I was just wondering if there is anything you guys can tell us about Acraetia; any details you would be willing to leak?

you know, just the basic questions:

1. High Magic or Low Magic?

2. Any interesting/unique races?

3. Dark/ Light?

4. Steampunk/ Magic?

ect....


Sacretis

PS. the forum name changed!

The official Arcraetia homepage should launch this week (Thursday). There are a couple of free goodies that will answer some of your questions. 'Something Below' should answer the rest. We'll talk openly about it after launch

Well now we are all waiting for the Thursday...Something Bellow will also be there or we will have to wait a bit more for it ?

Thanks...

It's Thursday!

<Waiting impatiently>

lol..I didnt say when Thursday. Seriously though, I'm working on it

keyword should....

the world should be free of all hindrances...

school should be easy...

Acraetia should launch tonight...



Sacretis

And yes "should" is definitely the operative word today. I'm still working on it but it will likely spill over the deadline. Unfortunately I will be forced to finish this while I'm on the road (or in the air). You can all throw knives and blunt objects in my direction until it's released.

I'm off to sprout wings and fly away from my underground lair now.

LOL! We've forced him into hiding! Oh no....

gah!

*throws knife/ blunt object*

Denny: "I was only kidding!!!"



Sacretis

He's escaping to somewhere where it's still Thursday...

Quick! Follow that Tardis...

Thursday is a state of mind, young ones.

Meditate with me now.

Oooommmmmmmmmm.

Oooommmmmmmmmm.

Oooommmmmmmmmm.


Wait a sec! It's my module that's not released let!

(Looks for knives and blunt objects to join the mob with)

Yeah!

*joins the mob, raising a pitchfork and torch*

Cold here in Wisconsin but, as with accurate WWG estimates, no chance of a snowball in hell.

I learned today that trying to work while traveling is much harder than it sounds. Couple that with a serious aversion to flying and you have one stressed out Denny. Anyway, I do have my mobile office (and the accumulated debt) with me and it will get done!

Closes large wooden door and seals it with a spell....runs deep into the dungeon.

So, do you think you're gonna make it by this Thursday?

I'll say it again, you really need to rework your time estimates... If you didn't have it close enough by the end of thursday that the couple hours of work you can get in traveling didn't polish it off, you should'nt have told us thursday. Sorry if this comes off as harsh, I don't mean to be, just realistic...

Honestly you should sit down and say "ok, what's the worst thing that could happen, and if it does, how long will it take me to finish?", and then tell us that deadline, so we will be pleaseantly supprised that it released a week early, as opposed to being slightly ticked at you missing yet another deadline...

Sacretis

Technically I didn't miss any official deadline Secratis because there never was one to start with. You can be angered by my estimates if you like (I did say "should" for a reason) but the REAL meter of when things will be done is on the front page and based on the WIP meters. They are vague for the very reasons you mentioned above. There are many things that can affect when a product is complete but more often than not its the things we cant see coming (or a lack of manpower and resources to deal with it). At the end of the day I am the only full-time WorldWorks employee. If you choose to engage me here and ask how things are coming along I am more than happy to tell you what I think on that day. The forums are here for us to communicate on a human level but these conversations regarding release dates are not absolutes (and they never have been).

If you would prefer that I treat this like the video game industry and completely ignore my audience until the product is released we can definitely go down that road. That's just not me or how I choose to do things but if everyone would prefer the silent treatment I will go that route.

Ask or don't ask but please keep in mind that you're dealing with best guesses and limited resources/time. Maybe when WorldWorks hits the "Big Time" I'll be able to delegate more duties to speed the process up. Until that time vague WIP meters and best guesses are the best I can personally do with what I have available to me. I hope you can understand that.

I don't want the "no word" thing...I prefer to know how the thing goes...only that maybe is better to speak in terms of This week/month than in Thrusdays... - we are more used to it...

Understand that all of us are waiting from any news from you...hopping to spend our money in you... and I want to buy me some gifts in Christmas...so better something new is out...- Or put arena and village in a pack (that's my wish for the 3 Kings - or your Santa if you prefer)

You neglected to specifically mention the "Fate Factor." Even though I work for the Navy my organization essentially has to operate as a commercial entity (except that if we show a profit or a loss our management is castigated) so I constantly have to give customers accurate cost and time estimates. And, of course, things constantly come up to throw them off. If I think the project will take X hours and say so, Fate will step in it will take X plus 10% to 20%. Next time around I get smart and say it will take 2X hours and Fate will once again step in and add roadblocks and delays to make it 2X plus 10% to 20%. Scoping projects is like trying to herd cats -- whatever one takes into account it is almost always guaranteed that something else will be making a break for it in the opposite direction. I inevitably end up putting in my own time to meet cost and schedule deadlines no matter what I do or try to take into account. Now I just try to do a good job of listing the assumptions that went into the estimates so nobody is surprised if things change (which they frequently do with the Navy networks, servers, and bureaucracy.)

Your solution to making estimates with the vague progress meters is probably the best approach but when you mention specifics like "this Thursday" you might consider having a standard disclaimer which is automatically pasted in. (Fate will be watching as it evidently was when this thread was started.) Overall, I appreciate the way WWG conducts its business and the degree to which you keep your customers informed. WWG is one of the most customer-oriented businesses that I'm aware of and hope that it continues be so.

Yeah. What Steve said.

Yep, I second that

I don't think people are complaining that projects tend to slip past their deadlines. Rather, the issue is more that the projects tend to go screaming past their deadlines, enter low Earth orbit for a time, and land somewhere in Eastern Mongolia, leaving a wake of twitching fans.

*perks up* It's released in Mongolia? *rushes off to get a plane ticket...*

LOL

Denny should employ the "Scotty" method of getting work done.

Tell us it will take four weeks, and get it done in two. That way, we'll all think he's a miracle worker.

I do that here at work. I get RAISES because of it.

You know, thats actually almost exactly what I meant with that post. I'm sorry that it seems I hit a nerve, but this was the general gist of what I was saying...

Sacretis

Under-promise, over-deliver.

Just had a meeting with Kevin Jordan in Edmonton...He laughed at me for opening my mouth and giving a speculative release date I guess I'll pull back on the calling of specific days of the week. Once I get back to the island I'll be finishing this up for release. There's just too much going on around me at the moment to get this finished while on the trip. I'll be back at WWG HQ and to work this Thursday.

Sorry for raising false hopes.

Now now, I don't think you give us "false hope."

Being a person who is in charge of programming projects at work, I wish I could impress upon all persons that just because I said it might be done this Thursday doesn't mean it will be. I also tend to give out dates a bit too early at times, and I think it should be expected when you are traveling or during the holidays, that NOTHING ever gets done on-time. Even my Scotty method fails if I forget that my estimated TOD is on the holidays or when I'm traveling.

False hope would be to tell us you are going to give us something then never deliver on that promise. Repeatedly. So far, I've only seen you follow-through on delivering a product to us, without fail.

So no more of this "false hope" talk, sir!

Yeah... what he said.

I just deleted a post when I only intended to delete certain links in the post. Wanted to appologize to whoever the poster was. That link is not ready for public consumption. I have removed the relevant page until things are 100% ready to launch.

P.S.
Sorry for being such a closed book on this one. That page was up for internal development. nice find though