How to get units included in game
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How to get units included in game
There are tons of units being developed on the forum, and very few make it in game. This thread is here to provide a quick guide on the submission process.
But first and foremost, your unit should be finished. This is not the way to submit a unit concept, and any unit that is not finished enough will be droped right away.
Remember, that any work you don't do, we (the developers) have to do...
And we are all very lazy.
The submission process
Once your unit has all the prerequisits (see below) you should zip all data (images, cfg, sounds etc...) in a single patch and post it in patches.wesnoth.org. Please comment heavily when submitting the patch, and always provide a name/mail/forum name so we can reach you to discuss the unit.
From there, a dev (probably me) will take the patch and get it through a review process which will include:
* asking art devs if the art is good enough
* asking the MP devs if the unit is balanced/useful etc...
more people involved?
Note that at any of these stages, your unit could be entirely dropped for reasons like: "we don't like it" or "there are enough units in this faction". Don't feel bad about it, as I said earlier, adding a unit is a hard process (Wesnoth already has more than 200 units) and success is not guaranteed.
Art requirements
Note that the art devs are perfectly allowed to reject a unit because it's "not good enough," or "doesn't match." It's usually a good idea to have a thread on the unit art for discussion/improvement first.
All units should:
* follow these standards on the Wiki.
* be Team Colored (not neccesary for "monsters" and campaign specific units)
* for each new kinds of attack, include an Attack Icon (in the new style)
* for new kinds of ranged attacks, also include graphics for the Missile
* have at least 1 frame for all of the following:
* standing
* each distinct attack
* defence
* leadership and healing (if applicable)
Sound requirements
All units should be "wired" for sounds on the following events:
* get hit
* die
* a hit and miss sound for each Melee attack (miss is optional in rare cases)
* a sound for each Ranged attack (miss is optional)
Submiting a single unit
When submiting an extra unit for an existing faction, you should be very carefull on how the unit might change the balance. Please include the following information in the patch comment:
* What faction it should go in and what era (if any)?
* How the unit is suposed to be used?
* Why is this unit needed/interesting to add (both gameplay and general faction feel). This is especially important for new recruitable units.
* Balancing considerations that were taken into account.
* Link to a forum thread discussing it.
* If they need a new ability, you should submit a code patch with the lot, and code devs will review your unit, too.
* The unit should be 100% up to date with regard to WML syntax.
Submitting factions
Note that factions are hard to get added to the default era so you should not be frustrated if a faction gets dropped early. You can still propose it for another era or make an entirely new era with it.
Please include in comments:
* the general concept of the faction, including background story, geographical location etc...
* the general concept of the faction from a gameplay PoV, how do they fight in cave, in water, at day/night, what terrain are they good/bad on, in what way are they different from other factions to play.
Submitting eras
Your era should be downloadable on the campaign server to allow easier testing by devs.
EDIT: Unstickied. -zookeeper
But first and foremost, your unit should be finished. This is not the way to submit a unit concept, and any unit that is not finished enough will be droped right away.
Remember, that any work you don't do, we (the developers) have to do...
And we are all very lazy.
The submission process
Once your unit has all the prerequisits (see below) you should zip all data (images, cfg, sounds etc...) in a single patch and post it in patches.wesnoth.org. Please comment heavily when submitting the patch, and always provide a name/mail/forum name so we can reach you to discuss the unit.
From there, a dev (probably me) will take the patch and get it through a review process which will include:
* asking art devs if the art is good enough
* asking the MP devs if the unit is balanced/useful etc...
more people involved?
Note that at any of these stages, your unit could be entirely dropped for reasons like: "we don't like it" or "there are enough units in this faction". Don't feel bad about it, as I said earlier, adding a unit is a hard process (Wesnoth already has more than 200 units) and success is not guaranteed.
Art requirements
Note that the art devs are perfectly allowed to reject a unit because it's "not good enough," or "doesn't match." It's usually a good idea to have a thread on the unit art for discussion/improvement first.
All units should:
* follow these standards on the Wiki.
* be Team Colored (not neccesary for "monsters" and campaign specific units)
* for each new kinds of attack, include an Attack Icon (in the new style)
* for new kinds of ranged attacks, also include graphics for the Missile
* have at least 1 frame for all of the following:
* standing
* each distinct attack
* defence
* leadership and healing (if applicable)
Sound requirements
All units should be "wired" for sounds on the following events:
* get hit
* die
* a hit and miss sound for each Melee attack (miss is optional in rare cases)
* a sound for each Ranged attack (miss is optional)
Submiting a single unit
When submiting an extra unit for an existing faction, you should be very carefull on how the unit might change the balance. Please include the following information in the patch comment:
* What faction it should go in and what era (if any)?
* How the unit is suposed to be used?
* Why is this unit needed/interesting to add (both gameplay and general faction feel). This is especially important for new recruitable units.
* Balancing considerations that were taken into account.
* Link to a forum thread discussing it.
* If they need a new ability, you should submit a code patch with the lot, and code devs will review your unit, too.
* The unit should be 100% up to date with regard to WML syntax.
Submitting factions
Note that factions are hard to get added to the default era so you should not be frustrated if a faction gets dropped early. You can still propose it for another era or make an entirely new era with it.
Please include in comments:
* the general concept of the faction, including background story, geographical location etc...
* the general concept of the faction from a gameplay PoV, how do they fight in cave, in water, at day/night, what terrain are they good/bad on, in what way are they different from other factions to play.
Submitting eras
Your era should be downloadable on the campaign server to allow easier testing by devs.
EDIT: Unstickied. -zookeeper
Last edited by Boucman on April 1st, 2007, 5:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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