• Please note: In an effort to ensure that all of our users feel welcome on our forums, we’ve updated our forum rules. You can review the updated rules here: http://forums.wolflair.com/showthread.php?t=5528.

    If a fellow Community member is not following the forum rules, please report the post by clicking the Report button (the red yield sign on the left) located on every post. This will notify the moderators directly. If you have any questions about these new rules, please contact support@wolflair.com.

    - The Lone Wolf Development Team

Realm Works Progress Update

rob

Administrator
Staff member
As we reach the end of September, I wanted to give everyone a brief update on the status of my ongoing health battles and how they are still impacting Realm Works. While some progress has been made, the truth is that I seriously over-estimated how quickly my health and efficiency would return once I began to improve.

This past week, I received a more grounded and accurate understanding of the recovery process from a different doctor. It turns out there are two lengthy recovery stages: the first is to get off the nasty meds and the second is for the body to get back to normal again (i.e. flushing the meds out of the system). The previous doctor made it sound like there was only one step, and I definitely began to feel better during the first stage when I posted my estimates for completion. So, I remained hopeful and didn’t question my recovery until the improvement stalled earlier this month. While I’m disappointed in myself and my recovery, I can’t do more than press forward.

That said, I am getting a modicum of work done these days. Progress on Realm Works is being made – just not nearly at the pace any of us were hoping for.

There are three main milestones immediately ahead of us. The first is to finish getting a number of issues and bugs resolved within Realm Works that impact the Content Market launch, which is my current focus and has turned out to be significantly more complicated than I anticipated. The second is to complete the missing content for KS backers and get that delivered – this step relies on the aforementioned issues being fixed. And the third is to get the Content Market itself launched.

In the interest of transparency, I’m going to start providing a brief progress update every week. It will most likely be posted on Mondays, as I usually get a fair chunk of work done over the weekends. This way, everyone will know where things stand as we continue working towards each of the milestones. As I need to dedicate as much time as possible to Realm Works, it’s unlikely I’ll be able to engage in lengthy conversations about these posts. Therefore, I will be posting the weekly updates to a locked thread, which will also make them easier to follow for those tuning in at later points in the process. You are, of course, welcome to start your own threads and converse about what’s being done. I just may not be able to participate in those conversations.

While it’s by no means the improved product you all deserve, the weekly progress updates will provide a clearer sense of what’s being worked on and how it’s progressing, allowing everyone to follow along as I accomplish what I can.

Thank you to everyone who has sent kind words about my health challenges and to those who have continued to support my efforts over the years, despite your understandable frustration.

-Rob
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Rob, thanks for the update. It is hard to do meaningful things, and I would hope that reasonable folks who get to see indications of progress will understand and let things evolve as necessary. If they don't... well, there is always the competition (good luck with that because I cannot even say what the competition really is [NBOS The Keep, maybe comes closest but still a universe away]).
 
I would hope that reasonable folks who get to see indications of progress will understand and let things evolve as necessary.

What indications of progress have we seen exactly? Last I heard the only problem was Piazo and RW was ready and waiting as soon as they delivered. Guess not.
 
Why aren’t your other developers working on this?

This was answered, read the previous posts. And honestly, it cannot be more open and transparent than this unless you want to see the bills from the doctor, jesus, this makes me really angry, no matter what this company does, every time there is someone posting more questions.

Just accept those weekly updates now, its much more than before and I strongly believe that it is not the best for the company if the ceo / owner has to explain every business decision they are doing within public.

Whatever the reason might be, don't you think they would have thought of it, if it is possible?

Sorry, for sounding grumpy in this post, but it's always the same here :P *hugs*
 
Rob,

Thanks for the update. Appreciate the reality check. Wish you best of luck in your ongoing recovery.

We don't have the update yet. When we do, you can judge for yourself whether you want to keep waiting. Periodic updates were all I ever wanted all along. If you look up my posts, you will see that I have asked for just a progress report on what has happened, and no dates need to be given.
 
Rob, thanks for the update. It is hard to do meaningful things, and I would hope that reasonable folks who get to see indications of progress will understand and let things evolve as necessary. If they don't... well, there is always the competition (good luck with that because I cannot even say what the competition really is [NBOS The Keep, maybe comes closest but still a universe away]).

I had never even heard of that software up until now, but I had a quick peep and it looked just like Realm Works to me! At least from a scattering of screenshots on their website.
 
I have both. The Keep is not in the same league with Realmworks, even with the latter's well-known foibles and bugs.
 
@Rob: If you really are interested in honoring your KS commitments, Zach over at Frog God Games assured me he'd be happy to provide the files for The Blight to you. All you need to do is ask.

Nothing much has changed with The Blight as far as content or size from before the KS happened. There are 10 chapters on the city covering 13 areas (12 were advertised in the KS) and the adventure path is 9 episodes (12 were originally intended). It was always going to be a huge adventure setting as it was always advertised as having the city AND the adventures which LWD was aware of as that info is posted on the KS. And of course FGG has a well-earned reputation of creating bookshelf breaking books.
 
Why aren’t your other developers working on this?

While I do understand your frustration and certainly understand why you would ask that question, the answer is simply that we are not a huge company. Rob is not just our owner but the actual creator of these products and our senior developer. Sometimes only he can solve a problem.

To be clear, the tasks Rob is working on are not simple, they are complex issues only he has the experience to handle that are currently blocking our ability to move forward.
 
Last edited:
I had never even heard of that software up until now, but I had a quick peep and it looked just like Realm Works to me! At least from a scattering of screenshots on their website.
The Keep is ancient software. I honestly have no idea if its been updated in the last decade but v2.0 came out roughly that long ago. RW may have gone a long time since its last patch but not that long.
 
While I’m disappointed in myself and my recovery, I can’t do more than press forward.

Stop being ridiculous, Rob. Disappointed in yourself and your recovery why? This is nothing you have control over. All you can control is taking the time you need to get better, and making sure that's your priority. All most of us have been asking for have been some sort of communication, and you've now provided that in spades.

A few months ago, my mom had an issue. She had been recovering rather well. Then, one day, as if someone flipped a switch, she took an unexpected downturn. A couple weeks ago, I sat by her bedside all night and all through the morning as the nurses told us she could go any time. I was holding her hand as she took her last her last breath.

So ----ing take care of your ----ing self. And get better.

That said, I am getting a modicum of work done these days. Progress on Realm Works is being made – just not nearly at the pace any of us were hoping for.

Good. Right now, it shouldn't be at the pace we're hoping for. Or to flip that around, the pace we should be hoping for is the pace that allows you to get better.

While it’s by no means the improved product you all deserve, the weekly progress updates will provide a clearer sense of what’s being worked on and how it’s progressing, allowing everyone to follow along as I accomplish what I can.

What we deserve right now is simply communication. Don't be a workaholic. I know that's easier said than done, but still. Get better.

In my last replies to you, I know I got a little heated about a particular incident, and I apologize for that. With your recent explanations, I understand that there were extenuating circumstances, and you weren't your normal self, and I should have known better, because that sort of thing was out of character for you. So I wholeheartedly apologize for that. Get better.
 
So ----ing take care of your ----ing self. And get better.

Naamloos-1.jpg
 
I have to back Daplunk on this one... sound advice Rob and probably exactly what the doctor order (though perhaps without the colorful additives)! :)

Do get better and a weeks progress report will most likely go a long way...
 
And because I know what you're like Rob. We don't need war and peace. We don't need to understand exactly whats wrong. Most people just want clarification that there is progress and what the priority is.
 
Thank you all again on your support for my recovery! :)

Here is some additional information in response to a couple of the queries posted above. This information was largely outlined in a separate thread (mentioned by @Acenoid), which it linked below. I'll revisit the topics in this thread to avoid confusion for those who haven't yet seen that thread.
http://forums.wolflair.com/showpost.php?p=270090&postcount=16

Why aren’t your other developers working on this?

The issues live down in the guts of a few hundred thousand lines of code that I wrote, so I'm the one familiar with that code. The issues aren't localized problems and involve interaction across multiple aspects of what's going on under the covers, so someone will need to be familiar with all of that code to figure out how to solve them. In addition, the bugs don't occur reliably, so fixing them similarly requires piecing together a puzzle across a wide span of the code.

For those unfamiliar with software development, having someone else dive in to solve problems like this would be an immensely time-consuming task and can only be performed by a small percentage of developers. Someone thrown into the deep end on this effort would take many times longer to figure them out due to the need to acquire sufficient understanding of this sizable body of code. In other words, that person would take about as long as it’s now taking me at the slow pace I’m managing. :(

What indications of progress have we seen exactly? Last I heard the only problem was Piazo and RW was ready and waiting as soon as they delivered. Guess not.

There are two significant components at play here. First, there are some issues with how things work under the covers that need to be resolved before we can complete and release the remaining pieces of KS backer content. These are the RW items that I’ve been working on thus far. Second, we need to get everything integrated with the changes to how the Paizo API now works so that we can launch the Content Market. For KS backers, the Content Market may or may not be of interest, but it’s critical for the publishers that provided that content, as ultimately selling the content is a key component of the agreements we entered with them at the time of the KS.
 
@Eightbitz: I'm really sorry to hear about what happened with your mother. My heartfelt sympathies for what you must have gone through.

No apologies are necessary. I was really edgy due to the meds. So the fault lies with me for not properly recognizing what was going on within myself. Fortunately, BJ took away my keys before I crashed the family car. :)
 
Back
Top