Solendon
2003-06-20, 08:55 PM
Before anyone flames me, please note that I am not flaming SOE. I'm not using profanity, being rude nor acting like a 2 year old. I'm simply stating how I feel thus far with the quality of PlanetSide.
I've been a software developer for many years now. I've worked on and lead projects both large and small, ranging from a few lines of code to millions, in a variety of languages from C++ to Java to ASM and beyond.
Claiming to write bug-free code I am not. I've had my share both obscure and blatant. I've had to deal with bugs in the platforms built on and the bugs of coworkers. I understand developers make mistakes, we are only human.
There is just one thing that has bothered me when seeing some of these bugs in PlanetSide. They seem so obvious, that they should never have got into a production release. Seriously, some of these bugs should have been spotted in one pass.
I say this because reading through the patch logs there are bugs that should have been spotted. For example, before 1.4 the Phalanx wall turrets were not firing correctly? Why did they break?
The highest probability is that someone was changing code for the turrets. If a developer was changing that code, they should have tested the turrets to make sure they worked. The typical process is then to let QA testing know changes were made. QA testing then tests the turrets again before putting in to beta. Then beta testers are notified of the change and test the turrets again. This should happen for as many levels of testing SOE has in place until production.
Another example is the well publicized Reaver missile bug. I can get grief points 80% of the time until I switch to 3rd person and back. This must have been working at one point. Once again, why did it break? Someone was likely changing the code. That person then should have tested to make sure anything that code changed worked correctly and the whole process I outlined above should have took place.
And the same goes for the two 1.5 bugs I've heard of no hotspots and wrong empires assignments on terminals. I have yet to see these for myself as I can no longer log in to PlanetSide since the 1.5 change (see my post in the Tech board).
Granted, a lot of these bugs they have patched are obscure. Which most likely could have only been found by the thousands of subscribers using the system. But what amazes me is the relative frequency of the ones that are not, especially to systems that were working.
I'm not saying SOE, the developers or the QA staff can not do their job. The reality is I don't know their process, how large their team is, what language their using or how the engine was designed. All I am saying, well I'm not saying anything specific. Except that with my knowledge of the software development process, I am disappointed so far.
I'll continue to play though, I like the game a lot. I just hope (as I am sure you all do too) that they start to release higher quality updates.
Peace.
I've been a software developer for many years now. I've worked on and lead projects both large and small, ranging from a few lines of code to millions, in a variety of languages from C++ to Java to ASM and beyond.
Claiming to write bug-free code I am not. I've had my share both obscure and blatant. I've had to deal with bugs in the platforms built on and the bugs of coworkers. I understand developers make mistakes, we are only human.
There is just one thing that has bothered me when seeing some of these bugs in PlanetSide. They seem so obvious, that they should never have got into a production release. Seriously, some of these bugs should have been spotted in one pass.
I say this because reading through the patch logs there are bugs that should have been spotted. For example, before 1.4 the Phalanx wall turrets were not firing correctly? Why did they break?
The highest probability is that someone was changing code for the turrets. If a developer was changing that code, they should have tested the turrets to make sure they worked. The typical process is then to let QA testing know changes were made. QA testing then tests the turrets again before putting in to beta. Then beta testers are notified of the change and test the turrets again. This should happen for as many levels of testing SOE has in place until production.
Another example is the well publicized Reaver missile bug. I can get grief points 80% of the time until I switch to 3rd person and back. This must have been working at one point. Once again, why did it break? Someone was likely changing the code. That person then should have tested to make sure anything that code changed worked correctly and the whole process I outlined above should have took place.
And the same goes for the two 1.5 bugs I've heard of no hotspots and wrong empires assignments on terminals. I have yet to see these for myself as I can no longer log in to PlanetSide since the 1.5 change (see my post in the Tech board).
Granted, a lot of these bugs they have patched are obscure. Which most likely could have only been found by the thousands of subscribers using the system. But what amazes me is the relative frequency of the ones that are not, especially to systems that were working.
I'm not saying SOE, the developers or the QA staff can not do their job. The reality is I don't know their process, how large their team is, what language their using or how the engine was designed. All I am saying, well I'm not saying anything specific. Except that with my knowledge of the software development process, I am disappointed so far.
I'll continue to play though, I like the game a lot. I just hope (as I am sure you all do too) that they start to release higher quality updates.
Peace.