Wednesday 8 September 2010

Yes... no... yes... no... release cliffhanger!

It's been all quiet on the dev blog for a couple of weeks, largely because everyone was on holiday in much of August, and since they came back we've been focused 100% on shipping Moviestorm 1.4.1. (Yes, we decided to call it 1.4.1, not mess around with calling it 1.4 official release or 1.4.0.1, or 1.4a or anything. No big deal, it's just a number.)

So here we are, Wednesday afternoon, and it's all wrapped up, ready to go, and we're writing the release notes, when we hear a squawk from QA. They've found four more bugs. That's normal. If we waited until we cleared every single bug, we'd never release anything. If they're not too serious, we just log 'em, ship, and fix 'em later.

But this time, one of them is a blocker. That means we absolutely can't ship the update until it's fixed. If we're lucky, it's a quick fix. If we're not, it isn't.

So here's the current status: there's a deathly hush in the office as Dave frantically wrestles code. Nobody is allowed to breathe loudly, let alone speak. Bits are flying left and right, sweat pours from his furrowed brow, and smoke begins to pour from the overheating computers. A telephone rings. Andrew grabs it before the noise can break Dave's concentration, and listens for a moment. "No, Mister Chairman," he whispers. "We're still waiting."

For a moment, there is the sound of keys as Andrew sends a desperate message across the Atlantic. "Matt, tell the people we haven't forgotten them. Tell them our story. Tell them!"



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