Lessons Learned in Development

G'day all,

As some of you are no doubt aware, BIS is facing intense criticism over releasing an incomplete product (ArmA 2), the campaign isn't completed and hasn't been played to death by testers, there have been numerous CTD reports and this is quite literally the tip of the iceberg. If you look in the German manual on page 75, you will see the names of the community testers, these are average people with what one would assume a reasonable variation in system profile. Developing for consoles or even a single SOE in the military context doesn't require the level of testing you see for a commercial game like A2, however we can still learn from their mistakes.

First of all a note, it's likely that the beta testers in this instance were unpaid volunteers who signed a NDA, selected for their enthusiasm for the game and their knowledge they would of conducted limited testing in their spare time. Unfortunately a quick check of the manual credits no one from either Morphicon Ltd. or BIS with being a Community Testing Coordinator or similar. Additionally the release in Germany before the rest of the world could be seen as a mistake, given the context it looks like an entire country became beta testers, and a few externals like myself.

In the military context as previously mentioned, we largely develop for our own SOE with little consideration for others that will use our products, although we rely on them to conduct their own procedures for testing and get back to us with issues. This was true for one recent addition by a community organisation within the mil user group. The addon in question overwrote part of the target machine's config via inheritance and changed various UI elements. This may not be noticeable on the developers machine. Take for example the standard customer distribution of VBS2, and JCOVE (British MoD version). JCOVE has a modified front end to suit the UK context as largely in name only it is separate to VBS2, it must be noted that a patch I release as a General Customer (YYMEA) or any other customer for that matter must be tested on systems like JCOVE to ensure it doesn't rework their system.

Mantis bug report #0001945 for instance originated from the NZDF, regarding the wording of the login box bottom right. The original text for this box was "Nickname" however, and this is correct, soldiers training saw nickname as an opportunity to feel the need for speed and Maverick it up for lack of a better term. I responded to this request, changing Nickname to Rank/Name, unfortunately the difference in the text required me to resize and shift this element from its normal position. This is fine for most users using the largely common front end provided by BIA, however other users may have the log-in box in the top left, in which case the text Rank/Name will appear bottom right away from the rest of the log-in box. The NZDF were happy for the contribution, I in fact use the patch PBO on my own personal copy of VBS2 and handed off a copy to another customer organisation for them to consider using.

Early on in the development process it must be decided who forms the target audience and ideally they should be notified of the content in development. The target audience should include people and organisations who you regularly train with via simulation. For example, if I was to create an addon in my own time for the gaming community, I would distribute the addon to them. The reason for this is simple, interoperability, the other customer will see what I'm seeing and be able to benefit from my contribution, without that addon, at the least VBS2 would give errors, and potentially a target indication to a coalition asset would go unseen by those who don't have the addon.

Another benefit of early coordination with other customers is bug reports and feedback guiding the development process. You can from bug reports adjust your methods to suit all target audiences, even put measures in place to switch features on or off based on the user version, and HASP key code. Additionally if another developer has an idea they may share information with you and give an example of how to go about it within your current code base. Take the BIS example, consider each tester as a military organisation on its own SOE, now take the additional customers as other organisations, again on their own SOE. The more variations on the operating environment you encounter, the more problems you will see. Potentially a lot of CTD bugs are from Windows 7, both release candidate and beta users, in this instance it is unfair to expect BIS to build on this shaky foundation. If you're an ArmA 2 fan running W7 and experiencing crashes, I suggest you roll back to XP or Vista. W7 is not final, neither is the RC, if BIS made a patch for the current builds, it's likely in the next iteration they would have to release yet another patch, quickly turning A2 into bloatware.

Just a few points for you to consider, it's for the reasons of interop some of my works have been delayed, pending appropriate testing. Anyone who wants to test on behalf of a customer organisation or as a serious gamer should contact me at their earliest conveniance.

Jamie.

Update on A2

Again another gamer post. I've got a video of A2 uploaded from my own gameplay.

Download here.

I bought my copy online from Germany and applied an english language patch, which until I find out with more certainty the legal status of it, I cannot pass on. Additionally A2 has seen a Beta patch released to fix a number of issues, however I have not installed this yet, I've had minor dramas running it on Windows 7 64-bit... beta though, although I've known others likely running it on the release candidate.

Unfortunately the fact that BIS have released a patch tells me that the boys are having some difficulties in controlling the test teams, there are some minor dramas in my copy, although other people are experiencing frequent crashes. I would almost recommend getting the testers for VBS2 to test ArmA2, but the sad fact is we're seeing bugs there as well. The english release for Europe is around 19 days away, which means there's very little time to fix the dramas for the CDs that are or should have already gone gold. We may not see a fully ready copy of A2 until the Australian release on the 9th of July.

I'll probably keep posting screenshots and other videos of A2 features as I go, the changes from the current version of VBS2 are quite significant.

Jamie.

ArmA 2

For those of you who are gamers at heart, chuck your gaming hat on for a moment. ArmA 2 is finally nearing release in the EU and US, and Australian release appears to be on the 9th of July. Unfortunately for local stores I myself do not have the patience to wait while people half a world away are virtually fighting and dying in the fictional country Chernarus, therefore I intend to either purchase a digital distribution or order from somewhere like Amazon.

Anyway, the real purpose of this post is to inform you lot of a new A2 related video from Dslyecxi, it includes footage of a peripheral from a company called Naturalpoint. The peripheral in question is TrackIR 5, personally I have a TrackIR 3 and from my experience with it, it has been handy in Armed Assault and VBS2. I'll leave the marketing of that up to Naturalpoint though, and provide you with a link to Dsleyecxi's video, there are URLs at the end of the video to get a discount on a TrackIR 5 package, so if you're keen, don't pay full price.

Video on YouTube, click here.

Jamie.

VBS2 Tools and Hello Again!

Well guys, I'm back, I've just had my third and hopefully final operation to fix my right knee up, I'm in recovery mode at the moment. Sorry I haven't updated in a while, I was kind of rushed into surgery sooner than expected, I literally thought I'd be waiting two weeks, I was in after 3 days.

I've read contradicting statements on the VBS2 tools as of 1.3 lately, where I had once been told that non-commercial users of VBS2 would receive all tools and updates for free including Visitor 4. Now recent information suggests that as of 1.3 there will be two different streams in regards to tools, literally the haves and have nots. All those new tools you've seen or heard about such as the face editor, FSM editor (much talked about for quite a few point versions) and now Visitor 4, seem to be part of a premium package yet to be announced.

The original information I had read had said that these tools would be provided to all commercial users on the condition a valid maintenance/support contract was in place at the time of release. As for PE users it had been suggested that as they are operating under non-commercial licenses that free distribution to them as individuals would not be out of the question. As far as the FSM editor goes it has been previously stated by BIA/BISim that the FSM Editor would be one tool freely released as part of a tools update in 2009. Information suggests at this stage that the 1.3 tools will include the FSM editor but given the suggestion V4 and the face editor will require users to fork out more hard earned, has the free status of the FSM editor changed?

One could argue that at any rate FSM is not an entirely essential part of VBS2 development as similar effects can be achieved through SQF.  As for the face editor, how many people will actually use it over current methods that involve a quick bit of face manipulation in photoshop? With regards to content creation on the new and improved engine coming with ArmA2 we may see a point where V3 becomes obsolete, but until then it is still a valid and useful terrain tool, V4 may introduce some new things and potentially remove the need for VLB and its modules. At the end of the day the terrain developer will work with what he's got to develop the playbox, regardless of the tools used, the limiting factor is more than likely the game engine itself.

As for ArmA2, be sure to keep an eye out for it in the next month, scheduled release dates for most of the globe fall around the release date for the UK and EU of June 19th. For those of us in AU/NZ we will be apparently waiting a few more weeks for our copies, Australia could find itself in the unfortunate position of a ban if the level of violence in the game is too excessive for a MA15+ rating. Of course this wont likely stop imports by dedicated ArmA/OFP fans, just the fact we could be the only country in the world to ban a title is cause for concern.

Jamie.

Files and Videos

For those of you interested in the high res version of the video in the previous post, here's a link to download it in WMV format at reasonable resolution and quality, here.

Please note that if you miss out on a file, I can generally re-upload it to a web host for download, the web hosts I'm using are all free and as a result they have a policy of deleting files that haven't been downloaded for quite some time, due to the very small audience this blog has of perhaps 20 people on a good day right now, the files rarely get downloaded.

If you try to use a link and it fails, please get in touch with me via my e-mail or skype if you have my details for those, alternatively you can send a message to jamie_c on the VBS2 support forum.

Cheers,

Jamie.

AI Enhancement

To back up my claims from the previous post, I've got a video to show off for all those who haven't seen it already. I apologise for the low quality of this video that will be a result from uploading it to blogger, however I will upload the relatively high quality version to a download provider should anyone require it.

Basically this is on Rahmadi, one of the OPFOR is leading the way for his team of four. As he steps out from behind cover I engage him with 4 rounds at approximately 400m. He then displaces behind a bush, turns to face me and gestures through animations my location, at this stage the script notes the direction of the contact, anything out my way is now considered a dangerous area for the AI. Smoke is then thrown in my general direction to assist in concealing the OPFOR while two men pop out from behind the wall trying to spot me. Video finishes with the leader of the group exiting to the right of screen back into the town, with the eventual intent of flanking my position, if possible.

Enjoy.

This will eventually tie into a larger system that will make life easier for the one man OPFOR director seen in some sim exercises. Capabilities of the OPFOR largely tie in with their equipment, basically if they don't have the right tool they can't do the job. A lot of similar scripts in the past have magically equipped the AI as needed, in this case if the unit doesn't have a smoke grenade the can't use it, same goes for flares and other devices.

Jamie.

Work In Progress

OK, trying to get the updates rolling as quickly as possible for a little while before I go under the knife again to fix my broken bits.

I'm adding a few minor features to enhance the navigation related components of VBS2. Simply because topographical map representations combined with the compass could provide a reasonable navigation training system. Some of these enhancements will be geared more towards certain militaries and be adapted from input from such organisations. Release initially will be to all YYMEA keyed customers (via VBS2 Support Forums), other customers will have to contact me to arrange alternative EBOs. Keep in mind I don't have all VBS2 versions to test on and there may be a variation between my copy and yours that may cause a few initial issues for this addon. Some of these features will require patches to terrains already enhanced by topographical maps, details of which are to be made available on the release of the Topographical map tutorial.

Additionally I'm working on a scripted enhancement to the standard VBS2 AI. Right now I have them reacting to rounds flying in close proximity at any range, and coordinating their efforts with other OPFOR to attempt to identify the shooter. This will primarily be aimed at the conventional operations side of the house, however there will be scalability built in to adapt to asymmetric warfare should the need arise. Again release will be to YYMEA keys initially, other customers will have to make contact for alternative arrangements.

On top of this, work is continuing on a number of other enhancements specifically for VBS2, all will relate to basic soldiering skills, and all will be optional.

Apologies for the extensive delays on some releases, I am working hard to deliver quality content for this blog, however my rehabilitation takes priority. I will not release anything before it is completed otherwise that just makes me look stupid and gives you half-arsed content.

Jamie.