As you might have read in another forum topic, we have begun our planning and development for HWBOT R5. With Dennis having joined the HWBOT team, we can increase the development pace quite a bit. Therefore, we have also changed the way we approach major releases. R5 is, in contrary to R4 which launched as finished product, a work-in-progress with features being released when ready. The full-blown R5 can thus only be experienced in a couple months time. At this point in the development stage we are close to release the first new R5 features. In this thread, we will keep track of the released features as well as announce the ones that are planned for R5. We have no pinned down exactly what will be included in R5, so we're still adding and removing ideas from the backlog.

Over the next two weeks, we'll finalize the R5 plan. ETA for full R5 release is Q1-2013, aiming for January at this point.

PLANNED FEATURES

• Competition Tagging: competitions can now carry a tag to group. For example: HWBOT OC Challenge-tag, OC Fanboy-tag, MOA-tag, etc.
• Team Timeline: the team page will carry an event timeline that displays historical information on points, rank, who left/joined the team, etc.
• HWBOT Benchmark Ranking API: benchmark developers will be able to use the HWBOT engine to easily create benchmark rankings.
• UGP/GTPP For Exotic Categores: improve the HWBoint distribution for exotic global categories.
• HWBOT Data-Mining API: open the hwbot database for 3rd party data-mining purposes.
• Frontpage Revamp: update the look and feel of the HWBOT frontpage.
• Parent/child Benchmark Structure: adding more structure to the benchmark application by introducing parent/child relations. For example: 3DMark11 is the parent application of 3DMark11 Performance, Entry, etc.
• Implementation of Penalty Code: create backend options to improve punishment of naughty members.
• Internationalisation 2.0: translate site and work together with local representatives to give better support to the local communities.
• Pro OC Make-over: complete make-over for the Pro OC competition.
• Democritise HWBoints: community has the ability to promote new benchmarks for HWBoints as well as demote benchmarks to no longer have points.

For information, check out our HWBOT Rev.5 subforum.