Preamble:
I wanna make it clear that I don’t know much about development. My understanding is incredibly surface-level. I also wanna make it clear that I mean no ill will towards the Luduvo team. I understand that they’re all incredibly passionate people, and incredibly hard working people to boot! I have nothing but respect for them, and the work they put into Luduvo as a whole. Yes, even the parts that go unseen and yes, even with the recently botched execution of updates. And finally, I don’t know the inner workings of Luduvo. I’m just a player who wants to give feedback on a game that they enjoy and want to see succeed. For all I know, something like what I am suggesting is already in the works, if not either already implemented or not possible for one reason or another. With that out of the way, here is my suggestion.
The Suggestion:
My idea is as simple as this: similar to the Alpha Testing period from before the game had gone public, select a handful of Testers- trusted players and developers alike- to test updates for Luduvo before they release. Alternatively, similar to Polytoria’s 1.0 (stable) and 2.0 (Beta) branches, allow users to use one or the other when playing Luduvo or using the studio to (hopefully) make the testing of updates more efficient, and by extension, more stable when a new update drops.
For another comparison, though not as close to what I imagine, think of Minecraft’s Snapshot system, wherein users can get a sneak peek of updates by downloading another version of the game.
The Why:
Why am I suggesting this? The game’s still in alpha, so we should obviously be expecting bugs, instability, and various other negatives, right? Well, while that’s true, and I do believe that some users may be a little harsh when it comes to Luduvo’s state, we also need to look at Luduvo as a product. It is to my understanding that marketing is in the works, and if that’s the case, people are going to expect a finished product. It doesn’t matter how many “In Alpha!” stickers you slap onto the poster, how many disclaimer messages you write- when people see a product, they most generally expect it to work out of the box, with as few issues as possible when using the software.
Luduvo’s current method of updating, while fine, is seemingly facing one critical issue: It’s still treating the current release as if it was the closed alpha. As a personal example, just recently Update 48 was released. Upon opening studio and play testing, I immediately crashed, and with further testing, it was proven to be recurring, consistent. This was a downgrade from Update 47, wherein I was only sometimes crashing when play testing- which was a downgrade from Update 45 where I was consistently able to play test with no issues. This is behavior that I somewhat expect from an alpha, of course. However, we are in a public release now. Luduvo is, once more- to the best of my knowledge, also going to start marketing soon. What was once okay to the thousand or so people testing Luduvo earlier this year, simply isn’t now thanks to the game no longer being under the guise of said testing period.
The alpha tests were done to make sure that the release was smooth. But, not to re-open old wounds, it unfortunately wasn’t. And the last three updates haven’t been… ideal. I feel that having a testing branch for a group of trusted Players and Developers or having a “Release” and “Testing” branch open to all would allow more time to polish and refine an update by receiving tester feedback, while still allowing the Luduvo client and Engine to progress and evolve. I think it would help ensure that Luduvo’s updates don’t release in such a state that would cause outsiders to go “Hmm” instead of “Ooh!”- so to speak.
The Problems:
Once more, I am not a software developer. However, just like how you don’t have to be an artist to say something doesn’t look good, you don’t have to be a software developer to know that this proposal of mine may come with issues. New users, not knowing the difference between the two versions getting confused and running into problems as a result, bugs and crashing still being inevitable thanks to this proposed cycle, workflows needing to be re-organized, so on and so forth. Ultimately, it’s up to the people who know what they’re doing to criticize this proposal- this is your invitation to do so.
Conclusion
At the end of day, it is up to the main man himself and his team to consider this proposal. I apologize if this post came off as patronizing or if something akin to this either is already implemented, in the works, or simply cannot happen for reasons I don’t or can’t know about. Again, I’m just a player who enjoys Luduvo and wants to see it shine. Suggesting something like this to hopefully ensure a smoother release cycle and a better time marketing is something I can do to help. Whether it’s in the form of a pre-release update program or something public, I feel like with how much Luduvo is changing, this stable/testing release cycle would be a better approach to ensure stability and consistency among updates, without massive waves of users being unable to play the game or create in the studio.
Thank you for reading.
