The Dink Network

I think if we want to update Dink, we need to know what elements we want to keep and what to toss out. Backwards compatibility would have to be forgotten for any substantial additions as Beuc said. If we suppose the essence of Dink is free & open source (GNU), powerful scripting language, rpg, rendering/sound/etc. done for us internally in the engine (intentionally out of our control), then how to make a better Dink is obvious. But I've often wondered that, if this is the essence of Dink, then is there already a better Dink? If so, the project would be pointless.

If we are comfortable with tossing aside backwards compatibility then we should do the wholesale replacement of DinkC with some other language. Beuc mentioned to me a couple of years ago that there are pre-existent languages that can be added, which would probably be easier than writing an entire new language. Then we would have infinite globals, loops, full logic, etc. Also, it would seem relatively easy to make the map size indefinite if we can write a new map format. Most of the suggestions in this thread seem to be pretty smallfry relative to what can be done (if we let go of backwards compatibility).

I also think that, if a 'better' Dink doesn't already exist, then such a project would be a significant contribution to the gaming community as a whole, and much more important than Dink ever was.