Hard Light Productions Forums

Modding, Mission Design, and Coding => The FRED Workshop => Topic started by: Snail on August 12, 2006, 09:45:16 am

Title: Tangent
Post by: Snail on August 12, 2006, 09:45:16 am
Why's there a Kismat there? Are the Shivans allies now? ;7
Title: Tangent
Post by: Dark Hunter on August 12, 2006, 11:35:51 am
I can say in all honesty that the Shivans are most certainly not allies.
Indeed the Shivans themselves appear in...... no missions.  ;)
Title: Tangent
Post by: Snail on August 12, 2006, 12:35:42 pm
Then what's up with the Kismat???  :drevil:
Title: Tangent
Post by: Dark Hunter on August 12, 2006, 01:47:47 pm
Read my words.... carefully....


Funny how you ask about the Kismat rather than the Malias....
Title: Tangent
Post by: Snail on August 12, 2006, 05:10:40 pm
After extensive thinking, I still can't see any Malias. The closest thing to a Malia is that thing at the right side of the screen...  :confused:

You're even more cryptic than Woo (but not :v: :p).
Title: Tangent
Post by: Dark Hunter on August 12, 2006, 06:19:50 pm
After extensive thinking, I still can't see any Malias. The closest thing to a Malia is that thing at the right side of the screen...  :confused:

You're even more cryptic than Woo (but not :v: :p).

Rest assured there are two (2) Malias in that picture, and neither of them are that "thing on the right side".
I'm flattered that you think me cryptic, for that's what I'm aiming for.
Some things I won't tell you:
1. Why there are Shivan and Ancient ships in that picture.
2. Why Earth is anywhere near a Knossos.
3. What any of those ships are doing so close to the Knossos in the first place.  :lol:
Title: Re: Tangent
Post by: Goober5000 on August 12, 2006, 10:22:23 pm
Topic split AGAIN.  Guys, stop spamming Skippy's thread.  It's extremely rude.
Title: Re: Tangent
Post by: Mefustae on August 12, 2006, 11:53:41 pm
Damn, for a second there I thought there was some cool new campaign in the works. Well... if nobody else is making a campaign called 'Tangent', I might as well get on it!
Title: Re: Tangent
Post by: Goober5000 on August 13, 2006, 01:29:35 am
Damn, for a second there I thought there was some cool new campaign in the works. Well... if nobody else is making a campaign called 'Tangent', I might as well get on it!

:lol: That's a good idea.  It would make an intriguing title.
Title: Re: Tangent
Post by: Mobius on August 13, 2006, 02:44:08 am
Damn, for a second there I thought there was some cool new campaign in the works. Well... if nobody else is making a campaign called 'Tangent', I might as well get on it!

Me too!
Title: Re: Tangent
Post by: Snail on August 13, 2006, 06:41:20 am
Oh, sorry, people.

Ooops. I was like Tangent? Started by Snail?? What? I didn't start something called 'Tangent'?  :lol:

Damn, for a second there I thought there was some cool new campaign in the works. Well... if nobody else is making a campaign called 'Tangent', I might as well get on it!

Me too!

Me too! There can be 3 campaigns with the same name  :p.
Title: Re: Tangent
Post by: karajorma on August 13, 2006, 07:05:15 am
Work out common starting premise and then go off at Tangents :p

FS2 Missions as high concept art :)
Title: Re: Tangent
Post by: Axem on August 13, 2006, 09:06:59 am
That is an awesome idea.  :)
Title: Re: Tangent
Post by: Mefustae on August 13, 2006, 10:03:25 am
Yeah, how about we get a basic template for a mission [or small campaign], doll it out to the community, and just let people go off on tangents making conceptual missions, as much FS2 missions as unique works of art. Y'know, something like the infamous YMCA we all know an love.

Then, we put up all of them in a sort of HLP Pompidou Centre, for players far and wide to be amused, bemused, and just downright confused by the collective artistic instanity of HLP.
Title: Re: Tangent
Post by: Ransom on August 13, 2006, 11:24:16 pm
That totally needs to be done. Like right now.
Title: Re: Tangent
Post by: Dark Hunter on August 14, 2006, 12:15:02 am
A collection of bizarre missions that have limited realtion to a central plot? I love this idea!  :yes: :yes: :yes:
We'd have to agree on what mods to include though, if we hope to release the missions together...



Goober's idle naming of a split thread created a new idea! :ha:
Title: Re: Tangent
Post by: Ransom on August 14, 2006, 01:14:24 am
A more abstract route would be to have each mission/small campaign connected through a central concept rather than plot. Either would be very cool though, given an interesting template.

Perhaps it's too early for this, but I'll put forward two ideas I've had for campaigns for a while that could work for this:
- Alternate FS history.
- Music. Base it around a set piece of music (which ideally would be decided upon by the participants); with the right song this could work any number of ways, from the entries simply being inspired by the music, to reenacting an interpretation of its lyrics.

People with more ideas should also post them. This project has an awful lot of potential.
Title: Re: Tangent
Post by: Mefustae on August 14, 2006, 03:38:54 am
That's the spirit! I'm thinking someone knocks up a very general mission/campaign [we're talking just basic ships, sexp's and soforth, the bare-bones essentials to a mission/campaign] and give FRED'ers the wide choice of whether to create an abstract story based off the template, something really artsy and pretentious, or engage in Monty Pythonesque silliness. Barney's Space Adventure springs to mind...

Although, as you suggested, a mission set perfectly to a piece of music would be unbelievably ace. There would indeed be something truly awe-inspiring to have a precisely choreographed mission set to Beethoven's 5th, even if the player is merely relegated to the sidelines for the more script-heavy parts.
Title: Re: Tangent
Post by: Getter Robo G on August 14, 2006, 03:39:48 am
Under the "Tangent" heading people could name their campaigns as per release chronology. (ie) Only name it on upload and announcement in forum.

So the first person to release would be called: "Tangent (The First Divergance)"...

Thoughs?
Title: Re: Tangent
Post by: Ransom on August 14, 2006, 04:26:38 am
That's the spirit! I'm thinking someone knocks up a very general mission/campaign [we're talking just basic ships, sexp's and soforth, the bare-bones essentials to a mission/campaign] and give FRED'ers the wide choice of whether to create an abstract story based off the template, something really artsy and pretentious, or engage in Monty Pythonesque silliness. Barney's Space Adventure springs to mind...

Although, as you suggested, a mission set perfectly to a piece of music would be unbelievably ace. There would indeed be something truly awe-inspiring to have a precisely choreographed mission set to Beethoven's 5th, even if the player is merely relegated to the sidelines for the more script-heavy parts.
Hold on... what I meant was those ideas could be the template. It's no matter though, I just assumed we were going to be deciding on some predefined theme as the template rather than an actual mission file.

If we're going to be basing the missions on a premade FRED template then, precisely what do you mean by 'basic ships and sexps'? And if I'm understanding you, participants would have to include whatever came with the mission, but not be limited to it?

Small suggestion: what if a single line of dialogue was included in the mission -- something contextless that could be made to mean just about anything -- and it was left up to the FREDer to choose how to use it in the mission?
Title: Re: Tangent
Post by: Mefustae on August 14, 2006, 07:50:34 am
What I was thinking was that the given FREDer picks up a mission with several generally-named ships, the player set up, a generic background, a few easily-edited generic objectives, and basic story structure 'defend convoy from NTF', 'conduct a three-mission long assualt on a Shivan depot', whatever. Basically, the menial stuff one needs to construct a mission, so as to allow the FREDer to get right into creating their art, adding and subtracting [but not exactly annihilating the core concept of the template], rather than ****ing around for an hour or two arranging all the essentials before you can really start.

Although, a mere idea of a mission/campaign story, kept sufficiently generic, could potentially be far more efficient, allowing for far more latitude in artistic creation. Of course, the downside to that being you put off our less experienced FREDers in forcing them to start from scratch, which is always a daunting challenge.

In any case, I based the idea off essentially Mr. Squiggle, if you get my meaning. You pick up something generic, and use it to create something unique, of which your single line of dialogue idea is an excellent example.
Title: Re: Tangent
Post by: Ransom on August 14, 2006, 10:43:40 am
A compromise is having a mission template file available for those who just want to sit down and bang out their concept, but at the same time not ruling out making the thing from scratch so long as it conforms to a written premise.
Title: Re: Tangent
Post by: Mobius on August 14, 2006, 04:53:54 pm
Oh, sorry, people.

Ooops. I was like Tangent? Started by Snail?? What? I didn't start something called 'Tangent'?  :lol:

Damn, for a second there I thought there was some cool new campaign in the works. Well... if nobody else is making a campaign called 'Tangent', I might as well get on it!

Me too!

Me too! There can be 3 campaigns with the same name  :p.

I was saying:
I also thought this "Tangent" was a campaign,not "I'm gonna create a campaign called Tangent!".
At the moment I don't have sufficient time to create more campaigns...
Title: Re: Tangent
Post by: Mefustae on August 14, 2006, 08:50:26 pm
A compromise is having a mission template file available for those who just want to sit down and bang out their concept, but at the same time not ruling out making the thing from scratch so long as it conforms to a written premise.
Sounds good to me. Perhaps move this to a more formal setting?
Title: Re: Tangent
Post by: Ferret on August 14, 2006, 11:29:29 pm
What I was thinking was that the given FREDer picks up a mission with several generally-named ships, the player set up, a generic background, a few easily-edited generic objectives, and basic story structure 'defend convoy from NTF', 'conduct a three-mission long assualt on a Shivan depot', whatever. Basically, the menial stuff one needs to construct a mission, so as to allow the FREDer to get right into creating their art, adding and subtracting [but not exactly annihilating the core concept of the template], rather than ****ing around for an hour or two arranging all the essentials before you can really start.

Although, a mere idea of a mission/campaign story, kept sufficiently generic, could potentially be far more efficient, allowing for far more latitude in artistic creation. Of course, the downside to that being you put off our less experienced FREDers in forcing them to start from scratch, which is always a daunting challenge.

In any case, I based the idea off essentially Mr. Squiggle, if you get my meaning. You pick up something generic, and use it to create something unique, of which your single line of dialogue idea is an excellent example.
I'ld like to say that I think this is a superb idea and would looove to give it a try.
Title: Re: Tangent
Post by: Ransom on August 15, 2006, 01:41:21 am
Sounds good to me. Perhaps move this to a more formal setting?
Well, what's needed now is the base premise. I think if an official thread was made at this point it'd probably get too cluttered with the remaining preparations.
Title: Re: Tangent
Post by: Ferret on August 15, 2006, 03:26:27 am
Sounds good to me. Perhaps move this to a more formal setting?
Well, what's needed now is the base premise. I think if an official thread was made at this point it'd probably get too cluttered with the remaining preparations.
How about starting an ideas/preperation thread then before doing the actual thing?
Title: Re: Tangent
Post by: Ransom on August 15, 2006, 04:19:28 am
I suppose the best option would be if an admin split this off from the start of the, well, tangent. Then we could have all the planning and whatnot in one place. It just seems to me that having three threads about the one thing would be a bit wasteful.
Title: Re: Tangent
Post by: Mefustae on August 15, 2006, 06:44:03 am
Indeed.

Admins, little help? *Whistles*
Title: Re: Tangent
Post by: karajorma on August 15, 2006, 08:24:32 am
Start a new thread. I don't really quite grasp why one is needed so I wouldn't know where to split from :)