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The poll system for what I will work on each week has proven to be a bit skewed in recent weeks.  As such, I think its time we rethink things  a little.


I see two ways that we could make the polls more fair.  The first being the easier method, while the second would be more work but probably a bit more fair.


Option one:  

We continue with the weekly polls, largely unchanged, but remove the previous week's winner from the poll so that we will not have the same thing more than one week in a row.  This way stands the risk of us simply alternating back and forth between two items though.


Option two:

Everything stays on the poll, but we keep a running tally of votes from week to week.  The winner, and the winner only, resets to 0 for the next poll while everything else continues to count up.  This would effectively allow for even the lowest items on the list to eventually come out on top.


My personal leaning would be to go with the second option on the grounds that it will eventually allow for everything to be worked on proportionately to interest, even if it means I'll have to track the totals from one week to the next.


Vote your convictions and opinions.  And as usual, majority rules.

Comments

Anonymous

You mean you noticed that Inheritance basically always overshadows everything else? :P

Tzeneth

Eh, my bias is I've been trying to push Wanton Cove so that it's just done instead of sitting at .9 something (assuming that the numbers actually represent percentage rather than just random version numbers)

aftermathteam

The first couple of weeks it was Wanton Cove, then it was close for a couple of weeks. I was pretty happy when they were close, since it meant that most everyone would get what they want once in a while, but when it started to shift pretty heavily towards Inheritance, that kind of made it unfair to a lot of people. Thus this poll. ;)

aftermathteam

We're a day away from .95 right now. And yes, that's percentage towards completion of the main narrative. That said, if we end up doing ALL of the side stories I've storyboarded, then the game is probably about 2/3 complete overall.

Auril

I'm pretending inheritance doesn't even exist until Wanton Cove is done. My thoughts? Keep any polls as suggestions, finish 1 project at a time, alternate when you feel you need to, not to burn out

aftermathteam

That's kind of what I'm doing. I don't want to leave any project behind, so I alternate weeks between them naturally. I plan around having enough time to hit my target for the week on a project, then use whatever is left for the poll's reward. The idea is to keep work on both projects steady, while allowing everyone's opinions influence where the extra time goes. I reserve the right to prioritize as I see fit or even overrule a poll if it ever becomes necessary, though I can't think of any reason why I would ever have to off hand. If you're going to wait to try Inheritance until Wanton Cove is complete, you're going to be in for a really exceptional experience. By the time I declare a final version of Wanton Cove, there should be a LOT of content in Inheritance. :D

Anonymous

Agile has found that development suffers when you shift focus between multiple products. Obviously there is writing and other things involved besides the programming, but my professional recommendation would be to see one through to the end before working on the other

aftermathteam

It always seems to me that there are exceptions to every rule. For me personally, I find that my excitement to work on projects is much higher when I have two projects to shift my attention between, and probably more importantly, I have a lot more patience when I encounter a problem when I have a secondary project I can shift my attention to for a little bit. I'll sometimes move from one project or another for a little while during the day just to get my mind off of a problem so I can look at it with fresh eyes, or if I start feeling a little burnt out or have writer's block, I can go work on something else for an hour or so then come back. Another important thing is the balance of dark vs light. What a write will often reflect my mood, and I like to strike a balance in life between the dark and foreboding, and the lighter things in life. Wanton Cove is fun, but I feel its important to make room for the lighter things in life as well.

Anonymous

Personally I think its a waste of your valuable time to work on projects outside of your games. People come to you for the projects you are working on (Wanton Cove and Inheritance) and the polls unsurprisingly largely reflect that. I feel time spent working on writing CHYOA or Therapist content could be time spent adding more stuff to your games. If you feel doing that is necessary to cool your head a bit and unwind that's fair enough and I completely understand that. I would much rather you spend time on other little projects than burn out. I would suggest you don't worry about polls and work on what you want to work on. Make sure you divide your time between your two game projects fairly equally so they both get a fair share. If you need to cool off and unwind a little then shift your time to the other project more for a while or spend some time working on something else.

aftermathteam

Different strokes for different folks and all that. But I'll explain my logic in a bit more anyway to see if I can add a bit of clarity to my thought process on all of this: First and probably foremost, I have ADD, which means I have the attention span of a goldfish (Well, not that bad, but I do find it difficult to focus exclusively on one thing for more than maybe an hour. Which is why when I report progress, its common for me to have worked on several elements of whatever project I'm working on that day.) My writing for The Therapist is actually an exchange of sorts. Rfpnj has been a good friend for a long time, he's helped with testing and has even learned how to code for the sake of being able to better help with my projects. When they took the lead on The Therapist, I started writing for him a little bit as a way to repay them for all the help they have given in the past, and continue to give for Wanton Cove, Inheritance, and everything else. I can assure you, I spend less time working on Therapist than Rfpnj saves me by helping fix bugs. ;) CHYOA actually serves two purposes. First, its kind of a proving grounds for ideas to see how well they are received. Secondly, its a guilty pleasure of mine, kind of like sneaking off for a candy bar when you know there's pizza in the fridge. :P You've seen how I spread my times, chaotic as it is, that's what works best for me. I invest the vast majority of my time into my primary projects, but my goldfish brain will sometimes go "Ooooh! Shiny!" and I find myself needing to work on something else for a day or so before I regain my focus.

Anonymous

Thanks for the in depth reply that explained a lot.

aftermathteam

No problem. I know that my work style is a bit unusual, and people have expressed both uncertainty and confusion related to it at times. I figure that if taking a couple of minutes to explain why I do the things I do puts people at ease, or at least helps them understand, then its time well spent!