Devnote Tuesdays: The Back on Track Edition

Big steps in the design of the contracts system as a whole. Contracts isn’t a single one-liner feature, it’s a full set of gameplay mechanics, new content, code, and not least here, writing. I wasn’t quite sure where to start with all that, so I took some time to start writing it down into a detailed spec, and many ideas started to take shape. We now have a much clearer picture of what needs to get done for Contracts. Today we’re starting the not very glamourous but very necessary phase of breaking down our ideas into chunks of work that we can manage, and assigning them to everyone. We’re also breaking into a new team management software that will hopefully be a good help to keep track of things without too much stress. Not the most interesting of weeks development-wise, admittedly, but there are big things coming up and it’s good that we were able to take the time we needed to prepare for it.

Chad (C7): Glad to be back to work after the vacation. I’ve been working on a few things as development of 0.24 ramps up. I’ve also been experimenting with Unity 4.3.3, to see if we can upgrade without any issues.

Jim (Romfarer): This week i have had my computer science hat on and implemented graph algorithms to solve the “minimum cost maximum flow” optimization problem.

Daniel (danRosas): I’ve been planning out the pipeline for this year’s animated shorts, in order to improve production schedules. Everything from a technical point of view, from the storytelling side some ideas are coming up - nothing fancy yet. Also I did some graphics for Miguel and Bob, last week. And I’ve been struggling with a Creeper coffee mug, trying not to spill it all over myself while working (it’s a cube).

Jesus (Chuchito): I’m new in the dev team, so I have been taking a look at the code.

Alex (aLeXmOrA): Cleaning databases, making backups, solving some Store minor issues and bugging Facebook support to get our KSP FB page back (it’s fine to know it’s up again).

Marco (Samsonart): Testing a few things and playing around with Unity 4.3 . I’ve also been identifying common issues that came up during the holiday season to see if the Store can be made even more user friendly.

Ted (Ted): Over the past week I’ve been going over the QA and Experimental Teams and seeing what can be improved. So far, I’ve identified that documentation and the organisation of the documentation can be vastly improved and thus have gotten to work on planning and developing it. In addition I’ve been looking over the bug tracker and its forum, doing much the same thing - but to a lesser extent.

Miguel (Maxmaps): Reworking the structure through which the communications theme operates. Hoping to bring you more content and information in a clean, transparent and efficient manner. Also reviving our facebook after a system error on FB’s part (shoutout to Calisker for that solution) and organizing a pretty awesome supply drop that found its way to Squad HQ.

Bob (Calisker): Wondering if anybody has a good costume/mascot company out there. I think it’s time for a life-size Kerbal costume. Let me know if somebody knows a guy. Also, calling danRosas my hero for his design skills.

Anthony (Rowsdower): Getting back into the swing of things, I’ve been making my daily community rounds and monitoring the forums, alongside our ace mod team. Additionally, I’ve been helping with the reorganization of some internal workflow, planning some cool social media projects, discussing potential promotional opportunities and taking my time to write proposals on tightening up forum rules & regulations, as well as team practices.



Lalo: Hello my name is Lalo and I’m new on the Kerbal Team. I’m PM and I’m very excited to be part of it



