Overview
May last year, I presented a development plan for the Noble Ape development. Although it is now totally out of date, it does provide some ideas about the current development plan. The development continues to evolve along a path of least resistance. Integrating the development with Noble Warfare and integrating some of the Apple Distribution has improved the Noble Ape Simulation, as the development grows into two distributions with the Noble Ape Simulation and Noble Warfare.
FTP and Text
For the past two years, the Noble Ape development has been done through Sourceforge in terms of version control, some software distribution and community interaction. Through Sourceforge's change in direction, the development as returned to its more clandestine roots. CVS and other mainstream Open Source distribution methods of version control have been replaced with FTP and text. This works through a central release and distribution point. The means of source code, software and documentation distribution works through FTP accounts and a small working group for releasing and maintaining the source code/documentation.
The two years with Sourceforge and CVS did provide a number of challenges in terms of CVS integrating into the development cycle. With a single primary developer and one additional OS specific developer, the Noble Ape Simulation's source control doesn't require the pluses or the minuses of CVS.
One can imagine that the 'clandestine' methods of distribution will be refined through time.
Less Frequent Distributions
From the May 2003 development plan, the number of distributions of the software has decreased. This is not a result of a decrease in work on the software. Merely a frustration with the mechanisms available to release and the amount of time and emotional effort trolling unproductive feedback left on the Simulation.
With the development of Noble Warfare, the standard release cycle has stopped until the release of Noble Warfare. Following the release of Noble Warfare it is possible the release cycle will pick up to six releases per year. Although seasonal releases will yield some improvement.
The expectation of new releases from the general downloading public is quite different to the expectation of releases for Open Source developers. The general downloading public make up a larger group of the Noble Ape Simulation users, thus a slower release cycle should be respected.
Increased Documentation
The need for documentation for the Simulation and Noble Warfare continues to be a challenge. The mantra of getting documentation online quickly - not allowing it to stagnate and fall behind - has been followed occasionally. But the traditional drafting and review before publication does slow the process.
The Mailouts continue to be a source of communication with a broader audience however the readership has remained relatively constant. The Mailout also provides a temporal challenge. Occasionally a draft Mailout is written mid-month, but in general the Mailout is a ritual that is confined to the last three days of the month in a hurried drafting and release cycle which is rushed at best.
A recent experiment of putting short essays online seems relatively successful in terms of time in and result out. The source log has experienced minor challenges - particularly the frequency of updating and a slowness in changing over months. But this is being addressed with a more flexible FTP update mechanism. In general, the source log provides the best day to day account of the development together with the more personal, Barbalet's Log.
Noble Warfare
Whilst still in development at the time of writing, Noble Warfare is already providing a new user base to Noble Ape. The development has been a learning experience on a number of levels. Sections of the development have taken more time than expected. In particular, the integration of the Noble Ape Simulation. This has provided a number of positive integrative results. Noble Warfare uses a lot more shared code than was originally imagined.
The development is still to early to be predictive about the impact of the release or the time required to maintain the development. It is expected that resources will be created by third parties and there will be some community creation to assist with the propagation of Noble Warfare. This will come both through historical battle simulation but also the integration of fantasy battles.
Lessons Learnt
From the last development plan, a lot of predictions were made that weren't necessarily fulfilled through the course of development. Aspects of development were also missed through the predictive nature of the document. This document is layed out more as a time stamp than a predictive document. It is nearly impossible to predict where the Noble Ape development will be in twelve months time. If the development to-date has been any indication, it is clear the Noble Ape development will still be about in twelve months. In what form, who can predict.
Tom Barbalet, 15 February 2004.