Dodian Forums - Yet Another Development Update!

Yet Another Development Update! :D
So I've been working hard on the new server the past 10 or so days.
It's closing to a point where people can actually log on and test/experience stuff.
Although we aren't all the way at a public alpha/beta yet.

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Table of Content (for this wall of text!!)
- Development Status
---- How do I contribute?
---- Contribution Guidelines
---- My Personal Situation
- Dodian - Plans Ahead
---- What can you expect on launch?
---- What about staffing?
---- OSRS Content, RuneLite & Mobile?
---- No OSRS Content? What about new content?
- TL;DR
- Media

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Development Status
Right now there is a development status on the front page, I update this whenever I cross things off the list.
Though there are a few other things I need and want to do along the way.

Without going too much into technical details, I'm quite sure (combat aside) I'm done with the hardest and most complicated core functionalities.
Though I expect there to be some bugs to iron out. These will be ironed out as we find them during alpha/beta.

How do I contribute?
We welcome any community contributions. However we need to enforce some guidelines,
and at the moment of writing this announcement, we don't have any. In the meantime, you may still contribute,
we'll just have to make the best out of it! To contribute it's expected that you already have basic Git knowledge.

What are contribution guidelines?
They are guidelines we need to have some structure in the contributions,
without these, it quickly becomes too big of a job to go over the contributions. Which means dead pull requests,
and we don't want that, by we I mean all of us :)

My Personal Situation
Not so dramatic as my last personal situation announcement, while that still applies.
This time though, what I wanted to let you know is that I'll be going away for at least a week,
during that time I'll barely have internet connection.

When I return, I might return for a short period of time before I'm gone another week or so again.
This means that not a lot of work is going to be done on Dodian during this time, at least not from my side.

Dodian - Plans Ahead
So I'm sure some of you have some questions about what we have planned for Dodian going forward.
Right now we intend to finish the current project, so the server is playable, at the very least testable,
then complete the website end of things, at least enough for that to take the current website's place entirely.
When this is done, we can launch the new Dodian officially.

What can you expect on launch?
Not a lot of things are going to be changing for the launch.
Although I know for sure we're going to implement iron man in some capacity.
Meaning it might be somewhat different to OSRS' iron man modes.
Although we'll make sure that these modes stand true to their concept/intention.

I also want to re-introduce fire cape, not sure about decorative armor.
We're going to be discussing this internally closer to launch.

There are no plans what so ever to reset either economy or stats. The iron man modes should be enough.

What about staffing?
When we launch the new server and website, we're going to have to find active staff members,
meaning that current staff members will have to make up their mind about them being able to fulfill their staff positions.

We haven't discussed how we aim to pick staff members yet, but I've had an idea that the community nominates people.
With all the nominates, the current staff will look over it, make some decisions,
and then probably put up a poll for the ones we feel are most suitable for staff positions.
This way we can more easily avoid biases from friend groups etc,
but also at the same time let the community decide what's best for the community.

OSRS Content, RuneLite & Mobile?
Currently we haven't thought much about this.
Though we've aired the thoughts of RuneLite and mobile. OSRS content probably isn't very likely to be added,
considering this is a Dodian remake. RuneLite and mobile is a bit up to the community to decide as well.
Would be a bit weird to play Dodian with RuneLite, that's for sure.

When it comes to mobile however, that's still a stretch, but considering we're going actual OSRS,
it's a possibility. Though it'll likely only be available for Android devices.
Also quite a bit of work is very likely involved in getting a mobile ready experience for Dodian.
Currently we're using OSRS #171, which is before mobile was officially launched.
Upgrading to newer revisions is possible, but it's usually quite a bit of work.

No OSRS Content? What about new content?
We want to introduce new content, but more than anything, I think we need to restructure the current content in ways that makes sense for Dodian.
This means we need to stay close enough to Dodian to still keep that Dodian-feeling. Otherwise what's the point, right?

After we've revised the current content, the plan is to introduce content that is more skilling oriented.
With revised content we intend to introduce boss mechanics etc, so PVE should already be more exciting.
Which means skilling has even more room for improvement.

Once the new website is live, we'll be focusing a lot harder on getting the community's input on what to add.
Like I've tried to express in the past; while I'm the leader/face of the project, I don't really think it's mine.
Since we're a small community, where most people know each other, I want everyone to have a say in what we do,
and how we do it. Dodian is as much yours as it's mine. Though we all know that someone has to take charge,
otherwise it's going to be a complete mess.

TL;DR
As a short summary to the above, I've been making solid progress on the new server.
We're getting a lot closer to be able to open a public alpha/beta.

We have some plans for staffing situation in the future, where community will get a finger or two in the decision making.

We have aired some plans for both RuneLite and mobile client. Nothing decided yet, but they are both possibilities in the future.

We have decided that when server launches, there will definitely be iron man modes, and high scores to go along with that.
This means that this is very very likely the solution to eco or full reset. So no plans to wipe any current progress,
so you can safely keep the grind going!

There are no plans to add OSRS content. If anything we'll tailor content towards Dodian, not tailor Dodian towards OSRS.

Media

I noticed that media was cut, so the GIFs are a bit shorter than the originals.
You can view the original on Discord.

Authentication & 2FA
https://media.giphy.com/media/0ok2B1...aLeN/giphy.gif

Character Storage & Item Equipping
https://media.giphy.com/media/ldD2So...MJ3Z/giphy.gif

Object, NPC Interaction & Basic Banking
https://media.giphy.com/media/mhcrGy...e3cf/giphy.gif

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Considering I started no more than 10 days ago, I'd say we've had very solid progress on the new server.
If I can keep up that phase, we'll be alpha/beta ready at least by end of August. Though that is not a promise!
I can't make any hard promises, I can only hope. Though the past 10 days, I've had a steady phase on this project,
and I've enjoyed that time a lot. I think that what we're working on will be great for Dodian's future.