Experimental branch?

[KerbolExplorer]

It's not news that updates are coming slow, for a game in early access I am vastly disappointed not in the bugs but it the lack of action fixing them, yes I know that the devs are hard at work fixing them, but it's been two weeks, and the game is exactly the same as it was when it came out. Most early access games would ha e been updated, a few times by now(take Son's of the forest, the game came out in ea a day before ksp2 and has already had a few updates, other early access games like subnautica below zero had updates when they were released).

 

"But Kerbol!" I hear you say "The devs said that they are going to fix them in a big update!, be patient!" And to this comes my suggestion, an experimental development branch, where users can test the latest changes to the games code. That way the impatient users(me) can get the bug fixes earlier, but also catch new bugs and  issues before they hit the main branch(and we have to wait a month for a bug fix).

Experimental branches are common on early access, Ravenfield, Stranded Deep and both Subnauticas used them(Subnautica's received daily updates with the stuff the devs did that day) Microsoft flight simulator, while it is a complete game, uses a beta branch to test new updates(the devs had a history of breaking half the game after an update).

TL:DR: Add a separate branch for users that gets updated more frequently and with minimal testing, users get the bug fixes earlier and find new bugs before they reach the main branch, win win)

 

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

 

 

[Rpatto92]

I think this would actually make a ton of sense, however I also think they should do multiplayer testing on an experimental branch concurrently with the stable branch. As multiplayer almost never survives contact with the public, it is a crucial step if we're ever to see a functional version, if it's not to be outright cancelled.

[VlonaldKerman]

Should merge this thread with existing ones about this.

[kicka55]

Let's be frank here, you just want more updates because you cant wait for patches. So you want them to change their schedule based on your impatience haha. Releasing more updates won't fix the game any faster. It'll likely only make bug fixing take longer when they have to work on patches more frequently. Creating a patch out of fixes is work too. Development branches probably have a maximum of analytics features that track your whole system, which could be blocked by your firewall even.

Edited March 14, 2023 by kicka55

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

On 3/13/2023 at 11:28 PM, Rpatto92 said:

multiplayer testing

If you enjoy oxygen, I would suggest not holding your breath for MP. 

A better strategy would be to adopt the lifecycle of the cicada and poke your head up every few years to see if it ever becomes a feature. 

[Rpatto92]

28 minutes ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

If you enjoy oxygen, I would suggest not holding your breath for MP. 

A better strategy would be to adopt the lifecycle of the cicada and poke your head up every few years to see if it ever becomes a feature. 

On the planned road map true or if we even get multiplayer at all, it will arrive late and be a bug unusable mess. That's why more than perhaps any other feature multiplayer needs testing in a public test environment sooner rather than later.  

[Jacob Kerman]

35 minutes ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

If you enjoy oxygen, I would suggest not holding your breath for MP. 

A better strategy would be to adopt the lifecycle of the cicada and poke your head up every few years to see if it ever becomes a feature. 

Nah, a comet is better, every hundred years or so should be fine.