I have an idea for a total conversion mod. It's going to take a lot of work, and some of it is beyond my own capabilities so sooner or later I'm going to need some help. I'm reasonably sure most of it can be done with the tools we currently have available (XML and lua), though some of the things I'd like to do will have to wait for the source code. (For example, I'm pretty sure it's not possible to add new yields yet.)
Anyway, assuming I get anywhere at all, I'm planning to follow the following, uh, plan:
STEP 1: Proof of Concept
This is meant to be enough content that someone can try out the mod and see what I'm going for. It will have a few (three or four) finished civilizations, a solid foundation for the tech tree, two or three fully finished policy trees - not fully playable, but with enough "stuff" that someone might get interested. I'm not a great artist so new graphics would be limited to maybe some icons and placeholder leader stills. This much I should be able to do on my own.
STEP 2: Playable... Kinda
The next step would be to have a fully playable mod but with somewhat limited content: not very many civs, and the tech tree won't be fully developed*, but it should be playable from start to finish. Here I would need help with graphics, unit models and maybe some coding.
STEP 3: Fully Playable
This would be the whole thing, except for the gravy. 8-12 civilizations, a full tech tree, 10 or more policy trees and so on, everything with full graphics.
STEP 4: The Gravy
This would be the "cool stuff" that I'd like to add but isn't really necessary. Some of this would probably require reworking some of the previous material, but I'd rather set a less ambitious (yes, I know, a full conversion mod isn't exactly aiming low, but these things are all relative) goal to begin with and redo some things later when I might have help than try to do everything at once.
Does this look like a viable plan, or are there obvious drawbacks I have overlooked?
* I'm planning on having a branching tech tree, so the mod should be fully playable even if all the branches aren't filled out.
Anyway, assuming I get anywhere at all, I'm planning to follow the following, uh, plan:
STEP 1: Proof of Concept
This is meant to be enough content that someone can try out the mod and see what I'm going for. It will have a few (three or four) finished civilizations, a solid foundation for the tech tree, two or three fully finished policy trees - not fully playable, but with enough "stuff" that someone might get interested. I'm not a great artist so new graphics would be limited to maybe some icons and placeholder leader stills. This much I should be able to do on my own.
STEP 2: Playable... Kinda
The next step would be to have a fully playable mod but with somewhat limited content: not very many civs, and the tech tree won't be fully developed*, but it should be playable from start to finish. Here I would need help with graphics, unit models and maybe some coding.
STEP 3: Fully Playable
This would be the whole thing, except for the gravy. 8-12 civilizations, a full tech tree, 10 or more policy trees and so on, everything with full graphics.
STEP 4: The Gravy
This would be the "cool stuff" that I'd like to add but isn't really necessary. Some of this would probably require reworking some of the previous material, but I'd rather set a less ambitious (yes, I know, a full conversion mod isn't exactly aiming low, but these things are all relative) goal to begin with and redo some things later when I might have help than try to do everything at once.
Does this look like a viable plan, or are there obvious drawbacks I have overlooked?
* I'm planning on having a branching tech tree, so the mod should be fully playable even if all the branches aren't filled out.
