Devnotes and the game's development

[Javster]

I'm wondering why the game's development is being kept so secret while there are still weekly "devnotes": it seems weird to have a short weekly post on what you've been working on if you say things like "Also friendly reminder that people who talk about the admin building early will be fed to the company Tyrannosaurus", "secretive administrative building" and "the most interesting thing about it is what we are going to put in it but unfortunately I can’t say anything about that". It seems counter-productive to make a commitment to inform people about the development of your game, yet not to talk about the most interesting part.

Another thing that's been brought up by the community is the frequency of said devnotes: many people think that a week is not a long time for a game that has and is being developed over years. I, among others, believe that a less frequent but more in-depth program would be more productive and informative.

Examples: "Eh. I agree with regex, the devnotes seem to have lost their touch" this post was the first reply on this week's devnotes. The post belonging to "regex" was removed, I don't know why.

"Why keep it secret? isn't the intention of the dev notes to talk about what you're developing?

Also, you guys should make one of these for ksp: **link to another game's roadmap of development**"

"Yeah, I feel that they need to show some pictures and some real content. What's the point in keeping the Administrative Building a secret?"

"AKA: We developed stuff and it's pretty cool but if you talk about it, you'll be fed to a T-Rex. "

"Its a fairly common view that theres been little meat on the bones of recent devnotes, even before .24"

"So basically SQUAD is afraid of the community that they think is so great"

"It is a fact Squad act different that most gaming companies. And that isn't always a good thing."

"Nah, its i think we want to hear more about your workflow, like "we did X, encountered problem Y, and we solved it so"."

"I do definitely feel like there is less info in recent dev notes"

"See, basically NOTHING about the content itself spoiled in such a sentence, but it shows how the workflow is. I'm ALL FOR devnotes, but to read every week "i worked this week...it will be great" is not any information besides "i'm still here"."

"

Devnotes seem to just be a register of who is still working for the company as opposed to any form of notes about development.

Alex (aLeXmOrA): Still working

Mike (Mu): I’ve been continuing to work

Daniel (danRosas): I’m working

Jim (Romfarer): Last week i spent a lot of time working but unfortunately i can’t say anything about that.

Miguel (Maxmaps): Organizing and running through our plan for 0.25. Everything so far going along on schedule.

Ted (Ted): I’ve been going through the 670+ Testing applications that we’ve received

Anthony (Rowsdower): I’ve been deeply involved in further developing KSP-TV.

Eduardo (Lalo): Because my daughter was born, I don’t have too much to say.

Rogelio (Roger): Working together with Dan

Hugo (Hugol): I`m leaving

I`m maybe being slightly harsh but not so much that my point is invalid..."

"In all honesty? People are right about the dev notes not meaning anything at all anymore.

Hugo has left? Sorry to hear that, and good luck! Thank you for all the work you did on KSP, specifically... ehm... wait a second, what was he working on anyway?"

"Alex has posted 10 words; Rogelio, 13.

And that's counting "to", "and", "the" as words: removing propositions, both have posted only 7 words. That's an average of 1 word per work-day:

"

"I'm pretty sure that they could share some more information than this, however little they can disclose about their job."

"How about Squad just act like every other company and not say anything? They could stick to a strict PR campaign. Only release information through press releases and trailers." VERY valid point: I think Squad are trying to act like indie devs and inform their fanbase about their games, while hiding information and trying to act like a huge publisher and teasing it.

I think Kerbal has merely grown to a size where suddenly Squad is considering PR. How to release information. This contradicts the idea of weekly dev notes.

"Honestly I'd have to agree the devnotes have gotten worse. I'd much prefer the old ksp weekly."

"all they need to say is "tuesday devnotes: Harvester: well today the team and i decided to scrap _____ because _______. our plan moving forward is to work on ______, ive already done _____, _____, and some ______ this week."

If they worked on developing a feature, mention it in the devnotes, if the scrapped a feature to advance the development of the game, mention it in the dev notes.

heck, even add a "*devnotes are not promises for features and may change during the course of development" at teh bottom of every devnote"

"if they spend a week developing cheese power, tell us. if they scrap it the next week, tell us.

thats the point of the "devnotes""

"So what? People are going to complain no matter what happens. Look at the Suggestions forum and gaze upon the endless threads of "the science system is bad, here's how to make it better". If SQUAD is just going to develop their game their way, damn the torpedoes, what's the harm in keeping the community informed?"

"Bad news is still valid news. If players are to have respect for developers, they have to be shown respect. That goes both ways.

Check out this dev blog from Introversion Software. It details the development of a game that failed to reach a releasable state due to the core concept being un-fun. Through all the details given, it's easy for players to rationalise their decision.

To reiterate, unhappiness in the forums is the result of insufficient communication"

"It's worth noting that in all the examples given, detailed technical discussions are at best a monthly occurrence"

"Why are so many posts in this thread being censored?!"

"I'm gathering I'm not allowed to be critical of the dev notes?" (another issue, more about censorship)

So yeah... Sorry about the flood of quotes, all of them are from the first page of this week's devnotes.

SUGGESTION: I have a minor suggestion: in addition to the devnotes, we get ONE picture of the week, showing what any of the team have been working on: if t's toolbars, I'm sure showing an early prototype of something like that would cause a stink.

Edited August 13, 2014 by Javster

[montyben101]

Oh please don't start all this again... We don't want some sort of forum war

[Javster]

Oh please don't start all this again... We don't want some sort of forum war

EDIT: sorry, accidental double post.

Edited August 13, 2014 by Javster

[Javster]

Oh please don't start all this again... We don't want some sort of forum war

I'm not trying to start a forum war. I'm just stating what I've found from reading the devnotes and the comments about them.

I really don't see why the devnotes are such a sensitive topic. I think it's because Squad are trying to be both an indie developer and a big publisher in their releasing of information: they want to be seen as a tiny indie studio working on their project and being open, while restricting any interesting information about what they're working on from reaching the community.

[Rowsdower]

I'm a bit confused at the points you're trying to make in the OP. It seems quite jumbled, though I thank you for the bolded suggestion. All I have to say is that I went into this in brief at THE END of the devnotes thread. I'm closing this thread because I'm kind of unclear at its intentions.