A better way to track bugs?

[Sabre-TLA]

As someone who works in the Software Development Industry (I'm a ScrumMaster for those familiar with the Agile Development Process), I think ED is doing their best to fix bugs in the AI as they are found but still new ones leak into the release.

 

They don't have unlimited resources to test all changes and I'm not sure if they even have regression test cases to ensure previous working code is not broken.

 

Their decision to release BETA versions of upcoming releases was a great idea as that allowed for more testing prior to release. Users need to understand that BETA = expect bugs - that's why it's a BETA.

 

But just because you put something through BETA doesn't mean that new problems with the AI don't appear in the final release.

 

We need to temper our expectations with current technology capabilities too. This is not a spreadsheet program but something much more complex and the AI behavior will take time to develop so you have to expect some issues with development changes.

 

What I would like to see ED do better is have a formal bug reporting system (not posting to some forum area) but something like Bugzilla or JIRA.

 

That way users can more easily search what bugs have already been reported and the bug can be identified as a Blocker or Critical, Major, or Minor.

 

In some systems users can even vote on the bug to help the developers decide if it is worth including in the next release or not. These systems also can show what bugs are being worked on and what are not so users can understand the timelines to fix the problems.

 

I don't know ED's development model but I would certainly like to see what is committed for each release in advance and the community have the opportunity to influence what is included and what is not.

 

The Product Owner (likely Matt) must have a tough time deciding which bugs to fix (from the community) and what features to include (from the marketing folks).

 

Having to wade through a whole pile of forum posts and related replies must compound that problem even further.

 

Some users have left the hobby because they got tired of their issues not being addressed and moved to greener pastures. If they are still into flight sims I'm sure they will return when the bugs get fixed.

 

To me, this is still the best flight simulator I've had the opportunity to try, current bugs and all, and I strongly believe that the development team is doing their best to keep their product going.

[Snoopy]

ED used a bug tracking system it's just not open to the public.

 

Temper expectations? So we should just accept things get broken and never fixed? I think not. The AI has never been perfect but both ground and air AI is worse now that a year ago. That's the wrong direction.

 

As I said in an earlier (since been deleted) post I love DCS and flying around in an A-10C but so many things are broke that I'm sorry something as "old" as DCS shouldn't still be broken.

 

Ground AI

ATC is all but nonexistent

Aircraft AI

AWACS AI

Triggers broken from version to version

Having to be a master at lua code writing to get a "dynamic" mission to work only for it to break the next version.

 

I could go on but I won't because well many people have already stated the above.

Edited May 25, 2014 by Snoopy