Any chance of a Q & A forum where we can communicate with the devs?

[ReZpawner]

The unstable thread is getting bombarded with questions (only about half of which are from me), because there's no other place to ask them.

Any chance we could get somewhere to do that, that won't be off-topic?
Or a thread or whatever makes people happy.
Maybe even a big fat FAQ pinned to the top as well, so we can see what's been answered and what hasn't without spending hours searching the forums.

[Neotic]

i would love a Q&A Forum but i dont think they devs would have much time for it

[O Negative]

FAQ: When is the next version coming out?

We'll probably get more stable communication from the devs in other discussions once A17 is released.
I get the feeling that the A17 release is something they're heavily focused on
We just need to be patient

[ReZpawner]

It's often not meant as a stressful question though. In my case, I just asked if it would be worth starting a new long game in the unstable, or if I should just wait. I don't want them to rush it, I just want to know so I can plan accordingly. "It's still a few days off" would've been a perfectly satisfactory answer.

[O Negative]

I think it's best to assume that the update is coming soon, given some of the posts Tynan has made in that thread. The change lists are getting shorter and shorter, because they're getting closer to a release.

I wouldn't start a serious playthrough. Mess around a bit. Play risky games, with ridiculous goals in mind, and watch people suffer

[ReZpawner]

That's the thing though. All we can do is make assumptions. If we assume that it will be out tomorrow, and it isn't, we'll get annoyed over it. If we are told that it'll take a few days, it's more of a "fair enough" type thing. The whole concept of setting any kind of dates for it IS obviously something that can backfire very quickly if not done right though.

It has to be done in a way that doesn't promote stress for the developers, but also clues the users in on roughly when it can be expected, if there aren't any major issues. Vague, yet somewhat specific.

[O Negative]

You don't have to assume it'll come at any specific date, just know that it's coming very soon.
It could come out tomorrow. It could come out on the 25th. It could be out on the 1st of next month.
Save yourself the frustration by not assuming, and simply recognize the fact that it's almost ready; and, you just probably shouldn't bother with a serious playthrough yet.

If it doesn't come out for, say, a week, sure it's a little irksome. I guess? Just shrug it off and move on. It's nothing to get upset about.
As long as progress continues, no matter how slow, I think most people will be content...

[Canute]

In my case, I just asked if it would be worth starting a new long game in the unstable, or if I should just wait.

Maybe you still don't know what Alpha,beta,unstable means in a game development.
A long game at a unstable branch definitiv a non-recommendation thing. The game code can change daily, and it can happen that it even corrupt a safegame.
Even mod's can't work proper from one day to another anymore.

Sure the devs want that people even test the lategame things, not only the early ones, but thats why the game got develop-mode and you can spawn things and finish researches.

[ReZpawner]

In my case, I just asked if it would be worth starting a new long game in the unstable, or if I should just wait.

Maybe you still don't know what Alpha,beta,unstable means in a game development.
A long game at a unstable branch definitiv a non-recommendation thing. The game code can change daily, and it can happen that it even corrupt a safegame.
Even mod's can't work proper from one day to another anymore.

Sure the devs want that people even test the lategame things, not only the early ones, but thats why the game got develop-mode and you can spawn things and finish researches.

I have a bachelor degree in game design and a masters in computer science. I think I know what alpha and beta is. If you're just going to be condescending, just don't reply.

[Haplo]

That's the thing though. All we can do is make assumptions. If we assume that it will be out tomorrow, and it isn't, we'll get annoyed over it. If we are told that it'll take a few days, it's more of a "fair enough" type thing. The whole concept of setting any kind of dates for it IS obviously something that can backfire very quickly if not done right though.

It has to be done in a way that doesn't promote stress for the developers, but also clues the users in on roughly when it can be expected, if there aren't any major issues. Vague, yet somewhat specific.

And that is also the reason why Tynan when asked always tell you that he doesn't give out release dates.
Because there always is the possibility that something comes up and then the answer would be incorrect.

In this case it is better to have some users annoyed because of the lack of specifics than have the users angry because of broken promises.

If you want to have some detailed info about the current progress of the alpha 17 release, follow the info in this thread and you can get an impression about the current state of it. No promises, but an impression mind you..

For your Q&A forum:
A Q&A needs to be filled with questions and answers, but also be maintained/updated.
I'm not sure if the devs have time and/or are willing to update the infos of an Q&A again and again.
Maybe later on when we're going into a beta stage? 

But that is just my oppinion and maybe I'm wrong? Who knows..

[ReZpawner]

Firstly, estimates aren't deadlines. Nobody is asking for a deadline in any way, just a general "Should I start a brand new game now, or would that be somewhat pointless given that an update is probably coming tomorrow?". Pretty much everyone understands that development takes time, and is subject to change. If a problem was to come up, nobody would be annoyed at the devs fixing a it. Less Go juice, more smokeleaf. Chill.

Again: It's not a promise, it's an estimate.

If you take a look at the first post I made here, you'll note that the very reason I ask for such a forum is to prevent people asking off-topic questions in the thread you just linked.

A Q&A forum is usually run by the community administrators, or "mods" - not by the devs themselves.
It's a collection of questions that have already been answered, so that people won't have to keep asking. If it's on a forum, you won't need admin access to the website to maintain it, thusly allowing the heroes of our story here to continue their great work. Pretty much anyone can make a note of when a question is answered, and add it to the list. That should result in less speculation, and less repetition of questions.

[Aerial]

Firstly, estimates aren't deadlines. Nobody is asking for a deadline in any way, just a general "Should I start a brand new game now, or would that be somewhat pointless given that an update is probably coming tomorrow?". Pretty much everyone understands that development takes time, and is subject to change. If a problem was to come up, nobody would be annoyed at the devs fixing a it. Less Go juice, more smokeleaf. Chill.

Again: It's not a promise, it's an estimate.

If you take a look at the first post I made here, you'll note that the very reason I ask for such a forum is to prevent people asking off-topic questions in the thread you just linked.

A Q&A forum is usually run by the community administrators, or "mods" - not by the devs themselves.
It's a collection of questions that have already been answered, so that people won't have to keep asking. If it's on a forum, you won't need admin access to the website to maintain it, thusly allowing the heroes of our story here to continue their great work. Pretty much anyone can make a note of when a question is answered, and add it to the list. That should result in less speculation, and less repetition of questions.

Sounds like you should start a thread where you list all the questions and answers you've found after combing through the forum...

You're asking people (the mods) *who already volunteer quite a bit of time* to do a lot of work.  If you feel like there really needs to be a Q&A forum, start one.

[ArguedPiano]

@ReZpawner, why not just start a new game anyway? Nothing is forcing you to play the new version once it's available. If it does say, come out tomorrow, then either finish your current game or start a new one with the new version.

[Limdood]

Best way to do a Q&A, from the Dev's time and energy point of view, would be to mine the forums for specific questions or issues OR start a thread asking for people to post questions.

Then take SOME of those questions, post and answer them, probably in a locked thread.

This prevents the devs from having to:
1. wait for questions
2. even bother acknowledging the questions that ain't getting answered (when is update, z levels, multiplayer ad nauseum)
3. take time over and over to answer each question (just do em all at once)
4. deal with never ending discussion and debate over the answers given.

[kenmtraveller]

Tynan posted on Reddit that he hoped the current dev build would become the A17 final candidate.
For me, I just started a new A17 game -- my guess is that savegames will be compatible at this point, since he is done adding content for this release.