Squad giving release dates

[matskuman5]

So, Squad published release dates for 22.0 and now 23.0.

What do you think of this? I personally think it's for the worse, since the updates aren't those nice surprises,

and knowing the date just makes the waiting worse for me. And there's the possibility of an unexpected bug

that makes them have to push the release date back. They did say in the past that they didn't want to give out release dates because of this.

I'm not complaining about 23.0, it looks fantastic. It's just strange why they started doing this.

[Athlonic]

If it makes less "When the updates out ? tell me !" posts in Forum/Live chat/...

I am good for it ^^

[Epthelyn]

Honestly I'd rather they just stopped telling people release dates and announced the release when it was released. You just get people whining on the day that the update hasn't been released at a perfectly convenient time for them, and for anyone who likes using the KSP forums for useful information/discussion, this gets really annoying.

Still, it's nice to know. If people weren't so butthurt about not getting everything their way it'd be great

[Catullus]

I don't think you should take this as a precedent. I'm willing to bet it was ready for release last week, and the only reason it's not out now is that they'll all be Kerbalkonning. Need the devs available to fix any unfortunate showstopper bugs in the first few days after release.

[Psycix]

What's bad about it? Transparency towards the community is a good thing!

About the people whining on the day of release: Squad should give themselves some space and announce a release date one day or several hours after their internally planned release date. This way they are sure to release on time.

In the event of delays: Just post it. "Guys it is going to take at least 6 hours"

Be transparent. Be informative.

[Karriz]

I suppose that knowing the exact time of clock would reduce the asking threads. But of course, delays can happen and then you would still have those threads. So I don't think there's a way around it.

[annallia]

Doesn't bother me so long as they stay relatively on time.

It only bugs me when a game company routinely puts out a date for release and then falls behind it. I don't care if they intentionally long ball it, just so long as it is somewhat accurate.

[regex]

No developer should ever set a release date unless they are absolutely positive that it can be met. Doing otherwise is just shooting yourself in the foot. If you think people are whiny without release dates just wait until a developer misses one.

[annallia]

No developer should ever set a release date unless they are absolutely positive that it can be met. Doing otherwise is just shooting yourself in the foot. If you think people are whiny without release dates just wait until a developer misses one.

Exactly, yet so many of them do.

Same goes for maintenance/updates for online games. Should never say we expect a 4 hour downtime unless you are sure you can hit that 4 hours. Better to be known for overstating your downtime than for giving short ones and constantly being late.

[Bobnova]

I'd like release dates that don't coincide with me being on the road with only a phone for a week.

[Javster]

Kinda unsure, because there will be timezone issues where they release it in the morning, but someone in another timezone won't get it until the next day or something.

[Holo]

I want more release dates, further in advance. If one's missed, a blog post with a more-nicely-worded "stop whining, making games is hard" could just be made. In lieu of that, an official release date wild speculation thread in the space lounge would be fun.

[razark]

I'm fine with them announcing a release date, and then not hitting it. Crap happens. You plan for a target, you work for it, and sometimes, you miss when an unforeseen problem happens. Not that they should push out 0.23 and say "Next update due on February 30th!", but when they are pretty close to it, tell us a prospective date. And if they miss it, well, it's because they're trying to make things better for us. As long as they say "Yeah, we missed it, but it should be good to go in a few days", then that's good enough for me.

[Comrade Jenkens]

I'm unsure, it has both positives and negatives.

[TheCanadianVendingMachine]

Wasn't this made by me at the 0.22 launch? Also, people said that they wouldn't want it by two votes.

[Jim DiGriz]

Exactly, yet so many of them do.

Same goes for maintenance/updates for online games. Should never say we expect a 4 hour downtime unless you are sure you can hit that 4 hours. Better to be known for overstating your downtime than for giving short ones and constantly being late.

James T. Kirk: How much refit time before we can take her out again?

Montgomery Scott: Eight weeks, Sir, [Kirk opens his mouth] but ye don't have eight weeks, so I'll do it for ye in two.

James T. Kirk: Mr.Scott. Have you always multiplied your repair estimates by a factor of four?

Montgomery Scott: Certainly, Sir. How else can I keep my reputation as a miracle worker?

James T. Kirk: Your reputation is secure, Scotty.

[SebLavK]

I think a release date is OK, as long as it's made the way the announced 0.23, meaning just a few days before. That way is not much of a deadline for the devs to meet but enough spare time to ready the servers and have the media group post their impressions.

It also looked like they wanted to wait for KerbalKon to show the new features first hand insterad of having the media group do it

[r4pt0r]

the announcement for .22 stopped me from spending hours on a multi launch mission. why work on it if the save is going to break in a few days you know? i know its alpha and i expect saves to break. but i restart my game every update, and would like my work to stand for at least a week before its wiped away. once they announce experimentals i play a different game until the next update comes out.

[little square dot]

What's bad about it? Transparency towards the community is a good thing!

Be transparent. Be informative.

I'm sure everybody would agree that transparency is good, but I don't think that this is an issue of transparency because if Squad could always give us accurate release dates they would. I mean, why wouldn't they?

For me this boils down to more of a personal preference thing, and personally, I love a good surprise.

[Polstar]

I think giving information like this is good. The only downside is the people with unrealistic expectations who will moan at anything and everything.

Saying that from what I've seen so far these forums are one of the best communities for being friendly and helpfulness

Edited December 14, 2013 by Polstar

[DisarmingBaton5]

I always liked the hype, but don't really have a preference. I hope for SQUAD's sake they don't announce anything unless they're SURE, though.

[soranno]

I don`t know.. does it help people to know the date or not know the date?

Either way in general people need to learn how to wait, and get a little bit of perspective. It will not have a significantly negative effect on your life to only find out about the update 4 hours after it has released, or even 4 days.

[NiwatiX]

Yea, I don't talk on forum very often but I think this question is very important so I will answer it, in my opinion this is a great thing, the dev blog every tuesday and release date and everything that come from behind the curtain give me a lot of motivation and I'm even more excited to see what's next. We all know that these release dates are not immutable but its great to give us something to chew on until the patch is released. I prefer to know that next patch will be out next month for exemple, instead of asking myself if they plan to release it the month after or in 2 month or even during the season.

[SpacedCowboy]

You have issues

[bsalis]

Another angle to this not mentioned yet is a release date may only be announced when the version is done and ready to release. That way it will not be late and you can promo it and built hype... do a Kerbalcon with the finished version etc.

So there is a good chance .23 is completed experimentals already. I'd rather have the new version than a release date.