The topic has been touched upon in some previous threads ('Load Other Project' usage question and Git compatibility), so I know that changes to the ORK database file cannot be merged via source control.

It's not as though I have a huge team working with me, but this is one area of great concern to me. With essentially all of the game data residing in a single database file, I can't say "Bob, you do a pass on balancing weapons; Tom, you do another pass through all of the quest logs; I'll do a pass on animations and make sure each creature/character is using the ones that they are supposed to." At least not unless we all happen to live in time zones 8 hours removed from one another. :-)

I'll be using Pixel Crushers' Dialogue System, so at least that takes the content of dialogues outside of what is managed by ORK.

Are there any plans to better accommodate a multi-designer workflow? I realize it would require some major restructuring of ORK's database file to be able to merge changes, but even a simple export/import feature would help greatly. So another designer can modify weapon damages and then export the weapons data, which I can import into the "master" database and check it in (for example). The importer could show what will be overwritten (and what will be added) and allow individual changes to be excluded.

Thanks!
  • edited December 2015
    That's a good question you pose. Also, the Dialogue System fit right into Ork? Did you find it would take too much effort to create a dialogue system using Ork? As i'm going to be using a simple dialogue system also with random events.
    Post edited by Balive on
  • I already have plans for better multi-developer support, but they'll be coming with ORK 3 (TBA :D) due to the massive changes that requires in ORK's data structure (i.e. breaking backward compatibility like ORK 1 to ORK 2).

    Data import/export (for ORK 2) is on my todo list, can't really say when it'll be coming, though ...
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  • Yeah, I expect that such a change would absolutely break backwards compatibility. I assume that "TBA" regarding ORK 3 means that we're probably looking at least a couple of years out, if not longer.

    Data import/export would be fantastic though, and would be almost as good for a team of 2 or 3 developers.

    Since you mentioned ORK 3, do you have any plans to make some features more modular? I'm thinking primarily in terms of being able to turn off certain panels or sections in the editor entirely. The various battle systems would be excellent candidates for this (if I'm exclusively using the *fingers crossed* tactical battle system, then I don't need to see any options for phased, real-time, active battle, etc), as well as smaller bits like Weapon Durability, Crafting, Bestiary, Stealing (in combat), etc. There is just so much stuff in the editor that it can get overwhelming at times, and while I know you can minimize panels, it would be nice to just be able to turn off some of the features entirely so I don't have to scan through them when looking for a particular field that I want to change.

    It would also be a good framework for more easily plugging in different character controllers, camera systems, input managers, etc.

    I know that was completely off-topic from what I originally asked, but I just wanted to bring it up as this is clearly the sort of major architectural change that would be in a 3.0 release and not a 2.x release.

    Thanks!
  • I second the idea of being able to hide features, especially when even more start getting added.
  • Never thought of completely disabling features and settings in the editor - that's actually a good idea, and isn't really an architectural change, so it could be done in ORK 2 as well.
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  • AW Man, now you have me wondering what you are going to do in ORK3 (SQLite database instead of data files?)...
    Well, something to look forward to in the future.
  • Now I want an Ork 3 feature request thread, just for ideas! Exciting!
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