if it's just a very, very highlevel overview.... man, we've seen it happen with TSE and it's just not fun. The benefits of helping some folks plan a *little* better don't outweigh how much it seems to rile people up when something is off target or when the plan gets changed (even though the only reason to change the plan is to do a better job and make the product better. People just flip out. :) Like I said, we've seen this with TSE already, so I'm not excited about trying the experiment again.

In general, I understand the desire to see a roadmap. However, please, let me say this:

If you're thinking about whether to make something on your own, my advice in every case is "Don't wait, give 'er a shot!" If Matt was waiting for us to make all these great tutorials... man, that'd be a shame and a loss for everyone here. People have made cool tools for imagemaps and all kinds of stuff... and if they'd waited for us, it'd take longer to get this stuff out to everyone too. Why wait?

Part of the whole power of the idea of releasing T2D's full source is that everyone here can help each other out and share their ideas and technology. I understand wanting to know what to focus your development on, certainly. But I don't think planning around the official T2D roadmap is the best way to go. You should target the things you need the most first, regardless of our plans. We may need to change our plan, and when doing so, we obviously can't take the needs of every single T2D project into account individually, so the stuff you need really badly might get pushed out. That's not a good thing to have happen, nor a good thing to plan on for your own development.

I should also make it clear here that at least you'll always know a few weeks in advance when a major update is on the way, and what's in the plan for it. We'll announce it in a similar way as we did last time. So, it's not like you'll code up something one day, and then the next day we'll release an update with the same functionality you just made yourself. :) You'll always know at least a few weeks beforehand what's on the way. And even if a tool or technology you're looking for is only useful to you for a few weeks... that's still worthwhile. And hey, who says our version would be better than yours anyway? ;)

In fact, the more stuff like this we start seeing, the faster things will develop for T2D in general. If an implementation is good, we can maybe use it as a base to build the official version on. So, just do it! You'll only help yourself, the rest of the community, and T2D itself by jumping in and coding up new stuff.

(continued..)

#9 (continued from previous...)

So, I don't even see it helping people to do a devplan. You shouldn't really plan your development for stuff like this around our roadmap. Don't wait for what's coming the devplan, if you feel you need a certain thing and are up to try doing it on your own, just do it! :) It's fun and it'll help lots of people, regardless of when an official version might be coming.

Anyhow, we'll think about it some more and maybe make some time to condense our gigantic devplan down into a very high-level overview of what's coming. If we did, it'd be similar to the level of detail that TSE's roadmap shows, so even then it wouldn't get into talking about when all the particular, smaller features will come online (eg nice text support). Much as we'd like to share all the info, it just causes too much pain if / when we need to change something.

Hope that makes sense and seems reasonable. :)

#10 Thanks for the update and the explanation of your perspective, Josh! It really helps to know the reasons behind your decisions.

Having said that, would it be possible to post as things are completed for each release? This way, at least, we can see what's confirmed to be in an upcoming update, plus we get some real-time feedback about progress.

For instance, there could be a "Features completed: v1.0.3" thread and then posts with the major things that are done toward that version as they are completed. It might also maintain a sense that work is moving along and mitigate some of the impatience and curiosity that's inevitable when waiting for an exciting thing like a T2D update. :) That may help you guys by not having to reply to requests for information all the time as a release nears.

Keep up the great work!

#11 That's not a bad idea at all Jason, thanks. Would make more sense more for the 1.1 release than the 1.0.3. We already track changes anyway, so it wouldn't be a big deal to make a post when we update stuff.