The Energon Pub

I have been playing HMW for about two weeks now. So far, I've decided that it's good. I end up spending a few minutes after work checking out how well my cons are doing, reading about all the weapons, armor, "tricks" they will eventually be able to use.

And, it's free to use!

Very cool.

However, I am a software engineer and I can imagine that the game could ROCK... 11 out of 10... more addictive than WoW. There could be battles over territories, there could be support for gestaults, there could be feats (ala DnD), there could be support for sprites or even skin customization.

So, a couple of questions.

1. Is the HMW code closed source and owned by Siebertron.com?

2. If yes, have there been discussions about an open source release of the HMW code to get a larger community

Also, if there were an OS push around HMW, I could imagine that some of these ideas (and many others that I can't image) could feasibly be added. Also, there's the moving coming out next year, which would surely help create more buzz.

I also strongly suspect that there would have been backup support build int, to avert the apparent loss of several years of data that just happened a few weeks ago.

There's lots of distribution licenses that would allow Seibertron.com to both release the code and to continue to draw revenue from the banner ads.

In my mind, this is a no-brainer.

So... what's the story?

In my opinion, if this were to happen, it would completely ruin HMW. I can site a few examples of games that have been completely screwed up by owner greed and/or inattentiveness or bogged down by TOO much intricacy and BS to deal with....

Out of all the games I have played, this is by far the best. HMW's complex simplicity is it's charm. If there are those who want games like that, they are out there and availibile to play.

As to th eplayer base, I believe it was between 7800-10K pre crash, so, that's doing fine too. Just my opinion.

I agree that the level of control over the interaction in the game could hurt if it were not done right. However, I am actually more interested in seeing if HMW could be released as an OS software project.

I think an open source release of HMW would be prone from "owner greed and/or inattentiveness". Depending on the distribution license, open source projects provide free access to the code and software.

Also, it isn't one individual who runs the show. Successful open source projects are governed by a community. It certainly appears that there's already a sharp and passionate community already established. The level of detail (or lack of, if the playability would benefit from a streamlined interaction model) would be what the players want most...

At any rate, is it safe to assume that HMW is (today) a closed software project.

The ideas you have mention have been there done that scenario. HMW has had a very small handful of programmers and usually no more than two at any given time. As with most programs, it is a trust issue and quite a bit of capability of the individual on understanding the code itself. You will also have people like you seen who wants to keep it simple. While others, like yourself, have suggested a few dozen ideas. In fact, there is an idea thread that is currently floating around on this forum.

There is an idea thread, but for exactly the reason mentioned earlier even the good ideas probably won't be acted on: there are only one or two devs at a time. Adding the beast factions to the initial game page was a longstanding wishlist item, and it took a total crash to get that put in! I'm not bashing HMWs overlords at all, they've done great work, but everyone has a life to live. Part of the appeal of open source is that anyone at all can come along and contribute (where 'anyone' means 'any programmer', of course).

The reason why HMW probably won't be open sourced is that this wouldn't really serve one of its main purposes: being a giant refresh engine for seibertron.com nerds. (Yes, thats you! And me.) Someone might host an instance of the game somewhere else. (The other purpose being to anchor the community, provide a little fun, etc.).

After a while, I think that people get used to what the game is, and that it probably can't be everything you'd want. There's nothing stopping anyone from rolling their own game, open source and with similar mechanics... except for lack of an established community like this one.

The thing to remember with HMW is that while all these ideas would be great, it has to exist on the same server as the rest of the website and also run without compromising any other parts of the site.

Because we gotta remember, the entire site is funded by one man, so going for a bigger server isn't really an option to him.

As far as open sourcing goes, can't see it happening, but i'm sure Omega Sentinel and Mkall would be more than happy for extra programming help once they get wind of you.

I asked Mkall for the code saturday night.

he said no.


as always i'd rather see the game (not the code) sorted so it doesn't make certain stats killer and other ones pants


and it was the quints that crashed the game prior to the beast faction addition

rjmccr10 wrote:1. Is the HMW code closed source and owned by Siebertron.com?

Yes

rjmccr10 wrote:2. If yes, have there been discussions about an open source release of the HMW code to get a larger community

No. Its not a nesseccary step for this gaming community and its not going to happen since the code was written by the creators of this site and belongs to them.

rjmccr10 wrote:Also, if there were an OS push around HMW, I could imagine that some of these ideas (and many others that I can't image) could feasibly be added. Also, there's the moving coming out next year, which would surely help create more buzz.

We have big plans for the movie next year that will create plenty of buzz. Opening the source code would not help us at all.

rjmccr10 wrote:I also strongly suspect that there would have been backup support build int, to avert the apparent loss of several years of data that just happened a few weeks ago.

We now have back ups running on a secondary machine. Seibertron set that up himself after we got the site back up. We won't have that problem again.

rjmccr10 wrote:There's lots of distribution licenses that would allow Seibertron.com to both release the code and to continue to draw revenue from the banner ads.

In my mind, this is a no-brainer.

So... what's the story?

Revenue from ads is not an issue as of now but it could be if we released all the source code and wound up with a dozen little Heavy Metal Wars all over the internet. In no way would that be good for this game or this community of players. I understand it appears we could get programming help from it but whether anyone sees it or not there are things going on with the back end of this game on a large scale and we are not currently in need of any programming help.

That's the story.

Got it.

Thanks.