I do not know how to put this so that I do not upset anyone so… I will outline only the main idea.
VCMI is short on developers, so any extra work taken now that moves/creates features for mods will only be good in the long/short run.
You branch somehow from the release course, but when you release you will have way more content. What I mean about this, is that with a little more mod support, mods could be close to finished when VCMI is released instead of just starting them at that point.
For sort, there are a lot of people with a lot of free time that are not necessarily developers.
Is that a hidden request for alternative upgrades support?
Implementing this feature is trivial but time-consuming (read data from json, implement correct reaction from UI, find how to fit all this data on UI, add checks on server-side). But it does not needs any advanced coding skills. Person who studied C++ for several months can implement it easily!
This is one of reasons I’m not interest in implementing it - I’d rather work on some more complex features and leave something like this to any novice developers that may want to help our project.
My quote from here: [forum.vcmi.eu/t/bugs-not-reported-on-mantis/697/1)
And only persons who turned out to have free time were developers. We need restless Zamolxis back.
BTW - there are still some reports not moved to Mantis. Just saying.
No it was not directed to alternative creature support but was related. I think this alternative creatures make a good example of what I mean. I see it this way:
There are 5+ guys working diligently on a mod exclusive for VCMI or so I understood (“my polish is not that great” (said Google Translate)). There are some others on HC that are asking about the same thing. So my idea/suggestion is that a developer should support them with small code patches that are needed so that they can continue with their work.
You keep on VCMI a lot of interested guys (modders), and get a nice mod that brings extra functionality to H3, and all that done in parallel to development (except for the developer :)). You get a lot of feedback and a lot of testing done by these guys.
Not c++ is the problem but understanding how the whole thing is patched together. (I remember trying to fix an animation bug for Champions but I had to abandon after 2 days ).
That being said I will give it a try with these alt upgrades starting Monday.
2 days? I spend ~1 week to figure out how all that animation code works. Not the best piece of our code
From the other side - I think all battle animation issues are gone now. Certainly worth it.
Library/server code is in much better state although IDE that can parse code is almost necessary here as well.
In worst case you may ask for some help on how to implement something or where to find it.
They can start with asking about this thing here, at vcmi.eu
Especially how it should look like (e.g. H5-style or building upgrades that block another), show that they are actually working on this so this feature is needed (as opposed to “implement variable-size battlefields because it is cool”).
One of the problems with current state of feedback is that it is very distributed across multiple threads on multiple forums and on multiple languages. (I know about 4 active forums on 3 languages)
“implement variable-size battlefields because it is cool” actually this could very well be a quote of mine :). because they really are cool. I remember an official Small map in H6 (tower/bridge something forgot name) where you fought your way out of your zone in a battle in an elongated battlefield… It made the thing very interesting :D. I do not remember the rest of the fights but that one i remember well. Same with kings bounty… I clearly remember fighting a giant spider that occupied 1/4 of the battlefield and summoned constantly lots of spider-lings (Like in King of Dragons). (Yes I am talking about 7 hex creature sizes )… And I think I’ve mentioned zones at beginning of post, another cool feature :). But not the feature from H6 those control zones, more like H3 rmg zones but with meaning in code. /rant
The point is if developers know about the possibility of such things to happen at some point in the future, they will most likely make the code more flexible in that direction.
Now only 2hex creatures possible (you can make creatures larger then 2hex in DEFs altrough limited only by 450x400 but they will cover other units, so it’s not looking good now).
7hex creature looks like absurd altrough (what is a creature, that bigger than black dragon or titan 7-4 times).
