Maltrease said:
What format is the data in the game available in?
Its not immeadiately accessable.
Can you access all of the current unit and spell informtion in an easy way (like XML)?
Much of it you can. Well, I can. There is a linux command called "strings" which will extract the text of the game. Many huge lists can be generated and made available for download.
Can you get all the unit sprites directly? I know in Dom2, I had to make them by taking screen shots.
There are new commands which will copy things into a mod. In Dom2 someone worked out a macro to screenshot and save the sprites (initial image, not movement image) and we made them all available for download. Usually the move image is a simple cut-n-paste of part of the initial image so it saved alot of time for people.
http://www.dom2minions.com/~minion/icons/
I wouldnt mind seeing that done again.
Lastly... is it possible to get access to any of this data before the game is released?
I believe that any of it can be given to you by anyone that has the game. A beta-tester or a previewer. Im not sure if any of them want to but if you have very specific desires then they might.
I'd like to make an online unit viewer (which could eventually grow into other things). I had planned this for Dom2 but process of extracting the data was tedious and my time was lacking. My knowledge of data driven applications had grown a lot in two years and if the data is easily available I don't think it would be a huge drain to create it now. Plus the timing would seem to be much better (getting it done close to the game release) vs months later.
I agree with everything that you said. But there is a problem with it. For the same reason that the icon directory I just showed you was not linked off any web page. Making it too easy for people to get copies of the game icons is pretty much gauranteeing that they will show up in other games, as avatars, as desktop icons, etc. Having those things happen within the Dominions community is one thing but having it show up all over the net is kindof irritating.
I suspect that someone will need to create an all_units game like was done for Dom2.
Gandalf Parker