WildWeazel
Carthago Creanda Est
Oh, hexadecimal- I was thinking:
Don't bother- Steph and some others went down that road a long time ago and made contact with 2K, only to be told that it would never happen.Doing the best I can as a programming illiterate... I've contacted Bitcasters on how the coordination with 2K Games and Firaxis was achieved and am hoping for a response
"Clone" in this sense refers to a game that is, from the player's perspective, mostly identical to the original game. It has been completely rewritten to allow for whatever changes prompted its creation, but made to be a "fixed" and/or free version of the game rather than a new game. For example, OpenTTD is an open-source clone of Transport Tycoon Deluxe.This is way beyond my limited area of understanding but I am very curious to know how the process behind "cloning" CivIII works. Is it reverse engineering or is it more of a take the head off the engine to see what's inside approach? Are there copyright issues?
Furthermore I've been in direct contact via Skype with the project manager from BitCasters, no possibility to get access to the source code through this channel either.Don't bother- Steph and some others went down that road a long time ago and made contact with 2K, only to be told that it would never happen.
Furthermore I've been in direct contact via Skype with the project manager from BitCasters...[they] are under strict NDA and cannot disclose anything.
Because we are almost at the limit of what we can do, even combining different "tricks", and there are part that we cannot really fix.So why even consider creating a new game platform, or rewriting source code before we've exhausted these other avenues? That just creates new problems to figure out.
I'm afraid that BitCasters is no longer actively working on that for Budget issues.
I had a kind of agreement with them that IF they secure a budget to make a new version, then I could send them specific requests to fill the gaps in the biq/sav format, and they would try to look in the source code to explain what it is supposed to do.
Without giving direct access to the code. I'll try to contact them again next time I see them online to check for status update.
...we are almost at the limit of what we can do, even combining different "tricks", and there are part that we cannot really fix..
If we make a clone, all these flaws could be corrected
That's why I drifted away from a clone and started on SSS then SGF. Unfortunately I never could find a good team to work on that, with programmer and most importantly artists ready to do what I needed when I required it.I mean, why just do a Civ Clone when you can open the format up beyond what anyone else has done so far?
I couldn't help but smile as I read this, considering that when this topic last came up you were quite vocal about making a game very like Civ3But, like everyone here, I have my own dream of perfect game design:
It would combine the isometric terrain (iso just looks better, IMHO) of Civ III with the multiple-map capability, diplomacy & trade rules of Civ2: Test of Time.
It would allow micromanagement of Cities in the manner of SimCity 2000, which is now abandonware and also featured isometric terrain - in fact, I used some SC2K buildings in my Manhattan terrain.
It would allow Real Time Tactical control of battles in the manner of Medieval Total War or Sid Meier's Gettysburg.
I mean, why just do a Civ Clone when you can open the format up beyond what anyone else has done so far?
I couldn't help but smile as I read this, considering that when this topic last came up you were quite vocal about making a game very like Civ3
That does, however, sound like an amazing game. It would be sure to ruin my life if it existed.