I didn't manage to do ANYTHING for Stranded III this week
Here's a little image to console you:


Some Off-Topic Stuff
I released a new Counter-Strike 2D version though. It seems to have some critical bugs (they came out of nowhere! I promise!) which is hell because releasing a new CS2D version is a complicated process. It's a horrible nightmare. I never invested a second on any automation and therefore my CS2D-release-process consists of many annoying and super error-prone steps. I'll share them with you because I really have nothing to show regarding Stranded III this time.

After finishing everything I do the following stuff on my Windows machine:

Compile the game client
Compile the dedicated server
Copy changed files to a release folder
Copy changed files to an incremental update folder
Make a zip from the release folder
Make a zip from the dedicated server
Run my auto-update tool to generate an incremental auto-update package for the in-game auto-update function
Run Inno Setup to generate an installer
Upload all 4 resulting files to my vServer (client as zip, client as setup, dedicated as zip, client auto update package)
Also upload the client zip and setup to uploaded.to just to have a mirror
Update the links & version at www.CS2D.com/download
Update the version at www.unrealsoftware.de/game_cs2d.php

Then I boot Ubuntu in a VM and

Compile the game client
Compile the dedicated server
Make a zip from the client
Make a zip from the server
Upload them both

Afterwards I boot another VM with MacOS and do the same here. I skip the dedicated server for MacOS though (I could make one but I really wanted to save some steps)

Compile the game client
Make a zip from the client
Upload it

After doing all of this it's time to go live with the new version:

Update the game version in the U.S.G.N. master server (this will trigger an auto-update for Windows clients and/or tell people to update the game)
Write a German and an English news thread at UnrealSoftware.de
Optionally write it on Twitter/Facebook

...and there are also some other small steps that I left out. Like updating changelogs, language files, command lists etc.

It's fun. I can do it in half an hour if everything goes really well but normally it doesn't.

So why do I share this with you (except for the fact that I don't have news about Stranded III)? I want you to stay sane! So please, if you're a developer: Consider to automate your build process. Especially if you're developing a cross-platform game! Everything else is madness and will lead to a lot of trouble.

I will do the same for Stranded III. I'll either set up my own little build server(s) or use Unity's Cloud Build service.

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