Are new features really helping?

Features
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Hello, this is my first major post and I’ll try to stay positive and direct.

I’ve been using Aseprite for about a year and a half now, professionally.
I hardly open Photoshop when dealing with pixel art (only for major layer effects and stuff).

While writing this topic my Steam account records a total of 1310 hours of Aseprite use. I’m no newbie to the tool (I confess that there’s still a lot to learn in itself, EX: indexed colors), I guess you get my point.

Whenever I get to meet someone that makes pixel art for games, and still use Photoshop, I refer straight away to Aseprite, it does not only work for pixel art and animation, it is the best out there.

PS: just to make my point clearer, I don’t use the BETA versions, because I work deadlines and can’t count with unstable features.

The point I’m trying to make here is that from the last update (1.2.2) I got to experience some issues with some tools, and that was really frustrating, not only because it changed the default way it worked, but it also added some tools that seem broken somehow. Don’t get me wrong here, with the 1.2 Update the layer groups were awesome, a must, Auto Guides and the way new Tags work, amazing.

I just get worried that this amazing tool that Aseprite is, goes in a direction that some of the big fish companies go, the “USELESS NEW FEATURE UPDATE” way.

The broken feature I speak of is the “Slice Tool”, I had to turn off its visualization, because I could not delete the slices I created by accident with the new shortcut “C”, I am aware that this is a feature that has great value in Photoshop, but I don’t think it works properly to reach the stable 1.2.2 version.

I’m only asking that whenever making a new feature taking into consideration if it will really help making Aseprite a better and more precise professional tool. I think it already works great, maybe adding to it instead of changing the way it works is a better way.

I’m just getting this out of my chest, as I already found ways around the issues I had with today’s update (don’t need help solving them).

I’ll try to keep an eye here on the community, maybe giving more of my feedback helps.

@dacap keep the good work, I’m not only a fan of Aseprite, I’m a fan of yours.

Best regards, João Esse “Johnps” Andrade

@essecorrea

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Thanks for the feedback @essecorrea, I really didn’t like how this release turned out (three released in one week, v1.2, v1.2.1, and v1.2.2).

There are some problems in the current version scheme we have to fix (I have a blog post to write yet, but this is a “summary”):

  1. The last stable (v1.1.13) was far behind the beta (v1.2-beta12), so some critical bug fixes in the beta weren’t integrated in the stable (in some areas, the “beta” turned to be more stable than the “stable” version).
  2. Too many users asking how to find beta features (too much user support just to say how to switch to the beta version on Steam or how to download it from Humble Bundle)
  3. I made a mistake replacing the trial to v1.2-beta12: People started using the demo (beta), and then after the purchase they downloaded the stable one => so basically they got lesser features after the purchase (conclusion: the trial must be equal to the stable version)
  4. I wanted to finally replace v1.1.13 and move forward to the v1.2, even with the introduction of some critical changes from v1.2-beta12 to v1.2 (e.g. macOS menus)
  5. There are some incomplete features as you said:
    • Slices is one of those features (they must be easier to delete (right-click > remove), and they are not visible in the timeline/don’t support animation very well)
    • Reference Layer don’t have a good resize handle, don’t support linking an external file, don’t support RGB images in indexed.

The point 1. is the worse, if the beta start getting too much stuff, then the switch from beta to stable is too big for the end-user (people using v1.1.13 get too much stuff from once).

So there is an open discussion here: how we can handle updates in such a way that fix/mitigate all these issues?

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Aseprite is a great tool for pixel art. I will never go back Photoshop.
I spend hours on Aseprite everyday. I don’t use the BETA versions, because in general, BETA versions are unstable. New features are attractive, but I value stability more.
In my opinion, STABLE versions should be more stable, with less horrible bugs. I don’t want to lost my works. I don’t want to struggle with unknownreason errors. I just hope it work correctly.
I love Aseprite.
I recommend Aseprite to each of my friends who makes pixel art.
Thanks for all your hard work.

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I also love Aseprite, and it is very easy to learn and use. I kept up with the beta’s because of the fact that there were so many chnges happening, Good changes too, but if I had just kept to the stable 1.1.13, then I would be quite lost now with 1.2.2. So yes I agree that there was too big a gap between the current and previous stable versions.

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So there is an open discussion here: how we can handle updates in such a way that fix/mitigate all these issues?

That’s the golden ticket question :slight_smile:

My suggestions are:

  1. That new updates don’t change the way the software currently work, because it works great already.

  2. I know that features suggestions pop up from the community all the time, maybe a way to upvote or downvote suggestions is a way (I guess you guys already have this system working, maybe I’m not aware of it).

  3. This may be a shot in the dark but what if along with the beta versions in Steam’s Aseprite - Properties/BETAS tab there was the option to select the last available stable version instead of only the Beta. Maybe it would help those that don’t feel really comfortable changing to the newest version right away.

Regarding the direction Aseprite development goes, and feel free to simply ignore this suggestion, I would recommend working in some kind of system that community could help translate Aseprite to other languages, such as Chinese and Russian (Spanish as being your native language is a must too), this way you could reach far more people with this amazing tool that has a fair price for what it delivers.

I guess that’s it :slight_smile:

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Quickly replying this part: When I was releasing the new version I thought about this same solution, at least for Steam users that get updates automatically and they might want to go back to the previous version. So I’ve just published the versions in the betas combobox:

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Nice, giving the users an option is wonderful!
This practice is something Autodesk does and is awesome.

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