In this reprint from the May 2013 issue of Game Developer magazine, developers release a new online game into the wild -- and descend into revision note hell.
07-16 20:09:20
Revision: 12412
fixed localization text-wrap bug (nice try, Jeff)
locking repo for final launch deploy!!!
07-16 22:01:01
Revision: 12413
fixed polling ping-time bug in matching players across regions that might have caused small delays before game launches. There might have been a hiccup on launch day if we hadn't caught that… good job, QA
finally the work we've been doing for the last three years is gonna pay off!
relocking repo for final, final, final deploy
come at me, bros!!
07-17 00:17:24
Revision: 12414
emergency fix to address "Unable to Join" error
07-17 05:20:49
Revision: 12415
okay, this should address most of the launch volume issues that players have been experiencing:
more error checking added to "Region Unavailable" crashes
another fix for "Unable to Join" error seen by players in Pacific time zone due to a floating-point error reporting that the game doesn't actually unlock for 277 years (Jeff, I am looking at you very sternly right now)
dynamically switch a region's hosted server if the ping is too long
set available servers to the actual number of servers we have available (whoops, that's mine, haha)
07-17 07:52:41
Revision: 12416
rolling back change #2416
07-17 11:30:10
Revision: 12417
removed rendering of all citizens' pants to decrease server sync load
07-17 11:33:55
Revision: 12418
re-added pants. something about ESRB? whatever
removed rendering trees instead
07-17 14:11:12
Revision: 12419
disable high-level spells that use too many server-side particles (can't believe I just used the phrase "server-side particles"...JEFF!!!!)
boost power of low-level spells to take the place of the spells we just removed
add free spells for players so they aren't mad that we took away the high-level spells
I did something else with spells that I forgot
I would really like to go home
Jeff is a smelly doofus
07-17 15:18:40
Revision: 12420
HEY, did you know that APPARENTLY, to cast a spell in our game you have to query the player authentication database, query the player database, query the spell database, AND query the player action table?
and did you know that if you're a mage, it does all those EVERY TIME you press the attack button?
I am laughing and crying right now
I don't know how to fix this
I'm actually just crying
07-17 17:11:12
Revision: 12421
reduced queue size and added ghost entries to buffer queuing more
I'm not sure that’s a thing. well, it's a thing now
07-17 23:51:12
Revision: 12422
more queues, less syncs, god I don't even know
come make games, they said. lots of fun, they said
I have two degrees in computer science and am imagining the utter shame on my professor's face right now
drifting, I'm just drifting through infinite black space
I just wanted to make something fun that people would enjoy… did I ruin kids' childhoods? like, is this going to be a terrible memory that haunts them for the rest of their lives?
Oh man. That must of been harsh. I remember the countless commits I've seen fly by with personal projects. My heart goes out to this guy, at least if he's remotely serious about this and this isn't just a big joke.
XD the best
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