Post by Moongaze on Feb 4, 2008 3:15:13 GMT -5
I usually hide out in the LunarSphere board and forget about posting in these boards, but I check every board for posts and respond as necessary. I figure it was time to get people an update on a few items:
LunarSphere Stage 6 has been going on now for almost two months. This stage of the development was supposed to be finished when I released it, only to tie up a few bugs that appear and focus on the last stage of development: Stage 7. Sadly (or happily?), things did not happen like I wanted and Stage 6 came under some new features and a fairly heavy re-write for some code.
I originally created the speech module that LunarSphere uses as module that stores the speeches globally. After a few tests with the beta testers, as well as receiving a lot of input from people, I opted to change the code to make the speeches local so that users can have the speeches taking up memory only on the characters they want it to (since local saved variables are for a character, while global saved variables will affect EVERY character). As of now, I'm still converting the code and setting it up for the new features I plan to add, such as setting a script to local OR global, and some other stuff.
I am also in the process of re-designing the speech tab interface. That isn't the easiest thing in the world to do, and I have been really not looking forward to doing it. It will involve some extra tab work and, I think, will be intuitive once finished, but I still need to design it properly so I don't have to do it again
Some suggestions also popped in and I added them into Stage 6, to make people happy as well as give me some extra things to work with when I start up Stage 7. One of the original arguments AGAINST LunarSphere was the fact that it was "bloated." Right now, it is bloated, since a lot of features that people might not use ... are taking up memory. Also, LunarSphere has a lot of features that are not typical of an action bar addon. Since when did LS aim to be JUST an action bar addon, I have no clue, and that was never the goal =). To combat this "bloat" that some people mentioned on other websites, that's where Stage 7 will come in.
Stage 7 will have a new tab called "Memory" or "Manage" and will let the user turn on and off parts of the addon they do not wish to use. Granted, some parts will not be worth much in the memory usage area, but every little bit helps. Some will drop the size of LunarSphere's memory usage by 1k, some by 4k, others could potentially get up to 20-40k. I have not optimized all of the code within LunarSphere, and when Stage 7 is almost complete, LOTS and LOTS of code moving will happen. There's no reason two have the same block of code (3-8 lines) copied and pasted in 10 or 12 locations, when I could just make it so the same block of code is utilized by several parts of the addon, reducing code duplication, and cutting the size of LS.
As a reminder, although I doubt many of my beta testers need to know this ... LunarSphere has been in beta testing this whole time. Technically, it's been developed from a simple skeleton design and added upon by the suggestions, gripes, and input given by the community. Everyone who visits this forum and makes their words known have, in one way or another, shaped this addon to be what it is now. It was never officially made public and was never meant to be judged as a "final product" until the day the public release happens. I have quite a few people who have emailed me and stated on this forum and other web forums that this addon is flawless (or close to flawless) and is amazing, and I thank everyone one of you. Your words have always kept me excited to work on this project.
My goal is to make a universal sphere addon that all classes can use. It is my goal to provide the user with several options to make LunarSphere work in ways that they would want it to work (within reason, haha). It is my goal to listen to everyone's feedback and offer quick bug fixes for serious issues and roll out releases with new features and not-so-serious bug fixes every few days/weeks. I have been pushing toward these goals and I have been pleased with my progress, but I'm not finished yet and have a little way to go.
My classes have started up again, and these classes will bring with them a lot of homework and time out of class. I will still focus on LunarSphere with my free time, but remember that I am only but one person, and this is a pretty large and ambitious project. But I will finish it! Depending on how this project is received at the public level, I might drop out more "Lunar" projects that can work together with this addon and other "Lunar" projects. They won't be NEARLY as complex and HUGE as this project ... but they will share a look that users can identify with. Settings windows that work similar. Stuff like that.
As people might have noticed, the Stage 6 versions have been downloaded from a new source (NOT FileDen, woo!). When LunarSphere gets closer to completion, I will have the LunarAddons website finished and ready to go live. It will look like a typical website with news posts on the front page and links to download pages, forums, and more. This forum will most likely become inactive once the new forums start up, but this forum will kept up to show the history of this addon which is over 9 months in the making.
Thank you to all my beta testers. I always say it, but it is something that I truely believe. Without you, this project would NEVER have become what it has today. Although I have over 300 registered forum members, I know that at least 30% of those users don't come here anymore, or at least, don't log in with their name and just browse around, read stuff, and download. I know there has been thousands of people who have been to this site and never posted, and I also thank them, even if I don't know their name.
With that, I end this post and head off to bed. Thanks for reading =)
LunarSphere Stage 6 has been going on now for almost two months. This stage of the development was supposed to be finished when I released it, only to tie up a few bugs that appear and focus on the last stage of development: Stage 7. Sadly (or happily?), things did not happen like I wanted and Stage 6 came under some new features and a fairly heavy re-write for some code.
I originally created the speech module that LunarSphere uses as module that stores the speeches globally. After a few tests with the beta testers, as well as receiving a lot of input from people, I opted to change the code to make the speeches local so that users can have the speeches taking up memory only on the characters they want it to (since local saved variables are for a character, while global saved variables will affect EVERY character). As of now, I'm still converting the code and setting it up for the new features I plan to add, such as setting a script to local OR global, and some other stuff.
I am also in the process of re-designing the speech tab interface. That isn't the easiest thing in the world to do, and I have been really not looking forward to doing it. It will involve some extra tab work and, I think, will be intuitive once finished, but I still need to design it properly so I don't have to do it again
Some suggestions also popped in and I added them into Stage 6, to make people happy as well as give me some extra things to work with when I start up Stage 7. One of the original arguments AGAINST LunarSphere was the fact that it was "bloated." Right now, it is bloated, since a lot of features that people might not use ... are taking up memory. Also, LunarSphere has a lot of features that are not typical of an action bar addon. Since when did LS aim to be JUST an action bar addon, I have no clue, and that was never the goal =). To combat this "bloat" that some people mentioned on other websites, that's where Stage 7 will come in.
Stage 7 will have a new tab called "Memory" or "Manage" and will let the user turn on and off parts of the addon they do not wish to use. Granted, some parts will not be worth much in the memory usage area, but every little bit helps. Some will drop the size of LunarSphere's memory usage by 1k, some by 4k, others could potentially get up to 20-40k. I have not optimized all of the code within LunarSphere, and when Stage 7 is almost complete, LOTS and LOTS of code moving will happen. There's no reason two have the same block of code (3-8 lines) copied and pasted in 10 or 12 locations, when I could just make it so the same block of code is utilized by several parts of the addon, reducing code duplication, and cutting the size of LS.
As a reminder, although I doubt many of my beta testers need to know this ... LunarSphere has been in beta testing this whole time. Technically, it's been developed from a simple skeleton design and added upon by the suggestions, gripes, and input given by the community. Everyone who visits this forum and makes their words known have, in one way or another, shaped this addon to be what it is now. It was never officially made public and was never meant to be judged as a "final product" until the day the public release happens. I have quite a few people who have emailed me and stated on this forum and other web forums that this addon is flawless (or close to flawless) and is amazing, and I thank everyone one of you. Your words have always kept me excited to work on this project.
My goal is to make a universal sphere addon that all classes can use. It is my goal to provide the user with several options to make LunarSphere work in ways that they would want it to work (within reason, haha). It is my goal to listen to everyone's feedback and offer quick bug fixes for serious issues and roll out releases with new features and not-so-serious bug fixes every few days/weeks. I have been pushing toward these goals and I have been pleased with my progress, but I'm not finished yet and have a little way to go.
My classes have started up again, and these classes will bring with them a lot of homework and time out of class. I will still focus on LunarSphere with my free time, but remember that I am only but one person, and this is a pretty large and ambitious project. But I will finish it! Depending on how this project is received at the public level, I might drop out more "Lunar" projects that can work together with this addon and other "Lunar" projects. They won't be NEARLY as complex and HUGE as this project ... but they will share a look that users can identify with. Settings windows that work similar. Stuff like that.
As people might have noticed, the Stage 6 versions have been downloaded from a new source (NOT FileDen, woo!). When LunarSphere gets closer to completion, I will have the LunarAddons website finished and ready to go live. It will look like a typical website with news posts on the front page and links to download pages, forums, and more. This forum will most likely become inactive once the new forums start up, but this forum will kept up to show the history of this addon which is over 9 months in the making.
Thank you to all my beta testers. I always say it, but it is something that I truely believe. Without you, this project would NEVER have become what it has today. Although I have over 300 registered forum members, I know that at least 30% of those users don't come here anymore, or at least, don't log in with their name and just browse around, read stuff, and download. I know there has been thousands of people who have been to this site and never posted, and I also thank them, even if I don't know their name.
With that, I end this post and head off to bed. Thanks for reading =)