Together, we have a massive library of things to do, and things to consider persuing. Over time, I worry that we may have veered off a bit from the course originally set to take us through this huge library of stuff. I'd like to encourage a bit of a stepping-back to get a look at where we are, and where we set out to get to.
A decade ago, some crazy guy had the completely kooky idea of taking a turnbased roguelike and making it not only realtime, but mutliplayer. Insane! I'm going to call this the Basic Mandate of MAngband: go forth and code up a realtime multiplayer version of Angband! The then-latest Angband code was snagged (2.7.9), and thus began our beloved variant. This is a key point: the mandate was not "go convert Angband, toss in huge loads of cool extra stuff, totally redo other stuff, have the game auto-order pizza for you via RSS at shop 7, have multiple cities in the game, and make Morgoth a playable race." The starting basic mandate was just "get out there and convert Angband to run as a realtime multiplayer game". Clearly, there were loads of possibilities, but you have to get the basic idea implemented first.
Keeping in mind that Basic Mandate (convert Angband to MAngband), I'm beginning to wonder if instead of being at a place where we are slowly inching along from one ill-defined point to another, we are in fact pretty damned close to being at MAngband version 1.0. Think about it: for literally years, we have been logging on, building up characters, collecting loot, clearing dungeons together, stashing loot in houses we've bought, rescuing eachother when we die, and trading loot back and forth at a great clip. Seriously, if that aint MAngband 1.0, I don't know what is.
Once we put a stake in the sand about where we are, then we have a point of reference to evaluate our huge list of stuff against. With it, we can decide if an issue is a bug to fixed now, or if it really isn't critical and is instead related a later goal. With it, we can decide if a feature is critical to our current version, the next version, or perhaps if it's actually best left to variant work because it doesn't directly relate to our fundamental idea of a vanilla MAngband.
So, I bring up the idea that we are actually very very close to MAngband version 1.0 not just for its own sake, but also because doing so, I feel, helps us get a handle on how to place the elements of our to-do lists into a timeline.
Do we have bugs? Sure. Could we use some new features? Sure. Would it be nice to have some existing features expanded? Totally. But these are not 1.0 issues! New or changed features, medium/low priority bug fixes, and tuning/balance passes, are all post 1.0 issues. Version 1 of a software product is to make something and get it working. Then, you learn from what you've made, identify needs and possible changes, make lists of the medium and low priority bugs, and get cracking on the next version.
With this in mind, here is what I propose as a long term plan for the ongoing development of MAngband:
v1.0 "Multiplayer Angband"
Convert Angband 2.7.9 to realtime multiplayer
- Stable
- Basic feature set in place to support realtime multiplayer gameplay.
- High priority bugs fixed: (crashes, severe gameplay issues).
v1.1 "Basic Content Infusion"
Add in the basic monster and equipment content that is easily portable from contemporary Angband.
- As this process has already started in variants, add in a basic drop of newer Angband monsters.
- Explore basic equipment additions from Angband that can be easily added without the requirement of significant work, changes, or retuning.
v1.5 "Sync and Diverge"
Evaluate contemporary Angband in light of MAngband, and adopt/adapt/reject the Angband features and content as applicable.
- Perform a top to bottom review of what's new and changed in the latest versions of Angband.
- Evalute these changes and additions with an eye toward what would work in MAngband, and what would not.
- Evaluate and implement difficulty retuning based on existing data, new content, new features, and the Ang/MAng divergence created due to selective feature/content borrowing from Angband.
- Medium priority v1.0 bugs fixed.
v2.0 "Beyond Angband"
Extend MAngband into new directions, grow features useful for variant makers.
- Add and extend features not present in Angband that are meaningful for realtime multiplayer, while staying true to the idea of a "vanilla" MAngband.
- Add systems and features to support modification and variant making for developers who wish to explore "non-vanilla" additions or changes.
- v1.0 low pri bugs fixed.
- v1.5 medium pri bugs fixed.