How much does the backend code differ from wizden?

[hobolyra]

I'm just wondering if there is something engine wise that makes EE different, be it how it handles calls, or what's built in for systems, etc. Or is it more an over all design and comunity priciple that seperates it?

[VMSolidus]

To start with it, we do have our mission statement right here on the front page of the repository.

We do not (currently) have a fork of Robust Toolbox, so the game engine side of things is identical to what Wizden is using. We are infact on the same version of Robust Toolbox as Wizden. Where our differences primarily come from is in our code for the actual game itself, and our objectives for said code.

To start, here's two terms you should know:
Crunch: Raw gameplay elements, numerical values. "This sword deals +2 damage".
Fluff: Roleplay elements, Descriptions, Lore, Abstract things. "This ancient sword is finely crafted from valyrian steel. It has been passed down many generations from my distant ancestors".
Immersive Sim/Autism Simulator: Gameplay elements made to be as broadly interconnected as physically possible. Games like Deus Ex, System Shock, Dwarf Fortress, and Space Station 13 are all strongly Immersive Sims. In Deus Ex, I can pick up a crate, and the crate has actual mass, and physics behind it, and if I throw it at a street ganger's head it'll do a completely different effect than if I threw a cell phone at them.

To compare. Wizden's general design goal is to cater to NRP and LRP servers, with a "Crunch Over Fluff" design direction. Wizden's code broadly tends to ignore RP elements entirely, focusing only on raw gameplay elements. They tend to not like "Deeply simulated" systems either, preferring to keep everything as simple as possible so that it can be understood by a typical child who finds this game through Steam's "Free Games" list. What little lore and writing their version of the game has usually contains a joke.

By contrast, Einstein Engines code is written to cater to MRP and HRP servers, with a heavier lean to the MRP side of things. We are coding for something of a middle ground between Crunch and Fluff. Think, "This ancient sword is finely crafted from valyrian steel. It has been passed down many generations from my distant ancestors. It deals +2 damage". We also trend more towards Immersive Sim than Wizden's Abstract focus. The most obvious example of this is in the Height Sliders tab in our character creator.

Wizden outright doesn't have a height slider. It's too much Fluff for them to tolerate.
Cosmatic Drift(an HRP server) has their own Height Slider. However it is Fluff Only. It has no mechanical effects, and does not interact with any other systems whatsoever.

Our Height Slider directly modifies your character's statistics, including their Mass(which is used for physics system calculations), and even some stranger abstract things like Blood Volume. The size of your character affects a great many things ingame, most of them individually small changes. Like for example, if your corpse is put in a biomass reclaimer, it gives different amounts of biomass based on how large or small your character was.