Improvement priority: Game Engine or New Features?

[Maedhros]

i think that the engine should be sorted out first, because when that is improved, it will allow for more features and cool things in the long run i would have thought.

Define "sorted out". You don't "improve" an engine once, and suddenly every feature ever requested becomes simple to implement. It doesn't work that way. You have to spend a long time rewriting the engine for each such feature request, and most of them aren't worth that time.

When we say "engine rewrite", what we're usually saying is "it's a good idea, but it's too much work and I don't want to do it, but if you do it for us we'll take it."

maybe i worded that badly, and yes roux managed to get my meaning.
And Zarel, im not that stupid to know that just improving the engine once would make everything magically better, and as for the way that made me feel, im signing off for now, later

[Tenoh]

I vote for a new or maybe expanded engine,features can wait.WZ has almost reached its limits engine wise and there is only so much stuff you can do to it.Maybe making the engine more modular could help then if you only want a new feature added you just make a module for the game.

[JDW]

I vote for a new or maybe expanded engine,features can wait.WZ has almost reached its limits engine wise and there is only so much stuff you can do to it.Maybe making the engine more modular could help then if you only want a new feature added you just make a module for the game.

Agreed, but Zarel has an interesting point

You don't "improve" an engine once, and suddenly every feature ever requested becomes simple to implement. It doesn't work that way. You have to spend a long time rewriting the engine for each such feature request, and most of them aren't worth that time.

[Roux Le Corps]

shame...

[Crymson]

We can vote all we want, but if they don't have time, they don't have time, and voting about it isn't going to grant them more time.

[Tenoh]

I dont get Zarel if he think its not worth the time then why is he here at all? And didnt meant to improve engine at once i meant to expand it so future additions to the game can be implemented more easily.And its not that they dont have the time,they got all the time in the world they just dont want to.

[JDW]

I dont get Zarel if he think its not worth the time then why is he here at all? And didnt meant to improve engine at once i meant to expand it so future additions to the game can be implemented more easily.And its not that they dont have the time,they got all the time in the world they just dont want to.

Aww, come on Tenoh , don't be so bitter, there are so many other things that developers are already working on, and fixing bugs takes a lot of time too, it's not that easy.. Also they are all volunteers, don't be too harsh ...

[JDW]

New features such as "New Weapons/Cyborgs/Structures/Technology" are generally extremely rare. We have a few things coming up, such as gates, naval units, jetpack cyborgs, and dedicated air-to-air weapons.

Zarel, if it's not too much trouble, would you please update the Frequently Proposed Ideas thread with the above ideas that you mentioned? And maybe other things you left out?

EDIT: If they are already worked on, then you could say In Testing.. Like how gates are already working in trunk.. Your call..

[Roux Le Corps]

seconded ^

[Crymson]

I dont get Zarel if he think its not worth the time then why is he here at all? And didnt meant to improve engine at once i meant to expand it so future additions to the game can be implemented more easily.And its not that they dont have the time,they got all the time in the world they just dont want to.

Tenoh, what's the matter, you can't do it yourself, so you need to blame others from your shortcomings?
How the heck can you know if they have time or not? Yeah, they can be annoying, and shoot down patches for trivial reasons, but I don't see you picking up the ball and doing something besides running your mouth.

[MetalWarrior95]

Well heres my opinion!
They should upgrade game engine and in a way to make smaller sistem requirments and to add directX support if someone wants great support of hi tech effects...If some of them wants that!For the feature,we should gather some money and pay some coder to make somethings posible!

[JDW]

I regret posting this thread now

[MetalWarrior95]

Why?

[JDW]

Not because of what you said MW95,

After reading what everyone had to say, I now feel that this topic is pointless, game engine and feature requests go hand in hand.. You can't work on them one at a time..

You don't "improve" an engine once, and suddenly every feature ever requested becomes simple to implement. It doesn't work that way. You have to spend a long time rewriting the engine for each such feature request, and most of them aren't worth that time.

And he is right.. Every other commercial game that have major game engine improvements have years of gaps in between releases, even with so many developers working on the code.

So after reading all the insights shared by everyone, it's clear that WZ2100 is actually developing faster than I had imagined before. I have seen what's going on in development and I'm really liking what's happening here.

For instance Zarel fixed a really annoying issue that I had with Trucks in 2.3, namely Build Queues for trucks, but it will be much much easier soon.. A big thank you to Zarel for this
http://developer.wz2100.net/ticket/1820

[Christheturtle]

Tenoh, don't be so rude. Either learn to code and implement it yourself, or don't slander the current developers. Perhaps you are unaware with the amount of work they put in? Just because you don't see new things visible in-game every day, doesn't mean the code, the core engine, the bugs etcetera aren't being ironed out to provide you and other users with an optimized gaming experience.

I point you towards two things. The first, the trac system which shows you what the developers are doing:
http://developer.wz2100.net/log/

And then I point you towards another discussion, the brainstorm idea:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5465