I’m glad to see excitement about prison, regardless of the content of the post, so I appreciate that. I’ll address what you said here:
I’m making this post because I’m genuinely wondering what happened to Prison.
We’ve been on the reset for nearly 7 months, after being told it was meant to last 1 - 3 months. We were told that a Map 9 Release Date would be coming soon with the reset, again 7 months ago. We were told ‘Everything is almost complete.’ on a very promising first sneak peak, 3 months ago.
Notice a recurring theme?
When we did the Refresh, we did it because we had only just started Map 9 development on a long road ahead. We never said anything about “1-3 months” or any time frame on when Map 9 would come. We’ve been as upfront as possible as to the development of Map 9 and how long it will take. Before map 7, future map information was never released and no information was given until the announcement post a week or two prior and people were left in the dust for half a year often on a dead server with no information about what’s coming. I’ve made an effort to change that with the sneak peeks, which I’ll discuss further later on in this reply.
I’m not upset because of how long it’s taking to push out Map 9. I honestly applaud Varmetek for all the work he’s done for Prison, due to him being the only developer (as far as I know), and I can only imagine how time-consuming an update to a completely new version that you may or may not be used to is.
I’m more upset with the false promises given out by the Management Team.You’d think with as many big names backing the server, and 6+ years of experience, they’d have most of this down by now.
Varmetek and I are the management team. I’m not sure what “big names” are behind anything, or who’s ass you pulled that out of, but Varmetek and myself are the only people who have put out anything in regards to release date and haven’t said anything specific timeline or number of months in which the development would be finished, at least not up until very recently. We have as such not given any false promises and continue to be up front about how long the new features and upgrading to 1.18 has taken.
Even if there are still these promises of something happening, it would be more understandable if these “announcements” were more frequent. The last public post from Management about Prison (to my knowledge) was the first Sneak Peak back in March.
Prior to my coming on, there were no sneak peeks prior to maps, only the announcement post right before release. There also were relatively few to no new features added at the start of each map. I’ve wanted to do a couple Sneak Peeks now leading up to each map. The reason that Sneak Peek 2 hasn’t come out yet is because I’ve been waiting for the inside map to be complete. It was completed a few days ago added onto the test server yesterday, so I’ve been preparing the sneak peek since and you’ll see it soon. I was planning to finish it and post it today but I’ve spent too much time answering this and will finish it tomorrow.
I realize that development isn’t something you can put a set date on. Issues are bound to happen & delay the process. But if there was more transparency with the community on the current stage of the gamemode, and what has been happening over the past 7 months, then it would be much more understandable.
With gamemodes such as Survival, Wool Wars, SG, and hell, even Purgatory being talked about & or receiving frequent updates, it genuinely feels from a community perspective that Prison has been forgotten about, and left to burn out.
After reading this section, I rammed a screwdriver through my skull. I have been bleeding out since.
Prison goes through two phases: the on-season and the off-season. During the “on-season” it is updated more frequently than any other gamemode - usually weekly. Prior to map 7, it was usually a couple updates a month, but since I came on I’ve tried to have one every weekend. In older maps you could go a month or two without an update, now if I miss one weekend half the server goes ballistic.
Right now prison is in the “off-season” This is when all focus for development is on the next map. This happens every map, and older maps had very long periods without updates. The amount of updates and changes being done right now and during this period where you don’t see development has been IMMENSE and Varmetek has been working hard to push out everything asked of him. There has been another developer working with him a bit and are plans for a third, though I prefer working solely with Varmetek on certain things.
Ibby and the Survival developers have done an exceptional and commendable job with updates and especially with their newest cosmetics update - I love it so much! Fumaz has been adding fantastic things to Wool Wars recently and I love the updates. But the idea that these servers receive more attention or more updates is exceptionally IGNORANT beyond belief and has no basis in reality, and during the on-season of prison this is extremely apparent. If you had all the information I think you’d find prison receives more development on it overall than all other servers combined, partly due to the nature of the gamemode and in part because I constantly write new things for Varmetek to add, and Varmetek has been so wonderful in working on them. Prison receives weekly updates in the on-season and in the current off-season Varmetek has been working to add SO MUCH. The only time prison isn’t being actively worked on for updates for the current map is when updates for the next map are being worked on, and when I like to add a dozen new features, more items at the start than any map previous, and when the version is being upgraded to 1.18, this takes a long freaking time.
Another thing to consider:
Prior to Map 7, prison was a lot loss intensive and had a lot less to it. Going into Map 9, 3 maps later, there are a TON more features to change and update and a lot more content to be added, not just mining and looting.
For Maps 1 through 6, the Map releases only had the following to add content for:
Mining, PvP, Gambling, Crates, Looting
Since then, we have added a number of new features, and the following need to be balanced/changed/updated etc. for Map 9 IN ADDITION to what was previously listed:
Woodcutting, Farming, Fishing, Challenges, Prestige Area, Creature Rares, Prisonbreak, Custom Mobs, Zones, ULs/Fableds, Epic Rares, Hints, Enchanted chests, Prestige Shop, new custom leaf drop items, + 2 OTHER NEW FEATURES to be discussed in Sneak Peek 2, and more.
All of the current litany of different prison features that have built up today, the entirely new features I like to add with new maps, along with updating and perfecting 1.18 takes a long time and we’ve been actively working on it for over half a year. That and working with the builders who just finished the inside map which I would say is easily the best designed yet.
So many people love this gamemode, and I personally think it’s one of, if not the best gamemode that Munchy has pushed out. But seeing it in this current ‘abandoned’ state is so devestating.
TL;DR - If your going to promise that the gamemode is being worked on, and say that it’s close to finish, then be more transparent with the community on what’s happening with it, instead of leaving us feeling like it’s been completely abandoned.
The screwdriver is now in my throat. I can taste the blood. The light is fading. Can’t be much longer now.