Wesnoth Philosophy II: Where Next?

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Dave
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Post by Dave »

telex4 wrote: o The map improvements I suggested in this bug
Parts (1) and (3) of this wouldn't be possible without engine changes, although part (1) in particular still has a chance of sneaking in if a developr wants to do it, since it's not so hard.

(2) will definitely be done, since it's not engine related.
telex4 wrote: o The 'Random campaign'
This can be done without engine changes.

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Post by Invisible Philosopher »

Before the feature freeze let's implement a way to win a campaign instead of "You have reached the end of the currently playable levels."

For example, it could be triggered if this is used:
next_scenario=victory
instead of
next_scenario=null
Play a Silver Mage in the Wesvoid campaign.
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Post by Dave »

Invisible Philosopher wrote:Before the feature freeze let's implement a way to win a campaign instead of "You have reached the end of the currently playable levels."

For example, it could be triggered if this is used:
next_scenario=victory
instead of
next_scenario=null
We'd just change the string in the translation file to say something more sensible once campaigns are actually complete.

David
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turin
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Post by turin »

Dave wrote:
Invisible Philosopher wrote:Before the feature freeze let's implement a way to win a campaign instead of "You have reached the end of the currently playable levels."

For example, it could be triggered if this is used:
next_scenario=victory
instead of
next_scenario=null
We'd just change the string in the translation file to say something more sensible once campaigns are actually complete.

David
it would be nice if what it said could be on a per-campaign basis, though.
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Dave
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Post by Dave »

turin wrote:
Dave wrote: We'd just change the string in the translation file to say something more sensible once campaigns are actually complete.

David
it would be nice if what it said could be on a per-campaign basis, though.
Well, possibly we'll get it to say nothing at all, and let the campaign writer pop up whatever message boxes they want (or more likely link to a final dummy scenario which contains only a story sequence).

David
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Post by Dacyn »

turin wrote:it would be nice if what it said could be on a per-campaign basis, though.
...IMO "next_scenario=null" should not be used to specify that a campaign is unfinished, because otherwise when the user gets an update they need to restart the scenario or hack the savefile in order to continue. So I think it's fine if "next_scenario=null" always causes the message saying the campaign is over.
However, it might be nice to allow people to save a game on an unmade level so that when they download the level they don't need to replay anything.
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Post by turin »

Dacyn wrote:
turin wrote:it would be nice if what it said could be on a per-campaign basis, though.
...IMO "next_scenario=null" should not be used to specify that a campaign is unfinished, because otherwise when the user gets an update they need to restart the scenario or hack the savefile in order to continue. So I think it's fine if "next_scenario=null" always causes the message saying the campaign is over.
However, it might be nice to allow people to save a game on an unmade level so that when they download the level they don't need to replay anything.
i agree with this. but for that to matter, you would have to be able to save a game on an unmade level.

Actually, what i wanted was to be able to have a different message when you win different campaigns. Or, you could just put everything you wanted in a dialogue at the end of the campaign.
For I am Turin Turambar - Master of Doom, by doom mastered. On permanent Wesbreak. Will not respond to private messages. Sorry!
And I hate stupid people.
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Post by Dave »

Just a quote from Kernighan & Plauger that I saw that I think is appropriate: “90% of the functionality delivered now is better than 100% of it delivered never� (from ESR's Basics of the Unix Philosophy at http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/taoup ... #id2877537)

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My thoughts

Post by Viliam »

In my opinion, version 1.0 should be what Wesnoth is now, only more finished, polished, tested. All new ideas will have their time in the 2.0 version.

Code: We should freeze the code now, and allow only bug-fixes. After release of version 1.0, we should split the project files. One branch will evolve further. The other one should be kept for bug-fixes only, for all those bugs of version 1.0 that will only become known after the release (we will try to prevent it, but it will probably happen anyway). So that we can later release version 1.0.1 (1.0 + fixes), although the main branch will be already maybe in 1.5. If the developers will be impatient with adding new features, the split can happen before 1.0 release. However, first we should try to fix as many known bugs as possible (because after split, they will have to be fixed twice).

Units: Do not add new units, unless absolutely necessary. However, if the unit is unbalanced, balance it.

Campaigns: Do not start new campaigns. Try finishing existing ones in a month, if you can (if you cannot, consider keeping them for 2.0 version only). Not every race/faction must have campaign… in version 1.0. It is better to have 3-4 campaigns finished, than 5-10 unfinished.

Scenarios, help, and other texts: Please remember that localization also requires time, and should be tested too. Please tell us (translators) when the strings are frozen.

Compatibility: Versions before 1.0 do not have to have compatible savegames. Probably between 1.1 and 2.0 the situation will be same. However, I think it would be great if version 2.0 would include all campaigns from version 1.0, and would be able to load (convert) 1.0 savegames. But it probably too soon to talk about this.
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Post by Rothrorn »

Do you think this topic should be moved to the users/ideas forums where more people are likely to see it. Perhaps people will then have second thoughts before sending in suggestions that are never likely to get approved.
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Post by quartex »

I think the dwarves need finishing as a race/faction. I like the idea of the footpad that can move on the turn it is recruited/recalled and can taken over villages without stopping. But I think the dwarves are the main faction that needs work before 1.0

Also I'd like to remind the developers that about a month ago there was a long discussion on redesigning the rightside panel. This discussion was ended with the idea that developers would take the best ideas and incorporate them. I think the idea of having graphical bars for hit points, experience and movement, and having icons for the various attacks, is something that should be added before 1.0 becuase it would make the rightside panel look a lot nicer.

I'd love to see a wesnothpedia, a window that displays the stats of all units you have encountered so far in your campaign that is saved with each savefile. But I realize that it's probably a big enough project, and not central to the game, that it won't be added until after 1.0
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Post by telex4 »

quartex wrote:I think the idea of having graphical bars for hit points, experience and movement, and having icons for the various attacks, is something that should be added before 1.0 becuase it would make the rightside panel look a lot nicer.
Agreed. This is another bit of coding that would add a lot of polish to the game.
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Post by Viliam »

quartex wrote:I'd love to see a wesnothpedia, a window that displays the stats of all units you have encountered so far in your campaign that is saved with each savefile.
Note:
Not in save file but rather in user preferences file or something like this. Otherwise, when starting a new campaign, the 'Wesnothpedia' would restart.
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Post by quartex »

Viliam wrote:
quartex wrote:I'd love to see a wesnothpedia, a window that displays the stats of all units you have encountered so far in your campaign that is saved with each savefile.
Note:
Not in save file but rather in user preferences file or something like this. Otherwise, when starting a new campaign, the 'Wesnothpedia' would restart.
It should restart. The whole idea is that it tells you what units you have seen it that campaign, or in all the scenarios leading up to that savefile. Different campaigns would have different units and thus the wesnothpedia would look different. You could just have one wesnothpedia for the entire game, but then if you went to look up a unit in a certain campaign, you might have to sort through a lot of extraneous units that aren't in the campaign.
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Post by telex4 »

quartex wrote:It should restart. The whole idea is that it tells you what units you have seen it that campaign, or in all the scenarios leading up to that savefile. Different campaigns would have different units and thus the wesnothpedia would look different. You could just have one wesnothpedia for the entire game, but then if you went to look up a unit in a certain campaign, you might have to sort through a lot of extraneous units that aren't in the campaign.
That makes sense to me. One question is whether or not it should be available in multiplayer, given that all the units are there already?

Should it apply only to units discovered in campaigns, to give it a sense of mystery, or should it just be there as a boring tool? I'd prefer the former, personally :)
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