AWBW

[hetchel]

Fellow AWBW players, I'd like your opinion on something.

You probably agree with me that the Advance Wars are interesting games, and that playing them by web is good.
This community is great and demonstrates a lot of involvement by making maps, deciding CO tiers, organizing tournaments, and selecting maps for them.
I am happy to play AWBW and so are you.

However, there are some problems. There are some bugs that do not get fixed, and some good ideas that never get done.

Ideas:

* custom COs / custom units (already a lot of ideas in the forum)
* better map versionning (modifying a map should not break existing games)
* a deterministic mode viewtopic.php?f=32&t=13860
* the CO picture should link to the wiki page for that CO (or to the CO chart page)
* live stats when playing without fog: unit count, total unit value viewtopic.php?f=32&t=14401
* a better calculator interface built into the game page
* show fog on replays
* every player could have a "preferred army color" setting, for automatic game creation
* notify a user when his map get commented viewtopic.php?f=30&t=14367
* keep replays forever on the server
* have the old leagues (especially the FoW league) use the new league system, with CO tiers and global ratings

Bugs (I only searched bugs from the last 6 months):

* FoW: building a unit enables one to attack a newly-discovered unit viewtopic.php?f=29&t=14258
* pathfinding bug with transport drop viewtopic.php?f=29&t=14374
* capturing with 9 HP inf in two turns viewtopic.php?f=29&t=14378
* FoW: Interrupting property capture viewtopic.php?f=29&t=13595
* FoW: Screenshot shows captured properties viewtopic.php?f=29&t=14219
* FoW: no fog on pipes viewtopic.php?f=29&t=12827
* unit stunned by Von Bolt is unstunned if fired on viewtopic.php?f=29&t=14370
* replays show an incorrect income viewtopic.php?f=29&t=14275
* bad html link url viewtopic.php?f=29&t=14278
* strange AET/vacation behaviors
* tag games bugs: I'm not even going to try to list them

I admit most of these lacking features are not very important, and most of the bugs are not critical to non-FoW gameplay.
But it has grown to the point where a bugtracker page would be better suited than a forum.

I think AWBW developers are too few, and/or they do not have enough time to devote to doing all that. Also, maybe the AWBW software has grown complex and is difficult to modify without introducing new bugs.
So, these things will never get done. But I'd like to do something.
So I thought, maybe there is the option of creating a new implementation of the AWBW software? Of course, it would take a lot of time, but in a way, it would fix all bugs together, and open all kinds of possibilities for new features or customization. I feel like I could make this new AWBW myself, given enough time. Or at least I could try. Do you think this is a good idea?

[headphone]

If you're going to got the route of custom COs, why not have a way of making COs yourself.
Like a separate page where you can select different stuff for each category, like d2d, s/cop, buffs for each unit, etc.

[Glenstorm]

Heya, sole active (well, to call me active is a bit of a stretch, but I'm the closest you'll get) AWBW dev here.

"I think AWBW developers are too few, and/or they do not have enough time to devote to doing all that. Also, maybe the AWBW software has grown complex and is difficult to modify without introducing new bugs." is a pretty fair characterization of things as they stand, though I think saying nothing ever gets done is a bit harsh.

It's definitely possible to write an AW clone, and many other people have. If you really get into it, I can give you a lot of suggestions as I've spent a lot of time thinking about how I'd redo practically every aspect of the site if I had the time and resources. What I think you'll find though, is that even if you put the time into developing your own version of the site, you'll have a very hard time getting any significant userbase because AWBW has been so long established, even if your site has a superior play experience.

A big goal on the admin agenda has been to restructure things so that it's easier to add new developers, but both admins are so extremely busy that nothing has been done on this front for a long while. If you'd be interested in actually working on AWBW itself, I could try prodding them on this front a little. I don't know when it would actually come to fruition though.

[hetchel]

If you're going to got the route of custom COs, why not have a way of making COs yourself.
Like a separate page where you can select different stuff for each category, like d2d, s/cop, buffs for each unit, etc.

Maybe, but I think it would not be good enough.
Most of the COs are interesting because of the originality of their CO powers. But when creating a new CO on a custom CO page, you would be limited to selecting from a fixed set of existing powers. You cannot avoid needing an active dev to write the implementation of each custom CO power.

[hetchel]

Heya, sole active (well, to call me active is a bit of a stretch, but I'm the closest you'll get) AWBW dev here.

"I think AWBW developers are too few, and/or they do not have enough time to devote to doing all that. Also, maybe the AWBW software has grown complex and is difficult to modify without introducing new bugs." is a pretty fair characterization of things as they stand, though I think saying nothing ever gets done is a bit harsh.

I didn't say nothing ever gets done, for example I will be happy to enjoy the new beach feature you are working on. But at the current rate, I think you agree that it will be years before the bugs are corrected, if they are.

It's definitely possible to write an AW clone, and many other people have.

A lot of AW clones exist, but none of them are web based. Or I haven't heard of them. Does anybody know of one?

If you really get into it, I can give you a lot of suggestions as I've spent a lot of time thinking about how I'd redo practically every aspect of the site if I had the time and resources. What I think you'll find though, is that even if you put the time into developing your own version of the site, you'll have a very hard time getting any significant userbase because AWBW has been so long established, even if your site has a superior play experience.

That is true. But I was thinking, if the new version is 100% compatible, the existing maps could be imported, then maybe the AWBW community itself would be interested in playing on the new version, especially for the FoW league which is currently difficult to enjoy on AWBW.

A big goal on the admin agenda has been to restructure things so that it's easier to add new developers, but both admins are so extremely busy that nothing has been done on this front for a long while. If you'd be interested in actually working on AWBW itself, I could try prodding them on this front a little. I don't know when it would actually come to fruition though.

Yes, I could help working on AWBW. But I am not sure if all the good features and bugfixes can be added into the current AWBW.
For me as a developer it would certainly be more fun to start from scratch using the latest technologies.

[Azzaphox]

if you are keen go for it.
nt sure how well the community will migrate, but good product is always good

[Walker]

In my opinion, it makes way more sense to improve on AWBW. You're basically suggesting creating a new version of AWBW, except more polished and with a few improvements... So wouldn't it be easier just to make those improvements on what already exists instead of making something totally new from scratch? Seems to be a more efficient use of time, especially since there's no guarantee (far from it, in fact) that you'd get the AWBW community to migrate to something new.

It's great that you're so enthusiastic, and we could really use more people like that around here. But I agree with Glen. If you're capable enough as a programmer, then I would personally rather look into adding you as a dev here, not starting a whole new version of the site.

[Felix45]

If you make a fully functional version of AW that is faster than AWBW I will go without thinking twice.

Good luck.

[CO Raven]

Making it truly possible to make custom COs is difficult, though. It would require different kinds of coding and so forth for them. It'd be nice but I imagine difficult. Then there's balancing.

[ajf]

Hey there! I'm new here. I've played AWBW a bit, and I dislike it. My main complaints are not bugs or missing features, however. But I share similar goals.

Rather, I don't like the sluggishness, inefficiencies, outdated technologies, unfriendly UI, etc. There's a lot of things I'd like to improve. Starting with rendering for instance. If I were to make this, I'd use spritemaps, not 2000 different images. I'd draw gridlines efficiently, etc. Save lots of bandwidth.

So, if you decide to go along with this, I'd be happy to help. I really want to improve AWBW or make a better AWBW, too.

[theether]

I haven't read this topic before, but I recently started working on a flash game similar to awbw.
It's not supposed to be like advance wars too much, though, as I'd like to earn some money showing ads while the game is loading
and nintendo might sue me if it's just a copy of their game
So I would need new suggestions anyways (and help with the theoriecraft !).
I will create a topic for that if someone wants to help.