Some time ago, BSF2000 told the bootlegging community that he was seriously considering bringing in a new programmer to help him out with Bootleggers. Last Sunday in the Buzz, the new programmer was announced. Rumours were flying around every where, some saying that it would be some one completely new to the game, others saying he was going to bring back one of the old Admins and the latter thinking a Moderator would get the job. The latter were correct, here at the Buzz we are proud to introduce to you our new programmer – Sky. Although Sky is now coding Bootleggers, it doesn't mean he is an Admin and he will remain a Moderator for the time being. So what does his new job entail? The plan was for him to deal with small bug issues and help release some updates on schedule, but Sky hopes to incorporate some of his own ideas onto the game, obviously with the permission of BSF2000. He has already been hard at work, releasing multiple updates and fixing bugs and every one seems to be rather impressed. This week, the Buzz brings you an exclusive interview with our new programmer as we try to find out his thoughts and a little bit about his new job.
So first of all, we congratulated Sky on his new position within the Elite Guard and asked him if he fully expected to be offered this role? He told us, “In all honesty, I was expecting it. I suspect it's what I was promoted to Moderator, and for that matter to HDO, to be. But you can expect it all you want, it still floors you when you're asked.” We continued our discussion by talking about the website he had created called Bootstuff (for those of you who haven't used it it's really quite good, so check it out!) and noted the fact that he could obviously code. But what about Bootleggers, this is a whole different level, right? “It's not necessarily harder, but every one has their own way of coding which sometimes makes it harder to understand at first glance. Over the years Bootleggers has had several different people contributing to it, so it switches from one style to another frequently, and while I'm comfortable in my own style, it's taking me some time to adjust to Bootleggers.”
Sky is a well known player on Bootleggers and not just because he is a Moderator. He has been around for years and most people would know of him if he wasn't a part of the Elite Guard. He has only been a Moderator since the start of this round, that's around 9 months and before that he was a player. So now that he has a chance to code the game will the players voice be heard a lot more and will we see what the players want implemented into the game, seeing as he has that players perspective and such a good relationship with the community? “Absolutely. Having been a player for a tragic number of years I've already got a fairly good of idea of what's missing to make Bootleggers even more enjoyable to play and be part of, but then I'm only one type of player, everyone plays Bootleggers differently, and gamblers or shooters may have found problems that I haven't. To make sure everyone's happy, I'm going to be paying close attention to what everyone says and if an idea comes up that I think is worth doing, I'll probably do it straight away. Similarly if the majority of the community hate an update I'll probably take it away again.” We at the Buzz thought this was brilliant news!
As I mentioned earlier, Sky has already been hard at work and dived straight into fixing bugs and releasing small updates as soon as he could, he literally has been dedicating all of his spare time into helping Bootleggers progress. Could we expect him to stay at this pace and continue doing what he's doing? “While I get settled in I've been taking care of small things, but I have some much bigger things planned that I want to flesh out properly so that they are perfect, and of course I want to be sure BSF2000 agrees with them first. But I will certainly try to keep up the pace, so long as I have some suggestions or ideas, I'll keep going. Naturally I have some other things to contend to, such as work and studying, but all of my spare time will go toward Bootleggers!” This is certainly what the game needs, but we wanted to know if Sky could share some light on his, “bigger things”? “Most things I don't really want to announce until I get the go ahead from BSF2000, but one that he's already approved and I'm just finalizing the details of is incentives for promotion. I won't give too much away but I hope that the people who play the game seriously finally get the rewards they deserve.” It sure seems as if Bootleggers is about to embark on a period of overdue excitement!
One thing the Buzz was questioning though was, why was green Sky, not a red Sky? “It's not particularly necessary for what I'm needed to do. Traditionally the role of Administrator was seen as that of developer, but I already have those powers so the red name would be just for vanity!” We noticed he didn't actually answer our question, so we asked him to continue, “I'm practicing to be Prime Minister. If asked to, of course, but I wouldn't get anything I don't already have. Except for the babes, maybe.” Very funny Sky, we all know you can't get babes! Our last question to our new programmer was one with a light heart and one that will bring back some memories, we asked if we could expect to see the spinning barrel make a return to the game? “Not yet but it's only a matter of time. In actuality though I think I prefer the current barrel, it's less in your face. And we've always got ” Can we expect the spinning barrel back? I doubt it but it would be nice to see.
So there you have it, the first interview with our very new programmer. We at the Buzz hope you have found out a little bit more about Sky and his new job. But what's next for the future of Bootleggers? Will we see well overdue improvements to some of the current features such as witness statements and gym? What new features will be implemented? And will we finally have a new Blackjack update? We ask the same question, what's next for the future of Bootleggers? The Sky is the limit!
” Can we expect the spinning barrel back? I doubt it but it would be nice to see.