Module based or not?

[Peter Andersson]

There have been some interesting talks about having a sort of "module" way to define the simulations content. But on which level would modules benefit Hazard/Haphazard?

Low-level module handling:
One approach is a very low-level module handling. Define a core which handles modules and let everything be modules. We want a simulation engine, right, plug it in. Now we need an environment *plug*, some support for agents connecting *plug* and so on.

Pros:
Easy to update

Cons:
I can't see how a primitive module system would make life easier. How would a module be able to affect another plugged in module? If I wanted to add gravity to a world, how would I plug it in? How would I plug in a scenario into a predefined environment? This is probably possible, but I don't see how.

Humm, I'd better start on defining what I would like to have in a module support. These are the things I'd like to have modules for:
* Environment
I'd like to be able to plug in which sort of environment that is used. Which actions are available, which sensors.

Then, _into_ this environment I'd like to be able to plug in things as maps, objects, agents, ai, physical forces, quests, and so on.

So it seems like there should be some sort of environment slot, and then the environment should be able to accomodate plug-ins in some way.

humm,,, I need feedback ^_^

[Cristian Beskid]

what you suggest is a plugin-based environment simulation. the problems that would arise would be the standard problems that appear when writng a _fully_ plugin-dependant application.
in other words that means the simulated environment would be only the "medium" in wich the plugins can do whatever they need to do. while the plugins(adding gravitation) could fully affect the way the world behaves, they would have to be either "aware" of eachother - i don't see how we could do that - or have massive limitations (you can't disable gravity because nothing else will work without it). this remembers me of morrowind. i used to love that game and i installed a lot of plugins (you could expand the game world or add new features). the problem was to get rid of th plugins i didn't need/like. the savegames wouldn't work anymore without the plugins. same problem could arise in haphazard.while you can plug in a lot of things, yuo won't be able to plug them out again.
anyways, i'm a bit sceptic about this but it sonds very interesting.