Easier bug submission

Hey, I have a suggestion regarding bug submission.

I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who encounters bugs, errors and glitches in Construct while being too busy or lazy to submit an elaborate bug report. Don't you think it would be beneficial if there was some sort of forum where these problems could be posted for record and posterity to ensure that they don't go unnoticed?

It would probably have a lot of unecessary topics, but I think that would be better than having people say nothing at all about errors that could potentially be important to fix.

The whole reason the tracker exists is that forum posts get lost and forgotten much, much more easily than a single central list of bug reports. And I really don't think it's harder to post a bug report than a forum post. Why not just report issues when you come across them?

Sourceforge does not let me post bug reports. Also, a forum would be easier for people anyway. It is better to have a forum for it rather than have tons of bugs left in Construct for 1.0.

You have to register a Sourceforge account to post bug reports. I'm sorry but I disagree completely with this thread. The tracker provides much better tools for dealing with bugs such as filtering by open/closed status and assigning to particular developers. A forum simply does not cut it. It's up to you to post a tracker items. If you don't the problem might not get looked at! What's so hard about it anyway?

You have to register a Sourceforge account to post bug reports.

I did. Sourceforge signs me out immediately when I press Submit. Therefore, I will never be able to post bug reports myself.

And I really don't think it's harder to post a bug report than a forum post. Why not just report issues when you come across them?

It's up to you to post a tracker items. If you don't the problem might not get looked at! What's so hard about it anyway?

Well as you probably understand, logging into your bug tracker account, performing a search to see if your bug has already been submitted, writing an elaborate description of the problem and then providing a .cap file reproducing the error is a pretty big hassle when you encounter a glitch every 15-30 minutes of your game making session.

I'm not suggesting it as a replacement for the bug tracker, but I'm saying there's a big difference between getting a one-liner regarding a bug off your chest and having to go through the above mentioned routine every single time you encounter an error. With the system you've got now, you're only going to get contributions from a handful of dedicated members, and I'm sure you'd find a whole lot more bugs if you offered an easier alternative for less dedicated users.

EDIT:

I'm not trying to come off as pushy, and I'm not trying to tell you how to run the development process either. I'm just saying that if I've refrained from submitting bugs on numerous occasions, I'm sure others have as well.

I'm just saying that if I've refrained from submitting bugs on numerous occasions, I'm sure others have as well.

Definately. Probably more people than have actually submitted bugs.

Well as you probably understand, logging into your bug tracker account, performing a search to see if your bug has already been submitted, writing an elaborate description of the problem and then providing a .cap file reproducing the error is a pretty big hassle when you encounter a glitch every 15-30 minutes of your game making session.

That makes for good bug reports. The devs work on construct in their spare time, and the current system saves them time. The time and hassle needed to submit bugs to the trackers helps reduce the time needed for the devs to isolate and fix the bug. Also nothing is preventing you from posting about bugs on the forum, but any bug should be ultimately submitted to the tracker. Otherwise like Ashley said, the problem might not get looked at.

Cheers!

That makes for good bug reports. The devs work on construct in their spare time, and the current system saves them time. The time and hassle needed to submit bugs to the trackers helps reduce the time needed for the devs to isolate and fix the bug. Also nothing is preventing you from posting about bugs on the forum, but any bug should be ultimately submitted to the tracker. Otherwise like Ashley said, the problem might not get looked at.

Cheers!

Yeah of course the time spent submitting bugs can't be compared to the time invested in programming the project, but if I were leading a project of this size I'd want a pretty broad scope of bug submissions. Ashley seems pretty opposed to the idea and I guess she's free to work on the project in the way she's most comfortable with, but I honestly only see an upside to adding another bug submission channel if it meant that people with a lower interest level would start contributing. There's no harm in doing so. At worst you could ignore some of the posts, and at best you'd get a lot of submissions you probably otherwise wouldn't get.

Ashley seems pretty opposed to the idea and I guess she's free to work on the project in the way she's most comfortable with

*Cough*... Ok, honest mistake.

But yea, the tracker is the best place for bugs. A forum would be so disorganized it's not even funny. Also, bug reports without detail or .caps are next to useless, which is what 90% of the forum posts would inevitably end up being. The tracker forces you to give some detail. It's better to keep everything in one place anyway.

> Ashley seems pretty opposed to the idea and I guess she's free to work on the project in the way she's most comfortable with

>

*Cough*... Ok, honest mistake.

Maybe I should make a thread about this to alleviate all of the confusion.

I don't get it.

Ashley is a dude not a girl.

Okay. I didn't know that.

Hehehe. Well, I think if you have a lot of small issues in quick succession, it might be worth grouping them in to a single bug report, especially if they're easily reproducable. But you should still make a bug report - a list of forum posts, as has been said, quickly becomes very difficult to track. How do I quickly list all the remaining open bugs assigned to me? I can't, I'd have to trawl through forum posts. We also require .caps for good reason: in the past we had a tonne of bugs that were never fixed because we did exactly what was described, and didn't see anything wrong. The majority of cases, there is something subtley different in the .cap that is the real problem - not what the submitter saw and assumed. These things may be time consuming but they really are necessary, otherwise a lot of bugs would just be closed as 'can't reproduce' which is a waste of time for everybody.