[NeoLemmix Discussion] Future Plan

[IchoTolot]

Because of recent events, mainly related to: http://www.lemmingsforums.net/index.php?topic=3371.0

We should discuss things and make a plan for the future.

As namida won't be working on NL from now on to a undetermined point in time, we need to adapt. Nepster has in-depth knowledge of the Player and new editor code, but I don't know if it's enough to actually finish the format change.

I don't really know the current exact state of the format change. It could be that we are so close that Nepster is able to finish the rest and we can proceed to convert packs, tilesets and other stuff to it. The last thing I've heard is that it's mainly the Toolkit that's missing. Maybe the format change is still possible, but I don't know. ---> To clarify this is one main point of this topic.

So I've thought of a more conservative future plan, if the new format change seems to be set back too much at this point.
Maybe in that case, if more changes will come, they should be more on the smaller side, as the main coder is abscent. That would probably mean:

- Focus on fixing more bugs and issues on the stable version.
- Adapting the new editor to work with the stable version.
- Only adding in features that require small effort.

A statement from Nepster and maybe even namida on the current state of the code and about the possibility of the format change still coming would be very appreciated. I just want to clear out a plan for the future for everyone, instead of leaving everyone in uncertaincy. Uncertaincy at this point would only end in chaos.

Still I can promise you even when development will stand still for quite some time, I will continue to test packs, help you with your content, create new content, run contests and generally be there.
The NL engine is still strong in it's cureent state and even when new things won't come for a while, the ability to play and create, the absolute core of the project, won't go away and will always be there!

[Nepster]

I will need some more time to determine how much is missing exactly for the new-formats version, because I essentially trusted namida to finish this. Nevertheless I plan to go ahead with this change. There are several reasons for this:
1) I have no knowledge about the file format currently used for levels or packs. So if we keep the binary files, it would be impossible for me to add anything like new skills, new objects, ...
2) It is quite a problem for me to change my editor to save in the old format. Currently the only way I can manage this, would be:
- Editor saves the level in the new-formats level type.
- The level loading code for the current exp-version player loads the level.
- Then the code for the level export feature of the current stable version saves the level again in the old binary format.
This is quite error-prone and I would very much like to avoid this.
3) The error "Can't allocate DIB handle" for levels with lots of different styles is (more or less) impossible to fix in the old-formats version. This would basically restrict style-mixing to a few styles.
4) Text-based formats are much easier to work with from a third-party perspective, which faciliates loading them in a different game engine. We have seen already several lemmings engines come and go over the years, so converting everything to the new-formats will make it much more likely that the levels can still be played in five or ten years, when NeoLemmix is outdated and no longer used.
5) I can write the new Flexi Toolkit (which I might give a better name) in C# instead of using Delphi, which I find a much more convenient language to code in.

[mobius]

I say forget the old format. The new format will be better. We should work on making that good and converting old levels/packs.

The old editor was a major pain in the ass and I will be glad to get rid of it!!!

I think more people will be likely to join in making levels if there's an easier editor.

[namida]

Pressing ahead with new-formats is probably the best idea, it's quite close to ready, it's more "a couple of things aren't implemented or the implementation is not optimal", more than "a lot of work still needs to be done before it's even close to practical".

But just in case - the file format of the LVL file can be found here: http://www.neolemmix.com/?page=format&file=lvl This should be completely up to date, or at least very, very close to it.
NXP files are just an archive created with the UZIP unit, with the appropriate filenames for various files (there is no directory nesting in it, all files are in the root of the archive).

[Nepster]

Ok, here is some status report on the new-formats version of NeoLemmix:

Player:
Thanks to namida, I can compile the game on Delphi XE6, which is a lot newer than what we used previously and has some interesting features. The compiler generates no warnings and during my (brief) tests the game didn't crash. So apart from some stylistic issues in the level selection menu, it seems indeed ready to be used. I am sure there are still plenty of bugs for you to find, though.

Text format for levels, packs and styles:
It seems that namida already implemented storing the preview and postview texts within the level files. So the only planned change is to add the talisman info there, too. As this will require changes to almost every application (player, editor, toolkit, ...), it will be a bit more work. I haven't started working on this yet.

Graphic styles:
namida already converted the official styles and his own styles from the LemPlus series. No other style is currently in shape to be used in the new-formats. So here is quite a bit of work still to be done, which I will gladly tell the style designers/maintainers to do.

Editor:
I fixed a bug found by möbius, so now my experimental editor is fully usable and has no known issues, though most likely a thousand unknown ones...

Pack Toolkit:
I started coding a replacement for the Flexi Toolkit to create level packs for the new-formats version. Currently one can add levels, music files and custom sprites and change the various text parts. I am still missing talisman creation and saving/loading packs.

Conversion tools:
namida already has already created conversion tools for old level packs and old graphic styles. I haven't tested them yet, but expect no major bugs there.

[Nepster]

Today I worked on the talismans, and I have very good news for you: namida already moved all the talisman info to level files, so there is a lot less for me to do in that regard. Previously I just looked at the wrong parts of the code and at outdated example packs .

I hope to finish all the remaining work by the next weekend, so that we can start in early September with converting graphic styles and level packs.