June 5th, 2019
Greetings Beyonders!
It's been a while since we've done a changelog for smaller bug fixes / improvements, but we've had some deployed to production recently that we wanted to re-cap so here goes:
Fixes:
- Fixed an issue with unassigned characters not showing in the campaign character listing as soon as they were created.
- Fixed an issue with additional monster lore data not showing for all applicable users, relative to content sharing.
- Fixed an issue with user url routes for users registering using Google Auth on mobile. (The fix would apply for all users past that date, and previous users would need nickname credits).
- Updated the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service links that were 404 on the Google Auth modal.
- Marking all forums or forum threads as read has been fixed.
- Correctly copy monster skill bonuses when copying a monster for use as a homebrew template.
- Fixed an issue with some campaigns showing in the Active and Inactive sections in a user's campaign index.
Improvements:
- A vehicles section has been added to global search and a vehicles filter added on the search results page. Granted, there's not a lot of vehicles at the moment, but I have a feeling that may change in the future.
- Private messaging is updated so that users you've ignored can no longer send you a private message nor trigger a notification.
- Feat Options now have the ability to add Actions.
Is this really all y'all have been doing?
Certainly not. As Badeye has mentioned before, we have grown from one small team of a couple of developers to three development teams (and are continuing to staff up even more!) focused on various aspects of the product . For example, our "Challenges" team is currently working on the Encounter Builder feature, which is in alpha, while the "Characters" team is working on the mobile app version of the character sheet.
However, a good portion of the work that we are also doing is what we call "deconstructing the monolith". DDB, as you currently know it, is built on an older code-base that was a carry-over from the early days for Curse, Inc. The growth that DDB has experienced has necessitated us migrating out of that older, monolithic, paradigm to an architecture that is more flexible and more scale-able.
Our three engineering teams balance working on product features (what our customers need) with engineering needs. Engineering things that we've done recently, which customers don't see, include building and launching a distributed authentication system, a distributed entitlements system, and a distributed vehicle service. A successful launch of these systems entails our customers never noticing a difference in how the product operates, and provides the foundation for "deconstructing the monolith".
As we're able to start pulling the pieces of the monolith apart, you will see more rapid updates on products as we gain the ability to implement changes that are smaller in scope. Our goal is to achieve a state of continuous integration and continuous deployment. Meaning, our changes are continually getting deployed and there is little to no development work-in-progress (WIP). We're not there yet, but we've got a motivated, dedicated, and excited group making great progress towards this goal.
We are continually thrilled with all of the support, feedback, and constructive criticisms, that you, our users, provide. You help us more than you know!
Happy dragon slaying! (unless you're a dragon, then happy, um ,well, TPKing characters?)
Nice! Thanks!
As for the 'invisible' work, I've said that what we need are cameras that watch over everyone at DDB so that we can all 'appreciate' your work. Just because I also added the possibility of shock collars and buttons for subscribers to incite motivation in the staff is no reason to discredit my idea...
What about the good dragons though? :P
Happy slaughtering evil (or non-good) creatures, obviously!
still don't see that containers in inventory are now identified as "containers"
Noone said you should yet, to be honest... At least I don't see it being mentioned in this post.
This is great! Thanks for the update especially the bit at the end - the bits you don’t see.
Curious us to know your workflow. ‘Continuous deployment’ leads me to reckon you work agile, do you have many designers/researchers in your team and how do they integrate into this flow?
Man do I know how you guys feel. Up to my eyeballs in tearing apart our own monolith and implementing smaller pieces. Doing so while users are none the wiser is the hard part. Props to your teams.
Pretty sure that was my point, Edem. Yeah....
Gracias!
We do have embedded designers on our teams. They typically will start on initial ideas (wireframes / mocks) with Product a few weeks before other engineering tasks start. Once we get into pre-alpha / alpha phases, they are working in conjunction with engineering, adjusting designs and workflows based on user feedback / surveys / analytics, etc.
Our researchers (R&D) operate as a separate group, making their own prototypes and proofs-of-concept. Once they have a functional prototype, it will get reviewed by Product and Engineering and moved onto a team's roadmap.
Do you think it would be possible to add an image section in the character pages? I would like to add certain spreadsheets of information specific to characters, certain maps, etc.
I can totally understand that. I've spent many a time trying to explain that I did a lot in the last week and if no one noticed then I did good.
The kobolds and drow will continue to wait for their Sunlight Sensitivity to be helped out with. These pages are as bright as Pelor, and there's no tinted shades in sight!
Was that a clever enough way of asking for a Dark Theme?
Soo you commented your grumble about how a certain feature request is not implemented yet, under a post explaining how full the dev team's hand is and why they could not just throw every request into the mold yet?
Wow.
Great. Um... at the risk of beating a dead horse, what about Content Management? So long promised yet, seems to keep falling off the radar. So surprising given the number of DMs that are holding back buying digital adventure content without this feature.
The dead horse is happy to announce that the Content & Commerce team is starting on v1 of the Content Management feature next week!
\o/
<insert random party emoji>
Wow. [Just when] "it seemed like all the way to tomorrow and over it to the days beyond".
Great, thanks for the reply!
This is the single thing I wanted the most. Are modifiers possible as well? If not, will they be coming?