Hard Light Productions Forums
Modding, Mission Design, and Coding => The Modding Workshop => Topic started by: TopAce on March 18, 2003, 04:45:15 pm
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What do you find the most important in a mod? What can convience you to download a modification?
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I think you mean campaign here, right? (seeing as standalone mods usually don't have missions) Anyway, for me it is the third option. Or even more than that, polished, bugfree missions; even if they aren't terribly original, I like them to be perfect for what they are. ;)
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Yeah I thought mods with campaign. Better mods have missions enclosed. :)
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Intresting missions. It's pretty dumb to make a campaign that nobody will want or be able to play through.
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It's got to be the story! Unless you can grab my attention (and hold it) it doesn't matter what flash you throw my way... Now a close second is new stuff! That can also make things intersting and gives you new elements to explore for stoylines. Plus it's neat!
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At the end of the day, a FREDder could write a great campaign with just the retail V stuff. It's all about the attention to detail, such as debugging and (preferably) good voice acting :)
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A good, believable story (not one with fifteen Colossi and Aeolus with BFReds) is the most important, along with mission progression. They have to flow together, and make sense of the storyline. New stuff is cool, but not always necessary. Mods are often used to cover up a crappy campaign, which is a shame.
Just look at the Derelict campaign. We all know it's the best user-made campaign out there at the moment, but why? Because the missions are well designed, and the story is cracking. The only mods are subtle ones - a few reskins, some new backgrounds, and some weapons changes. They add to the experience as a whole, rather than dominating it.
I voted for missions, 'cos that's the closest to what I just said.
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For myself most of the above are contributing factors to replay value. Polished story and subtle balanced mods with smooth transition from mission to mission make the replay for me.
I have several games and mods that looked beautiful, but due to poor execution are tiresome to play.
I like challenging missions with more goals and optional goodies for play rather than a campaign that just tosses waves of badguys at you mission after mission. If a mission is too tough for me to beat on the first couple of plays, I want it to be interesting enough that I will want to play it again in order to progress in the campaign. A somewhat dynamic campaign allowing the player to make choices that affect the progression of the campaign is a feature that can add new twists to replaying a campaign once it has been beaten.
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Originally posted by pyro-manic
Just look at the Derelict campaign.
OK...
*looks*
Eww! Bugs!
*runs*
:)
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*tries to look as well*
argh, no working installer, darn ripped FS2.
can someone put derelict in a VP, please?
please?
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I've tried Derelict as well. While there are lots of good things about it, I just can't get past all the bugs. I've been fixing them as I go but it's pretty anoying.
Now, I'm not saying I can do better. I'm still learning how to FRED correctly. :nervous: Maybe tomorrow...
For me, the story is definitely the most important part. That's why I started playing FS & FS2 in the first place. My son, however, likes blowing things up and is constantly wanting me to create missions with dozens of Juggernauts.
At least I know the how many ships the engine can handle.:)
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What are these bugs you speak of? I played the whole way through Derelict and found it to be quite excellent and bug free (I think :) ).
The most important thing in a mod or campaign for me is originality and non conventional design, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't but it's always interesting to see what new things people think up.
The dream sequence in derelict is an excellent example. :nod:
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Bugs? Well, I forget the mission name but it's where you're guarding the Capallan Governor at the Vasudan base. There's a Cap ship that for some reason is assigned as an Ulysses. Funny, but FS2 doesn't think the Ulysses has a Turret 12.
The next mission also has a problem, but I'm not at that PC, and I can't remember what it is.
But up to that point I found it enjoyable.
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First bug that comes off the top of me head is the number of time I had Mackie die on me... only for the miracle of modern GTVA medicine to have resurrected him in time for the next mission...
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Originally posted by BlackStar
Bugs? Well, I forget the mission name but it's where you're guarding the Capallan Governor at the Vasudan base. There's a Cap ship that for some reason is assigned as an Ulysses. Funny, but FS2 doesn't think the Ulysses has a Turret 12.
If you`d said any other ship I might believe you but FS2 replaces any ship it can`t find with a Ulysses so it sounds more like you`re missing a mod.
Then again it's ages since I last played deralict.
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Originally posted by karajorma
If you`d said any other ship I might believe you but FS2 replaces any ship it can`t find with a Ulysses so it sounds more like you`re missing a mod.
That'll probably be the GTFf Saphah (the Iceni modded to be a Terran frigate). Make sure you've got an entry for it in ships.tbl, and it should work fine.:)
I haven't found any bugs myself, apart from the Mackie death thing, but I think of it this way - he ejects when he gets shot down, and jumps in a new ship for the next mission.
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I noticed bugs and consistency issues all over the place in Derelict, but the sheer number of missions well made up for that.
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Originally posted by kasperl
can someone put derelict in a VP, please?
please?
once again, please???
*makes puppy face*
please?
i'll give you a cookie.
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Originally posted by kasperl
can someone put derelict in a VP, please?
please?
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once again, please???
*makes puppy face*
please?
i'll give you a cookie.
OK, but it better be a damn fine cookie!!! :D
Yeah, give me a couple days to sort it out, and I'll whack it in an email for you. PM me where you want it sent, and what kind of file you want it as (zip, rar, etc).
Seriously though, I'd look for a full version of FS2 around the place. I'm sure somebody could burn you a copy and mail it to you.:)
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Originally posted by karajorma
If you`d said any other ship I might believe you but FS2 replaces any ship it can`t find with a Ulysses so it sounds more like you`re missing a mod.
Then again it's ages since I last played deralict.
Agreed. I first thought I didn't have the right ships.tbl in place but even after copying the one that came with Derelict it wouldn't work. I'm not too worried about it, though.
So maybe this isn't exactly a "bug" but is sure was annoying. And there probably is something else I'm missing.
I'm using it as a good way to learn how to FRED and how all the other tools work.
So maybe that's something else that's important for a mod: It should be idiot-proof for people like me! :D
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As for me, FREDing is the most required. You have new ships/backgrounds/weapons in vain, if a FREDer doesn't place them in any missions. (example : GTD Hades)
New interface is the least required.
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It's all about the story and the gameplay. if they suck, then what's the point. For all I care, a campaign could be 2 missions long, with only an apollo with the basics, but if the story was top notch and the gameplay was exciting, then it's gold.
ITHOV thanks you for your input.
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Originally posted by Thor
ITHOV thanks you for your input.
I thought this information is classified Level Omega.
:) :) :) :)
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I voted number 3. I can tell you I would never have said 4 or 5: because I don't care how many missions there are in a campaign - 5 or 50 or 500 - if the missions are poor, I will definitely be turned off, and if they are good - bugless, interesting, well-paced - then I will like them. And as for the interface, well, I think the current FS2 interface serves very well as it is. Besides, AFAIK, it takes an inordinate amount of time to create a whole new interface, especially just for the sake of it.