[$200] #49 | Move to ID System | Requires: #50

[Eric.B]

Price: $200

Description: Ever needed to rename a vehicle design but found out that you can't? The issue is that the game internally uses text as identification. This bounty will remove text identification throughout the game where we use it and replace it with an integer ID-based system.

By doing this bounty, we will have what we need to address several frequently requested features, such as vehicle name changes.

Requirements: #50

Required By: #51, #52, #53

Concerns: Much of the legacy code uses strings for id. Fixing that could take longer than expected and might have hidden consequences.

Eric's Opinion: Early in the game's development, I never planned for it to grow to this size or scope. Nor was the game ever intended to be translated into many languages. One of the early design flaws of the game was to use text as identification for sub-components, vehicle types, and vehicle names.

And while things work well now, it prevents a couple of frequently requested features.

So this bounty will fix that internal engine flaw.

I have discounted the bounty because fixing this internal flaw is the only way to address several issues in the game.


Links: More to-do on the Bitbucket page.

[Eric.B]

Finally, this bounty is completed. I figured it would take 3 days to do, I charged for 1 day, and it ended up taking 9. Then again, this was major technical baggage in the game, and I should have done it much sooner. I could have cut the time in half with a lackadaisical approach, but I decided to do a proper fix. Oh well.

This bounty is a MAJOR change to the internal structure of the game. You won't notice anything on the outside. If you do notice anything, then it's a bug. There are likely lots of bugs with this bounty, so if you see something, say something.

Like unclogging a toilet, the bounty should flow more smoothly over the next week.