For both forums, approach each issue with slight caution before jumping in to fix/add one. Some of them are intentional. Others should be moved from Bugs to Suggestions or vise-versa. Most of the Bugs are obvious, but if you're not sure, think about "convenience" and "balance". Does fixing or adding an individual Bug/Suggestion increase convenience or improve the experience while hardly changing balance? If the answer is 'yes', 99% of the time you can go nuts and fix it or add it. If it changes a fundamental gameplay element such as the rate of fire on weapon X or increased plasma regeneration on Xeno Y, it's a good idea to get a second opinion first. A good bet is to ask a teammate with the "Developer" in-game rank. Better still would be to ask me, Rahlzel. And the best option would be to ask Apophis. Worst-case scenario, we simply revert the change if it's detrimental to planned goals, so in either case it's not a big deal.
Note: For large or difficult-to-test fixes/features, it's a good idea to PR them within a separate branch (such as DevFreeze) rather than PR them to DevTest. This allows Apophis and I to switch back and forth between your branch and DevTest in case anything goes ary.
How to handle a topic:
- After fixing a bug or adding a suggestion, reply to it somehow. A simple "Fixed!" works just as well as a typed-out explanation of why the issue can't be (or won't be) fixed. Many users have "Notify me when a reply is posted" by default, so they'll see the reply and know that their issue was handled. This includes all other posters in that topic with the same option enabled.
- Move the topic immediately to the Resolved Suggestions/Bugs forum. DO NOT WAIT! This is very important. Don't lock it. Just move it. We save time when we don't click on bug reports that have already been handled. To do this, scroll down to the bottom of the bug topic page and click the Hammer icon to select "Move Topic", then select the Resolved Suggestions/Bugs forum in the next window. DO NOT use "Move posts", as that is only meant for moving individual messages within the topic. (screenshot)
- Duplicates: MERGE them! (screenshot) This can be helpful with difficult-to-troubleshoot issues as it allows us to view all data about it in one topic instead of needing to jump around the forum to find what we need. Also, reply to the topic after done merging so that all users are notified. (Example here)
- Unsure about the fix, but want to help? Get as close as you can to what you think is the proc/file causing the problem and link to it in a reply. This is very simple with the open-on-github package if you're using Atom (screenshot), especially because it will auto-highlight in Github any lines you've selected in Atom. (Example here)
