David,
While it has been several years since I have contributed anything under the
alias Darth Fool to Battle for Wesnoth, your Wesnoth2 project intrigued
me. I have read through the design document, downloaded and built the
Anura engine, and downloaded the Wesnoth2 module and got it running. It is
as you said very early days. Never the less, I would be interested in
contributing. I am not sure at this time how much I will be able to
contribute but I figured I would reach out knowing that every bit can help.
John McNabb
aka Darth Fool
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"In theory, theory and practice are the same,
but in practice they're different."
--Unknown
"In the constrained vision, each new generation
born is in effect an invasion of civilization by little
barbarians, who must be civilized before it is too
late."
--T.S., 'A Conflict of Visions'
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John W. C. McNabb
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On Wed, Aug 17, 2016 at 1:42 AM, David White <[email protected]> wrote:
> I posted the below to the Wesnoth forums ( https://forums.wesnoth.org/
> viewtopic.php?f=6&t=44477 ) but felt it is worth repeating here.
>
> ---
>
> For some time now, myself and a few other developers have been working
> off-and-on on a project we are calling "wesnoth2". Normally I don't like to
> discuss projects I work on when they are still in a fairly speculative
> phase, because many projects in this phase end up not working out, and I do
> not like to get people excited about something which may or may not pan out.
>
> However, I have received some questions about wesnoth2 -- specifically
> what it is, what direction it is going in, and perhaps most importantly
> what it means for Wesnoth. So I am going to talk about it a little here.
>
> Wesnoth has been a very successful project. It has allowed many people to
> come together and collaborate on a fun Open Source game. Wesnoth2 is an
> effort to see if we can do that all over again -- make a fun Open Source
> strategy game which is driven by a wonderful community. It would use modern
> technology, opening us up to many new possibilities, be much more flexible,
> and use some lessons learned from Wesnoth to tweak its approach slightly.
>
> I want to begin by saying the name "wesnoth2" is simply a name we are
> currently using for it. It might end up being a true successor to Wesnoth
> and earn the title "Wesnoth2". It might end up being a different game that
> uses many of the principles we learned on Wesnoth, and end up with a
> different name. Currently we are [i]experimenting[/i] with possibilities.
>
> So what are we working on, more specifically? We are importing many of
> Wesnoth's assets -- terrain graphics, unit art, sounds, etc, to be used in
> Anura, the engine that has been developed by myself and some others, and on
> which Frogatto, Argentum Age, and several other games have used.
>
> We are working on making a game prototype for a strategy game. Rather than
> re-implement Wesnoth's rules directly, we thought it would be more exciting
> and fresher to build a new game with new and different mechanics. It will
> still be a hex-based fantasy strategy game with much of the feel of
> Wesnoth, but the mechanics and rules will be different.
>
> We want to progress in a similar manner to the way Wesnoth did. Distribute
> the game. People who enjoy it can improve it. Build a community around it.
> Allow for user created content. And we want the engine to be powerful and
> flexible enough so that Wesnoth1 can be fully reimplemented in it. As long
> as we are successful and there is interest that is something we definitely
> would like to do.
>
> There are some things we would do a little differently, a few lessons we
> have learned from Wesnoth. I will list some things here:
>
> - wesnoth2 is being developed on the Anura engine which is available
> under the zlib/libpng license which is GPL compatible. It is more
> permissive than the GPL.
> - The actual gameplay code for wesnoth2 will most likely be made
> available under the GPL though we haven't made a final decision on this.
> - We would like to move art and music and other content to a different
> license, such as a creative commons license. A code license such as the GPL
> makes no sense for content.
> - Importantly, we want to clarify that while wesnoth2 is committed to
> being a community-driven open source effort we see the benefit of being
> able to have monetized distribution in some markets. The App Store, for
> instance, has been highly beneficial for Wesnoth. To allow for this, we
> will ask contributors of core code and content to license their code and
> content to Wesnoth, Inc in a way that ensures we can do this.
> - We want to drive more experimentation and rewarding of new ideas in
> Wesnoth2. We want to try new game mechanics. New approaches to presenting
> storyline. New graphical effects. In Wesnoth1 there has been a problem
> where the amount of prestige associated with a developer is how long they
> have been with the project (seniority/tenure) and how many commits they
> have. Newer contributors have struggled with not feeling like they are
> "core developers" or can effect change. I want to change this with
> Wesnoth2. I'm not sure we have all the answers on how to change this, but
> one component is building it using a technology where contributors can try
> things out without having to rely on a C++ developer to implement things
> for them, and where things can be modularized better.
> - In reference to the previous point we want to have a culture of "If You
> Implement It, We'll Try It". What does that mean? Suppose someone comes
> along and says "hey guys the randomness in Wesnoth is really frustrating. I
> can implement a system with less randomness that I think will make the game
> more fun." Rather than reacting with disdain and contempt and an
> explanation of why our amount of randomness is good. This person could
> implement their scheme -- protecting it with a flag so the old way can
> still be used -- and then we can turn their feature on by default for at
> least one development patch. People can try it out, see if they like it.
> Give feedback. That way the idea gets a fair shot rather than people just
> immediately rushing to reject it.
>
> What does all this mean for Wesnoth1? I would say at this point, nothing.
> Wesnoth2 is still an experiment, nothing more. Hopefully it will grow to
> something one day, but that day isn't here yet and I don't have a time
> frame for when it will occur.
>
> Now perhaps one day Wesnoth2 will grow to subsume Wesnoth1. But if it does
> so it will only do so because it deserves to -- if all the experiences that
> you can get with Wesnoth1 are made available with Wesnoth2. Otherwise they
> may just remain as different games, both standing in their own right.
>
> If anyone is interested in seeing what we have for wesnoth2 at this time
> they are welcome to do so. Here is the Wesnoth2 design document, describing
> the [i]current ruleset[/i]: https://github.com/anura-
> engine/wesnoth2/wiki/Design-Document
>
> Wesnoth2 code is available on github: https://github.com/anura-
> engine/wesnoth2/
>
> You will need the Anura engine to run it: https://github.com/anura-
> engine/anura
>
> If anybody wants to get involved in a game project at this early stage
> (noting that it's quite a different experience to developing on a mature
> project like Wesnoth1) we certainly welcome help. Let me know and we can
> help you get set up.
>
> Finally, I recognize that there has been a good deal of misunderstanding,
> lack of transparency, and general anxiety in the community around the
> development of Wesnoth and its relationship to our corporate setup,
> Wesnoth, Inc.
>
> When we first started Wesnoth, Inc, it was designed to manage the revenue
> from the App Store, and we had a board, consisting of myself, Turuk, and
> Noy. However, Turuk and Noy are barely around anymore.
>
> So, I want to re-establish a board of three members, with me as president.
> These three members would be nominated by the community with a
> [i]recommendation vote[/i] from which I will select the three board members.
>
> Wesnoth, Inc will establish a charter, describing its goals -- which will
> largely be to further the interests of Wesnoth, and other open source games
> we may develop (such as Wesnoth2).
>
> Board members will be up for re-election once per year, but as long as
> they are fulfilling their duties well and want to continue I would expect
> to keep the same board members.
>
> The board will make any decisions such as where to spend Wesnoth Inc's
> finances, and any markets (such as the app store) to distribute our games
> on (free markets such as Linux/OSX/Windows/etc would not require the
> board's approval, only markets which require signed agreements etc).
>
> I hope this clarifies things for people. I am happy to answer any
> questions.
>
> _______________________________________________
> Wesnoth-dev mailing list
> [email protected]
> https://mail.gna.org/listinfo/wesnoth-dev
>
>
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