[policy discussion] how to get new units in game

[Boucman]

After discussing with Soliton and Dragonking in IRC, we agreed the main reason few new units are added in wesnoth is because we don't have a clear policy on how to submit a new unit for inclusion.

It might also be a good idea to have more "unused" units in mainline. (that is units that are in no MP eras, but could be used by custom eras and campaigns)

This thread is here to discuss that. I will edit this first post to reflect the discussion, and once it's completed, I will post it as a sticky locked thread in the "faction and era" forum.

How to get units included in game

There are tons of units being developed on the forum, and very few make it in game. This thread is here to provide a quick guide on the submission process.

but first and foremost, your unit should be finished. This is not the way to submit a unit concept, and any unit that is not finished enough will be droped right away.

remember, that any work you don't do, we (the dev) have to do it...
and we are all very lazy


The submission process
Once your unit has all the prerequisits (see below) you should zip all data (images, cfg, sounds etc...) in a single patch and post it in patches.wesnoth.org please comment heavily when submiting the patch, and always provide a name/mail/forum name so we can reach you to discuss the unit.

from there, a dev (probably me) will take the patch and get it through a review process which will include:
* asking art devs if the art is good enough
* asking the MP devs if the unit is balanced/usefull etc...
more people involved?
note that at any of these stages, your unit could be entirely droped for good reason like "we don't like it" or "there are enough units in this faction" don't feel bad about it, as I said earlier, adding a unit is a hard process (Wesnoth already has about 200 units) and success is not guaranteed.

Art requirements
Note that the art devs are perfectly allowed to reject a unit because it's "not good enough," or "doesn't match." It's usually a good idea to have a thread on the unit art for discussion/improvement first.
All units should:
* follow these standards on the Wiki.
* be Team Colored (not neccesary for "monsters" and campaign specific units)
* for each new kinds of attack, include a Attack Icon (in the new style)
* for new kinds of ranged attacks, also include graphics for the Missile
* have at least 1 frame for all of the following:
* standing
* each distinct attack
* defence
* leadership and healing (if applicable)

Sound requirements
All units should be "wired" for sounds on the following events:
* get hit
* die
* a hit and miss sound for each Melee attack (miss is optional in rare cases)
* a sound for each Ranged attack (miss is optional)


Submiting a single unit
When submiting an extra unit for an existing faction, you should be very carefull on how the unit might change the balance. Please include the following information in the patch comment:
* What faction it should go in and what era (if any)?
* How the unit is suposed to be used?
* Why is this unit needed/interesting to add (both gameplay and general faction feel) This is especially important for new recruitable units
* Balancing considerations that were taken into account.
* Link to a forum thread discussing it.
* If they need a new ability, you should submit a code patch with the lot, and code devs will review your unit, too.
* The unit should be 100% up to date with regard to WML syntax.

Submitting factions
Note that factions are hard to get added to the default era and others? which ones? so you should not be frustrated if a faction gets droped early. You can still propose it for another era or make an entirely new era with them.

Please include in comment:
* the general concept of the faction, including background story, geographical location etc...
* the general concept of the faction from a gameplay PoV how do they fight in cave, in water, at day/night, what terrain are they good/bad on, in what way are they different from other factions to play.

Submiting eras
Your unit should be downloadable on the campaign server to allow easier testing by devs.
I don't really know what to put here

[turin]

Looks good. But:

* have at least 1 frame for all of the following:
* standing
* each distinct attack
* defence
* leadership and healing (if applicable)

IIRC, Jetryl has said in the past that having a one-frame animation for a unit is basically worthless. So, we should either require full, 4-8 framed animations for these things, or not require any animations at all.

And, I think you missed "death" from that list.

[Boucman]

thx, corrected

[Eleazar]

Looks good. But:

* have at least 1 frame for all of the following:
* standing
* each distinct attack
* defence
* leadership and healing (if applicable)

IIRC, Jetryl has said in the past that having a one-frame animation for a unit is basically worthless. So, we should either require full, 4-8 framed animations for these things, or not require any animations at all.

And, I think you missed "death" from that list.

I don't think the minimum requirements for new units should be radically higher than the status of current unit. (don't you want the Imperial Era in this decade?) A great many mainline units have 1 frame attack and defense animations. It's certainly much better than only having 1 standing frame. While it's certainly desireable to have more frames, units that meet the requirements above are playable and don't detract from the game.
I don't think death animations should be required since a single frame death animation is worthless, and the number of artists how can do decent multi-frame animations is small, i believe requiring a death animation would be unneccesarily restrictive.

[turin]

I was actually pushing towards not requiring any animations, since over half of the units in the Imperial Era don't have any.

[Eleazar]

I removed the 4 frame requirement from the above document.
I don't think Turin's memory of what Jetryl said in another context should be policy. Especially when it seems like a bad idea in this context.

However i think not requireing at least 1 frame for attacks and defence would cheapen the game. If there are any mainline units like that, please let me know, so they can be fixed.

[Boucman]

Ok, I just rejected the armagedon drake because nobody offered to TC it


however, I think the experiment was interesting, so I will copy the current policy to the faction and era forum as planned.