Hi
everyone!
During the
last weeks we have already told you a lot about goalunited next. The main goal
in the new version is the extension to more platforms that can be used to play
goalunited. With that we will react to the ongoing movement away from the PC,
towards tablets. The special challenge for us here is to create a UI that can
be controlled with a mouse, and with a finger as needed for tablets.
We also
want to use the chance to eliminate conceptual weaknesses that have found their
way into goalunited during the last years and technical improvements that will
lead to a better overall performance.
This
extensive task will take quite some time due to its size and complexity. It is
not possible yet to give the exact release date. It will depend on the achieved
quality of the development. And it is of course essential that we reach a
feature state that allows the complete management of your club as before and
that those features are fully functional, both from a conceptual and technical
standpoint.
With
everything the project duration for gu next is estimated at 1200 developer
days. This means, that ONE developer would need this amount of days to complete
the project. Currently there are three developers working on gu next full-time.
We are planning on doubling that number in the next few weeks. This means that
we will have to hire a few additional developers. We hope that we will be
successful in doing so rather quickly, even in this highly competitive area.
With six
developers working on gu next full-time, we should be able to complete the
development in April 2014 (Feature-complete: Alpha-status). At that point we
will test and improve the quality in a fully playable Closed-Beta version. For
this we will pick a few managers to help us run extensive tests on the Closed-Beta.
Once the version is stable and we are happy with the quality, we will offer all
managers the chance to check out the new version in an Open-Beta.
We hope to
get a few tens of thousands of managers to help us run some load tests on the
Open-Beta. With those we want to make sure that the performance enhancements
are adequate.
After all
this, we will integrate this well-tested “goalunited next” version into the
running goalunited 2014 version. This should happen in the summer of 2014. You
will then see the changes in the look & feel, navigation and gameplay, but
your players and clubs will stay untouched.
Once the
new browser version is running stable and smoothly, and after we have completed
all final adjustments, we will concentrate on the release of the tablet app. We
will offer an app both for Android and IOS, but at this point we do not know
yet which one will be published first.
To clean up
as big a project as goalunited, to improve it and to move it to cross-platform
is an extremely complex and big planning and developing task. To be able to
complete it within the year we are planning with, it takes a strong team that
puts every effort and a lot of heart into it.
In the
following we want to show you our team structure, and give you some insights
into who is currently working on goalunited and what their individual
responsibilities are.
Development Team
goalunited next
Felix (Lead
Software Developer „Development“):
Frontend/Backend development, Scrum-Process
Daniel
(Software Developer): Frontend/Backend development
Konrad
(Software Developer): Frontend development
goalunited 2013
Sharam
(Lead Software Developer „Maintenance “): Backend development,
Simon
(Software Developer): Frontend/Backend development
Graphics
Ali (Art
Director): responsible for the assets design; Art team coordination
Sebastian
(2D-Artist): new employees; new mentor and further assets
Jan
(2D-Artist): new player faces and further
Supported
by: Martin and Tjark (3D-Artists)
System
Gregor
(Lead System Administrator): Setting up the
Stefan
(System Administrator): Having Gregor's back!
Concept Team
Game Design
Renke (Game
Designer): balancing; match engine and other game mechanics; basic and detailed
concepts
User Interface (UI)/User Experience (UX)
Eva
(UX-Designer): conception of the user experience and the screen composition
Valentin
(UI-Designer): designing the Look & Feel of the new interface
Starting today: Eric (UI-Designer): also designing the Look & Feel of the new interface
Product Team
Robert
(Product Manager): in charge of news & user communication; GU 2013
producing; bug management; live-game related issues
Yvonne
(Costumer Service Team Manager): in charge of the international support teams;
localisation; news & user Communication; facebook
Tobias (QA
Admin): GU 2013 beta quality insurance; bug management
Jules (Game
Director): Vision-Keeper goalunited (Product owner); monetisation; GU next
producing; product budgeting
And of
course, last but not least, our international Admins for each country and their
devoted volunteer teams of supporters, moderators and translators.
Now, to sum
it up:
6
developers, feature-complete in April 2014, beta (closed & open) in the
summer, browser version release as soon as desired quality is established. Apps
for tablets follow next.
And in the
end we want to pick up a topic that has been discussed a lot in our forums in
the last weeks. In the home/profile screens we have used a trophy picture that
shows a non-existent standard trophy. This trophy is just a placeholder and is
used to create realistic screens without spending too much time on details. The
earned trophies will stay untouched and will be presentable in an impressive
slide-show.
Regards,
Jules (Game Director)
Coming up next: Community questions and poll!
