23 replies to this topic

[Pandæmonium]

NEIN! DAS IST VERBOTEN!

[Pandæmonium]

But I sure wish there was some activity going on in here....

[Silmarien]

Terribly, terribly sorry that I only saw this topic now. The past year has seen a lot of change for me: I'm currently enrolled in a demanding postgraduate course in a foreign university, hence neglectful of my modding duties.

I understand how frustrating it must be, but at the moment I don't think I can in good conscience release any new code pending Mistress E's approval. The content is hers, after all - I'm only supplying the code and incidentals. Thanks for all your support, please hang in there and I'll see if I can contact her/if she contacts me again.

[Froberg]

Certainly seems like a good time to give something to the masses, even if it's unfinished..

[the bigg]

If the mod is 90% done (just some minor dialogue to write, plus debugging and proofreading to be done) and the original author doesn't have time to finish it for years on end, it'd be a good idea to look for a competent third party modder to debug, release and maintain the mod (while the original author reserves the right to come back three years later and write the last bunch of dialogues); however most modders are too protective of their own work to do that. Posting the mod if a significant portion is TBD and/or before testing and proofreading is a bad idea (you're better off with a silent NPC than a buggy one).

Just to give you an example of the hyper-protectiveness of certain modders, a certain mod was (and still is) very poorly written (bad grammar, typos, improper use of you're/your etc.); an unrelated modder decided to post a corrected version of the dialogues as a provocation and ended up being chased out of the forum by an angry mob wielding torches and pitchforks.

Edited by the bigg, 14 July 2010 - 07:05 AM.

[berelinde]

I'm not one to talk about this, since I stalled for about two years on a mod myself, but if she isn't going to finish it, maybe it would be better to let another modder clean it up, get it tested, and release it. But it would have to be Mistress E's decision. If she has dropped off the planet for whatever reason, the mod is probably going to stay in limbo, like an unfinished manuscript under an author's bed.

(Note to self: Put all unfinished material in an archive and make it downloadable somewhere so somebody else can do something with it in the event that something unexpected and permanent happens to me. Not that anybody would want to, but you never know.)

[Lava Del'Vortel]

The problem is that Silmarien is Elysia's helper and Mistress must tell herself that someone may "inharit" the project. It has been a long time since she was here... I gues Liam and others can do nothing without her... We would need someone who could contact Ely, but I'm not sure if that's possible. I will try to contact her, but heh.... I doubt it will work...

[the bigg]

(Note to self: Put all unfinished material in an archive and make it downloadable somewhere so somebody else can do something with it in the event that something unexpected and permanent happens to me. Not that anybody would want to, but you never know.)

A good way to do that is to keep your projects on GitHub (like I do). Apart from the 'legacy' problem you mentioned, by using that you also get online backups, version tracking and a standardized way to receive contributions. Shame that you need to bang your head at a bash prompt for a day to get started with that, though.

[Froberg]

There must be someone with the ability, and interest, in contacting her and getting a solution?

[berelinde]

Most modders do not use their personal email accounts for modding-related communication and they sure as heck aren't going to be giving out their telephone info. If the modder has lost interest in modding to the extent that they haven't even logged into the forum in months, they aren't checking their gaming email account, either. How would anyone get through? Psychics?

[Zyraen]

If I may add, I once had an embarrassing situation where I auto-filtered my modding emails to a certain folder in my email, and consequently forgot to check the folder... embarrassing... ^^;

[Lava Del'Vortel]

I know someone who has contact with Elysia, but I will keep this info for me, cause I don't want other to bother this person in future, but I tried to contact him/her. This person wasn't here for some time either, but heh.... it's better to try than sit and do nothing...

[Froberg]

Most modders do not use their personal email accounts for modding-related communication and they sure as heck aren't going to be giving out their telephone info. If the modder has lost interest in modding to the extent that they haven't even logged into the forum in months, they aren't checking their gaming email account, either. How would anyone get through? Psychics?

Is there any chance you could be more hostile?

I am sure that several modders have gotten friendly, maybe even in real-life.

Is it that unreasonable to think that someone still might be in contact with her?

If it is, then I am so very sorry - but there's no reason to be all self-righteous about it.

[the bigg]

Is there any chance you could be more hostile?

1) Berelinde's post is nowhere near hostile (given the tone of your posts).
2) on other communities you'd already have been laughed out of the forum for your demanding tone *and* assuming you are entitled to the results of other people's free work.
3) Rather than ignoring you and/or flaming you, Lava is actually trying to get in contact with Elysia to the best of his abilities.

Edited by the bigg, 15 July 2010 - 10:21 AM.

[Ipsissimus]

Is there any chance you could be more hostile?

Pardon me, but I don't understand why that's "hostile." Sure, some modders might know each other in RL, but maybe Mistress Elysia isn't among them. To me at least, berelinde was just pointing out that sometimes it's hard to contact modders. Sometimes people just decide that they need/want a break from their projects, or they move on with their life, have RL concerns... And in any of those cases, I doubt that they'd regularly check forums/modding email/PMs. So your own self-righteousness is entirely unnecessary. It's not unreasonable to think that someone might be able to contact her. However, your OP was rather demanding, and your second post...it's just rude. Plus, it's not fair to Elysia to all but demand progress/material for ToB.

[berelinde]

@Froberg: I am not trying to be hostile, though I am trying to be practical. The coder has promised to try (again) to contact the modder, but even if she gets through, there are no guarantees.

Based on what I've seen here, Mistress E has not posted in this community since the forum software was updated. Her latest deviantart submission was 26 April 2009. Last year, she was working on the NWN Valen mod at Petals and Thorns, but she has not posted since 02 December 2009. She has not visited that forum at all since 16 December 2009. That's a long time.

[Silmarien]

I aten't dead, although I have been absent for a very long time due to taking up a postgraduate course that threatened to consume my life whole (thankfully, I've now completed it with my sanity more or less intact). I've been trying to contact Mistress Elysia at the last known addresses she gave me, but unfortunately have had no replies yet. In the meantime, without her consent, I don't feel comfortable releasing whatever ToB content we've got so far out into the wild. I know this is frustrating - I find it similarly frustrating too - but unfortunately I'm afraid there's not much that can be done about it until and unless someone manages to contact her.