I will pay for a Mod (seriously)

[jerrybp]

Hi all.

As the thread title says, I need someone to create a Mod following very specific intructions, and I'm offering to pay for it.

I don't have all the abilities, knowledge and the time to make it myself, so I need help. I know very precisely what I want in the mod: it is described down to the last detail in the document attached.

I've been reading a lot on CIV4 BTS XML files, and I've made several tests myself, so I'm quite sure about what can and can't be done at that level, and therefore what are the type of modifications that require more sophisticated knowledge (coding). With that in mind, it is fairly safe to say there's nothing too complex about the mod I want. I've seen others a lot more far reaching.

So here's the deal: I divided the document with the mod specifications in 11 "phases", each covering a group of things that need to be implemented. I'm willing to pay US$20 for each completed phase. That's US$220 total. If you are interested, please contact me. I will make each payment by sending you a $20 Gift Card from Amazon to the email you provide. (Yes, I'm willing to consider other payment methods if you have something else in mind, as long as they are plain and simple as the one I mentioned)

There are two conditions:
1) You must take on the whole thing (all 11 phases), not just part of it.
2) Phases 1 to 3 must be implemented first. Those are the toughest. The rest can be implemented in whatever order you prefer.

Ideally, when you contact me, show me a Mod you have made in the past, so I'll know you have what it takes to complete the job.

Cheers
Jerry
jerry.civ4@gmail.com

 

[Fimbulvetr]

A lot of these changes are XML, quite a bit of the functionality you want is already implemented somewhere in some form, and I forsee balance issues because getting the first settler seems to depend a lot on luck.
Using exponential functions and float numbers will probably cost a bit more cpu time.
City distance stuff probably needs massive caching (if it doesn't have that already, not sure), otherwise turntimes will get really slow really fast with increasing number of citites.

"Coal Plants will be renamed Power Plants and will work with Coal or Oil." I think that one would require a lot of SDK changes, from XML loading up to CvCity(AI).

 

[Tholal]

I just took a glance at your doc and the first two phases would involve heavy C++ coding in the DLL.

It's easy to say that this doesn't seem complex compared to other mods, but it's much easier to be interested and invested in coding your own ideas and seeing them come to life rather than trying to implement someone else's ideas for minimal pay.

You do have some interesting ideas. Good luck!

 

[Afforess]

I know you think $220 sounds reasonable, but that would give me only ~3 hours for each phase, at minimum wage. Each phase is a minimum of 5 hours of coding & testing.

I COULD make your mod for you, I know how, but the pay is too low. Sorry.

 

[The_J]

After this comments i've also taken a look at it, and the comments are right, that's a big bunch of work, including specialized knowledge.

Some things are easy, some are complicated, and doesn't matter which of these, it will take very long.

At the ideas in general:
The idea of limiting vassal states to some governments is interesting, also the pagan wonders (which would be quite easy to create).
The nomads are something which could even be incorporated into normal mods.

 

[phungus420]

I know you think $220 sounds reasonable, but that would give me only ~3 hours for each phase, at minimum wage. Each phase is a minimum of 5 hours of coding & testing.

I COULD make your mod for you, I know how, but the pay is too low. Sorry.

Came to pretty much the same conclusion. I'm certainly willing to do modding work for cash, but not for $2 an hour.

I don't think people realize how much labor actually goes into some mods. Excluding the work of jdog and glider, and those that have helped considerably on these forums, like Emperor Fool, I estimate I've spent 1000 or so hours on LoR, personally. Add in the work done by others on RevDCM, and the graphics work done by AchillesZero, and the man hours invested into BUG, etc, and you're easily looking at 6000 plus hours of work that was required to create the mod. Even at $10 an hour that would be a $60K project if someone wanted to just flat out pay a coder and graphics artist to create a similar project. Granted the project in the OP is much simpler, but the cost to do it is closer to $1K; assuming an experienced modder was willing to tackle it, and would take around $10/hr in pay for it.

 

[jerrybp]

Thanks for the feedback.

The conclusion so far seems to be the mod is doable, but the pay is low. Too bad.

Let's explore another angle: How much would you charge me for implementing only the stuff that can't be made through XML? (basically phases 1, 2, 3 and 6, and the new "soldier" unit) Write me a mail if you can come up with a reasonable figure.

Cheers