I'm seeing some patterns developing of impatience or ingratitude for the progress being made in the game right now.
First: I am not a Dev. I am not in The Proving Grounds Forum. I do not have a full list of who is in there. I have not needed this impertinent information to move forward.
I'm sure there are many others that feel like this. So I wanted to address the concerns as a normal "unprivileged" member of the AC community.
Unfounded
If you have been carefully reading the forums you will see the devs have made a few of the new features completely transparent
1) T-shirts will probably be sold within this year, based off this idea.
2) ac_avenue has been added to the map pack
3)Dust2 is not on option to be added.
4) There will be a new clan master mode timer implemented in the new release.
5) A "AC council" has been requested since the dawn of time, and has now been implemented as the people have requested (one example of a request from 2011).
6) Two new devs have been added to the mix and RK has returned.
7) There are balance discussions taking place right now
8) There are exploit discussions taking place now
9) There has been another map survey made and will be released soon.
10) Some graphic limitations have been discovered due to the old cube engine we use for the game.
SKB, Xenon and a few others have gone out of their way to do some testing that has been accepted and reviewed by the devs, and it's making a difference.
All of these references have links. We all have a purpose. Teams are compiling information right now and giving you the end results that will affect each of us as players without all the discussion and re-discussion from the community that went into forming those decisions. But things are still transparent in the time that they apply to us because most of the devs care about the community and making sure every voice is heard.
The AC forum has had private sections since the beginning that have not applied to us, so we have not been able to view them or comment on them.
1) Private dev forum
2) Private mod forums
3) now the proving grounds forum
As V-Man already said, The Proving grounds forum is not making the decisions, we have devs for that. Because when everything is said and done they understand how the code works to actually implement everyone's idea (as it should be) because we are in good hands. The new forum is just an experiment to give a more personal communication line with the people that know how to give us what we need.
Why don't we stop twisting this as "excluding" people from the community and start using it to our advantage realizing there are MORE community members that represent our opinions and can really get their foot in the door with the devs.
Maybe after the time pressed release, there can be discussion about voting in members to this forum, or some outlines the community would like to see to make it workable for everyone. The time for that is NOT now, because the we have demanded for the attention to be placed on the release, and the new forum/ grouping together a small bunch of testers was something the devs thought need to happen to accelerate the release WE have requested. Please support the steps they are taking to make it happen for you.
I'm afraid that we're on a path of asking so many impertinent questions, or complaining about things that are not factual. It will take up too much of the devs time to answer all these silly questions when the answers have already been provided to us.
All of the things listed above were already in the collaboration process before someone else raised their hand to say "I want a solution to the map imbalances!" Dev says: "actually.... Great, already been done with three ideas in the works. NEXT"
I think when we really stand back we realize the devs were supporting and implementing our ideas all long.
I would like to see a change of tradition. Instead of fighting more before a release, let's make a calm quiet atmosphere that will help contributors focus on the difficulties at hand. Let's ask questions about what can be done on our end, instead of assuming the devs don't know what is right from wrong for the game.
I suggest we stop making it about ourselves and start offering these individuals help, ask how we can be of use to help them save time on time intensive tasks (like compiling new potential maps and making a survey out of them, or testing, or finding exploits) so the devs can focus on presenting fact to the people, coding, and releasing.
It's our top priority, and it's their top priority too.
First: I am not a Dev. I am not in The Proving Grounds Forum. I do not have a full list of who is in there. I have not needed this impertinent information to move forward.
Quote: Aekom -
"I want to be able to see where the game is headed. Why should things be kept in the dark for the rest of us? We're all fans and players of this game.
...
These people (the ones who don't already have access) are stuck in limbo, so to speak, and are being kept out of the loop."
I'm sure there are many others that feel like this. So I wanted to address the concerns as a normal "unprivileged" member of the AC community.
Unfounded
If you have been carefully reading the forums you will see the devs have made a few of the new features completely transparent
1) T-shirts will probably be sold within this year, based off this idea.
2) ac_avenue has been added to the map pack
3)Dust2 is not on option to be added.
4) There will be a new clan master mode timer implemented in the new release.
5) A "AC council" has been requested since the dawn of time, and has now been implemented as the people have requested (one example of a request from 2011).
6) Two new devs have been added to the mix and RK has returned.
7) There are balance discussions taking place right now
8) There are exploit discussions taking place now
9) There has been another map survey made and will be released soon.
10) Some graphic limitations have been discovered due to the old cube engine we use for the game.
SKB, Xenon and a few others have gone out of their way to do some testing that has been accepted and reviewed by the devs, and it's making a difference.
All of these references have links. We all have a purpose. Teams are compiling information right now and giving you the end results that will affect each of us as players without all the discussion and re-discussion from the community that went into forming those decisions. But things are still transparent in the time that they apply to us because most of the devs care about the community and making sure every voice is heard.
The AC forum has had private sections since the beginning that have not applied to us, so we have not been able to view them or comment on them.
1) Private dev forum
2) Private mod forums
3) now the proving grounds forum
As V-Man already said, The Proving grounds forum is not making the decisions, we have devs for that. Because when everything is said and done they understand how the code works to actually implement everyone's idea (as it should be) because we are in good hands. The new forum is just an experiment to give a more personal communication line with the people that know how to give us what we need.
Why don't we stop twisting this as "excluding" people from the community and start using it to our advantage realizing there are MORE community members that represent our opinions and can really get their foot in the door with the devs.
Maybe after the time pressed release, there can be discussion about voting in members to this forum, or some outlines the community would like to see to make it workable for everyone. The time for that is NOT now, because the we have demanded for the attention to be placed on the release, and the new forum/ grouping together a small bunch of testers was something the devs thought need to happen to accelerate the release WE have requested. Please support the steps they are taking to make it happen for you.
I'm afraid that we're on a path of asking so many impertinent questions, or complaining about things that are not factual. It will take up too much of the devs time to answer all these silly questions when the answers have already been provided to us.
All of the things listed above were already in the collaboration process before someone else raised their hand to say "I want a solution to the map imbalances!" Dev says: "actually.... Great, already been done with three ideas in the works. NEXT"
I think when we really stand back we realize the devs were supporting and implementing our ideas all long.
I would like to see a change of tradition. Instead of fighting more before a release, let's make a calm quiet atmosphere that will help contributors focus on the difficulties at hand. Let's ask questions about what can be done on our end, instead of assuming the devs don't know what is right from wrong for the game.
I suggest we stop making it about ourselves and start offering these individuals help, ask how we can be of use to help them save time on time intensive tasks (like compiling new potential maps and making a survey out of them, or testing, or finding exploits) so the devs can focus on presenting fact to the people, coding, and releasing.
It's our top priority, and it's their top priority too.
![[Image: trees-confused.png]](http://alltheragefaces.com/img/faces/png/trees-confused.png)
