Steve is hoping for a 50% - 75% reduction in LOC. In other words, he hopes to compress by 3 or 4. In other words, a mere linear reduction. Is that worth a complete rewrite?
I'd like to know what the 500k lines are doing. It's a game. Are there numerous classes representing physical object types and character types? Could these be expressed as data, or in a domain-specific language, or using an embedded scripting language like Lua?
I'd prefer any of those three solutions to rewriting the whole app in a scripting language. If the codebase does contain a degree of data-as-code, it's better to factor that out.
I'm one of those quarter-million people who have an account on Wyvern, Yegge's game.
All maps, game objects, and NPCs/monsters are in XML, though ones with odd, specific behavior also have a corresponding code file. I'm not sure about races, but it doesn't make much difference, considering there are around twenty races and thousands of maps, objects, and monsters.
Wyvern is wrought with fair-size bugs (e.g.: hydras and other monsters with multiple attacks can kill players multiple times at once) that have been around for years, despite multiple attempts at fixing them. He had complained frequently enough about the difficulty adding major features with the codebase's design. It certainly would do something for the users.
Steve is hoping for a 50% - 75% reduction in LOC. In other words, he hopes to compress by 3 or 4. In other words, a mere linear reduction. Is that worth a complete rewrite?
Remember the lesson of the Mozilla rewrite? http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000069.html Rewriting does nothing for users.
I'd like to know what the 500k lines are doing. It's a game. Are there numerous classes representing physical object types and character types? Could these be expressed as data, or in a domain-specific language, or using an embedded scripting language like Lua?
I'd prefer any of those three solutions to rewriting the whole app in a scripting language. If the codebase does contain a degree of data-as-code, it's better to factor that out.