Hard Light Productions Forums
Archived Boards => The Archive => MindGames => Topic started by: Unknown Target on May 11, 2011, 11:05:47 am
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Was hoping for this to be continued. :)
Is there a story summary somewhere? What happened to the original media?
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Hey, UT long time and all that. Have you seen the website? Ummm, I seem to have misplaced the website. Kara - you there? Any idea where the website is?
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http://mindgames.hard-light.net/
Mindgames is on hiatus until Diaspora R1 is out. I simply don't have the time to work on both and I've always felt that a team leader should be working at least as hard as his staff on any project. Once R1 is out I intend to reactivate MG and take a good long look at the storyline. We probably will need to update some of the mods we're using with high-poly models but I fully intend to see if we can do this the same way Blue Planet did and only use assets already available to download.
When it comes to missions, we were about 50% done. How well those missions will stand up to the test of time is another matter. Demands are higher than they were when I was FREDding for MG. Back then we were cutting edge and although I think we still have a few missions that live up to that I think we might need to rebuild a few.
All in all though I still wouldn't say MG is dead. I still want to see it finished. I still intend to finish it. :)
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When it comes to missions, we were about 50% done. How well those missions will stand up to the test of time is another matter. Demands are higher than they were when I was FREDding for MG. Back then we were cutting edge and although I think we still have a few missions that live up to that I think we might need to rebuild a few.
All in all though I still wouldn't say MG is dead. I still want to see it finished. I still intend to finish it. :)
I don't think redoing missions is really necessary as long as they were good in the first place, STR didn't use any SCP features and it still turned out to be a blast.
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Yes, but MG missions benefit from using new SEXPs like when-argument. I'm for example a fan of if-then-else, and if MG FREDding continues, I will use it.
Here, by new I mean "not around when MG development halted"
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That's not what I mean, I was just saying I don't think people need to go back and redo old missions to incorporate new features or anything like that.
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And I didn't say any of the missions must be redone from scratch just because they're x years old. Inserting some SCP features (where it's sensible to use them from a gameplay perspective) here and there is what I had in mind. It's as much effort as fixing a non-properly working mission goal or debriefing. I mentioned if-then-else because that's what I associated with when I read "new SCP feature." I could have mentioned something more trivial, like Flip Icon.
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There were quite a few things we wanted to do in MG that we were unable to do because the engine couldn't actually do them. Since the engine can do them now, we might as well. :)
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hmm... do tell!
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Not much to tell without spoilers. Just that SCP FRED gives me vastly more possibilities than it used to. :)
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That's no fun. Can we just tell 'em about the colossal, pale-crimson Space Lagomorph that eats the Moon and leaves behind a new asteroid belt?
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What what what...? ;)
EDIT: Are you going to redo the cutscenes?
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"Redo" is semantically inappropriate there. You cannot redo something that's not done yet. :P
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But:
Originally posted by Unknown Target
Anymore updates guys?
Not really big ones. We have almost all cutscenes finished (7-8 mins), the weapons are pretty much done (they are really cool :nod: ) and all we are now lacking is missions and a few models. 6 or 7 missions are in beta-stage.
Also wondering if you read Cauldron by Jack McDevitt. There's... "something" in that book that reminds the Starborn.
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ugh, jack mcdevitt
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:rolleyes:
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McDevitt is a bad, derivative author. He rips a lot of his ideas from much better writers. And in all the works of this bad author Cauldron was, unfortunately, one of the worst.
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I found Cauldron to be a rather good book. Not exceptional and probably slightly above average, but surely not trash. Back on topic, I'd like to know if both the Starborn and that thingie described by McDevitt in his book have been inspired by something else.
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http://www.amazon.com/Cauldron-Jack-McDevitt/dp/0441016502
The primary inspiration for the awful twist at the end of Cauldron was probably the awful Star Trek V. There have been much better takes on the same concept done in much better books like 'Eater' and the Galactic Center series.
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But:
Originally posted by Unknown Target
Anymore updates guys?
Not really big ones. We have almost all cutscenes finished (7-8 mins), the weapons are pretty much done (they are really cool :nod: ) and all we are now lacking is missions and a few models. 6 or 7 missions are in beta-stage.
Also wondering if you read Cauldron by Jack McDevitt. There's... "something" in that book that reminds the Starborn.
I haven't seen any MG cutscenes. Lt Cannonfodder certainly means he has them on his HD.
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I'd like to know if both the Starborn and that thingie described by McDevitt in his book have been inspired by something else.
I haven't read Cauldron. I can tell you that the only external inspiration I had for the SB - at least consciously - was a faint memory of some stories I'd read about sentient stars. Since you brought it up, I just did some searching and found stuff by Frank Herbert, especially "Whipping Star" (circa 1970). I've got no idea if McDevitt read Herbert. I would suspect he did, given Herbert's reputation. So, whether there's actually a thin thread between me and McDevitt, your guess is as good as mine.
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I haven't seen any MG cutscenes. Lt Cannonfodder certainly means he has them on his HD.
They were on the MG FTP back in the day. I have them all on my PC at home anyway. CF would probably complain if I released them since he's several orders of magnitude better now but I feel they still have a lot of charm.
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So... are you going to remake these cutscenes from scratch? It'd be nice to get the old ones published now, though... with CF's permission, of course.
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I don't think we can publish the cutscenes without giving away a lot of the story.
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May we know, at least, if they actually show people and/or Starborn, or if they're more like the kind of cutscenes we can create via FRED?
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And the dust gets another year thicker *cough* :pimp:
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Fortunately I'm even closer to putting Diaspora R1 to bed so I should be able to give this serious attention in the near(ish) future.
I'd be interested in knowing who'd be willing to work on this with you and me. With the possible exception of TopAce I don't think there are any former members still actively modding.
I think the best thing to do would be to recruit a new team. We don't need much, a few FREDders, a table guy and one modeller to make up the 2-3 custom mods we absolutely have to have.
I'm more determined than ever to only use already released assets for MG (with the exception of the small ones we really need). It was the modding side of things that really stalled us last time and we won't be making that mistake again!
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I could do tabling for you.
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*insert "The_Force will be with you" joke here*
(sorry, sometimes it's just too hard to resist)
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*insert "The_Force will be with you" joke here*
(sorry, sometimes it's just too hard to resist)
:lol:
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Sounds cool The Force. I'll contact you once the initial Diaspora rush is over and I start pulling things together again for MG.
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OK.
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I think the best thing to do would be to recruit a new team. We don't need much, a few FREDders, a table guy and one modeller to make up the 2-3 custom mods we absolutely have to have.
What are these specifically? Or would that be too much plot?
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I bet #2. Since kara clearly stated they wanted to use as many existing assets as possible, it has to be some very specific stuff for them to be ready to make em from scratch.
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What are these specifically? Or would that be too much plot?
A little too much plot + we'd need to go over the plot and see if we really need them all. We could probably trim some out without affecting things too badly. There is one which is central to the plotline though which we can't do the last mission without.
The problem is that MG has been sleeping so long that I get the feeling that a lot of stuff which was good in 2006 would be hopelessly quaint now. Basically once I get back in the swing of things I'm not certain how much stuff would be retained.
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I remember FREDding the most prototypical "Escort destroyer until it jumps" mission for MG, and I do want to polish it up, if not rebuild it completely.
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To be honest, I doubt there's many missions we couldn't improve as we're all so much better than we were back when MG started.
I think once Diaspora is out, the first order of the day will be to take stock of the currently released ships and see what exactly we should use. Most of the stuff we currently have is showing its age badly.
We'll also want to polish up our storyline. I think we can improve things a lot in terms of missions while keeping much of the original story.
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There's something to be said for quaint 2006-era design though.
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There's something to be said for quaint 2006-era design though.
Lol, Goober. I still think you are the only one who really prefers that. :lol:
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Nah, Goober prefers quaint 2000 design. He probably thinks 2006 should get off his lawn or something. :p
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Me, I prefer quaint 1959 design. Mmmm, tailfins!
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I could maybe render assistance
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What skills do you have?
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I know how to use FRED (maybe not the more advanced stuff but I can learn it), I know how to make/edit tables, make a main hall, make vp files, etc.
If you click on the link in my signature you can download an example of my work.
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Okay, one more thing to do after Diaspora is out. I really need to start making a list. :p
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So Diaspora is out so what's going on with this?
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Not another closure, please.
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A delay, I have the files to get back to work on this but I can only get hold of them again in late January. Apparently at some point while I was in China I lost the copy I had with me here.
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Hey, just the yearly "Wazzup?"
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I've got the data and I've been going through it. Hopefully I can post something on the internal in the next couple of days.
EDIT : Okay posted. Time to see who is with me now. :D
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It lives!
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Do You guys have some updates? This project was always one of the most mysterious mods here. I'd like to know something more :D
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We're trying to decide how to get things done at the moment. We'll make updates once we know what we're doing.