The word "priority" is definitely not in the dev's dictionary...

[quietresolve]

So I noticed that they changed the character's appearance several times over (and this time, mainly Khuzait, which they made them even LESS appealing)

In the meantime, character perks and kingdom management which are really the most essential for gameplay is yet to be implemented

 

[zhou]

maybe character perks and kingdom management and so on are such difficult that we cant see rate of progress and achievements immediately

 

[Pejot]

So I noticed that they changed the character's appearance several times over (and this time, mainly Khuzait, which they made them even LESS appealing)

In the meantime, character perks and kingdom management which are really the most essential for gameplay is yet to be implemented

They are split into different teams working on different parts of the game. Each with own priorities. If one makes changes faster they are released. Small graphic adjustments seems to take shorter time to be done while working on complex coding for some mechanics takes longer and will be released later.

 

[Kryten]

Well, there was a dev statement somewhere on Sunday that they are working on&reworking the perk system at the moment. I guess that is just not something you can get quickly pushed out, like you can with fixes and balancing stuff. I think the same goes for kingdom management...they are probably working on it, but it just takes a lot longer than the quick fixes and stuff we got patched until now. Have some patience

 

[Catskinner]

So I noticed that they changed the character's appearance several times over (and this time, mainly Khuzait, which they made them even LESS appealing)

In the meantime, character perks and kingdom management which are really the most essential for gameplay is yet to be implemented

Here's a crazy idea: maybe appearance is just a few variables that have no impact on any other part of the game, so can be tinkered with easily and independently of other systems. You could change this with every update and see what people think.

Character perks and kingdom management are probably part of separate sprints (if TW use Agile development methodology) that run over a set period of time with a projected end date. As these have far-reaching consequences and much greater complexity they probably take just a little bit longer.

TL;DR: some things take much longer so priority has very little to do with it.

 

[AndrewBones]

Here's a crazy idea: maybe appearance is just a few variables that have no impact on any other part of the game, so can be tinkered with easily and independently of other systems. You could change this with every update and see what people think.

This.

Character looks changes are very unlikely to cause crashes or major bugs. At worst they'll cause some visual issues or make characters (subjectively) ugly.

Also, it amazes me how people are still not able to comprehend that TW, or any game development studio in general, is not a monolithic team of guys working on exactly 1 topic at a time. There are definitely multiple teams working on different areas, and more importantly at very different paces depending on the complexity of their work. You just do not see the results yet, because they need to take time to do their stuff right.

At least that is what I am so far hoping for - if in a few months there are still only small bugfixes, changes without any meaningful direction, then that may be a red flag. But not now. We are just about one month in, which is nothing in software development.

 

[Meraun]

So I noticed that they changed the character's appearance several times over (and this time, mainly Khuzait, which they made them even LESS appealing)

In the meantime, character perks and kingdom management which are really the most essential for gameplay is yet to be implemented

Friend, Friend, you might wanna learn how a Game is Developed... like wich teams does wahtr etc. Graphic artist doesnt work on Kingdom managment or the AI, for example.

 

[babelfisch]

So I noticed that they changed the character's appearance several times over (and this time, mainly Khuzait, which they made them even LESS appealing)

In the meantime, character perks and kingdom management which are really the most essential for gameplay is yet to be implemented

According to the devs they are currently working on diplomacy and perks.
Probably not the same people who are responsible for character appearance though (artists?).

I am just glad that random people from the internet aren't in charge of development.

 

[fr1nk]

According to Callum, perks are getting reworked. I'm guessing any npc appearance changes might be done by their graphic artists, who probably don't know how to code.

 

[Rconner]

According to Callum, perks are getting reworked. I'm guessing any npc appearance changes might be done by their graphic artists, who probably don't know how to code.

I can do HTML... does that count?

 

[babelfisch]

1 print("Hello World!")

 

[xdj1nn]

So I noticed that they changed the character's appearance several times over (and this time, mainly Khuzait, which they made them even LESS appealing)

In the meantime, character perks and kingdom management which are really the most essential for gameplay is yet to be implemented

please, enlighten me, what are their priorities, because they've never told anyone. I also don't think that art department is responsible for perks, or balance.

 

[fr1nk]

I can do HTML... does that count?

I don't want to brag, but I did take a Basic course on a VIC-20 once.

 

[Chaosreaper187]

They are split into different teams working on different parts of the game. Each with own priorities. If one makes changes faster they are released. Small graphic adjustments seems to take shorter time to be done while working on complex coding for some mechanics takes longer and will be released later.

This +1000. someone should automatically reply with this message every time somebody post the same stupid question a hundred times

 

[Antrix32]

Certain issues are easier to fix than others, and aspects like reworking the perk system will take awhile. This should be obvious

 

[babelfisch]

They are split into different teams working on different parts of the game. Each with own priorities. If one makes changes faster they are released. Small graphic adjustments seems to take shorter time to be done while working on complex coding for some mechanics takes longer and will be released later.

Adding complex mechanics doesn't just take longer, it also requires more internal testing. Considering people are already losing their minds over a bug in the beta of an early access title, I hope they take as much time as they need...

 

[Callum]

So I noticed that they changed the character's appearance several times over (and this time, mainly Khuzait, which they made them even LESS appealing)

In the meantime, character perks and kingdom management which are really the most essential for gameplay is yet to be implemented

You do realise that it isn't the same people working on those two entirely separate things right?

However, if we put that to one side, I can tell you that perks are currently being completely reworked which is why no fixes or changes have come to existing ones just yet. Kindom management is something that we planned to expand upon later during EA.

 

[eddiemccandless]

You do realise that it isn't the same people working on those two entirely separate things right?

However, if we put that to one side, I can tell you that perks are currently being completely reworked which is why no fixes or changes have come to existing ones just yet. Kindom management is something that we planned to expand upon later during EA.

Is there any chance we can get an official forum thread where you discuss what is coming next? Locked from users posting, if you prefer, so that there is no drama. I am not even asking for an official roadmap with deadlines, just something to give the community an idea of what will happen in the near future.

Right now it's mostly you and mexxico sharing bits and pieces in forum posts, I feel that having something more organized might help calm down some hotheads (perhaps that's wishful thinking), and most importantly it would help us provide better feedback. E.g., there's no point in reporting perk bugs if they are being reworked in the near future.

 

[Bannerman Man]

Is there any chance we can get an official forum thread where you discuss what is coming next?

Can they even determine "What's next?" very accurately though? I imagine the various teams are pushing out what they can, when they can, and don't even have a clear picture of timeline themselves. Callum isn't walking around the office with a notepad looking over people's shoulders and writing down what progress they've made (as far as I know they're still working from home anyway). It would take the devs a non-zero amount of time and effort to provide Callum with an outline of all the things they think might be coming soon.

Then what if they misjudge something and find a critical error that delays rollout? I can see the posts now haha: "They said perks were coming soon two patches ago and we still don't have them, how dare they!"

You're right though, mexxico has been doing an awesome job discussing things he has first-hand knowledge of, but I've got to imagine it's really time consuming to read people's posts and write meaningful responses in return.

 

[eddiemccandless]

Can they even determine "What's next?" very accurately though? I imagine the various teams are pushing out what they can, when they can, and don't even have a clear picture of timeline themselves. Callum isn't walking around the office with a notepad looking over people's shoulders and writing down what progress they've made (as far as I know they're still working from home anyway). It would take the devs a non-zero amount of time and effort to provide Callum with an outline of all the things they think might be coming soon.

Then what if they misjudge something and find a critical error that delays rollout? I can see the posts now haha: "They said perks were coming soon two patches ago and we still don't have them, how dare they!"

You're right, mexxico has been doing an awesome job discussing things he has first-hand knowledge of, but I've got to imagine it's really time consuming to read people's posts and write meaningful responses in return.

Any type of software development of this magnitude usually comes with a work plan of some kind, and especially working from home they have to have some kind of internal document to know who is working on what and when they can be expected to be done with that.

Now I am not asking that they share that with us, that would be insane, but a general roadmap would be much appreciated and it would make reporting relevant bugs easier. Devs wouldn't really need to give anything to Callum, the outline you are talking of is already there (unless they are just letting everyone work on random things with no supervision, in which case we are all doomed but I somehow doubt that is the case).

And yes I don't think that devs coming to answer in individual threads is a very efficient use of their time, it's part of why I am asking for this (it's awesome that they do that, don't get me wrong, but it's not their job). It's also really not uncommon to do this for EA titles.