World Builder not in game?

[wotan321]

The recently translated German article seems to say that the World Builder app won't be released with the game. It even seems to imply that it will be released AFTER the developer SDK app.... though that may just be confusion in the translation.

This is a bummer. I wonder what modding features are going to be released with the game.

 

[warpstorm]

I think that is a mistranslation. The other articles I read implied that the WorldBuilder is part of the game (as in you can stop a game and edit it right then and there).

 

[Rince]

If it is a mistranslation, the error must lie with the people from the game magazine. The article says:

"Aber auch der World-Editor, den wir ebenfalls nachreichen, wird das Spiel verändern."

"But also the world editor, which we will also [like the SDK] release later, will change the game."

This doesn't imply however that the world builder is released AFTER the SDK. This fact is not clear from the translation by Darkdude.

Greetings,

Rince

 

[wotan321]

Whoa there Rince,

From the translation you present, I can see that perhaps the world builder is released with the game. What is being referenced as being released later is the SDK. I hope that is the case anyway. If Warpstorm says its in the game, then its in the game.

....uh... Whoa there Warpstorm,

Are you saying that you can edit a game, add cities, bears, resources, landmarks, etc, in a game in PROGRESS? That's just crazy talk!

 

[Rince]

From the translation you present, I can see that perhaps the world builder is released with the game.

Then maybe my translation is not so clear after all. From the magazine article it's clear that the world builder will be released after the game itself. Whether it is released before, with or after the SDK is left open however.

But of course it could still be that the people conducting the interview misunderstood or mistranslated what Tim McCracken said.


Greetings,

Rince

 

[Commander Bello]

I've read the article as well and I agree, the statement clearly means that the "World Builder" will be delivered later. This is without any doubt the meaning of that sentence.

If this was a misunderstanding, has to be clarified, though.
Personally, I have some difficulties to imagine they would leave out this feature as well, as it has always been announced as an integral part of the game (at least I have it understood to be)
But if they deliver it later, than we may assume that except for the .html-files no modding capability will be in the out-of-the-box game. As the whole thing depends on the .html-files, this just will have to be in.
Python might be edited with a text editor, but I wouldn't count on that.

As said before, all being based on the assumption that the German text would be right.

 

[warpstorm]

I believe (if memory serves) that I read that it would be "in-game" in the GameSpy preview.

 

[Slax]

We have seen screenshots of the WorldBuilder in use, so it seems to currently be at least partially functioning.

 

[Crayton]

Ya, I thought I read that you could bring up the World-Builder while playing; kind of like a cheat mode?

 

[jened]

thanks so much for translating the article!

 

[HourlyDaily]

What if the World Builder and World Editor are different things?

I remember the same thing as Warpstorm, assuming of course that the screenshot of the builder was of a complete builder.

World Builder - in game, edit terrain, unit placement, diplomacy states etc. Potentially released with the game.

World Editor - Edit game parameters, edit .xml values. Broader scope than the in-game builder. Potentially released on November 15th or later than the AI SDK?

It sounds far-fetched but I thought putting another spanner in the works would be fun.

 

[Ramalhão]

Are you saying that you can edit a game, add cities, bears, resources, landmarks, etc, in a game in PROGRESS? That's just crazy talk!

If I remember correctly, in SMAC was possible to edit the game in progress. But when selecting it in menu, a warning message appeared asking "Are you sure?" and saying that it would be considered a cheat and the game won't count any score in hall of fame.

 

[warpstorm]

Ah, I found the article. It was in a print magazine (GDMag, August 2005).

"The WorldBuilder: This in-game map editor tool lets you customize the terrain and place units, cities, buildings, resources, and other objects. Your work is saved in a text-based, code-independent format, which is parsed by a Python script upon reload."

It continues, "We expect that a lot of casual users will play with the WorldBuilder, since it's a simple tool built into the game."

So, it appears that it is part of the game (or at least was in August or thereabouts).

 

[Commander Bello]

Ah, I found the article. It was in a print magazine (GDMag, August 2005).

"The WorldBuilder: This in-game map editor tool lets you customize the terrain and place units, cities, buildings, resources, and other objects. Your work is saved in a text-based, code-independent format, which is parsed by a Python script upon reload."

It continues, "We expect that a lot of casual users will play with the WorldBuilder, since it's a simple tool built into the game."

So, it appears that it is part of the game (or at least was in August or thereabouts).

As I've said above, although I am very sceptical about the game in total, I just cannot imagine they have left this thing out.

 

[Carver]

Per the review at Shacknews: "4. Super Powerful World Editor: The earlier games in the Civ series had a world editor, but with Civilization IV it’s gotten a whole lot better. The built-in world editor lets you fire it up at any time and change the map while you’re still playing it (naturally, this is flagged as cheating by the game, so you can’t do it in multiplayer). The new bitmap converter lets you import BMP files and turn those into Civ maps, letting you download a topographical map (or a picture of your favorite celebrity) and have the game extract sea levels, mountain ranges and other information straight from it. "

So, these guys were apparently playing a game with the "world editor" in it; I think it's safe to assume it will ship with the game.

http://www.shacknews.com/docs/press/092905_civ4_11.x

 

[Carver]

That news about download a picture and converting to a map is flippin' awesome. It'll be so much easier to make scenarios.

 

[Evie]

The Cheat Menu is back! (well, almost)