Date of 3 episode Wintermute

[BeCeJIa]

Hello, hinterland. In Milton Mailbag 20 you say, you dont know the date or quarter date of episode 3.So i think it isnt ready. But why?You work on it since August 2017, i know about Redux. I know now you have new developers and you want to use their abilities to make 3 episode better.I know you aren t shure in date, so you keep your fans ignorance.Send development news or tell us at least approximate date, for example, time of year or month(months).Developer diary is too short.Sorry for my english.Also i say Hi Жуку в Муравейнике(ДС).

[NardoLoopa]

This has been answered a bunch of times, most recently in the Mailbag.  Currently no date is being offered.

You may understand why.  Last few times there were dates, and missed deadlines, some customers voiced their unhappiness with, "But you said it would be released by X!!!  Lies!"  So, since some people did that, developers felt bad.  Now developers will not advertise a release date until it is right on top of us.

As for why things are late?  What answer would really satisfy the question?  "Still working on bugs"?  "Some people had the nerve to take a Christmas holiday"?  "Taking longer than we expected"?  "Line 5,348 contains a race-condition, causing slight memory leak for the PS4 on carcass rendering when near a cedar log for the Timberwolf Mountain map when there is a blizzard, and we're having trouble nailing it down"?

Until you hear of Hinterland down-sizing, or working on another project, the simple answer is usually going to be "things in Software always take longer than you think."  Estimation in Software is a dark-art. 

[Guest jeffpeng]

2 hours ago, NardoLoopa said:

"Line 5,348 contains a race-condition, causing slight memory leak for the PS4 on carcass rendering when near a cedar log for the Timberwolf Mountain map when there is a blizzard, and we're having trouble nailing it down"?

That particular bug is a dev's nightmare  I immediately go the shivers. Well done, @NardoLoopa, well done.

2 hours ago, NardoLoopa said:

Estimation in Software is a dark-art. 

I always try to explain it like this: Forecasting a project is a bit like trying to estimate how long it would take you to solve an unknown amount of Sudoku puzzles of unknown difficulty of which some cannot be solved while having your mom shouting at you trying to tell you how to do it right without ever having played Sudoku. At least that's how web programming works in a nutshell.

[NardoLoopa]

14 minutes ago, jeffpeng said:

I always try to explain it like this . . .

I deal with a lot of people who think Software is like building a house, so my go-to looks like this:

"When you flick the switch on the wall, the lightbulb on the ceiling doesn't go on.  Please tell me how long it will take to fix."  The typical answer is: "A couple minutes to switch out the bulbs."   Fine.  Then I tell them this:

• You go to the pantry, and there are no more light-bulbs.  So you have to go to the store.  [Now we're talking an hour.]
• You screw in the lightbulb, and it still doesn't go on.  So, you check the breaker.  Not flipped.  [Add 5mins]
• You go find your testing leads to make sure the switch is getting juice.  [Add another 30mins].
• The switch is fine.  The switch is getting juice.  Now you test the lightbulb, and it turns out the socket is not getting juice.  [Add 5mins]
• So, you suspect the wire is broken somewhere in the wall.  Now you need to rewire.  Back to the hardware store. [Add 1hr] 
• You try to snake the wire, but half the old wire just comes out when you pull, because a mouse has eaten it.  So, now you need to cut through the drywall, feed the wire, patch the drywall, wait for patch to dry, repaint.  [Add 1day+2hrs]

"None of the above may be the case.  All of the above may the case.  You don't really know when the light doesn't go on.  It's likely just a dead bulb.  So, tell me, 'How long will it take to fix?'"

But I like the Mom aspect of your version. (though, my Mom destroys at Sudoku)