So, umm, apparently we will be featured on the SF frontpage

[Z-Man]

next week, starting on the 8th (or 7th. dunno). They mailed project admins and maybe all registered devs.

Any ideas what we can do to look less awkward, what with not much done in the past half year and real development happening on LP rather than SF? Of course, it would need to be quick and dirty. I guess uploading a couple of new screenshots of really-upcoming-soon-no-honest 0.4 would be nice. Submissions welcome

[Hoax]

An awkward, quick & dirty picture for arma, HHHMMMMM

[Jip]

Maybe merge Voodoos floor zone branch and add some screenshots from that as latest feature?

[Word]

Gonna draw something when I have an idea.

(but I don't expect it to be good enough to get submitted)

[compguygene]

This may seem a bit extreme, but would it be possible to put out a .4 beta 1? Is it too buggy to call it that?

[AI-team]

Update the website...

[nux]

This may seem a bit extreme, but would it be possible to put out a .4 beta 1? Is it too buggy to call it that?

Its too early, putting it on beta would mean no new features will make it until 0.4.2 alpha starts and as far as i know, there are a few features lingering in development limbo (planned but not coded yet). Since .2 => .4 is a pretty big step in the development process, so its better to get everything now. The point of beta is to fix all the bugs, so its not a matter of "is it too buggy?" but rather "do we have all features we want?".

Update the website...

I tried to, but then we couldnt decide on what to use so i lost interest. I have no idea why some people prefer the current website over something new which wouldnt work in the best way possible (much like the current website), but thats what happened.

[Word]

first try.


..............................................

[epsy]

This may seem a bit extreme, but would it be possible to put out a .4 beta 1? Is it too buggy to call it that?

Officialising a feature freeze would not be a bad idea. I don't really see anything it lacks other than maybe a match timer for the cockpit. Anything bigger should probably wait until next release. Feel free to stop me and tell me that no, 0.4 desperately needs XYZ.

Past the feature freeze we do everything we can to put the then 0.4beta into a state where nobody will have any reason not to upgrade to, and then release. Feature-freeze stuff, you know :)

As for those gazing at a 0.4.1 release full of new features like 0.2.8.3, I believe we want to move to a faster pace of development, which means concentrating on the next major(0.6.0, with 0.5's as alphas) and only pushing bugfixes to 0.4.1. I'm pretty sure most of the developers and probably many of the users have had enough of the mini-minor-minion-point releases such as our impressive 0.2.8.3.2 :)

PS: As for the website, drop the tech talk. What do we want ON it? A downloads page and a few links/summaries to forums and others? How it is implemented is a detail, a formality.

[nux]

Feel free to stop me and tell me that no, 0.4 desperately needs XYZ.

X = music library, displaying meta data instead of the file name. Or dropping music altogether.
Y = a real skinning system, instead of the hacky moviepack.
Z = z-man! we need z-man in here (couldnt think of anything else)

PS: As for the website, drop the tech talk. What do we want ON it? A downloads page and a few links/summaries to forums and others? How it is implemented is a detail, a formality.

The problem is the news section, we had a discussion about how to implement. I suggested for them to be taken out of the forums DB, having a "News and Announcements" board where certain users can make threads and they will be mirrored on the website. Other people suggested using a lightweight CMS. So we stuck with static HTML only editable by a single person on a very specific format, which is the worst solution possible.

[Phytotron]

An awkward, quick & dirty picture for arma, HHHMMMMM

So we should hire Terry Richardson?

[compguygene]

Feel free to stop me and tell me that no, 0.4 desperately needs XYZ.

X = music library, displaying meta data instead of the file name. Or dropping music altogether.
Y = a real skinning system, instead of the hacky moviepack.
Z = z-man! we need z-man in here (couldnt think of anything else)

The music system might be rather primitive, but it works for now. Waiting to work on this and similar features is just continue to push a beta into the nebulous future. That is just a bad idea IMHO.

I really think that waiting on a skinning system to feature freeze .4 is not a good idea. Perhaps in .5.

Z-man is around, but as he has stated, he is rather busy dealing with a new housing situation. Z-man still is checking the forums daily and providing guidance as needed. I really think that epsy is right about this

Personally, I would like to see the Fortress_ai branch merged. Quite frankly, if that is gonna slow down the .4 beta, then I can live with running the current branch code until it does get merged (I have 2 servers that use it, and some people like playing against the bots). If epsy can get lead the charge to get a .4 beta out, I really think that he should.

[delinquent]

Suggestion: Instead of a music library for now, add an option for the user to input an internet radio stream of choice. Aye, lag, but what can you do?

[Lackadaisical]

You should seriously get rid of the april fools joke.

I would put up links to both the stable version and the latest 0.4 snapshot, but i am known for living my life on the edge.

Maybe add a list with the most important features, like 'fully customizable', 'online play', etc. Add some screenshots with different moviepacks and cockpits.

[Z-Man]

Feature freeze: yes, good idea.
Merging the zone branch: definitely. Hey, it already comes with screenshots. Double win!

The rest: be realistic and on topic, please. I won't spend hours setting up a more flexible news system on the website for the two news items we have a year, for example. And certainly not now.