Aurora 4x

C# Aurora => Development Discussions => Topic started by: roug on May 31, 2017, 04:51:04 AM

Title: Release date?
Post by: roug on May 31, 2017, 04:51:04 AM
Its just itching in my fingers to try out this game!
Its the slowdowns thats bugging me when i play Aurora as it is now.

I know its done when its done, but do you have ANY idea, like this month? August ect?
its so bad that i am on the forum every day to check status :)
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: MarcAFK on May 31, 2017, 06:13:43 AM
This year if we're lucky?
It's a guess but I'm probaby pretty close.
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Erik L on May 31, 2017, 09:13:42 AM
Soon (tm)
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: OJsDad on May 31, 2017, 02:33:36 PM
Has there been any thought of building a new Wiki for Aurora C.  Steve's been putting out a lot of good information, and I think it would be a good idea to start capturing this information and organizing it into a Wiki. 
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Barkhorn on May 31, 2017, 03:06:42 PM
Most of it could be automated.  All the mechanics changes are in the C# Changes List thread.
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Steve Walmsley on June 01, 2017, 03:52:10 PM
Still no idea on release date. Hardly did anything in April but back on track recently. I am going to work on missile and turret design next, then probably the new game window. Still not even looked at detection or combat or the galactic map and a lot of the movement orders are not done. However, I am away a lot in June so not much progress then either. My plan is to try to start a test game before the end of the summer, even if a good chunk of the game isn't there yet. Playing will motivate me to fill in the missing pieces :)

In terms of a finished game, my latest guess is late this year or early next.
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: ardem on June 01, 2017, 11:15:21 PM
Cannot wait, but if i have to I have too. <smile>

Thanks again for all your hard work Steve.

Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Jay2Jay on June 02, 2017, 10:06:32 PM
And just when I was getting used to the games mechanics. . .  I suddenly find that all my hard work and dedication were for naught. . . .

YES I GET TO RELEARN THE GAME AGAIN!
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: 83athom on June 04, 2017, 12:03:51 AM
At least Aurora C# won't be competing for my attention with the MWO Civil War.
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Spaceman Spiff on June 06, 2017, 09:35:25 PM
Really looking forward to playing this--thanks for all your time and energy on this, Steve! :)
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: boggo2300 on June 07, 2017, 04:48:39 PM
Aurora is not released

it escapes
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: waresky on June 08, 2017, 12:47:30 PM
Still no idea on release date. Hardly did anything in April but back on track recently. I am going to work on missile and turret design next, then probably the new game window. Still not even looked at detection or combat or the galactic map and a lot of the movement orders are not done. However, I am away a lot in June so not much progress then either. My plan is to try to start a test game before the end of the summer, even if a good chunk of the game isn't there yet. Playing will motivate me to fill in the missing pieces :)

In terms of a finished game, my latest guess is late this year or early next.

tic...tac...tic....tac..and more than 10years gone..:) Ehy Steve..wazzup? Ciao from Italy's Summertime..:D
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Youtoo on June 14, 2017, 11:41:37 AM
What percentage do you think is done?
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Erik L on June 14, 2017, 11:57:28 AM
What percentage do you think is done?

12% ;)
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: boggo2300 on June 14, 2017, 04:32:29 PM
12% ;)

Down to 10% progress bar movement is an artform
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: PartyAlias on June 15, 2017, 01:18:06 PM
This thread made me remember an old pic  ::)

PS. : Didn't find a way to insert pic properly, sorry :(
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Detros on June 15, 2017, 02:25:55 PM
This thread made me remember an old pic  ::)

PS. : Didn't find a way to insert pic properly, sorry :(
Well, on bay12forums the Aurora thread is called "Aurora - The Dwarf Fortress of 4X Games (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=47678.0;topicseen)".
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Demonides on June 15, 2017, 02:27:52 PM
@Steve Walmsley .  Hi ppl.  Little question - its any option to hmm translate game to another language ?
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: mrwigggles on June 25, 2017, 07:12:08 PM
Steve is the only one that works on the game, and primarly just for himself. So probably not. I'm not sure how moddable the game files are, so assuming that other folk wanted to maintain their own personal langauge files, I doubt Steve would care.
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: MarcAFK on June 27, 2017, 08:02:01 AM
And in the last 13 years over 19 of those 79 things have been completed! Theres only 42 years left to go.
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Jarhead0331 on January 22, 2018, 04:35:20 PM
Any updates on progress? Really looking forward to this...
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Froggiest1982 on January 22, 2018, 05:08:05 PM
Any updates on progress? Really looking forward to this...

From 6 to 8 months away without hiccups. Steve recently replied to one post saying that he is moving his house and for the next 2 or 3 weeks will not work on Aurora C#, but he said the project committed already 2 years of his life, therefore, will not be abandoned such as Aurora trans Newtonian or Aurora 2. He also said that he will start a test game soon (once the settled in) and will start coding the missing parts (AI, commands and movements) while playing which is encouraging because from previous build we can say without problem that usually time is right: 6 to 8 months usually from AAR to stable build. From what we understood the roots of the game are there and now we are moving into the mechanisms and interactions (pre-alpha stage).

Original post here: http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?topic=8497.1380
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: vorpal+5 on January 23, 2018, 07:02:27 AM
Hofstadter's Law: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law.
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: waresky on January 23, 2018, 02:55:42 PM
Any updates on progress? Really looking forward to this...

Ehh..Hype,hype..:)
Am playing Aurora from start..(or 1.0..2004?)..and only 10-13yrs after (7.0-) r really stable and enjoyable. So..better Pray and retired in a Church.
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Demonides on May 03, 2018, 01:01:51 PM
Quote from: Demonides link=topic=9533. msg103176#msg103176 date=1497554872
@Steve Walmsley .   Hi ppl.   Little question - its any option to hmm translate game to another language ?

@bump question  ;D
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Seolferwulf on May 03, 2018, 01:50:07 PM
Question was already answered ages ago.

Steve is the only one that works on the game, and primarly just for himself. So probably not. I'm not sure how moddable the game files are, so assuming that other folk wanted to maintain their own personal langauge files, I doubt Steve would care.
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Demonides on May 04, 2018, 02:39:14 AM
yes I know.  I was more concerned about whether, for example, a text file should be outside the database, so that it can be freely translated without affecting the game's playability?
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Steve Walmsley on May 04, 2018, 04:43:27 AM
yes I know.  I was more concerned about whether, for example, a text file should be outside the database, so that it can be freely translated without affecting the game's playability?

No, there isn't an external file. Most of the text is coded within the windows.

I've worked on multi-language projects before and there is a lot more involved than just having external files for the text. Translations of the same word in phrase in different languages can be very different lengths, which can cause problems with the window layout.
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Jovus on May 05, 2018, 07:56:54 AM
I've worked on multi-language projects before and there is a lot more involved than just having external files for the text. Translations of the same word in phrase in different languages can be very different lengths, which can cause problems with the window layout.

Yeah, i18n is a real pain, even with a full team for development and QA put toward that particular project. Frankly I'd never even consider it for something I was just doing myself in my spare time, because it's no fun, either.
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Breadabix on October 25, 2018, 05:40:43 PM
Been looking every so often to see if C# has been released, any news on roughly when this may be?
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Jorgen_CAB on October 25, 2018, 05:45:42 PM
Been looking every so often to see if C# has been released, any news on roughly when this may be?

Experience tells me that it usually just drops when it is ready... once Steve start showing some new AAR of the game that is usually a good indication that the game are nearing some sort of release. But I have never seen any release date or even estimation mentioned anytime.

It simply is done when it is done I guess.
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Froggiest1982 on October 25, 2018, 06:40:43 PM
Any updates on progress? Really looking forward to this...

From 6 to 8 months away without hiccups. Steve recently replied to one post saying that he is moving his house and for the next 2 or 3 weeks will not work on Aurora C#, but he said the project committed already 2 years of his life, therefore, will not be abandoned such as Aurora trans Newtonian or Aurora 2. He also said that he will start a test game soon (once the settled in) and will start coding the missing parts (AI, commands and movements) while playing which is encouraging because from previous build we can say without problem that usually time is right: 6 to 8 months usually from AAR to stable build. From what we understood the roots of the game are there and now we are moving into the mechanisms and interactions (pre-alpha stage).

Original post here: http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?topic=8497.1380

Quoting myself from the end of Jan we were 6 to 8 months away. We know Steve didn't work on it all April and part of August as he was travelling. Guessing from the number of Changes list now posted pretty much regularly then we should quite close to the AAR considering the latter was Conventional Start settings (details). On a previous post, Steve replied to me that he would be disappointed if he couldn't make by Autumn which is Spring in New Zealand (it all started because of this missing information in my post).

If all works out smoothly November could be an interesting month for us all...
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Father Tim on October 25, 2018, 06:44:40 PM
Been looking every so often to see if C# has been released, any news on roughly when this may be?

2020.

Summer.

In the southern hemisphere.

(The second one.)
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Steve Walmsley on October 25, 2018, 07:03:39 PM
So far I have assigned planetary governors and academy commandants, set up research projects and began setting industrial projects. I am already finding minor bugs and adding UI elements :)

It is going to take quite a while to play this campaign so don't take this as any indication of imminent release. Testing can take a while, depending on how well it goes.
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Froggiest1982 on October 25, 2018, 08:02:12 PM
So far I have assigned planetary governors and academy commandants, set up research projects and began setting industrial projects. I am already finding minor bugs and adding UI elements :)

It is going to take quite a while to play this campaign so don't take this as any indication of imminent release. Testing can take a while, depending on how well it goes.

We are as always 5 seconds increment away...
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Viridia on October 26, 2018, 12:28:21 PM
So far I have assigned planetary governors and academy commandants, set up research projects and began setting industrial projects. I am already finding minor bugs and adding UI elements :)

It is going to take quite a while to play this campaign so don't take this as any indication of imminent release. Testing can take a while, depending on how well it goes.

Part of the draw for me is reading the AAR's you do anyway, to be honest. I still love the conventional start and Cold War settings you did, though Solarian Empires and Colonial Wars had some great backstory to them.
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Ranged66 on October 28, 2018, 06:11:04 PM
I love the optimism when reading back to the beginning of this thread hahah
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: MarcAFK on November 04, 2018, 12:03:12 AM
Did I say this year? Uhh. I meant this decade :p
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Steve Walmsley on November 04, 2018, 04:14:51 AM
I love the optimism when reading back to the beginning of this thread hahah

Yes :)

Look on the bright side though. If I had been able to correctly estimate how much time this would take, I would never have started :)
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Shuul on November 04, 2018, 12:21:54 PM

Yes :)

Look on the bright side though. If I had been able to correctly estimate how much time this would take, I would never have started :)

To be honest, there were so many changes (just think about ground combat), that its a miracle that you are almost on the finishing line (assuming test campaign goes well)
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Steve Walmsley on November 04, 2018, 12:29:24 PM
To be honest, there were so many changes (just think about ground combat), that its a miracle that you are almost on the finishing line (assuming test campaign goes well)

Yes, ground combat has become a huge amount of work for the new Aurora, especially with all the potential interactions with space combat. I started down this path to remove the inconsistency of PDCs and make things easier!

Now I am playing a test campaign, it definitely seems worth the effort. It has added a completely new dimension to the game.
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Shuul on November 04, 2018, 12:53:36 PM
Still, rework of AI is the main thing that drives me crazy to play new Aurora (im not really into ground forces, ill just deal with them via exterminatus ::) ), do you plan to test it in current campaign? Or new will be required?
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Steve Walmsley on November 04, 2018, 02:07:15 PM
Still, rework of AI is the main thing that drives me crazy to play new Aurora (im not really into ground forces, ill just deal with them via exterminatus ::) ), do you plan to test it in current campaign? Or new will be required?

I will test in this campaign. I just want to fix the various bugs that are cropping up before I start using the AI. Hard enough to understand what the AI is doing without it being bugged :)

Favourite so far was shipyard tasks vanishing, along with the fleet that was the target of the task. Took me two days to figure out that when I detached a ship from a fleet that was now empty, the fleet was being deleted. Then when I saved the game, the fleet wasn't saved, which means when I reloaded the game, the shipyard task couldn't find a fleet and didn't load. Which meant when I saved for the second time, that vanished too. Aaargh!
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: waresky on November 05, 2018, 10:16:12 AM
Still no idea on release date. Hardly did anything in April but back on track recently. I am going to work on missile and turret design next, then probably the new game window. Still not even looked at detection or combat or the galactic map and a lot of the movement orders are not done. However, I am away a lot in June so not much progress then either. My plan is to try to start a test game before the end of the summer, even if a good chunk of the game isn't there yet. Playing will motivate me to fill in the missing pieces :)

In terms of a finished game, my latest guess is late this year or early next.

Steve "The Optimist"..:)
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: roug on November 06, 2018, 07:21:10 AM
Quote from: Steve Walmsley link=topic=9533. msg110806#msg110806 date=1541362035
Quote from: Shuul link=topic=9533. msg110804#msg110804 date=1541357616
Still, rework of AI is the main thing that drives me crazy to play new Aurora (im not really into ground forces, ill just deal with them via exterminatus ::) ), do you plan to test it in current campaign? Or new will be required?

I will test in this campaign.  I just want to fix the various bugs that are cropping up before I start using the AI.  Hard enough to understand what the AI is doing without it being bugged :)

Favourite so far was shipyard tasks vanishing, along with the fleet that was the target of the task.  Took me two days to figure out that when I detached a ship from a fleet that was now empty, the fleet was being deleted.  Then when I saved the game, the fleet wasn't saved, which means when I reloaded the game, the shipyard task couldn't find a fleet and didn't load.  Which meant when I saved for the second time, that vanished too.  Aaargh!


How is the performance vs old Aurora?
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Steve Walmsley on November 06, 2018, 09:10:27 AM
How is the performance vs old Aurora?

So far a lot faster
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Bughunter on November 07, 2018, 03:31:26 PM
Look on the bright side though. If I had been able to correctly estimate how much time this would take, I would never have started :)

This is why I never got started on a space sim game of my own  :)
Developing professionally with requirements to design and estimate projects killed all that carefree enthusiasm. But I got designs for around 10 different games collecting dust by now.
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Deutschbag on November 13, 2018, 11:12:28 AM
I love the optimism when reading back to the beginning of this thread hahah

Yes :)

Look on the bright side though. If I had been able to correctly estimate how much time this would take, I would never have started :)

Well, I just wanna say I'm glad you did get started. C# Aurora is no joke my most anticipated upcoming game.
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: MultiVitamin on April 02, 2019, 11:10:25 PM
Been a bit since this was last brought up.  Any news?
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Desdinova on April 02, 2019, 11:29:49 PM
Been a bit since this was last brought up.  Any news?

Maybe we should start a pool. Put me down for 9 months
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: MarcAFK on April 03, 2019, 01:42:54 AM
Some of us are thinking weeks rather than months :p
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Tree on April 03, 2019, 01:53:22 AM
40 weeks, then?
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Father Tim on April 03, 2019, 02:05:28 AM
Been a bit since this was last brought up.  Any news?

Still 2020.

Summer.

In the southern hemisphere.

The second one.
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: MarcAFK on April 03, 2019, 07:51:33 AM
I dunno, what's left?
the new AI is major but looks pretty close to done, ground combat hasn't been tested and probably needs a bit of bug fixing, but apart from that, I have no idea what you think steve's going to be doing untill 2020 :p
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Steve Walmsley on April 03, 2019, 10:49:44 AM
I dunno, what's left?
the new AI is major but looks pretty close to done, ground combat hasn't been tested and probably needs a bit of bug fixing, but apart from that, I have no idea what you think steve's going to be doing untill 2020 :p

The only really significant development areas left at the moment are strategic offence for the AI and diplomacy.

There are a lot of minor UI areas that I left out when programming functionality, which I am fixing as I need them while playing, plus some smaller windows such as habitable world search. However, those are just labour intensive - they don't need a lot of thought and aren't even that necessary for a first release. They are tidying up more than anything.

The thing that is taking time at the moment is testing and and fixing bugs for existing functionality. I tested functions within the code as they were written to ensure no immediate execution errors, but once all the different areas of the code interact during a real campaign, it creates a lot of unforeseen situations. Even the fact that something is going wrong is not always immediately obvious. Also, fixing one thing sometimes uncovers other problems that were hidden by the first bug. I've caused some fairly spectacular problems by fixing minor bugs :).

Finally, the major factor in development is simply the availability of my own time. This week for example, I had to take some work visitors out to dinner on Monday, we have a work poker tournament tonight, I am out with my wife tomorrow and we have friends coming over from the UK to stay at our house Friday to Monday. The weather is getting warmer so we are starting to BBQ and the hot tub will be filled this week. We have holidays coming up in May and July and the TT festival is in June for 2 weeks. The list goes on. Even when I do have free time, I have other hobbies beside Aurora. I just ordered an 11" Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope so I can finally do some astronomy, so that will be taking up some time too :)

I'm not being pessimistic, but rather just pointing out the variety of reasons that remaining work is not necessarily correlated with delivery time. Lots of rain for example, is probably good for Aurora :)
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Garfunkel on April 03, 2019, 11:35:54 AM
Rain is always a realistic possibility in the British Isles.
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Lornalt on April 03, 2019, 01:45:04 PM
Rain? British Isles? Pssh. . .  only you lot would call that rain  ;D
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: MultiVitamin on April 03, 2019, 01:49:54 PM
Quote from: Steve Walmsley link=topic=9533. msg113607#msg113607 date=1554306584
Quote from: MarcAFK link=topic=9533. msg113605#msg113605 date=1554295893
I dunno, what's left?
the new AI is major but looks pretty close to done, ground combat hasn't been tested and probably needs a bit of bug fixing, but apart from that, I have no idea what you think steve's going to be doing untill 2020 :p

The only really significant development areas left at the moment are strategic offence for the AI and diplomacy.

There are a lot of minor UI areas that I left out when programming functionality, which I am fixing as I need them while playing, plus some smaller windows such as habitable world search.  However, those are just labour intensive - they don't need a lot of thought and aren't even that necessary for a first release.  They are tidying up more than anything.

The thing that is taking time at the moment is testing and and fixing bugs for existing functionality.  I tested functions within the code as they were written to ensure no immediate execution errors, but once all the different areas of the code interact during a real campaign, it creates a lot of unforeseen situations.  Even the fact that something is going wrong is not always immediately obvious.  Also, fixing one thing sometimes uncovers other problems that were hidden by the first bug.  I've caused some fairly spectacular problems by fixing minor bugs :). 

Finally, the major factor in development is simply the availability of my own time.  This week for example, I had to take some work visitors out to dinner on Monday, we have a work poker tournament tonight, I am out with my wife tomorrow and we have friends coming over from the UK to stay at our house Friday to Monday.  The weather is getting warmer so we are starting to BBQ and the hot tub will be filled this week.  We have holidays coming up in May and July and the TT festival is in June for 2 weeks.  The list goes on.  Even when I do have free time, I have other hobbies beside Aurora.  I just ordered an 11" Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope so I can finally do some astronomy, so that will be taking up some time too :)

I'm not being pessimistic, but rather just pointing out the variety of reasons that remaining work is not necessarily correlated with delivery time.  Lots of rain for example, is probably good for Aurora :)

Hey no worries, we get it.  This is your own personal project that you decided to bless the masses with on a whim so take your time and enjoy yourself.

Although from this, what I'm hearing is that we all need to start performing rain dances aimed at the British isles  ;D
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: MarcAFK on April 04, 2019, 01:42:04 AM
This reminds me of an indie game dev I'm following who live streamed coding a basic mod.
The mod was basically done in a bit over an hour but thwacking bugs took about as much time.
With the insane complexity of Aurora, and particularly the new AI I would expect there to be innumerable hidden 'features' to uncover :p
I'm in no particular rush to complain about development time, I'm more looking forward to the first AARs pertaining to the new ground combat system  than anything else :p
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: MultiVitamin on April 04, 2019, 02:39:16 AM
Quote from: MarcAFK link=topic=9533. msg113630#msg113630 date=1554360124
This reminds me of an indie game dev I'm following who live streamed coding a basic mod.
The mod was basically done in a bit over an hour but thwacking bugs took about as much time.
With the insane complexity of Aurora, and particularly the new AI I would expect there to be innumerable hidden 'features' to uncover :p
I'm in no particular rush to complain about development time, I'm more looking forward to the first AARs pertaining to the new ground combat system  than anything else :p

Funnily enough, I actually finally made an account instead of continuing to lurk because I wanted to start doing AARs.  But the lack of Ground Unit features stopped me.

Now I'm waiting until C# comes around before I do so.  A lot of interesting story elements are gonna come from the new ground units, bigger database, and just everything overall.
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: waresky on April 05, 2019, 09:53:41 AM
Am older than most of Steve's fan group..am born in 1964.
Start play RPG game "Traveller" (Marc W.Miller @) in 1979...
In 2000 found Steve site (Starfire Assistant)
In 2004 Begin play in Aurora 3.0 probably..

Now ive 55 yrs old..am hope play C# first than my End Of Work Time...(next 7-10yrs)...

eheh..-

(anyway.,.,apologize ma bad english mates..)
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: MultiVitamin on April 05, 2019, 08:37:01 PM
That's really cool! It's nice to see someone whose supported Steve's project for so long.  I only recently discovered and obsessed with Aurora these past 5-6 years (I discovered it when I was 16-17) and love the game itself.

God's now I'm even more hyped for C#  ;D
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Froggiest1982 on April 06, 2019, 02:05:15 AM
Am older than most of Steve's fan group..am born in 1964.
Start play RPG game "Traveller" (Marc W.Miller @) in 1979...
In 2000 found Steve site (Starfire Assistant)
In 2004 Begin play in Aurora 3.0 probably..

Now ive 55 yrs old..am hope play C# first than my End Of Work Time...(next 7-10yrs)...

eheh..-

(anyway.,.,apologize ma bad english mates..)

Likewise...we both from Italy, I think was a post on Netwargamingitalia that brought me here. I am younger though...only 37. This is the subscription date from my profile January 31, 2010, 03:05:45 PM
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Agoelia on April 06, 2019, 06:18:58 AM
Am older than most of Steve's fan group..am born in 1964.
Start play RPG game "Traveller" (Marc W.Miller @) in 1979...
In 2000 found Steve site (Starfire Assistant)
In 2004 Begin play in Aurora 3.0 probably..

Now ive 55 yrs old..am hope play C# first than my End Of Work Time...(next 7-10yrs)...

eheh..-

(anyway.,.,apologize ma bad english mates..)

Likewise...we both from Italy, I think was a post on Netwargamingitalia that brought me here. I am younger though...only 37. This is the subscription date from my profile January 31, 2010, 03:05:45 PM


Sorry for the offtopic, but why are there so many italians here? I'm Italian too, so maybe it's just a bias of mine
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: xenoscepter on April 07, 2019, 03:22:49 PM
I'm an American...
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Erik L on April 07, 2019, 05:13:47 PM
I'm an American...

I'm an orange variegated cephalopod from Ceti Alpha VI.
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: boggo2300 on April 07, 2019, 08:52:22 PM
I'm an American...

I'm an orange variegated cephalopod from Ceti Alpha VI.

Really, I'm a blue one,  that makes us sworn enemies!  prepare to be inked!!!
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Erik L on April 07, 2019, 08:56:14 PM
I'm an American...

I'm an orange variegated cephalopod from Ceti Alpha VI.

Really, I'm a blue one,  that makes us sworn enemies!  prepare to be inked!!!

Foul blue cephalopod!
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Steve Walmsley on April 08, 2019, 04:30:52 AM
I'm an American...

I'm an orange variegated cephalopod from Ceti Alpha VI.

I assume you escaped to Earth after the planet exploded (sometime between the original series and Wrath of Khan) :)
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Shuul on April 08, 2019, 06:30:34 AM
And I'm Ukrainian, that's not as far as Alpha Centauri but most Americans fail to find it on map :)
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: MultiVitamin on April 08, 2019, 06:52:07 AM
Lies, everyone knows that America is situated on a pangea-like supercontinent and people claiming to be from other "countries" are just alien Invaders trying to earn our trust with Doritos and mountain dew. USA! USA!!!
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Father Tim on April 08, 2019, 10:41:11 AM
And I'm Ukrainian, that's not as far as Alpha Centauri but most Americans fail to find it on map :)

It's northwest of Georgia, along the coast. . .  so Missouri?
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: xenoscepter on April 08, 2019, 11:18:24 AM
Ukraine, that's in Central Europe if I'm not mistaken. West of Russia, with Uzbekistan south of Russia near Georgia. Ya'll are south of Finland I think, now that I've written my guess-timate, I'm gonna go fetch ye olde Atlas.
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: xenoscepter on April 08, 2019, 11:19:06 AM
Not too far off, just south of Belarus.
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: xenoscepter on April 08, 2019, 11:19:48 AM
Uzbekistand is west of Georgia X.X
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Jarhead0331 on April 08, 2019, 11:45:04 AM
I dunno, what's left?
the new AI is major but looks pretty close to done, ground combat hasn't been tested and probably needs a bit of bug fixing, but apart from that, I have no idea what you think steve's going to be doing untill 2020 :p

The only really significant development areas left at the moment are strategic offence for the AI and diplomacy.

There are a lot of minor UI areas that I left out when programming functionality, which I am fixing as I need them while playing, plus some smaller windows such as habitable world search. However, those are just labour intensive - they don't need a lot of thought and aren't even that necessary for a first release. They are tidying up more than anything.

The thing that is taking time at the moment is testing and and fixing bugs for existing functionality. I tested functions within the code as they were written to ensure no immediate execution errors, but once all the different areas of the code interact during a real campaign, it creates a lot of unforeseen situations. Even the fact that something is going wrong is not always immediately obvious. Also, fixing one thing sometimes uncovers other problems that were hidden by the first bug. I've caused some fairly spectacular problems by fixing minor bugs :).

Finally, the major factor in development is simply the availability of my own time. This week for example, I had to take some work visitors out to dinner on Monday, we have a work poker tournament tonight, I am out with my wife tomorrow and we have friends coming over from the UK to stay at our house Friday to Monday. The weather is getting warmer so we are starting to BBQ and the hot tub will be filled this week. We have holidays coming up in May and July and the TT festival is in June for 2 weeks. The list goes on. Even when I do have free time, I have other hobbies beside Aurora. I just ordered an 11" Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope so I can finally do some astronomy, so that will be taking up some time too :)

I'm not being pessimistic, but rather just pointing out the variety of reasons that remaining work is not necessarily correlated with delivery time. Lots of rain for example, is probably good for Aurora :)

Out-of-town guests, BBQ, hot tub? Sounds like you need to get your priorities straight...and invite me over for the party. What? I'll bring the beer.  ;D
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Jovus on April 08, 2019, 08:35:51 PM
Quote
Jarhead
Petty Officer

Something seems off here...
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Jarhead0331 on April 08, 2019, 08:46:54 PM
Quote
Jarhead
Petty Officer

Something seems off here...

I prefer it to "crayon eater".
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Erik L on April 08, 2019, 09:51:16 PM
Quote
Jarhead
Petty Officer

Something seems off here...

I prefer it to "crayon eater".

I can arrange that title for you :D
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: MarcAFK on April 09, 2019, 02:43:31 AM
Whats the Naval equivalent to Crayon eater?
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: mtm84 on April 09, 2019, 02:47:59 AM
Whats the Naval equivalent to Crayon eater?

Marine?
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: MarcAFK on April 09, 2019, 08:49:24 AM
Well thats no fun, they're already called Jarheads anyway.
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: xenoscepter on April 09, 2019, 02:24:39 PM
"Crayon Eater"... but, but... THEY TASTE LIKE PURPLE!!!
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: littleWolf on April 13, 2019, 08:12:45 AM
Creaton ?
Title: Re: Release date?
Post by: Erik L on April 13, 2019, 01:14:42 PM
"Crayon Eater"... but, but... THEY TASTE LIKE PURPLE!!!

Everyone knows that red tastes better.