As mentioned in the announcement, we're going to have a more informative approach this time. One of the steps towards this is this Project Development thread where we'll try to keep you informed about the progress of the DB.
The plan was to release the 2nd and final beta in the weekend (yesterday), but we didn't manage to finish off the last stats. C. 90 % of the stats have been done, and the rest will be done during today and tomorrow. This also gives us time to make the necessary changes to Team Saxo Bank - IT Factory.
Also, we've been implenting the pictures that the PCM.daily community has been finding since the annoucement. Thanks to you, more than 99 % of the riders in the DB has a photo.
We've also been tweaking and fixing the bugs that appeared in the 1st beta (luckily for us, not a lot).
The 2nd beta will be released as soon as the stats have been done. If you're interested in helping out with testing, please send me a private message. It's of course required that you (want to) play PCM08 a lot and have a sense of perfectionism, so you're able to find potential bugs.
The 2nd and final beta version has now been put up for download for the beta testers of the DB. They will get a week to test the database, I'll try to fix the problems as they are reported along with keeping the teams updated, meaning that we may be able to release the database before or during next weekend.
Again, we're still open for beta testers, so, if you want to, send me a private message, and we'll see. You can also help the project by finding some of the rider photos that we're missing. Any help is great!
Beta testing has begun as mentioned in the previous update, and from the reports that I've seen so far, it's only minor bugs - luckily!
While I'm waiting for more reports I'm adding more stuff to the DB. E.g. the Tour of Beauce, created by SportingNonsense, has been added to the DB. We're also working on improving the track part. Since the PCM Fusion Track DB was partly PCM.daily's work, we've been adding all the riders from that DB to our DB and are now soring out a few things to get it working properly.
It's still undecided whether or not it'll actually be in the V1, but I'll make sure to keep you updated on the issue.
The DB is set to be released next weekend. Last day for bug reports is Thursday.
As you probably already know, today is the day of (expected) release. We're currently making adjudgements to the stats and have also used the day to tweak a few things. E.g., the new races didn't show up in the new set of goals in 2010 (and 2011, 2012, etc.), and originally, this wasn't planned to be introduced until V2 - but since we did have some time left, this is now in.
In the previous update, I was talking about implenting the track riders from the PCM Fusion Track DB. Unfortunately, this won't become a part of V1. We simply couldn't get it working properly, so to avoid bugs and crashes, we're just going to stick with the original 16 riders.
For the final release, some teams have been removed, some teams have been added, and there's also a few more races than what's mentioned in the news article a few weeks back. We'll probably post the final list of teams and races before the release - and there's 1 surprise which in particular will 'satisfy' one base of users here at PCM.daily.
With 1500+ downloads in less than 4 days, I'd say that the first release has been rather succesful so far. We're very happy for all the reports that we've received which will help us with improving the DB for the 2nd release.
And with 4 days of resting, we're back to DB making. The features of the V2 are still undecided, and we're as always willing to listen to any ideas that you may have. These can be posted in this thread.
Some features are pretty much certain, though. The equipment part will be completely redone, and for this, we've
'hired' fenian_1234, the guy behind the "How to add equipment" tutorial which he posted at this site a while ago. He has a great knowledge about equipment and material in general, and he knows what's realistic and what's not - so, we're definitely looking forward to the cooperation with him.
Other than that, there'll as promised be more teams in the DB. The current idea is to add 15 more teams. The exact list of teams is undecided, but our provisional plan includes teams such as Barbot - Siper, Cinelli - OPD, Halfords Bikehut, Jelly Belly Cycling Team, Team Corratec, and more. We'll make sure to post the final list of teams once we get closer to the release.
We're also looking into the possibilities of making the 2009 profiles of the three Grand Tours. We hope to be able to include all of them in V2, but we're not sure yet. If there's any stage makers out there who would like to help out, feel free to contact me
We'll also be adding more races to the DB. Crommy has been very productive lately due to his work on the Crommy DB, and we're of course free to use any of the work that he makes. The list of added races will depend on which teams we add to the DB.
I guess that's it for now. As you can see, not everything is decided yet which is why that you can have impact on what'll be in the V2. As mentioned previously, we're very open to any suggestions that you may have -- in this thread.
It's been a while since our last announcement, but that doesn't mean that we haven't been progressing - we have
So far, we've added the following teams to the DB (in addition to the V1):
Halfords Bikehut
Barbot - Siper
Colavita - Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light
Cycling Club Bourgas
Glud & Marstrand - Nyborg Strands
Jelly Belly Cycling Team
Plowman Craven - Madison
Team Corratec
Carmiooro - Avionord
Madeinox - Boavista
Colombia es Pasion - Coldeportes
Meitan Hompo - GDR
Team Sparebanken Vest
Vesthimmerland Pro Cycling
Paredes Rota dos Móveis
Please keep in mind that this is not final. Some teams may be added, some may be removed, etc. We'll let you know whenever we have the final team list.
Several races have also been added in the meanwhile, and we've been allowed to use Bilbo Baggins' 2009 stage race Tour de Langkawi. SnelleJus is working on the 2009 Tour de Frande, SportingNonsense has the responsibility for the Vuelta, and Johan92 has allowed us to use his 2009 Giro 'd Italia.
As I said in the previous announcement, I can't promise that all these will be done for the V2, but we're certainly doing our best.
As I also said previously, fenian_1234 is working on the equipment part. Unfortunately, it's impossible to link specific frames and wheels to the teams, but we're trying to find a workaround for this. Either way, you can be sure that there'll be lots of equipment in the V2.
We're progressing, that's for sure, and if you're interested in helping out, that being with graphics, stages, or if you feel you can contribute otherwise, feel very free to send me a PM.
Edit: Future updates will be in the news section.
Edited by CrueTrue on 11-01-2009 19:58
