On the technical feasibility of making a two-sided map.

[-gg-]

So remember a few weeks ago when we were talking about having a two-sided map in rotation? Some of you guys were saying that it would require a whole rewrite of the game. Lol. Well I just popped into the world war 1 arena and there's only a two-sided map. I guess they rewrote the game to do that right?

Guess it wasn't a big deal after all.

[Wiley]

Last I checked, WWI doesn't reset after victory conditions are met, does it?

Pretty sure things like that were the sticking point.

Wiley.

[Molsman]

AvA is also set to a 2 side War hence why it's Called Axis and Allies but that map doesn't reset either if War is won unless the Admins for the Arena Set it up that way.

[Dadtallica]

We’ve done this with several iterations in many threads. It will cost upwards of $600K minimum and require at least five or six people to design and test and validate and it would take 12 to 18 months. You can search the BBS and just the last year alone for a lot of this.

I think there’s a big difference between proving the engine supports two countries and converting the Main Arena to two countries. The WWI and AvA arenas don’t use the same strat system, reset logic, terrain layouts, scoring, or population balancing that the MA has been built around for over 20 years.

Looking at it as a business, not just coding, you’re probably talking 3,000–5,000 hours over 6–9 months with at least 4 people. A senior programmer, terrain developer, QA engineer, Dale leading the project, plus volunteer terrain builders converting and balancing maps. That doesn’t include community testing or post-release fixes. And that’s just to build it to get it finally validated and workable and all terrain and everything else is most likely double that.

At today’s market salaries, equipment, software, payroll burden, and overhead, I think you’re realistically in the $300,000–500,000 range just to execute the project. If you had to truly rebuild a small studio around it instead of one guy working from home, I don’t think approaching $1 million is nearly as far-fetched as people might think.

Please just enjoy what we have until we don’t have it anymore.

[-gg-]

600k minimum . Lol.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[-gg-]

So it would cost $600,000 minimum to make one map that has two sides on it? Wow! They must have invested a lot of money in making that two-sided world war 1 map

[Spikes]

Which WW1 arena?

[Eagler]

Here's an idea.. 

Let's make it one sided..

Everyone against everyone else 

Plenty of red dar bar then 

Eagler

[CptTrips]

So it would cost $600,000 minimum to make one map that has two sides on it? Wow! They must have invested a lot of money in making that two-sided world war 1 map

It's the strat\Eny\win the war logic.

Do you code?  If you do I'm sure you can imagine since he had the assumption he would never do it another way, that the 3-sided assumption is wired into every piece of logic.  I'm sure none of that was written to be configurable side.  I can imagine it would take a large rewrite, with all the associated risk of introducing unforeseen bugs.

And I am someone who think two-sides would solve a lot of problems.  But it is moot.  It won't happen.

1.  It probably would take a significant re-write.
2.  The other examples you site don't have all the Melee logic. 
3.  Hitech said he won't even consider it.

HT is VERY hesitant to just "try" stuff in the Melee.  Understandable.  It is the core of his business and income.

I don't think you could even  try it in a test arena.
HT always told me no other arena is allowed to have Melee logic like strat and base capture.  He doesn't want to create competitors for his Melee arena that is his bread and butter.  Melee has to be unique in that ability.

So as you pointed out, other arenas have faked a two-sides configuration, but none can ever have Melee capability, and he won't "experiment" with  core business arena.

Sadly, I don't see two-sides are a feasible option at this point in AH's life-cycle.

$0.02

[Dadtallica]

600k minimum . Lol.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

If you don’t want to put this in the proper context, that’s fine but it’s not a matter of just making a map. Your post title said “technical ability” It’s a minimum 18 month project that will require 4 to 5 people.

Minimum

[-gg-]

Like somebody else said in one of the other threads, they made maps. And all you have to do is turn off all the other countries and leave one country or something. It's not a big deal to make a two-sided map from what they were saying.

[-gg-]

And to say that it cost $600,000 to make one two-sided map is utterly ridiculous. When you can see that they had access versus allies and world war I arenas that have two-sided maps.

[Spikes]

Like somebody else said in one of the other threads, they made maps. And all you have to do is turn off all the other countries and leave one country or something. It's not a big deal to make a two-sided map from what they were saying.

What WW1 arena only has two countries?

[The Fugitive]

And to say that it cost $600,000 to make one two-sided map is utterly ridiculous. When you can see that they had access versus allies and world war I arenas that have two-sided maps.

Neither of those maps could work in the MA, and it not because people are trying to be Aholes here, it due to technical reasons. If you build or bring in a 2 sided map the war will never be won. The game computer would always be looking for the base totals from the third country.... that is no longer there.... to see if one of the two teams has met the criteria for a map win. And before you say "it doesnt matter if the war is won" to a vast majority of the player base is very much does matter.

Thats where all the time and money comes in. How tied into the game each country is. Strats, bases, other mechanics, all would have to be unwound and rewritten to have only two sides. Its a lot of money to spend to "test" if a 2 sided map would work in the MA.

[LCADolby]

600k minimum . Lol.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Shame Chalenge isn't still around, he would have been able to do it for less.

Just keep him away from awkward questions... and snakes.