Release 0.13 as beta branch when ready

[tigar]

We all will love the new changes but as we have seen in the past with big changes come mod incompatibilities from here to neptune and back.

So i suggest that once 0.13 is released make it be released as a beta branch on steam(and with a clear message saying that that is where it is) for the first week or 2 so that modders can switch over(for those who use steam) and work on getting their mods updated where as steam users can still enjoy their modded games.

After all any active modder should have enough time to update his or her mod if we give it 2 weeks before steam switches over?


Main reason I'm suggesting this is steam's mandatory auto update in order to play a game policy(only way around it is set steam to offline mode) thus the day 0.13 comes out and unsuspecting new players wake up and launch factorio excited for the new patch suddenly end up less excited(and do i have to mention flooded forum with "help my mods dont work herp derp" posts?) and possibly angry even(seen plenty of games end up with angry communities due to something like this)
Now quite a few of us who are regulars on the forums(active posters and lurkers alike) will know this will happen and all that as previously experienced in the past(with updates anyway and breaking mods)

But new players might not realize it yet so to avoid a headache maybe something like this would be a good idea?

[Klonan]

This is how we do things already,
New updates are released as 'experimental' until they are declared stable

[orzelek]

I think what most people would be interested in is to have smaller increments with separate smaller features.
This would make (numbers out of the hat) one feature per 2 weeks instead of 10 features after 5 months.

[seronis]

All i want is for them to post a release when its done and not before.

[[DegC]RubenGass]

The expected time for 0.13, is that a stable variant or an experimental variant?

[daniel34]

The expected time for 0.13, is that a stable variant or an experimental variant?

The date given (June 1st) is for the first experimental version 0.13.0.

[UberWaffe]

I think what most people would be interested in is to have smaller increments with separate smaller features.
This would make (numbers out of the hat) one feature per 2 weeks instead of 10 features after 5 months.

From my personal experience with software development:
This is rarely possible when it comes to large changes. Given how numerous changes often rely on one another to be complete before the 'whole' can function.
To 'force' this would add significant (likely) development overhead.

[OT]
Just interesting, but not really applicable to this conversation.
The best guideline I know thus far as to versioning: Semantic Versioning
[/OT]