Ideas, Thoughts and Errata

[Zule]

Ideas and Errata for EM

I always end up splurging my brain on the forums with stuff that occurs to its addled state, so I thought why be different now with the new game! Just so you know though I love the game as is, and would be quite happy if none of this was implemented they are just my thoughts and while it would be cool to see them I already think Vice is doing a damn stand up job with the game and series in general. I also believe there is nothing wrong with mixing up the paradigm of genre’s a little either for expanding a game.

Here are some of my thoughts, ideas and errata for the new game. Some of these probably just aren’t feasible and some you may think why bother. I will try to explain myself as I go.

I think there is more that can be done ‘In stations’ perhaps having a hangout bar type thing where you could pick up the odd dodgy contract or arrange a smuggling mission or do other such things is one idea. This is just one thought; other areas would be nice as well, perhaps a mapping room or something. Basically this could be another way of looking at the in game nav system? I’ll post more ideas as they occur; all this really requires for the most part is a different way of looking at information already in the game and perhaps an expanded mission system for the first. Achievement viewing would be another, see below.

I like the hanger system, I’m not sure on this but I think hangers should be overall, not per station, if they are not checked and there should be more spaces, centralised. Then there could be a shipping fee or something to get the ship to you and a pause to get it there or something like that. Rather than just having say a mil frame and a civ one you could have a selection of frames for different tasks.

I realise there are ranks in the game, but I think a slightly more rpg style level would be a good idea it would give an obvious yard stick by which to measure your progress through the game. This would entail XP being offered for say contracts and kills or discovering a new area as in you have found it for yourself rather than in general. Again another screen and a level system isn’t that hard to do I would think, I have a working model of one myself I would gladly donate to the cause, though it’s in a different language. Balance for this sort of thing is the hard part of course and would take some testing.

By the same token achievements for various things in the game would be good, like discovering a place/object in space. Reaching a certain level, see above, a certain number of kills etc. This seems more whimsical than useful but I believe that people need a yard stick by which to compare themselves to each other and their own progress. Making some really hard to get achievements would be a good idea because people will always strive for them and this extends the replayability of the game in a more publicly acceptable way. Just look at how popular achievement systems are on things like rpg’s and XBox etc. To quote Sim-Wise, people like to measure their gaming pen*s against each other. This would be especially good for the online mode of the game of course and could be per server. Being able to MP compare wouldn’t hurt either, but bandwidth is an issue I know.

Multiple quests, these would be good, missions that have a bit of narrative to them. I know vice is more technically orientated but I’m sure people are willing to help out (for free) I know I am. Having multiple quests with some hidden away again extends the games reach.

Please let me move the chat box 

Automation and or scripting, is something I mention in another thread, (http://www.starwraith.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7148) with my thoughts on it.

More options, like the chat box background etc, I think this could be generated at game start by setting it on the start screen in the current options dialog. That’s just one thought of course. Being able to turn off the notifications for no room would be nice, as well as other clutter tidying like x completes contract in x,y,z sector stuff, or shift into a tabbed window (not easy in DBP I realise)

There that’s it for the moment, but my brain spurts a lot of stuff into the forefront of my mind while I play so I may post more lol.

[Ravenfeeder]

if you are used to RPG games the Evochron games take a bit of getting your head around. It was like that for me, when I first started.

It slowly dawned on me that you make your own game play in Evo, which, imho, is much better than RPG. The problem with RPG is that; once you've finished all the missions, that's it, finito. But, in Evo, there is no end.

I played EL for over a year and still hadn't done everything, or been everywhere. As for EM, I've hardly scratched it. At the moment, when I'm well enough to be online, I'm concentrating on increasing military rank, and making a bit of money on the side, 6m a military mission. I haven't touched exploration, yet!

A lot of new pilots make herds of suggestions, when first starting play, I did. However, once you get more into the game, and away from the RPG mindset, you begin to appreciate the genius of Vice.

Have fun, and look forward to greeting you in MP.

[Atollski]

I like the idea of achievements - you may wish to look here about viewing game data output. This is a fantastic feature which creates a lot of opportunities for developers and tinkerers. Not sure what language/environment you are working with, but you could create some kind of award system from monitoring the data file and deriving information from it:

"Ditherer" - Remain in the same location for over half an hour
"Disco Inferno" - Have less than 2% hull
"Phone a friend" - Have zero fuel and whilst in motion
"The long way" - Spend lots of time travelling without jump gates
"Recluse" - Spend over 6 hours constantly in-game
"Optimist" - Travel to a way out position

It seems that you can update certain files while the game is running such as the map log or the quadrant map if you have modded it...

[Zule]

Now that is a thought I honestly hadn't thought of. I have already created a secondary hud type thingy that I use to keep me appraised of certain details and i am slowly letting my feature creep self add things to it. Achievements would be an amusing thing to add to it I'll admit It already checks cargo and fuel and is supposed to check the cash as well, though having some trouble playing sounds on that one.

As for lang I use Delphi currently but have also used DBP and Game Maker in the past.

[Zule]

I am well aware of the genius of Vice and applaud him for it, I just thought i would add my two pennies worth and you never know it might help.

Like I said before I also don't see the harm in mixing up genre's a little to extend game play, there is no such thing as an endless game not really so anything that can help add other goals to the game is good imho.

if you are used to RPG games the Evochron games take a bit of getting your head around. It was like that for me, when I first started.

It slowly dawned on me that you make your own game play in Evo, which, imho, is much better than RPG. The problem with RPG is that; once you've finished all the missions, that's it, finito. But, in Evo, there is no end.

I played EL for over a year and still hadn't done everything, or been everywhere. As for EM, I've hardly scratched it. At the moment, when I'm well enough to be online, I'm concentrating on increasing military rank, and making a bit of money on the side, 6m a military mission. I haven't touched exploration, yet!

A lot of new pilots make herds of suggestions, when first starting play, I did. However, once you get more into the game, and away from the RPG mindset, you begin to appreciate the genius of Vice.

Have fun, and look forward to greeting you in MP.

[Atollski]

Keep us posted on whatever you have created, I think Muni was creating a visual hud as well. Really want a couple of touchscreen units to tinker around with...

As for lang I use Delphi currently but have also used DBP and Game Maker in the past.

I wrote a Delphi game back in 1999 while I was supposed to be doing college work. Have forgotten most of the syntax but have uploaded the source code (I think I used Borland Delphi 6) and the executable for anybody interested here (Fleet 2000). Feel free to do whatever you like with it, I never managed to get the network multiplayer part working.

Surprisingly, it still runs in Vista, and I was hoping to port it to C++ and possibly OpenGL one day.

Mouse to move, LMB for primary weapon, RMB for secondary weapon, space for menu/options

Apologies for the hijack...

[Zule]

I'll shortly create a thread for the thingy, i call it dual display because I'm pants at names - lol. That said it's expanding somewhat in other directions. It's not so compatible with other programs that use the savedata.txt file as yet but I'm working on that. I currently keep track of if the game is playing by removing the savedata.txt file so if it's not there then the game ain't playing.