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[Neonivek]

What is Feature Creep?

[Dsarker]

What is Feature Creep?

"I like this hamburger, but what would be nice is some cheese. I'll go get some cheese." *goes to get cheese. Halfway there* "Hey, you know what would go great with the cheese? Pickles. I'll go get some pickles!" *forgets about the cheese, goes to get pickles* "Actually, what would go great with pickles is some lettuce. Let's go get some lettuce!" etc.

[Neonivek]

So Feature Creep is basically feature adding ADD

Except I think the point is that all those ingrediants would be added to that Hamburger anyway, but that way of going about doing so makes it take much longer.

Though I don't really think that is happening with Toady as he doesn't lose effort by switching tasks.

[Dsarker]

So Feature Creep is basically feature adding ADD

Except I think the point is that all those ingrediants would be added to that Hamburger anyway, but that way of going about doing so makes it take much longer.

Though I don't really think that is happening with Toady as he doesn't lose effort by switching tasks.

Basically.

[O11O1]

I sent an email to Toady One some months back suggesting a very simple improvement to the current military system- simply adding an option on the "v" screen that would assign the current dwarf to a new squad/ a squad from a selection menu. That alone would make the new military system practical.

It would make creating a basic squad as simple as finding a dwarf, pressing v, going to his labor screen, selecting the squad you want him to join/create, and pressing enter. A vast improvement when we're dealing with massive immigrant waves, anyway.

That actually would be pretty handy, when I find a shiftless dorf lounging in the meeting hall and discover he has combat skills. Dumping him to a squad then and there would speed things nicely.

[Cruxador]

What is Feature Creep?

"I like this hamburger, but what would be nice is some cheese. I'll go get some cheese." *goes to get cheese. Halfway there* "Hey, you know what would go great with the cheese? Pickles. I'll go get some pickles!" *forgets about the cheese, goes to get pickles* "Actually, what would go great with pickles is some lettuce. Let's go get some lettuce!" etc.

Not exactly. It's more like if he actually does get all that stuff and properly assemble the sandwich, but it gets so huge that by the time he's done it's dinner time.

[Shinziril]

And then you get to eat the totally awesome sandwich, so it's not all bad.  Although you may have to wait a while.

[Cruxador]

And then you get to eat the totally awesome sandwich, so it's not all bad.  Although you may have to wait a while.

Except as soon as you take a bite, it all comes apart because you didn't build it quite perfect and it's fucking huge so you still have to spend ages fixing it before you really get to enjoy it.

[Dae]

And then you get to eat the totally awesome sandwich, so it's not all bad.  Although you may have to wait a while.

Except as soon as you take a bite, it all comes apart because you didn't build it quite perfect and it's fucking huge so you still have to spend ages fixing it before you really get to enjoy it.

Your metaphor sort of wears out at the end of your sentence.

I don't mind the feature creep, as long as it is really awesome. Sometimes I get the impression that Toady polishes things more and more before releasing as time goes by. Remember the human towns back in the 2D days ? They were placeholders. They all looked the same. But they still managed to make adventurer mode playable. I wouldn't mind if Toady releases a build where the statues are not properly placed within the tombs, as long as they don't block the way.
But from a programming perspective, such little hassles would eventually pile up. It's probably better to fix them while Toady has his hands on it. Moreover, it's better if he realises the current framework can't do certain things now than later on. Once again, trust the Toad.

More on topic, a justice system change has been asked for a looong time. It would have been necessary at some point. Is it feature creep if you're just messing with the scheduled order of implementation for features, so the scheduled features are well backed-up ? It's something over which we could spend quite some time arguing.

[G-Flex]

It's hardly feature creep to implement things that are a necessary part of fundamental design goals. Feature creep is what happens when things are implemented on a lark, or that have little to do with the original goals, or aren't cohesive. The things Toady implements are pretty much always part of preestablished goals and design philosophy, so "feature creep" really isn't an issue.

[Kogut]

9 months ago I was happy that after caravan arc I will be able to create fortress in style of Moria.

The wealth of Moria was not in gold and jewels, the toys of the Dwarves; nor in iron, their servant. Such things they found here, it is true, especially iron; but they did not need to delve for them: al things that they desired they could obtain in traffic.

With current style of development caravan arc will end around 2020. I am not sure what is the point of creating development plans and then ignoring it.

[greenskye]

It's hardly feature creep to implement things that are a necessary part of fundamental design goals. Feature creep is what happens when things are implemented on a lark, or that have little to do with the original goals, or aren't cohesive. The things Toady implements are pretty much always part of preestablished goals and design philosophy, so "feature creep" really isn't an issue.

Technically I would still consider it feature creep if he's adding things that aren't a part of the current design goals. Given that the design goals for Dwarf Fortress number in the hundreds a line in the sand needs to be drawn for any particular release. If it isn't part of the release, then it's feature creep. Not that I mind particularly, but it is what it is.

[Askot Bokbondeler]

well, the justice revamp was actually needed for the vampires to work properly, so i'm not sure it qualifies as feature creep

[Kogut]

well, the justice revamp was actually needed for the vampires to work properly, so i'm not sure it qualifies as feature creep

Vampires are part of a feature creep (Release 1 - Better town maps involving workshops/markets/shops based on world gen economic activities).

[thedrelle]

It's hardly feature creep to implement things that are a necessary part of fundamental design goals. Feature creep is what happens when things are implemented on a lark, or that have little to do with the original goals, or aren't cohesive. The things Toady implements are pretty much always part of preestablished goals and design philosophy, so "feature creep" really isn't an issue.

Technically I would still consider it feature creep if he's adding things that aren't a part of the current design goals. Given that the design goals for Dwarf Fortress number in the hundreds a line in the sand needs to be drawn for any particular release. If it isn't part of the release, then it's feature creep. Not that I mind particularly, but it is what it is.

I'm sure toady is well aware of this fact, however, with the MASSIVE amount of code he now has to work with, i'm thinking he would rather deal with an issue, however simple,  while he has the related chunk of code fresh in his mind, rather than waiting until a later date and taking 3 times as long because he's got to sift through code he hasn't worked with in weeks or so.