by
Maegfaer
» 17 Dec 2014, 14:33
I'm aware of the patch, problem is that the more overlapping changes of the official patches and my mod exist, the longer it takes me every time to re-merge them all. Right now I'm looking at well over an hour (perhaps two) of reviewing changes, merging and testing them at the test server. To be honest I can't afford that right now due to other responsibilities.
Another problem is me not having time lately to extensively play the game myself. As the devs rebalance and extend the game, their updates unbalance my previous balancing changes, and I don't have the time right now to review the new balance of combat and crafting after updates.
Concerning this server specifically, there have been complaints about too little GM activity, which I completely understand. A problem here is that I don't really know anyone on the server well enough who is both active enough and who I trust with GM status. I don't want the server be ruined by cheating either.
Another issue is that with the new fortification modules, I imagine that most people at some point want to redo their cities.
We should discuss what to do with this mod and this server. I understand many of you have hundreds of hours of work in this server, so I won't just shut it down permanently without consulting with you first.
In my view it's becoming pretty clear that I can't maintain this mod and corresponding server(s) on my own anymore.
Now, I'm lately working on something that will make modding drastically easier and faster. If it were up to me, I'd release it's first version first (which is almost done), and then gather a group of modders to do a reboot of 'Life is Balanced'. All the code and files would be published in a source control repository (like Mercurial, Git or SVN). Other modders would be given 'commit' rights as well, and together we'd review the balance and keep expanding the mod, with at least one public beta/test server. Anyone could run their own 'Life is Balanced' server, and the group of modders would release proper server update files after patches as well.