Since this thread has rapidly gone in different directions and become a smorgasbord of developer insight (thank you, Karl and Brian!), I'm going to try and organize this thread a bit by topic, Helmer-style. Let me know if I screwed up any links.
***Also of interest: Karl on Reddit***
Development
Response to Major Community Concerns
Karl's Work Responsibilities, Overall Development Status
Links to Karl's presentation materials
Impact of UI2.0 on development.....on Community Warfare
Glimpse into PGI development pipeline
More on pipeline, Karl's physics experience (NEW!)
Programming Talk
Impact of autogenerated code
PGI coding practices, lessons learned
Learning curve for autogen code
Software regression (AKA "ghosts in the machine")
Internal testing procedures and tools.....custom unit test tool en route for devs
Maintaining of code branches (NEW!)
Server Talk
Server OS and developer ages.....CryEngine's role
More tidbits on dedicated servers
Challenges of Public Test Server
Matches run on bare-metal servers, not virtualized servers, due to latency and cost concerns (thus the charging for private matches).....theorizing on business decision of monetizing Launch Module
Lots of info on Host State Rewind (HSR)
Explosion queue fix should affect weapons besides SRMs (NEW!)
Addressing effect of server tick rate (NEW!)
On role of ping and speed cap (NEW!)
TrackIR
TrackIR Progress.....update.....process talk.....breakthrough, handed off to Gameplay team
Challenges of Oculus Rift Integration
Oculus Rift and cockpit glass
ELO and Matchmaking
On reluctance to split queues, reveal ELO.....even on teamwise basis
ELO usage still fluid
Groups sensitive to ELO changes.....common group ELO telemetry.....accuracy of outcome prediction
Willingness to explore group dynamics.....more.....philosophy for making changes
Effects of time zones and seasons
Pairwise tracking of ELOs
ELO currently separated by weight class.....but difficult to matchmake by weight class.....or to analyze needed weight classes in a drop.....or to calculate team deltas (NEW!)
On the probabilities of a 26-game losing streak
ELO buckets strict, more on matching procedures (NEW!)
Out-of-game Documentation
On PGI-maintained wikis (NEW!)
Will look for devs to act as fact-checkers (NEW!)
Such information time-intensive and constantly changing (NEW!)
On what kind of info to wiki, player retention tracked by PGI (NEW!)
Upcoming Stuff
Data mining tools in pipeline, VPN tweaking being reviewed
Brian Buckton on future social fixes.....more...
Role of already-released features in Community Warfare
VOIP work underway.....intended as user tool, not gameplay mechanic
PGI aware of color-blindness issue, 3/3/3/3 toggle coming with Launch Module.....color-blindness work on hold
Concerns with FOV slider (now confirmed by ThePlan)
Status of MASC
Miscellaneous
On draw distances and disappearing objects.....being reviewed....."weirdness" confirmed by rendering team.....theory on terrain hitboxes
Potential tradeoffs with changing nature of autocannons.....damage changes require careful testing
Hidden critical hit system in place
Positive experiences with NGNG.....Friday session was off-the-cuff
Company notification practices
Meaning of "upside-down guy" in-game icon is a mystery
Physics of falling objects in MWO (NEW!)
Niko Snow: Will try to keep ThePlan updated regularly (NEW!)
Direct weapon/chassis balancing preferred to telemetry-driven balancing (NEW!)
Dennis de Koning on mapmaking (NEW!).....on mech creation (NEW!)
ORIGINAL POST:
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So I spotted this amongst Bryan Ekman's recent Twitter blurbs...
http://schedule.gdco...ssion-id/825586
It's PGI's own Karl Berg getting his own session at a game developer's conference in San Francisco this upcoming March. Congratulations Karl, and we miss your posts around here.
Apparently he's going to be discussing something called asynchronous server architecture, which is described here in a very interesting way...
Quote
I think it's fair to say that we've all been wondering about the reasons behind PGI's development slowdowns and missed deadlines in 2013. We've gotten a few nuggets involving manpower shortages and the UI being tied directly into the game and forcing them to patch the entire game just to have a sale. But I'm not sure it's given us a clear picture yet.
Now I'm getting kind of curious about how responsible this asynchronous server architecture stuff (which sounds like a relatively new thing in client design) has been in the constant slowdowns. It makes it sound like PGI is kind of pioneering in this area and learning as they go.
Could we perhaps get Karl to put together a post for the community describing the role of this stuff? I realize it isn't easy to break it down for us laymen, but Karl has shown talent at doing just that. I would look forward to such a post.
Edited by Rebas Kradd, 04 May 2014 - 12:46 PM.