Re: Program bugs and Game bugs

[Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>]

Stavros Robert Karatsoridis writes ...
> 
> Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net> wrote:
> 
> ....
> 
> >      If you don't want your Game to have a bug, don't CALL one.
> 
> You have to know about the bug first.  People were just following Apple's
> programming conventions.  It wasn't until the program was released that
> the bug in the OS was discovered, as far as I know.
>


     Knowing or not knowing about an OS bug is beside the point. What
matters is a game's performance; and, to check that, you have play
testers.

     If the game bombs running under the standard OS, you fix the game
so that it stops bombing. Eventually, when the game is released, users
can play the game without having it crash into the monitor, overwrite
directories, or init their hard disks.

     If, despite your best efforts, the game is released and crashes
under the standard OS on typical user systems, it has a bug. You fix the
bug and the game works the way it is supposed to.

 
> >>   Perhaps the car builder should call and applogize to you because you
> >> hit a pothole. (Deven Atkinson)
> 
> >      No. The driver should apologize to his/her passengers, stop blaming
> > the street, and be willing to admit that he/she made a mistake.
> 
> On the other hand, the "driver" in this case, did not know there was a
> pothole in this case.  Since Sheppy and Burger Bill did not know there was
> a bug, they made no mistake, so it is NOT their fault.
>

     I can asure you that, as far as users and reviewers are concerned,
"fault" is not an issue. What matters is performance.

     If Fighting Frogs III: The Return, a game you designed and tested
for Activision, is bombing Windows 95 on user systems whenever RealAudio
is in the system tray, do you imagine for one moment that Activision
would care whether or not it's due to a bug in Windows 95 or RealAudio?
Not likely. Your little pink butt would be marched back to the computer
and you would not dare show your face until "the bug" in Fighting Frogs
III: The Return was "fixed" and it worked like a champ wherever
RealAudio happened to be.

     The pay-off, good or bad, is for performance.

 
> 
> Perhaps Nathan could work out an arrangement to distribute GUPP with Wolf
> 3D ....

     Maybe so.


Rubywand