Petition to S.C.S for a SDK
 

What you guys think? Should we ask S.C.S to release a SDK?

Go for it, but it will never happen, for the same reason that we aren't "allowed" to make our own units.

We can ask SCS for a lot of things but this is something we most likely wont get ... why? Because DW is just an offspin of SCS product for its goverment customers. They make money by creating platforms and stuff for them. Guess what they don't want ... that those customers can get their new platforms and whatnot for free.

But hey ... it never hurts to ask - just dont hold your breath.

Cheers
OS

They won't make it anyway. Such thing needs documentation and support. And it will expose bugs not exposed yet.
It is more expensive then not releasing anything, that's sure :|\\

Would be nice, but... You might as well ask for the plans to the real platforms for all you are likely get anywhere LOL.

As OneShot points out, they'll not want to feed the hand that will clearly bite it!

Just keep up the votes up then we band together to force S.C.S to release it.

How are u goin to force S.C.S to release a SDK?

By getting a lot of support from these DW guys and say yes and band together for a big crowd to release a SDK.

I’m surprised at how little people know about business, let alone the business for making software. Companies will not give something away for free when doing it can make them money. Especially if they are already charging for it in one of their other forms of buiness.

If it's counter productive to how S.C.S does it's business, whether that is on the government side or commercial, they won’t do it. It won’t matter if you have the entire forum signing “yes” or not. It won't matter if they all are kicking or screaming about it either.

90% of S.C.S business is government contract work, and they use the game engine for DW in government simulations. They also charge good money to add platforms and other things to the engine per contract basis. If they release the SDK, they’d be giving away one of their capabilities to make money for their business.

What is SDK?

A realistic DW version for the gov? If we petition now they probably will release it to the public in 50 years. Fingers crossed. I hope i'll live to that age....:shifty:.

Yea i want it to be released to the public. But we've got to be more realistic abt what we ask...

SDK stands for Software Development Kit. It’s typically a set of development tools that allow modders and programmers to make changes within the framework of an application or game. Take Half Life for example. Releasing the SDK for Half Life made it possible for the creation of Counter-Strike. Without the SDK, 90% of what needed to be done to create Counter-Strike would not have been possible.

This didn't work, so getting a few votes here ........................... :hmm:

http://www.subsim.com/ssr/fixmy688.html

I wish they did what the Steel Beasts people do: after they make a platform for a military customer, include it in the game via patches!

PD

That is very true. SBPro PE and the team behind it is the role model when it comes to developing and supporting niche simulations for public use, me thinks. And tanks are almost as cool as subs... :cool:

Cheers Porphy

I voted no simply because it is something you will never get. It is pretty clear that they have a tech base that they are not willing to give up - why? Because suppose they decide to make a Ticonderoga sim based on this engine, yet someone has already done it? Basically, an SDK is taking money out of their pockets.

-S

I vote for someone else to mod DW besides me. :p

But I guess there is no glory in fixing a broken sim, only in making shiny new toys.

Anyone out there in the ether interested and capable of importing the SCXIIc non-playable platforms into the DW database? If so, please PM me as soon as practicable.

Cheers,
David

Jamie, before he left S.C.S, stated that DW was a disappointment as far as sales went that it failed to meet S.C.S financial goals. Jamie also mentioned that they had to now focus on more profitable areas of their business. Now I don’t know if this means that they didn’t make any or much money or not. However I believe by that statement that the future of DW is pretty dim. If DW was considered a financial failure by it’s creators, I don’t possibly see them supporting it beyond where the game currently is now.

Probably true. But perhaps a limited SDK would be possible. The limitation could be, that you cannot create new units but that you could enhance the existing ones and other areas, like AI, engine, mission editor and so on.

Regarding the comparison to SBPro. I don't know the license politics of SCS in detail, but is DW not only licensable to endusers and not to commercial/government users?

Anyway, an official statement of SCS regarding this issue and the future of DW in general, would be nice. In the other case, this topic arise in the community on a regulary basis, which does not have any positive effects.

Well we do have sort of an limited SDK already ... We can play around with the doctrines and the database, we have a powerful mission editor, we can tamper with the graphics and the sound to some extend (tho we dont have access to the engine itself). What we cant do is play around with the hardcoded AI, interfaces and all the stuff thats in the engine itself.

In other words we do have already a lot of possibilities to play around with the game, however only few of the community have taken the steps to work on those ... And aside from things in the game there is a lot of stuff relating to the game that could be done and again only a small number is actually doing something in those areas. For example comprehensive tutorials (yes we do have some, but some areas - especially the FFG are still pretty sparse), wider range of missions (you know there are more then just the sub platforms in the game ... the majority of missions still centers around the sub platforms). So, lots of possibilities, but whenever there is a call for stuff you see a lot of views on the relevant posts on the forum but zero answers.

But when somebody wants to petition SCS for new platforms, everybody jumps on the bandwagon and everything will be better - if SCS could just include a Tico, Burke, another sub, SSBN, whatever (fill in your favourite platform). Sure, its a lot easier to use stuff others made then put in some time yourself.

Btw. : Big thanks and kudos to all the modders, mission designers and everybody else in the community who try to enrich the game and our experience with it.

Cheers
OS