What can we do for the backers?

Stuff off the top of my head for today I was involved with in rambly way:
- DOS attacks on forum, dealing with that
- how to distribute papatran, should I just post it in the forum? How about let's put it in the build? Oh **** where does it go on mac? Oh crap are there any licensing issues with the fbx stuff?
- linux library bs static linking vs sym links, how the crap do you change a cursor on linux?
- wtf is the assist broken again dammit - pokes at people - improvements checked in (still needs more work)
- why the heck are nuke explosions sideways? oh align to projectile, need a way to fix that
- read a whitepaper from a potential payment provider
- fabber sub - should it be t1 or t2? discussion ended at t1
- spent time before lunch with Allen going over planet generation fixes + metal spot placement - ran into lunch and everyone left without us - eat lunch alone (downcast ok from reddit)
- played a couple of test games on our dev site and crashed the server - look at crashes
- discussion on how to distribute 32-bit builds for windows - talk about 32-bit linux and whether we should support (ended convo at no)
- spent some time playing around with construction aircraft movement - made it a bit better but
realized they weren't wobbling - that turned into a discussion about how this stuff should be structured in the code nav vs tasks - pushed doing wobble via animation onto stack
- discussion about how/when to remove files from our install directory - talked about nuking with impunity vs trying to be smart - convo ended at try to be smart
- checked up on the status of the planet editor that has continually been pushed back for stability work
- sent 32 emails today on almost as many different topics
- talked to Russel and got an update on how the new strat icons are coming
- posting on various forums + twitter (like this right here)

+ a bunch more stuff I can't remember and probably don't want to

Maybe I'll try logging a day sometime to get it exact.

I noticed the fora being sluggish. DOS did go through my mind - but I assumed that was my own biases making me think that.

This type of stuff is fine for me. I enjoy reading any seemingly random thoughts about the project, it does not have to be anything super formal. I completely understand making any kind of formal video takes time and resources away that can be better spent on the game itself.

EDIT: I did notice the forums being a bit slow or offline last night. Was wondering if there was some kind of DDOS attack..

The DOS attack was fairly minor, possibly just spammers. We took some measures and noticed the forum got a lot snappier in general.

Oh yeah, one more conversation I had was with Garat filling me in on the status of our plan to use new forum software.

I mean your last post was already interesting and we get news like what the team is working on right now or discussing... that is nice... but to be honest, you can do only so much, you are not those optimized future machines ^^... so do it if you can and want to, other than that, leave it... the day has only 24 hours... and there is sometimes something called private life as well...

I'm betting people will enjoy this type of stuff. Not just from Mavor but any of the devs. It shouldn't be required or expected though. Looking at it from the perspective of people being interested in what you've been up to at work though I could see it being nice to share occasionally. I know Sorian and Mavor each have their own blogs, but this more informal stuff is good too.

That "info. dump" was interesting, don't get too bogged down in logging stuff, organising it'll become a distraction from the real work.

Something like that but in video would work too.
Forget production values, use your phone, keep it raw and hit upload.

Doesn't always have to be you either.

Awesome info dump.

Re forum software, I highly recommend Simple Machines - I've found it's a very powerful and versatile piece of kit; we use it on the Realm site and I moderate another much larger site that uses it.

Very pleased to hear that new Strat icons are being discussed!

Oh that explains those non-generated planets.

maybe you can also introduce your team to us? maybe you can make everyone write a post here (one per week, or one per 14 days) about themselves, or what they do at uber, or anything they wanna share with us.

That info dump was great! Learnt alot about what is going on and I didn't have to sit through a long video. Loved it! And don't feel like you have to do it constantly, just every now and again when you guys feel like it or if something interesting is happening that you want to share with us! We will take anything without complaint

P.S That is a busy day! Yet still you come on the forum to try to find out how best to look after us! Thank you

Info is always good, the community really like to see what goes on when making games (as long as its not look at code...... oh the bastardly code). Showing off cool features or odd bugs in screenshots as well as just telling them the crap your going through can lead to lots of praise. I want to see the nitty gritty honestly.

Neutrino, I liked reading that, made me happy I am here and you are there
Even though it is such a great job/opportunity you have to create PA.

Btw. I find it very admiring to see that you guys stick with your original plans and did not succumb to the Steam critics.

Having said that, I do think you could improve the communication there a bit.
After having read this I was wondering if this is all the info that is shared.
http://steamcommunity.com/app/233250/discussions/0/
I really think one of your strong points is sharing a lot of information with the community.
So why not do that on steam as well, make the people well informed is never wrong.

Just some ideas:
- Direct people on steam to the uber forum for more information.
- tell them that buying alpha supports uber to develop the game.
- Post a faq on steam, antillie had a nice go at it.
viewtopic.php?f=61&t=48169&p=747049#p747049
- Let them know where to find the streams you guys made.

I must say that now that alpha is out and there are plenty of Youtube videos and other streams to follow, I'm quite content to know that Uber is 100% dedicated to development rather than making PR videos (where people were asking mostly pointless questions anyway), which were necessary in there time (because there was really no other way to get news), but not that necessary now. Maybe just an update once a month is fine.

Alpha is way over my budget, but might be I'll upgrade for beta once it comes of age,
because alpha is already awesome, so beta shall be Uber-awesome.

Adding my hat to the pile

Info dump was great

Well a lot of team members do post stuff here but it's mostly about stuff related to the game.

Realistically most team members aren't that comfortable with this kind of communication. I'll try to encourage them.

thanks for the cool info dump! Love reading that kind of stuff

I would love to hear stories about test games you guys play.

That's really not a bad idea. Copy pasting knight's stream index over there would be real helpful to the anti-troll warriors.

Boom, found it: Live Stream Index

I bet seeing that stuff would encourage some on-the-fence guys too.

I need to do the most recent one actually, I was in Hawaii so I totally missed it.

Mike