Nitram has compiled some very interesting statistics about the development of the very big update. I'd like to share some of these statistics with you to show you why it is worth it waiting for the very big update. The first diagram shows total lines of Lua script code over time. The Lua scripts basically handle all actions you do when interacting with the world Illarion; crafting, fighting, magic, NPCs, quests and so on.
The diagram shows clearly that "something happened" in summer 2009: in late june of 2009, the development of the very big update was decided on and begun. After a rather short planning and conception time until early autumn, we see a significant increase in total script lines. The development speed was faster than ever before. Since the beginning of the project "VBU", the amount of total script lines for Illarion was doubled! What does that mean? The amount of game content and features that will be released with the VBU surpasses what was developed in all the years before. You'll see many, many new NPCs and quests but also nice features and consolidated old features.
The second diagram I'd like to present shows the lines of Java code of Illarion over time. The Illarion client, the map editor and the easyNPC editor are all written in Java.
Again, we see a certain jump in activity. The development of the new client that will be release with the VBU is one of the reasons; if you want learn more about how Illarion will look like in future, see the screenshots in this thread: http://illarion.org/community/forums/vi ... =1&t=34475
The client is the main java application of Illarion, but the easyNPC editor and the map editor are also very important development tools. From the diagram, you can conclude that the total amount of code lines was decupled(!) since the beginning of the development of the very big update. So, if you think Illarion will be the very same game after the update with some "nice things" added, I need to enlighten you: it will be a totally new game with the experience of many years converted into interesting features and many proposals of the community being added to the game.
It has to be noted that more things were done than writing java code and Lua scripts; a massive workload was spent on graphics (did I mention paperdolling?), new maps (dungeons etc.), C++ server code, sounds and music, books and so on. We have high ambitions; and any help is appreciated for we're not done yet. And this is the bad news; release of the very big update was scheduled for late 2010 and we won't meet this release date. We cannot do a partial release of some features because, as you can conclude from the diagrams above, the current state of Illarion is not compatible with the state of Illarion after the very big update. So, the more help we get, the sooner you can play this awesome game that is currently under development: Illarion - A new world.
Yours,
GM Estralis
