Stickied Thread Idea

[Paradox01]

We've all seen those posts where some new(ish) member asks for a feature/story hook/character option assuming it's an easy addition/change to the game's code and/or writing.

"Why can't we de-dick all the NPCs? It's just a couple additional parsers here & there."

Try and explain how much harder it is to do in real life once or twice and you get tired of it; your responses degenerate to the level of, "Don't hold your breath, you have NO IDEA HOW HARD THAT WOULD BE."

I would love a stickied post by one of the devs and/or lead coders that break down the writing/coding process Barney-style. Something that gives a couple examples of making a seemingly "easy" fix/addition and shows how much more work it would entail.

Would new members read it before jumping straight into the Ideas forum and asking for the ability to give everyone interactable nipple mouths? Fuck no. But at least it'd be something we can point a new member to when they start thinking the developers' jobs are easy.

 

[Kesil]

Yeah, what about those four arms? Why can't I play the game in other language? Huh??

 

[Paradox01]

Yeah, what about those four arms? Why can't I play the game in other language? Huh??

Exactly, those are the kind of understandable yet incessant questions we see here.

 

[Athena]

In the case of posts in the idea thread, one would assume they'd learn how difficult it is simply by studying already-provided material and/or trying to write it themselves. If they're serious about their endeavor and have any questions or concerns about the feasability of it, they would hopefully have the sense to ask coders and other writers about it.

I do think that some of the available resources need to be updated once the Javascript port is out, since some of them were clearly written before certain aspects of the game had been finalized, with several things being explained by comparing it to how CoC handled those features, which only makes sense if you had already worked on CoC content. Things like the OG Writing style guide and Gedan's document template feel like rough estimates for the game they were trying to make back in 2015, so I think they could use some sprucing up so we're all on the same page.

 

[Magenta Needle]

Exactly, those are the kind of understandable yet incessant questions we see here.

I think most of us new member don't know enough on how things works here and instead of lurking a bit, seeing what is already solved, we just ask.
Finding and reading the relevant docs was relatively easy but for those of us that never coded anything, adding content seems easy but it get really tricky fast.

I think most of these posts are made in good faith, they really want to improve the game and being new also mean you certainly did not see that much thread explaining why what you ask is in fact hard to do.

I hope I did not shitpost too much, neither hurt some off the newest members with my assertions, it is easy to deal with maybe a hundred lines of code but CoC and TiTS are millions of lines long, a small change can impact a lot of rework.

 

[Paradox01]

I think most of these posts are made in good faith...

Absolutely. I didn't mean to come across as critical of new people asking questions - that would just be silly and unrealistic - it's just kind of frustrating answering the same questions over and over, no matter the legitimacy of said questions.

A post like I suggested would be a quick way more seasoned members could help.

New Member: "Why can't my seemingly simple suggestion be easily added to the game?"

Veteran Member: *Copy & Paste link*

 

[Magenta Needle]

Maybe creating a "read first" thread that answer the most annoying ones ?

 

[Paradox01]

Maybe creating a "read first" thread that answer the most annoying ones ?

That's pretty much what I'm suggesting while witholding the hope that people will actually read it first.

 

[Magenta Needle]

People should respect rule 33