What do we do with your bug report?
Firstly, your ticket will be Marked as Resolved as soon as the reported issue/s have been logged in our internal bug tracking system. This will be shared with other internal departments as we work towards a solution. New issues will be received by our development team and prioritized based on their impact on gameplay and put into a queue for further investigation. While we would like to be able to fix every bug, we may not have the time or resources. This is why we will attempt to target the bugs which are most impactful on our players first.
Known Issues
If the issue/s you have reported were previously reported by other players or identified internally, we will take the information you have provided us with to enhance our understanding of the problem. Any additional details you have provided will be added to our records to ensure we have a complete picture of the problem.
What happens next?
In most cases, the bug will then be passed to our QA team to reproduce the issue. This is an essential part of the process and can greatly enhance our understanding of a problem. However, if we do not have enough information to reproduce the bug, we may reach out to those affected for more information.
Next, the issue will be passed back to the development for further investigation until a solution can be found. Once a solution has been found, it will be integrated into a new "build" of the game, which is then passed back to the QA team for testing. They will ensure that the solution is working as intended, and that it has no adverse effects on other content.
To keep the frequency and size of game updates to a minimum, fixes will be grouped with similar content. When planning a game update, we will normally target a few specific routes/add-ons, which is why some fixes may be held back until the next time an add-on is due for an update. In exceptional cases, high priority fixes will be moved forward, even if that add-on is not due to be updated.
Following this, the update will need to pass certification tests on the many platforms we serve. Lastly, we will need to book in a slot with each platform holder, to push the update out to players. Each platform will handle these stages in slightly different ways.
How do I know when a bug has been fixed?
Due to the complex and sometimes lengthy process of bug fixing mentioned above, we are unable to provide a timeframe in which a bug may be fixed. Furthermore, while a bug is in this process, there is little we can provide in terms of meaningful updates on their progress. However, when we are ready to release a new game update, we will communicate this via our official community channels. Release notes will be provided on the Announcements section of the Dovetail Games Forum. Please use the following links to keep yourself up to date.