Wesnoth 10 years from now

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max_torch
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Wesnoth 10 years from now

Post by max_torch »

How do you think Wesnoth will look like 10 years from now? I'm talking about mainline, UMC, the multiplayer scene, the art scene, the website, the coding, everything.

1.) Serious Predictions:
Will there be more mainline campaigns? Will we have more stories from after the fall or before the humans came? Will Khalifate ever be balanced with default factions? Will we have more factions? Will all the bugs be squashed? Will Wesnoth story slides be replaced with cutscenes complete with voice over? Will Wesnoth have an intro movie? Will the AI become so smart like Deep Blue that beat Gary Kasparov, etc etc etc

2.) Wild & Crazy Preditions:
Will Wesnoth be developed for the Oculus Rift? Will EA buy Wesnoth and make a 3D BfW 2 which sells better than Mass Effect? Will Peter Jackson try Wesnoth and be inspired to make a series of Wesnoth movies? Will Wesnoth become an Olympic sport like chess? etc etc
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Dugi
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Re: Wesnoth 10 years from now

Post by Dugi »

1) Serious predictions (can't assure that they'll come true)
There will be little changes in mainline campaigns. Factions will be a bit more balanced and maybe a few new ones will appear (maybe some UMC era will become mainline). WML will be more powerful, containing tools to comfortably create UMC using building construction or unit inventories. Interface support for cutscenes will be improved, allowing much better stuff. AI will contemplate about its plan in the background (in some planning mode) and plan several turns ahead without disturbing you with slow decisions. Maybe it will be possible allow it streaming music that would be illegal to distribute with the game otherwise (for example from youtube).

2) Highly optimistic predictions
The game will cease using SDL2 for graphics and switch to Blender. This will fix most today's problems with absent animations and claims of wesnoth having crappy graphics. This will make many things easier to code at the cost of slightly harder learning to create graphics. This will open door for many new features like kill cams, 1st person view for cutscenes and character mode for RPG add-on lovers.

3) Crazy predictions
Wesnoth will become a virtual reality allowing players to become synced with their characters and command the legions like themselves. It will eventually consume a lot of people, making the wesnoth's reality more important than the real reality (because without magic, it's boring and it's gonna take ages until we reach technologies that would add us cool abilities via generic modifications or cybrogish implants).
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Re: Wesnoth 10 years from now

Post by firefox »

1) the zoom feature will finally work correctly, because it will use the same technique that gimp uses for zooming.
there will be more mainline campaigns.
2D snes-like graphics will be so retro that they are much cooler than 3D graphics.

2) there will be 2 default eras. one before and one after the fall.
Heir to the Throne will have two storylines, in the beginning you can choose to play as Konrad or Li'sar.
may the source be with you
=(^.^)= nyan~
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Re: Wesnoth 10 years from now

Post by Lord-Knightmare »

Optimistic Predictions
  1. Wings of Victory will be mainlined as a drake campaign
  2. Invasion from the Unknown and After the Storm might get mainlined (I'm hoping for this, but I greatly doubt it)
  3. Khalifate become officially balanced
  4. A Khalifate mainline campaign will be made.
  5. Fullscreen mode will be fully-operational for Mac OS X :D
  6. TJK finally completes the UMC-campaign series Jahin Trilogy (The Legend Begins, Hero of Irdya, and untitled 3rd campaign)
  7. UMC campaign Epic of Jalin gets completed
  8. The ultimate RPG campaign gets released.
Utter Crazyness
  • Battle for Wesnoth 2 is an RTS game :augh:
  • A sister game, Battle for Irdya, consisting of UMCs Era of Chaos, Invasion from the Unknown, After the Storm, The Silver Lands, Under the Burning Suns, Thunderstone and Thunderstone Trilogy is released. :mrgreen: :shock: :D
  • Countries hold Battle for Wesnoth gaming tournaments.
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Paulomat4
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Re: Wesnoth 10 years from now

Post by Paulomat4 »

1.) Serious Predictions:
-Legend of wesmere is finally completely playable as multiplayer campaign AND bugfree
-The kaliphate are completely animated and there is a mainline campaign about them and they also feature in other campaigns
-Invasion from the unknown is accepted into mainline (not Ats though)
-people will still be complaining about the name of the kaliphate

2.) Wild & Crazy Predictions:
-mattsc completely reprograms the ai that makes it unbeatable for everyone, making it so that campaigns get balanced that the player has actually more gold.
-The code from LotI is finally understandable for everyone that tries to read it
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johndh
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Re: Wesnoth 10 years from now

Post by johndh »

Paulomat4 wrote: -people will still be complaining about the name of the kaliphate
:lol: Yeah, probably.
It's spelled "definitely", not "definately". "Defiantly" is a different word entirely.
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Re: Wesnoth 10 years from now

Post by Andrettin »

Dugi wrote: 2) Highly optimistic predictions
The game will cease using SDL2 for graphics and switch to Blender. This will fix most today's problems with absent animations and claims of wesnoth having crappy graphics. This will make many things easier to code at the cost of slightly harder learning to create graphics. This will open door for many new features like kill cams, 1st person view for cutscenes and character mode for RPG add-on lovers.
There are people who claim Wesnoth has crappy graphics?! :?
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Re: Wesnoth 10 years from now

Post by Kuchen »

Andrettin wrote:There are people who claim Wesnoth has crappy graphics?! :?
at least half of them people who don't understand pixel art as a medium, probably
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Re: Wesnoth 10 years from now

Post by StandYourGround »

Realistic Predictions:
  • Wesnoth will be able to check for updates on startup, and be able to update most of its own features without requiring a relaunch (Includes add ons)
  • Smooth scrolling everywhere, and optional controls optimized for touch:
    • Units can be selected and moved either by individual taps (unit, destination), or by a continuous tap and drag that smartly detects terrain costs and makes it easy to find an optimal path on the fly.
    • Touch and hold a unit to display popup statistics (HP, MP, Buffs, etc...)
    • Pinch gesture to zoom in/out
    • Minimap, sidebar, and other GUI elements can auto-hide, or be swiped in and out as needed (user preference, probably shown by default).
  • The add-on directory will be accessible from the multiplayer lobby or even in game, with open games requiring add-ons displaying a quick link to make it dead simple to install what is needed to join a game.
  • Complete animations
  • Very few new mainlined campaigns, other than those mainlined to give all factions at least one good campaign, and campaigns containing "canon" Wesnoth lore.
  • Existing campaigns will be improved and updated to address deficiencies in story or gameplay, for example:
    • (SoF) The talking gryphon will be replaced by a Wraith. This is reasonable, given the fact that ghosts can break free from novice necromancers and even become sympathetic characters (See Northern Rebirth), much more sensible than a talking bird and certainly more useful (in caves!), and actually incapable of rescuing the Sceptre, being all incorporeal. Seriously, why wouldn't a "smart" talking bird have escaped with the Sceptre?
    • (HtTT) Konrad and Li'sar's dialogue will be rewritten to make both characters far more mature and fitting as leaders.
    • HtTT) Delfador will actually function as a real mentor now and then, and not just a discount Gandalf who dispenses occasional words of wisdom and otherwise disappears when needed most. He might also find a more sensible way to tell Konrad the truth about his origin.
    • (HtTT) Ashieviere will actually be a pretty awesome villain, and not such a boring letdown.
  • Users will be able to access add-ons in the cloud rather than download. This will be especially useful for multiplayer eras and using Wesnoth on tablet devices.
  • The map editor will analyze maps on the fly and highlight areas that present significant advantages to certain factions with equally significant disadvantages to others. Very useful for initial balancing on MP map designs.
  • Terrains and map decorations will be grouped into themes to represent specific regions and seasons, and allow the user to create their own terrain themes. Themes than can be switched on the fly to allow the map designer to experiment with the overall aesthetics quickly and easily.
  • As a result of the previous two improvements, there will be a deluge of gorgeous albeit mediocre maps hitting the add-on servers until the novelty wears down. The developers who added these useful tools will occasionally have bouts of self doubt.
  • There will be countless attempts to fit the Kaliphate into established lore, resulting in many poorly designed "crossover" campaigns. A few will last due to their hilarity. None will be mainlined, but many UMC authors will insist that the official mainline Kaliphate campaigns "stole" elements from their campaigns.
Not going to happen:
  • The AI and RNG will be improved to the point that no one will question the integrity of its design. There will be no further complaints about the element of randomness working against any particular individual.
  • No one will judge you for save-loading in their campaign. Not that you should have to, since every campaign will be so perfectly balanced as to be beatable on first try without being stressful, yet still an enjoyable challenge.
  • Difficulty levels will always be true to their description, and mean the same level of challenge from campaign to campaign.
  • There will be no particular unit that has a perceived unfair advantage versus another unit, yet every faction will maintain its own uniqueness and playing style.
  • Less than half of all existing campaigns will feature a one-dimensional undead or orcish enemy.
  • A mainline campaign featuring elves as a non-warlike people that prefer to live in peace and harmony with nature and other species, and are willing to make agreements and treaties in order to preserve their way of life.
  • A dwarven campaign about mining and building a prosperous kingdom under the mountain that thrives on trade with neighboring powers.
I will now resume lurking silently.
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Re: Wesnoth 10 years from now

Post by puranglista123 »

Realistic Predictions:

More Campaigns
And thats about it for Realistic Predictions

Utter Insanity:
Valve offers the Devs to get a job at their company
BfW goes on Steam
FPRPG (First Person Role Playing Game)
AI becomes a thought reader and can make super complex strategies
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Iris
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Re: Wesnoth 10 years from now

Post by Iris »

puranglista123 wrote:Valve offers the Devs to get a job at their company
This is funny because one of our developers was actually hired by Valve years ago.
Author of the unofficial UtBS sequels Invasion from the Unknown and After the Storm.
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puranglista123
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Re: Wesnoth 10 years from now

Post by puranglista123 »

I didn't know that! That is (depends on how you look at it) amazing!
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max_torch
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Re: Wesnoth 10 years from now

Post by max_torch »

It has now been seven years since this thread. I made a public Trello board to show what actually has and hasn't come true. Cards with green labels were predictions in this thread that were "realistic" and red were predictions that were "crazy".
The list "Not sure" means I am not sure of the status.

Here is the link to the board: https://trello.com/b/F2aIpGZ9

We shall see how this gets updated when we reach the 10 year mark.
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Re: Wesnoth 10 years from now

Post by shevegen »

Hmm. What is it with the reddish border around steam? Is wesnoth not working on steam?
(I really don't know, I just compile from the source usually...)

Or I suppose you mean the prediction wasn't quite correct back then. That layout confused
me a bit. (I first looked at the middle, then realized that the "Actually came true" part
on the very left is the most important one to start with right?)

As for better support for cutscenes, I think this may depend a bit on the campaign. To Lands
Unknown had a few cutscenes I think? Not sure how you evaluate it but I'd think it is above
0% category. :D

Not sure what you qualify as good cutscene support.

That comment about placing buildings via the editor is interesting - wasn't there one dev
working to improve the editor? Perhaps one can put buildings on tiles already. I only remember
the old map format was one ASCII character right? I don't know how buildings are handled
but perhaps it is possible to do so already, like via a commandline script that is then
simply called by the GUI.

Cool to see you have a 10 years patience time span by the way!

I am trying to see if I out-AGE even the other old people. :D Some of them log in every
now and then but barely seem to write much ...
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Re: Wesnoth 10 years from now

Post by Lord-Knightmare »

max_torch wrote: October 9th, 2021, 7:13 pm It has now been seven years since this thread. I made a public Trello board to show what actually has and hasn't come true. Cards with green labels were predictions in this thread that were "realistic" and red were predictions that were "crazy".
The list "Not sure" means I am not sure of the status.

Here is the link to the board: https://trello.com/b/F2aIpGZ9

We shall see how this gets updated when we reach the 10 year mark.
Can you edit this card from "Not Sure" to "Just 3 left".
Additonally:
This card should be renamed to Winds of Fate.
This card might happen if Myrian/Ashmyr ever actually gets that done, refined and polished to mainline standards.
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