Due to recent upgrades to the forum software and components here at HarpGamer, the Bug Tracker referenced just under the HG logo has become useful for defect tracking. I'm wondering what everyone's thoughts are on just having one set of defects listed for HCE, all of them being in that single area.

 

http://harpgamer.com/harpforum/index.php?a...p;showproject=6

 

Please explain your choice. With this change I think we'll stop making new entries into Mantis as the Bug Tracker is doing all of the key steps of Mantis.

 

Thank you

It depends.

 

On one hand it will be good on functional bugs (example refuelling) when the behaviour is public, so that every one have a chance to admit his comments to the proposed solution (while it will never be possible to have a solution which satisfy all, but the people have on this way at least a fair chance to state their point of view).

On the other hand, it is no need to publish the bugs which are discovered inside of the beta group and then solved from Tony.

Further, there is the question how many beta tester exist? It there are a lot the beta testers, than it is not worth to have two list of bugs. Also if the output of the beta group is for Tony to small, than I rather propose to have one public tracking system.

 

Basically it is good to have a single bug tracking platform to keep the overview.

I've gotten sort of fond of Mantis now that I've pretty much figured out how it works. I especially appreciate the take-it-in-at one-look-color-coded Index page.

If you could arrance something similar here, then Mantis might be unnecessary; however, I'd hate to be the one who has to transfer all that infor over from there to here.

I voted Yes, but somewhat reluctantly.

 

 

Benefits of one area, Bug Tracker, publicly accessible:

 

* As coder guy I like the idea of looking in one place for all of the defect reports.

 

* I don't trust mantis, the fact that many of the saved games there no longer exist (the files are zero length, AGSI lost em) reinforces that idea. Mantis is also not public, one of the prime reasons for using the Defect Reports forum here at HG.

 

* Public accessibility. If someone has the initiative to look and see if a bug is already known, they can do so.

 

* I trust the data won't disappear or be edited, my coworker does weekly backups of everything at HG, that is in addition to the backups done by the hosting provider. At most we'll lose a week of effort.

 

 

Detriments of one area:

 

* Moving all the crap over there I would tend to finish out anything of value at Mantis rather than move it all over. Still, it will be a pain to consolidate.

 

* I'm going to be breaking HC in a lot of ways and very severly on the way to a 2nd patch. That will mean beta testers reporting dire situations that the general public could interpret very unpleasantly.

 

* Public accessibility - I think the above states my hesitancy well.

Further, there is the question how many beta tester exist?

 

In theory there are 25 beta testers if you count myself, CV32, and Akula, in practice we have about 7 contributing on a regular basis.

"I'm going to be breaking HC in a lot of ways and very severly on the way to a 2nd patch. That will mean beta testers reporting dire situations that the general public could interpret very unpleasantly."

 

When it gets broken on the road to Patch 2, though, the public isn't going to know. They're going to be playing with Patch 1, and only the beta testers will be troubleshooting Patch 2 problems.

 

If that's the case, a two-tier system may be what's needed:

1) Let the Bug Tracker be the place where the general public report bugs for the current release version. Testers and public alike can post comments and progress updates here until the final resolution of the problem, whatever than may be.

2) Let the HC Beta Testing forum be just that: where the problems of the next release version are accessable among the the beta testers only. These issues would not be reported to the Bug Tracker for general consumption. This would be your Mantis replacement, and you may want to strictly limit access to this forum if things are going to get too bloody.

 

Larry G

I'm really torn on what to do. The easy way out is to do as Larry says and have split lists, one for public use and/or current public patch level, and a beta only list for unreleased builds.

 

As for the limited access to the beta area, everything within the "HC Beta Testing" is limited at present to 15 people, a few will be kicked out any day now who did not renew their NDAs with AGSI or have not contributed meaningfully since the HCE release. So our group here is small and access to the beta areas will remain limited even if there ends up being a single defect list.

 

Hmm, that just gave me an future feature idea on what to ask the people who make that Bug Tracker module, setting visibility of each defect based on the group the user belongs to (so we of the HCBeta group would see everything, Members would only see defects from release versions). However that is down the road and isn't a viable solution at this moment.

 

Brad, Akula, your input would be appreciated.

I'm against it mostly because the minute you start letting the general player base comment on what's wrong and how to fix it, you end up with a 6 alarm wild fire.

 

Want to see what happens when you do release your publish and bug fix plans? Go read the forums for any MMORPG...you'll understand why I'm against it then.

Ya know, I voted 'yes' but Akula makes a good point. I'm with him.

"Hmm, that just gave me an future feature idea on what to ask the people who make that Bug Tracker module, setting visibility of each defect based on the group the user belongs to (so we of the HCBeta group would see everything, Members would only see defects from release versions). However that is down the road and isn't a viable solution at this moment."

 

Excellent idea for uncomplicating things. When it it possible, got with it.

Allright, in the same fashion as the KC-45 awarding of the contract, the nays with 2 votes takes the day against the yeays with 3 votes. For the time being the beta testing defects will be tracked separately from the defects in released versions.

 

Please make new defect reports for released versions of the game in the HCE Bug Tracking area http://harpgamer.com/harpforum/index.php?a...p;showproject=6

 

For the moment, defects in beta versions should continue to be reported here but I'll probably open up a beta area section within bug tracking so I have a more trackable list to work from.

 

Also for the time being I'll transfer anything from Mantis and the defect tracking forum at HG as I see fit and will continue for the most part to use the existing reports where they are instead of moving them.

 

Thanks for the input, I was swayed