[Max]

As development of GSW is about to begin in earnest, I wanted to post a roadmap that I intend to follow during the development process. I'm posting this now in order to keep you all informed of the project's direction until I get the new development blog online, and also to solicit any feedback (criticism, comments, or suggestions for new features).

Please click here to download a PDF file containing the roadmap (I was not able to format it properly using the forum's formatting tools).

[Split Infinity]

It's great to see something tangeable at last. You've done well to incorporate the suggestions we've made over the past few years. Can't wait to see how this all comes together.

[Eugine]

CRITICISM! (you see, many people would reply with "Nice list", blah blah... so I'm gonna skip it and go straight to the criticism!) Plus, I like being a critic on the internet <3.

Now, get ready to hear me being critical! (waah, I'm hyper tonight!)

1) I think it's insulting to Golden Sun to choose "Proteus" and "Triton" as your version name, when there are soo many summons dieing to be mentioned again ;_;
2) I don't like the font you used.
3) Blue is better than baby blue. (Presentation is key here!)
4) Uh... Where's the release date for each version?
5) Why would a version of the game have a shop house without having a bank house? They seem to go hand in hand imo... Plus, you have a shop house and Inn house, but in version 0.7 I see no way for us to earn "GSW Currency"

There we go. Me being critical (and mean). Bet I scared you :D

[Split Infinity]

The date is at the top of the freaking page. O_o

[Max]

Thanks for actually reading it with a critical eye, eugine. To respond to your points:

• Sorry for the styling, it's the default Word 2007 theming. Since this is just a rough document, I didn't want to go through the effort of making it look better. It'll eventually be on the new GSW website and the styling won't matter.
  
• For those who aren't astronomy buffs, the point-version names are the three largest moons of Neptune, from smaller to largest. For those who need thing spelled out, 1.0 is codenamed "Neptune," a planet, and the point-versions have its moons as their codenames. That Neptune and Nereid are summons is just a coincidence.
  
• I'm tired of putting dates and not making them. It'll be ready when it's ready. The development blog should tide you over quite nicely (I've been inspired by the Dojo).
  
• Point taken about the shop house before bank house. I will probably end up moving the bank house to Nereid, but didn't want to put too much in there at first, as the bank isn't absolutely necessary. With regards to earning currency, players will be given a "participation ticket" once per day they login, which they can sell for money. Eventually winning mini-games and such will also give money. Finally, money will be given as prizes for various social events, which I haven't yet announced (that's for another day/topic).

[PDM]

This list makes me a happy little mexican boy.

[Someone Else]

Nice that you're looking at an adventure mode as a definite possibility. It's fun to dream.

[Eugine]

Alright. Understandable.
I'm pissed I can't find anything else to complain about/critique!

*reads list again to find something*
Max, I'm speaking for myself (hopefully for others ^^), but I would rather see the "Casino House" in Nereid before the Shop House and "Players
can purchase their own private rooms, which they can decorate with items bought from the Shop House." this feature from the "Inn House".

Why? I think it should atleast have some form of activity in the first release of GSW besides interaction with fellow members. Also, that way we can have a way to earn currency before the Shop House and Inn House implimentation to enjoy the features, that way you can eliminate the "participation ticket" cuz eventually I'm sure you are gonna remove it.

[Split Infinity]

Eugine is a GSW nonbeliever. :D

[Someone Else]

.eugine, on Feb 2 2008, 05:49 PM, said:

Max, I'm speaking for myself (hopefully for others ^^), but I would rather see the "Casino House" in Nereid before the Shop House and "Players
can purchase their own private rooms, which they can decorate with items bought from the Shop House." this feature from the "Inn House".

Why? I think it should atleast have some form of activity in the first release of GSW besides interaction with fellow members. Also, that way we can have a way to earn currency before the Shop House and Inn House implimentation to enjoy the features, that way you can eliminate the "participation ticket" cuz eventually I'm sure you are gonna remove it.

That does make a bit more sense. The shop would be pretty useless in version 0.7.

[Split Infinity]

I don't see what's wrong with the tickets; they encourage you to log on every day, which is pretty much the goal of a chatroom.

[Eugine]

I agree with you to an extent Split ^^. He can include the ticket =), but!
*logs on to GSW, gets ticket, leaves*
PLUS, I rather have a better reason to log onto GSW, than to just get a ticket in any case.

[Split Infinity]

Well you have to sell the ticket, but anyway...

I'm sure Max will be incorporating something to keep us busy.

[Max]

The idea behind the ticket was that it would give people a reason to login every day, even if they don't intend to do anything else. But if they login and see other people, then they might be more inclined to stay and participate. And even if they don't stay online, at least GSW is still in their thoughts everyday, which might make them more inclined to play when they get bored or need a break or something.

I was originally debating whether I should do the personal rooms feature first or do the Casino or mini-games house first. I've gone back on forth on that, and this roadmap is just my latest position. I'd be interested to hear other people's opinions, and I'll listen to feedback before I make a final decision one way or the other.

The shop would have to exist to do the personal rooms feature, and it would also have to exist if we have any type of game (Casino or Mini-game), so I think that is still required for Nereid, even if its use is pretty limited.

[Moonear]

This seems awesome, I can't wait to play it after everyone has spoken greatly about it. I have a few questions?

What would you be able to buy from the shop and how would it help you?
Is it free?

[PDM]

I was the second richest person on the last server test, beaten only by nerfman. ;-;


Hopefully the same will go next release so that I can have the best room, too. ^^

[Someone Else]

Max, on Feb 2 2008, 06:17 PM, said:

I was originally debating whether I should do the personal rooms feature first or do the Casino or mini-games house first. I've gone back on forth on that, and this roadmap is just my latest position. I'd be interested to hear other people's opinions, and I'll listen to feedback before I make a final decision one way or the other.

The shop would have to exist to do the personal rooms feature, and it would also have to exist if we have any type of game (Casino or Mini-game), so I think that is still required for Nereid, even if its use is pretty limited.

Well, look at it this way. It'd probably be best to give people the means to make money first, then give them something to invest money in.

We get money from the minigames/casino, right? If so, I'd like to see that before personal rooms.

Actually, will we have to make new accounts when you update GSW to the newer versions?

[Max]

ihatekraden, on Feb 2 2008, 09:20 PM, said:

This seems awesome, I can't wait to play it after everyone has spoken greatly about it. I have a few questions?

What would you be able to buy from the shop and how would it help you?
Is it free?

The shop would sell decorations for personal rooms, and it would eventually sell armor and weapons and such for the battle system. In the previous incarnation of GSW, we had stuff like balloons, which are just cheap trinkets which can be used on the overworld map. The exact inventories of the shops remains to be determined, and, as always, I'm always open to ideas and suggestions.

Wind Dude, on Feb 2 2008, 09:24 PM, said:

Actually, will we have to make new accounts when you update GSW to the newer versions?

No, I don't anticipate doing account resets like in the past. Although, that obviously depends on how events unfold and how things stand before each release.

[Someone Else]

Max, on Feb 2 2008, 06:24 PM, said:

No, I don't anticipate doing account resets like in the past. Although, that obviously depends on how events unfold and how things stand before each release.

Then I'd definitely like to make some money before the personal rooms feature comes around. So, personally I want to see the casino and some minigames first.

[Toasty]

I like the roadmap. I agreee with the placement of everything on the timeline except for the Casino and Mini-Game house. I'd switch those. And I think it looks professional.

[Lightning Star]

Everything everyone said is exactly what I think :(

I agree with max though; Even if the point of tickets are just to get people to get on, I know as well as the rest of you, gssf chats can be rather amusing and worth the participation. Remember when a few of us got stuck on a roof one time? XD

And Eugine, don't be so picky :unsure: it's the concept that counts, not the formatting. It's like getting your favorite car, but the color being one shade darker than you had hoped. Seriously Max, this is great. I'm glad to see this is coming along well.

[Golden Legacy]

Amazing stuff, Max, you've truly outdone yourself. Some great concepts too that I can't wait to see implemented.

[The Sea King]

Max, on Feb 2 2008, 07:55 PM, said:

As development of GSW is about to begin in earnest, I wanted to post a roadmap that I intend to follow during the development process. I'm posting this now in order to keep you all informed of the project's direction until I get the new development blog online, and also to solicit any feedback (criticism, comments, or suggestions for new features).

Please click here to download a PDF file containing the roadmap (I was not able to format it properly using the forum's formatting tools).

Looks cool. <_<
Question: which program (or programs) are you using to do this game?

[Toasty]

Kalimdor, on Feb 4 2008, 02:04 AM, said:

Im assuming this is a game.. it looks pretty interesting!!!

It's an online virtual chat, with some games and stuff. Not exactly a game, more like a chatroom.

[Max]

The Sea King, without getting into a long description (which will be forthcoming in a future post), GSW will be programmed in Actionscript and run in the Adobe Integrated Runtime. The corresponding server will be SmartFoxServer, written in Java, and will be extended using Java and Python. You can use google to find more about all of the above technologies, but I'll post an in-depth discussion of each at a later date.

[ZephyrAnalea]

I really like the plan so far, and I'm really excited to play it.
Just a couple of questions/suggestions:
At the shop, you could sell different Djinn so you could have more than one pet and be able to use them in battle.
And what characters will be playable?

Good luck with your project!

[The Sea King]

Max, on Feb 5 2008, 07:49 AM, said:

The Sea King, without getting into a long description (which will be forthcoming in a future post), GSW will be programmed in Actionscript and run in the Adobe Integrated Runtime. The corresponding server will be SmartFoxServer, written in Java, and will be extended using Java and Python. You can use google to find more about all of the above technologies, but I'll post an in-depth discussion of each at a later date.

Whoa! Good Programs! *must continue training my coding*

[Sea of Time]

I would have liked to see some dates, even if they were tentative, but overall a very professional and well-thought-out "roadmap". Good luck carrying it out.

[Max]

Sea of Time, on Feb 7 2008, 05:04 PM, said:

I would have liked to see some dates, even if they were tentative, but overall a very professional and well-thought-out "roadmap". Good luck carrying it out.

SoT, you've been here long enough to know how meaningless dates are that I have thrown around in the past. I just don't feel there is any chance that I could give a meaningful estimate of how long it would take to do things, and to post dates for the sake of posting dates is just wasteful and builds undue expectation. I know as a consumer of software how frustrating that such a response is, but as a developer I don't how to provide a good answer.

[Eugine]

But dates are good. I think it's better to have a date so you can work to meet it, rather than just be lazy...
Plus, no offense, but don't you think GSW is overdue anyway?

[Someone Else]

I'm with Max on this. Post a date when you're comfortable with it.

[Eugine]

Yeah. I understand where he's coming from.

Alright Max, rather than setting a public date, I assume you are going to set a personal date right? I honestly believe the date will make you work harder.
It's like a teacher giving an assignment. Scenario a) teacher says, bring it in whenever you want, or most at the end of the semester b.) teacher gives two weeks but gives or take a week.
Honestly, I think scenario B will produce better results. Using my same, lame analogy - you will bring the assignment for your friends to proof read (GSW case - beta testing) quicker :(

Why did I bring up this analogy? After I finish wrote it, I recongised it totally sucks!

[Darklex]

So when is Golden Sun World going to be playable. I can't wait to try it. I'm a hard core GS fan! :)