TFC new feature mod contest

[aliceingame 114]

In the forum, I've seen 3 mod for TFC. From these 3, two will be implemented in the game (medical mod and leather water sac) and one was "refused" by Dunk (the wood chopping mod).

I think that there is many people who could code new things for TFC. I would propose a new feature contest. The idea would be that the developers select a new feature they want to add in the game, and let different team code their version of the mod, test and debug it. The contest would end with public release of the different mod for public approval, then me dev would have to pick the best one, based on the value of the mod (code, bug, etc.) and implement it to TFC. That would allow the dev to concentrate on rewriting the actual code and implementing ideas they already have and at the same time, get new features that come from ideas from the users.

For example, i know that Dunk said he don't want TFC to be brewery craft, but it could be nice to have a little bit more complex and realistic alcohol production system. One one side Dunk would not have to code it and on the other end, players would be able to enjoy the add on.

So if Dunk and/or Bioxx agree, it would be nice to have some basic guideline about a new mod, and a private subforum for each team.

I can not code, but I can give ideas and test.

[dunkleosteus 2,425]

What if all the submissions are bad? Are we obligated to implement one anyway? Also, we plan quite far in advance. To make community-made features support future features, we'd have to tell you what we're going to do, which is bad.

[Emris 156]

It is one thing to make a standalone mod, and a totally different thing to use that same code and implement it into TFC.

You will almost always have to recode the idea of that mod from scratch. TFC code is organized in its own way.

Correct me if i'm wrong, but it would almost always be harder to reuse someones source code then just write it from ground up....maybe some code snippets could be reused, but that's kind of a big maybe.

And besides, dunk and bioxx already expressed no need for extra developers.

But i guess these mini-mods, if i can call them that, could be used to have fun testing the playability of different ideas and things that are not so easy to explain with words.

And as i understand it, these mods have to follow a few rules.

- No altering of TFC source code in any way.

- No rewriting or blocking of any TFC features or Recipes.

- ... did i forget something?

[Aridhol 41]

Its a decent idea... I happen to know a few coders with the talent to work tfc related mods, but I am unsure they would even want the mods incorporated.. Why incorporate a minimod into the mod if it works perfectly fine running alongside tfc?

[aliceingame 114]

Dunk, if the submissions are bad, ditch them, it's simple. You open a contest, you make the rules. Yes you plan far in advance, and yes it would be nice if a lot of features work together, but wou may want to select a field that have less planed development, or open the context in a way people would not work on something to be added by wou later. For example if you plan to add grapes, then ask people to make cider instead of whine, and just add whine with the release of the grapes.

Emris and Aridhol, the problem with mini-mod is that their developers need to update them as well. If you want to play to TFC with the leather water sac and medical mini-mod, you have to wait for both to update to play to TFC. If it's a part of TFC, then... no need to wait.

Dunk and/or Bioxx would be in a better position to say if a third party code would be usable or at least usefull for the creation of the final code. At least, it could be a good way to test development in a specific aspect of the game.

If I gave the alcohol idea, it's because Dunk said he would most likely add beer as wheat in a water barrel. Then why not let people imagine new process to do so. They could give some general guidelines/rules to the contest and even make more than one contest on the same theme to go deeper. During the contest teams would have to share basic information like bloc ID (to have the same for each team) and why not share their texture. Then at the end, the code is shared by all teams so they can start at the same point for the next round. Of course, it can go as far as you want. If you don't want to add alcohol, then it could be something else.

For example.

1. The first drink : cider.

- Add a way to transform fruits in juice (at the same time, fruit juice can go in a bottle straight from the juicer).

- Add a way to transform apple juice into cider.

- Add effect to the consumption of juice and cider.

- Optional, add a way to produce yeast.

2. Wines

- Add grape, how they grow, are we harvest, etc.

- Add way to transform grape in different kind of wine (red and white).

- Optional, add other kind of whine (sake).

3. Beer

- Add new ingredients (hop) and their culture.

- Add a way to make malt (add a dryer ?).

- Add a way to transform the ingredients in beer.

4. Spirit

- Add distillery process.

- Add new recipe for pre-distillation liquid.

- Optional, add a aging process.

5. Liqueur

- Add more complex recipe that would require mix of spirit, juices or other ingredents and maybe fermentation after mixing.

For this example to be possible, barrel would require update to be able to put liquid from the barrel to a bottle, and maybe the option to add more than one ingredient.

I know that Dunk and Bioxx don't want to add more people to the development team, that's why I opened this subject. If they don't like my idea, it's fine, just close this topic.

[Aridhol 41]

Your idea I really do like, what you want, without explicitly saying so, is more content. And I applaud that. I want more content too!

Our beloved Devs however, haven't ever been supportive of 3rd party additions, and do not seem very interested in adding more developers to the team.

This is not a rant on them, its their mod and they can choose to add or not add additional coders as they see fit, and it doesn't matter much what we think about that. This is their right, the code is theirs, we have no reason to be upset at them over this, for without them, there is no TFC to add content to!

My point in all this is, your contest idea may not take off, because Dunk/Bioxx may not be interested in it. Plain and simple. Or they might wanna do it, how should I know? Dunk didn't seem particularly enthused with his response, so that is just the vibe I get.

However, there is no reason we cannot hold a 'community contest' making minimods and have a community poll thread at the end for our favorite, and at that point the community can petition Bioxx/Dunk to use the source and bring it into TFC.

If it doesn't fit some of the ideas they have moving forward, what do we lose? Nothing! We still have a minimod that we can freely download and use alongside our TFC if we want to, and if the contestants so wish they may choose to adapt their mod and keep it up to date as TFC progresses, in which case we get more content regardless!

I can fully understand Bioxx/Dunk being hesitant to add foreign code to their game; its not originally theirs, they don't know exactly how it was coded, and them updating it later could be problematic. Or, it could be a feature they have in the works already, hidden within some of their dev builds, that they do not want to go through the time it would take to merge the new code with the existing, and adapt it how they want it... Troublesome, to say the least!

Still, if you wanna hold a community contest... well, all you need to do really is garner interest and find some applicants willing to give it a go! As I already said, we cannot in any way guarantee the winner would get his code added to TFC natively, but it could be plenty of fun to see some cool things come about just the same

[dunkleosteus 2,425]

You can already make alcohols in barrels, but they don't have any items yet. Try sealing apples in a barrel of water, or barley grain etc.

[Aridhol 41]

You can already make alcohols in barrels, but they don't have any items yet. Try sealing apples in a barrel of water, or barley grain etc.

Oooh..

[aliceingame 114]

Oooh indeed.... but a complete barrel of cider out of one apple... and one barrel of beer out of one grain... still,I guess it's a starting point.

How should I understand Dunk's answer. "Don't worry, it's planed" or "we don't want contest" or "we don't want help"....

I just want to find a way to be a bit more involved in the progression of TFC. All I've done right now is to write a couple of post in the forum, and I don't even know if they have or will have any impact/importance.

I guess that for now I'll report the bug I just found and hope that someone will see it and fix it for the next release.