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Wingz wrote:What if these factrions were simply cosmetic? From what I understand, the old Maximal/Predacon factions were aligned where Maximals could fight Autobots, etc (please correct me if I'm wrong - I wasn't around during those times) and so were separate from Autobots, completely.

Yep, old times all four factions were all against each other.

As for the others, I know nothing about them or what was planned.

If being aligned as a Maximal meant you simply got access to a variety of special alts and mission texts but were essentially on the same side as Autobots, it might run a lot smoother and wouldn't require a large player base. (ex: a 5-7 mission exists for both Autobots and Maximals, where both can join, but the mission text is one thing for Autobots and something else for Maximals, just like how Autobot and Decepticon texts are now.)

This is pretty much what I'm leaning towards INITIALLY. If we can expand the player base then down the track we may look at splitting them fully.

To be clear, I'm not hoping for alternative faction implementation, as I'm perfectly content with simply role-playing the Maximal faction. It was an idea I'd wondered about previously and thought I'd bring up.

I was looking at is as a far way down the track, but with the way Ryan is cleaning up the code (and I've seen a snippet and it's so much cleaner and streamlined) we MAY be able to look at it sooner rather than later.

THIS IS NOT A PROMISE OR A GUARANTEE THOUGH.

Burn wrote:I was looking at is as a far way down the track, but with the way Ryan is cleaning up the code (and I've seen a snippet and it's so much cleaner and streamlined) we MAY be able to look at it sooner rather than later.

THIS IS NOT A PROMISE OR A GUARANTEE THOUGH.

I appreciate you letting me know, Boss! I understand that it isn't a promise or guarantee, and I respect that, but I'm really happy to know it's something that's being considered. Even just the possibility is exciting!

Yah, nothing with more factions at this time. The 4 primary factions are hard coded all over the place in the code and the database structure, which is a real shame. I think that approach made sense when it was just Autobots versus Decepticons (hence good versus bad, flip sides of a coin so to speak), but once multiple allegiances/factions are introduced, all of that should have gone out the window and the game entirely rewritten to allow for (theoretically) unlimited factions. I'm also not a fan of Maximals fighting Autobots, which was something I debated about with one of the programmers at one point. Even Earth Wars just kept it to Autobots versus Decepticons, so maybe it's best for the sake of simplicity to just keep it to Autobots versus Decepticons.

For now, I'm cleaning up code and getting myself familiar enough with what's going on so that I can come up with a better game plan for later down the road. For now and for the foreseeable future, the goals are this: clean up code, clean up database, clean up file structure, provide tools for HMW admins to manage missions, transformations, etc, and work toward a visual clean-up where HMW might be the first part of Seibertron.com to undergo the new front-end redesign.

For now, I'm still in the clean-up part as well as creating admin sections for Burn and admins such as myself.

Seibertron wrote:For now, I'm still in the clean-up part as well as creating admin sections for Burn and admins such as myself.

Understood. Thank you for your efforts and clarification.

Hard-coded in? Ouch. Who created the game in the first place if you (seibs) need to clean up this much now?

ZeroWolf wrote:Hard-coded in? Ouch. Who created the game in the first place if you (seibs) need to clean up this much now?

There were at least 4 programmers I think who worked on it from 2004 to 2012ish. Most of the logic was from the original programmer back in 2004, but that was pre beast wars factions. Those came later and kind of screwed with the original clean code written by probably one of the best programmers I know. I'll figure all of this out. Life will be good for you HMW players soon. I've got my Neo glasses on and the Matrix looks good.

Seibertron wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:Hard-coded in? Ouch. Who created the game in the first place if you (seibs) need to clean up this much now?

There were at least 4 programmers I think who worked on it from 2004 to 2012ish. Most of the logic was from the original programmer back in 2004, but that was pre beast wars factions. Those came later and kind of screwed with the original clean code written by probably one of the best programmers I know. I'll figure all of this out. Life will be good for you HMW players soon. I've got my Neo glasses on and the Matrix looks good.

You have my thanks and thanks for the answer.

Thank you for getting things moving again. I appreciate it.

Thanks Seibertron. Love the game the way it is. Sounds like it can only get better.

Burn wrote:

Wingz wrote:What if these factrions were simply cosmetic? From what I understand, the old Maximal/Predacon factions were aligned where Maximals could fight Autobots, etc (please correct me if I'm wrong - I wasn't around during those times) and so were separate from Autobots, completely.

Yep, old times all four factions were all against each other.

It cut when Knives went Maximal.
Then the factions got merged again.
There are a few teams I have unfinished business with.

The whole mess of having a four way war was to have more competition for everyone. Storyline wise, I sort of agree with Seibs on it wouldn't make sense for the Max to fight against Autobots. Preds and Cons getting along would always be tricky. If memory serves, the BW only missions struggled due to low numbers on both sides especially Predacons. Like wings, I enjoy roleplaying Maximal by running pure animal alt modes. Being hard coded will be a pain so if Seibs does ever decide to implement multiple factions again, it be better if they have their own little file to be referenced.

I also appreciate Seibs work on this game and the site as a whole. We don't need anymore crashes or dumps or resets. I can see this taking a few more months to clean up and getting a workable mission/admin panel up and running.

sumowrestler wrote: If memory serves, the BW only missions struggled due to low numbers on both sides especially Predacons.

What's that I smell? I detect the distinct aroma of revisionist history.

The Maxi's were easily the weakest faction. The Preds had a strong and loyal base that only fell apart when it became clear the balance was off and that the powers that be couldn't/wouldn't do anything to fix it.

To stay on topic-ish though, I'll put my 2 cents in:

As much as I'd like to see the Preds rise again it's clear that splitting to 4 factions would not work now with our much smaller player base if we couldn't make it work back in the games heyday.

I will put forward the idea/suggestion again that a 3rd "Mercenary" faction that could join either side in missions would be fantastically awesome. #Pipedream [/PointlesslyAskingForThingsThatProbablyCantHappen]

Let's work on one thing at a time, particularly those areas that are broken and can be fixed to refresh the game, then rebuild the player base.

Burn wrote:Let's work on one thing at a time, particularly those areas that are broken and can be fixed to refresh the game, then rebuild the player base.

... did i hear 's ??

Bad Wolf wrote:

Burn wrote:Let's work on one thing at a time, particularly those areas that are broken and can be fixed to refresh the game, then rebuild the player base.

... did i hear 's ??

No. Haven't even thought about them.

Bad Wolf wrote:

Burn wrote:Let's work on one thing at a time, particularly those areas that are broken and can be fixed to refresh the game, then rebuild the player base.

... did i hear 's ??

Fatal error: Cannot redeclare mission_summary() (previously declared in /var/www/vhosts/seibertron.com/httpdocs/heavymetalwar/Minicons.php:291) in /var/www/vhosts/seibertron.com/httpdocs/heavymetalwar/includes/game_shared.php on line 3352


but can it be repaired

Meh.
I'm with Burn on that.
Getting the basics fixed is the important part.
Minicons? Not so much.
I'm sure we all have a list a mile long of what we'd like to see done but I think we're all going to have to accept that's not in the cards for the near future.

So regarding the basics, is that just dashboard access for Burn and Wingz? I mean what else is broken?

ZeroWolf wrote:I mean what else is broken?

Well just off the top of my head...
The already mentioned Minicons
The alt-mode page of the help section.
The "records" section of each character (link no longer available)
While not technically broken there's the panel Burn uses to change/set alt modes which is confusing/frustrating to use at best (I've never used it obviously but just him describing it frustrates me)
Burn's ability to switch players factions.
The game no longer synching with the boards. (For example Red is still Fearless Echoes in the game even though he changed that years & years ago.
All the semi-implemented new Alt classes and tactics that can be seen at the bottom of the calculator page
The "Summary" tab of the High Scores area seem to be populated by questionable data. ("Active character list was last updated on Wed, 31 Dec 1969 6:00pm CST." Mmmkay)
"logout" tends to not work the first go around. (something or other about session not matching)
"wait" doesn't seem to work anymore (at least on Chrome) just produces a dead gray band instead of the old HUD


Most of that is admittedly minor but I'm sure theres more I'm forgetting or stuff we just can't see on our end.

HMW has been ridden hard & put away wet by many different programmers, it's bound to need a lot of TLC on the backside

Thanks for the list, what is the purpose of the wait command? I've seen it on there but can't think why it's needed.

ZeroWolf wrote:Thanks for the list, what is the purpose of the wait command? I've seen it on there but can't think why it's needed.

It used to give you a heads up display so you could see how much longer your characters would be in missions while you browsed the rest of the site.

It was far more useful back in the dark ages before the invention/proliferation of tabbed browsing

Bun-Bun wrote:It was far more useful back in the dark ages before the invention/proliferation of tabbed browsing

dark ages

This does beg a question if Seibs will remove functions like that which are obsolete.

sumowrestler wrote:This does beg a question if Seibs will remove functions like that which are obsolete.

Would that be a bad thing if possible.

ZeroWolf wrote:

sumowrestler wrote:This does beg a question if Seibs will remove functions like that which are obsolete.

Would that be a bad thing if possible.

No.
We have people asking where the mini-cons are . with that link gone(if not used) no one would even think to ask about them.
I would prefer to leave it as a monument to the little buddies. I had a few battle worn. Stripped and taken. But whatever.
At least I got to fight along with them.
I was rather proud of the ones I had used and not lost.(they would be perfect for tournament prizes though)
But a dead link is kinda pointless.

It seems that the "wait" feature still works on my phone which is odd considering how poorly the rest of the site does on mobile.