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Sandbox

Posted: Thu Mar 12, 2015 7:06 pm
by Sewerlobster
I know that right now there are scads of real problems, but I sort of wish MWif had a "sandbox" mode, a way to tell the game the date and just plunk down units if only to show screenshots. A sort of build your own scenario tool

I understand that the player would have all sorts of underlying chores such as assigning hex control and nation statuses. But it would be fun to be able to work out strategies. Or if the game crashes in a fatal way, a way for one to recreate the board by hand.

But then it can take me hours to just set up the convoys... [8|]

RE: Sandbox

Posted: Thu Mar 12, 2015 7:42 pm
by AlbertN
Call me party spoiler, but I'd buy a game that allows me to do that if that's what I wished.
I bought a WW2 game, and an "editor" of scenarios is the last thing I need currently from this game, especially with the amount of work other required aspects are to be done.


RE: Sandbox

Posted: Thu Mar 12, 2015 8:19 pm
by Sewerlobster
I agree, there's plenty more important things to do. But what got me thinking about was someone reporting a bug that essentially ruined the game he was playing. His save crashes no matter what.

While wishful, it would be neat if he could at least drop units onto a fresh map and pick up play.

RE: Sandbox

Posted: Thu Mar 12, 2015 10:58 pm
by Extraneous
CWiF (Computer WiF) from ADG (Australian Design Group) had an Editor program.

Steve decided you could start a game and save it if you wanted. Instead of updating and maintaining the Editor.


RE: Sandbox

Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2015 3:10 pm
by Centuur
ORIGINAL: Extraneous

CWiF (Computer WiF) from ADG (Australian Design Group) had an Editor program.

Steve decided you could start a game and save it if you wanted. Instead of updating and maintaining the Editor.


Which I believe is not a wise decision at all, since most computer games have something of a "design your own" option. But perhaps, in a far away future, we can convince him to see things a little more different...

RE: Sandbox

Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2015 8:47 am
by Admiral Delabroglio
An editor would allow what-ifs, such as swap a couple Japanese units present at start for a Synth Oil, due to arrive on January 1, 1940. BP for BP exchange.
I wish there was one.

Best regards

RE: Sandbox

Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2015 9:20 pm
by jc4751
An editor does seem like a pretty good idea, if nothing more to edit a blank save game file and load it up into the regular game. Assuming there was nothing wonky about the data structure, that should be pretty straightforward to do. I'd be a little surprised if there wasn't already a bit of code floating around to do that very thing, albeit not for public consumption.

RE: Sandbox

Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2015 2:28 am
by Shannon V. OKeets
ORIGINAL: jc4751

An editor does seem like a pretty good idea, if nothing more to edit a blank save game file and load it up into the regular game. Assuming there was nothing wonky about the data structure, that should be pretty straightforward to do. I'd be a little surprised if there wasn't already a bit of code floating around to do that very thing, albeit not for public consumption.
No, there isn't.

Type in Ctrl-R in the middle of game and look at all the relationships between countries. Then turn on the flags, and check out which countries control which hexes.

If you wanted to create a game from a "blank slate", you would need to fill in all those details. You might still think it is "pretty straightforward to do" but it would take you days to enter all the data. Then there are things like whether war was declared this turn or not (for partisans), the various conditional rules related to decisions in the Balkans, and other elements of the game state that are time dependent.

A program to let someone other than the game's programmer to set up a new scenario would be extremely difficult to do and likely to create bugs in unexpected places.

For instance, a Debug function that simply let's a player place units on the map (which is available to the beta testers) has numerous ways of causing the game to crash. So many in fact, that I stopped trying to fix them all (after having fixed several dozen of them) way back in 2006.

RE: Sandbox

Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2015 8:32 am
by Extraneous
And yet there was an editor.