DBA v.2

[imported_The Paper General]

Hi Olga, this question is diected to you and any other of the developers to answer. I'm sorry if it feels like I'm putting you on the spot, but you seem to be the most forthcoming with your answers.
Here is the question, or questions:
1) Will dbaol v 1.2 be upgraded to DBA v.2?
2) If yes, when?
3) If not, why,and what other alternatives are being forwarded by the developers?
4)Can we as a community look forward to any of the following idea's being implemented:
a)More maps, or the ability to custom create maps as is the case with DBA v.2
b)Agression factors for each army.
c) Morale.
d)Actual representation of units that appear in the game, by this I mean, when an army list states either 3 Bw /or 4Bw, will we see painted units with 3 figures and 4 figures, not the usual 3 figures we normally see.
d)More armies, on par with v.2 army lists.
Olga, a lot of the dbaol community are very loyal fans of this game, and have been very patient waiting for ammendements to the game.
I understand writing code for this game is a monumental task, and that the developers are hard at work developing your newest game. That being said please be upfront with what is going on over there, we all like dbaol, but we have to be kept informed, otherwise we'll all turn into mushrooms from being kept in the dark too long! :D
Give me a shout and let me know.
Alexander (4) aka Saxon Dog

[imported_Delirium's Brother]

This is a message for Olga too:
re: saxon dog's questions. I have a related request. I'd like to have Olga's comments (and by proxy the developer's comments) on what is going on in the "open source" thread. There are a lot of eager people who would be willing to help with various tasks including mapping, and painting figures, transcribing army lists, etc. It's time that DBAOL start releasing some parts of the code so that the players can start contributing and "expressing their creativity." Most of this is tedious work that the players would only be happy to do, freeing up the developers to do the tough stuff. You don't have to release the source for the game engine! If your worried about losing control of the game, or whatever you are worrying about, but some answers are required. Patient and enthusiastic fans of the game WILL eventually grow to hate it if somthing isn't done soon.

[ May 29, 2003, 01:15: Message edited by: Delirium's Brother ]

[Kachoudas]

Hello,

I hope the team will answer, but you'll find many answers here :
http://www.fanaticus.org/boards/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=11;t=001575
Look for Olga's post, near to the top of the topic.


But as far as I am concerned, I just don't care about this DBA2 thing. Bad rules (BUAs, LH QK on spears ?? may be some others...) seems to do as bad as there is good in these rules.
And also I don't care about 4/bcd below.

[Kachoudas]

But I fully support the following things :

- allow players to create their own maps and share them with others

- allow players to create custom scenarii

yours

[Richard III]

Originally posted by Kachoudas:

But as far as I am concerned, I just don't care about this DBA2 thing. Bad rules (BUAs, LH QK on spears ?? may be some others...) seems to do as bad as there is good in these rules.But Jerome, it's always hard to make a judgement when one doesn't know the other side of the coin.
I love playing DBAOL, as you know - but I assure you that DBA II is a much better game.

Once one has tasted the delights of a really good, aged Burgundy, the 'table red' loses much of its appeal!

RIII

"Ignorance is NEVER bliss - of course we had to bite the Apple!"

[imported_Delirium's Brother]

Jerome, I don't really care that much about DBA v2.0 either, except that it's the most current instantiation of the rules. I'm not one of those players that sees DBAOL as a separate game from the table-top form, so I'd like to see the online game stay current. I know there are players who do see it as something different, and all the more power to them! But I don't... But that's not even the most important thing, really. What I'm really concerned about is the life of DBAOL itself.

DBAOL can't possibly have a great bottom line, really. There just aren't enough players, i.e. subscriptions being sold, to make this a lucretive operation. So even though many of us around here (me included) gnash our teeth about DBAOL problems: like bugs, server down-time, slow product upgrade cycle; as though we're dealing with some major corporation with a huge customer service and R&D departments, etc.; the truth is that there are only just a handful of people working on this project. And given the likely money situation, they are probably working practically as volunteers. I doubt this is anybody's full-time job! It's a labour of love, I'm sure.

But here's the thing...The public is unforgiving, basically. People are already starting to get rowdy about this and that desired improvement. And it's only going to get worst, until either:

a) people start letting their subscriptions lapse, and the money dries up, and the game dies;

b) the designers and administrative people at DBAOL get tired of slaving away for little or no thanks, they give up, and the game dies, or

c) someone opens up a small part of the source code to let the players work on implementing some of the features they desire, like new maps or new v2.0 armies, everyone is blissfully happy, and the game survives.

Personally, I'm in favour of the third option. It would certainly take a load off the designers to have the players doing the simple mundane tasks like creating maps and painted figure tiles. If the designers have more time to devote to the creative challenging tasks, like working on the game engine instead of mapping, etc., then everyone would be happy. The designers would have everyone off their backs. They'd be able to work on something interesting. And the players would be happy or at least happier because they would have a way to contribute. Anyone with a text editor and a paint program could be helping out, assuming things like the map code standards are availlable to study. You could even run contests for best maps, or figure tiles, or whatever. I'm not talking about giving away the source code for the game engine or anything like that. I'm just saying many games, like Q3, have openned up enough code for the players to do maps and mods, etc. as a strategy for keeping interest in the game vital. In my opinion that's what the people at DBAOL should do, before either they get too frustrated to continue, or the players loss interest (like David K).

[ May 30, 2003, 01:15: Message edited by: Delirium's Brother ]

[Scottila]

Going to 2.0 would go a long way toward fixing warbands. In ver 1.22 - the one that DBAOL is based on - they are weaker than they were at any other point in the development of the rule set.

In 2.0 they get back rear support vs foot, and they get 2nd moves to overlap or support.

[ May 30, 2003, 15:16: Message edited by: Scottila ]