what about the future?

[Grand Stone]

So nobody know anything about the 'new' project? Nothing?

Man, Im currius

[Wrana]

Originally Posted by lch

You'd weep when I tell you the specifications about the file format for the sprites, and why they are saved in the way they are. The game still is a derivative of an Atari Falcon ST game.

I cannot guarantee weeping as I am not a programmer, but could you tell it? I like "programming archeology", as Vinge named it.

[Corwin]

Originally Posted by DrPraetorious

The dominions codebase is really neat in a lot of respects - but it also shows it's age. I don't have access to the source code, but just from diving into the built-in tables you can see the accumulated cruft of ages, and a lot of things are hard-coded or messy hacks which will cause accumulated headaches down the line if they try to keep working on it.

That said, it is amazing how extensible and stable it is (and how small a footprint it has, which is really a hallmark of an earlier era), but I can see why they wouldn't want to add true scripting support - either for user-modded events, user-modded maps/scenarios, or user-modded spells.

I agree with what DrPraetorious said. Besides even if you would have an access to script language for the world building, events, et cetera, should you try to create really interesting campaign, I strongly suspect that severe limitations of AI would came forth with vengeance. You would likely require sophisticated dev-built tools to mod AI behavior, something that may be very difficult to retrofit into old clunky Dom3 source code. That's entirely different can of worms, especially for a game with such a complex ruleset as Dom3.


to be able to create really good compaigns,

[Gandalf Parker]

Originally Posted by Corwin

That's entirely different can of worms, especially for a game with such a complex ruleset as Dom3.

BINGO.
Early on I told people that if they wanted to come up with some AI changes they would be looked at. I provided clips of the debug code around ai actions and invited them to come up with some pseudo code. Some of the threads are still probably around. But anyone that tried found out that even the simplest complaint by the players tended to have a dozen IF this or IF that tied to it.

[Gandalf Parker]

Many know at least some of the new project. But its tightly bound up with NDA's (non-disclosure agreements). Its a tight house.
Even parts of Dom3 and Dom2 are still bound in NDA's

[Grand Stone]

I get the picture.

Still, I'm realy currius about the 'next thing', and asking is not goverened by any NDA's

[NTJedi]

Originally Posted by Grand Stone

I get the picture.

Still, I'm realy currius about the 'next thing', and asking is not goverened by any NDA's

Stardock has done quite the opposite with the game they're currently working. We're talking about a couple developer journals every week with screenshots and game details. This method is generating more talk and discussion about this future game. "WORD OF MOUTH" is one of the main reasons for a successful game... NOT how quiet the developers were able to keep the game unknown. Stardock actually has the smartest move for a successful game as compared with the ultra hush silent treatment which is such a 1990s trend.

[DrPraetorious]

Oh, this was revealed a while back:
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showp...0&postcount=15

[Grand Stone]

I was actually looking for something that was NOT an 1 of april joke...

[DrPraetorious]

Hey! Revealing that info doubtless cost me the opportunity to be a playtester on dominions 4. Show a little gratitude for my sacrifices - I went out and bought an xbox 360 for nothing.

Originally Posted by Grand Stone

I was actually looking for something that was NOT an 1 of april joke...