Continued development

[lonelytraveler8]

First off, this is not a rant. It's closer to a suggestion, but I leave that particularly decision to you. I'll also try to make this somewhat short.

I've read a lot of complaints about why Brawl+ shouldn't be constantly changing. There tournament scene needs stability, etc.

But I kind of like the idea of the game evolving over time. If we have reliable developers working with players skilled in the various characters, I don't see why the game can't be changed and improved on as time goes on. There are plenty of reasons, I'll try to briefly describe some:

1) Things change. There's more to try out and the competitive scene gets tweaked from time to time (it can be a good thing!).

2) Players of characters that become low-tier may have the chance to not only enjoy their characters, but win with them as well.

3) Players of high-tier characters can face new challenges and possibly enjoy fun and useful tweaks of their own.

Let's face it, as the meta-game develops, tiers are going to form. They always do. Some characters end up better than others. In my opinion, it's better than every character having a special counter-character. But that can be tweaked without ruining the game, as long as the changes aren't too frequent. That last part is key...

After a reliable, stable, well-received version of Brawl+ is released (hopefully 4.0), maybe it would be better to scrap the nightly builds. Assuming that those who are working on it are trusted by the community, the development could proceed in the background and stable versions can be released every so often that enhance the game.

This was a sort of spur of the moment idea and post, so I admit my thoughts on the matter aren't completely organized. However, let me know what you think.

 

[cman]

You misunderstand the nature of the complaints at brawl+ constantly changing. It's a given that it's going to be constantly changing since it's still in the development/balance stage. The problem is that the changes are coming to frequently to fully test and understand the ramifications of each change, so many of the more minor ones slip through without much testing and they turn out to be bad/overpowered or whatever.

 

[lonelytraveler8]

I didn't misunderstand. I may not have conveyed my point well enough, though. I did make a point of saying that the approach to development should change after a reliable, stable and well-received release. As things stand now, the Nightly Builds are perfect. Brawl+ is still in the early stages of development and at the very least, opening the community to the development stage can help pinpoint good candidates as potential developers.

I'm definitely not trying to say the Nightly Builds and the current approach to development is bad. But there have definitely been complains from people who just don't want to see the game changing as much as it is. Let me try to give a brief example to try and explain:

Let's say Brawl+ 4.0 was released and eveyone loved it. It wasn't perfect, but great. Were nightly builds to continue, it would still cause issues because of the constant changes. However, if the development were to be put into the background, 5.0 might be released as a beta and, however different, could still be well received by the community. The chances would all be released at once. It would be like the next game in the Smash series being released. Then, if any major problems are found, 5.x could be released to quickly patch the issues (stalls, unfair chaingrabs, etc, etc).

I don't know if this is the current plan or not. Just a suggestion to bring some stability to the community after 4.0 is ready for release without inhibiting continued development.

 

[Arkaether]

That is the current plan after a Gold release, yes. There will be no more nightly builds and new releases every six months or so depending on metagame development.

 

[lonelytraveler8]

Ok, cool. I couldn't be sure.