New D&D Monster Builder Coming March 22

[delericho]

However, switching to a web-based platform is something they should have done for a long time (and something I 100% support), and I'm merely saying that it's expected that initially, there will be a decline in product quality. The web-based character builder, while still having no dearth of flaws, has improved significantly from its initial release and I expect the same to come of adventure tools.

Every person they have busy fixing flaws in Character Builder is one less person available for something else. Every person they have busy fixing flaws in Adventure Tools is one less person available for someone else.

And the significance of those bugs is much higher when there are thousands of paying customers viewing them, rather than a dozen or so developers.

Releasing Adventure Tools full of bugs has almost certainly delayed other tools.

If they are now indeed getting the bulk of their revenue from DDI, then I say that's a good thing, because they will have to allocate more of their resources into making a product people will buy. And people these days will only pay for extraordinarily good software.

Current evidence is that people will pay for substandard software. Why then would WotC apply more resource to improve quality?

(And besides, that ignores one of the truths about software development: you cannot add quality to software; you have to design it in from the start.)

So, the bottom line is: what's the worse that can happen? People stop paying, WOTC goes out of business (or more likely, fires a bunch of people and moves on)

Well, exactly. If DDI fails, the most likely response from WotC is to cancel D&D entirely.

This is at least the second time they've developed all these tools (and there was Gleemax before that). None of these things come cheap. While there are probably somewhere between 30,000 and 100,000 DDI subscribers, there is no certainty that those are even enough for DDI to be making a profit.

 

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Every person they have busy fixing flaws in Character Builder is one less person available for something else. Every person they have busy fixing flaws in Adventure Tools is one less person available for someone else.

And the significance of those bugs is much higher when there are thousands of paying customers viewing them, rather than a dozen or so developers.

Releasing Adventure Tools full of bugs has almost certainly delayed other tools.

I don't follow your logic here... how does releasing an incomplete/buggy product and then fixing it slow down other projects more than completing the project/removing the bugs and then releasing it? The fact that the product has already been released to the public doesn't make completing the product take any longer - indeed, which more eyes (everyone using it) to spot bugs, you would think WotC would be able to save work, as it doesn't need as many of its own bug testers.

Now, I can understand that some customers might well object to WotC using them as unpaid bug testers, but I don't see how them doing so would slow down other WotC projects.

And yes, releasing something like the new Monster Builder may well delay physical products such as books (which appears to be your concern). How much so is arguable, as its unlikely that the people working on the digital products don't have much to with the books. However, even if it does, isn't that true for any product that WotC might work on - surely if WotC works on Book A, the resources being used on Book A aren't available for Book B.

 

[ThirdWizard]

I don't follow your logic here... how does releasing an incomplete/buggy product and then fixing it slow down other projects more than completing the project/removing the bugs and then releasing it?

The problem is releasing multiple products and then having to fix them all at once instead of releasing one product at a time. Now that they've released the Monster portion of the Adventure tools, people will want it to have, well, features. And with a Character Builder out that still needs work, they're splitting their work when they should be focusing on one project at a time.

Now, if they had a "CB" team and a "AT" team or something along those lines, this wouldn't be an issue. However, as far as I know, they don't. So, by releasing the Adventure Tools, they will now be forced to take time out of its development for this second project.

This is how projects don't get finished. You can't switch gears back and forth repeatedly like that. You can't work on Project A for half your day and Project B for half your day without a good portion of your time being wasted getting back in the groove of things. You can't spend a week on Project A and a week on Project B without having to spend a great deal of time reacquainting yourself at the start of the week with the new project.

 

[Ampersand999]

How likely was it that someone from Hasbro or a Wizards executive was putting pressure on them to release a working Monster Builder? I didn't sense that there was any clamor from the rabble to release the Builder out soon.

 

[delericho]

How likely was it that someone from Hasbro or a Wizards executive was putting pressure on them to release a working Monster Builder? I didn't sense that there was any clamor from the rabble to release the Builder out soon.

It seems to be that this minimal Monster Builder is seen as a prerequisite for releasing the VTT. If they're planning on releasing the VTT imminently, then they may have felt they had to release this now.

 

[delericho]

I don't follow your logic here... how does releasing an incomplete/buggy product and then fixing it slow down other projects more than completing the project/removing the bugs and then releasing it? The fact that the product has already been released to the public doesn't make completing the product take any longer - indeed, which more eyes (everyone using it) to spot bugs, you would think WotC would be able to save work, as it doesn't need as many of its own bug testers.

ThirdWizard has mostly covered it, but in addition to what he said, there is a question of pressure.

Every time you fix a bug, there is a non-trivial chance that you'll introduce something new. Ideally, what you'd do is apply the fix, regression test the whole thing, and then release the fix (with decent, but never 100%, confidence that it works).

If you release a buggy product, you suddenly have 45,000 subscribers all loudly complaining, all complaining about different things, and all demanding their particular fixes now now NOW!

So, you try to accomodate them as best you can. You fix bugs at a rushed rate *, you cut corners in the testing, and all those additional bugs that you would have caught (and all those corner cases you would have found and also fixed), they all get missed.

And suddenly, instead of having 100 bugs in the system, you now have 1,000. And the customers are still screaming, and still demanding fixes.

* Of course, ideally, the coders wouldn't do this. It would be recognised as a false economy, they'd stick religiously to testing procedures, and all would be well. But this would be in the same ideal world where they aren't pressed to release buggy code in the first place.

 

[ThirdWizard]

How likely was it that someone from Hasbro or a Wizards executive was putting pressure on them to release a working Monster Builder? I didn't sense that there was any clamor from the rabble to release the Builder out soon.

If I had to venture a guess at this point, is quite probable that the Monster Builder they just released was a working prototype that they created in order to help internal tests of the VTT. Then, a manager saw it and pushed to get it out the door, not realizing what he was doing. I've seen this scenario play out more than once. As a developer, no matter how hard you try to explain to some people that something isn't complete, it looks complete and management can't reconcile the fact that both of these statements can be true.

Heh, the stories I could tell about that happening...