Hard Light Productions Forums

Community Projects => The FreeSpace Wiki Project => Topic started by: Narwhal on August 03, 2008, 09:24:45 am

Title: Chronological order of User-made campaigns
Post by: Narwhal on August 03, 2008, 09:24:45 am
Since I can't FRED anything, I tried to make myself useful to the FS communauty on the wiki, henceforth I tried to give an order to the campaigns listed there :
http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/User-made_Campaigns_%28FS2%29

For now, I created a work-in-progress page there :
http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/User-made_campaigns_in_chronological_order

 I have not finished yet, I stop for now, but any help is welcomed (including in how it should look.
Title: Re: Chronological order of User-made campaigns
Post by: Jeff Vader on August 03, 2008, 09:30:31 am
A rather tricky operation you have going, I say. Difficulties arise with the fact that several campaigns do not explicitly state the exact-ish period of time they take place in. Therefore putting them into a chronological order would mostly be based on guessing.

But I suppose you could list the ones that are certain cases and have an extra list with campaigns that take place during a somewhat unspecified period of time.
Title: Re: Chronological order of User-made campaigns
Post by: Narwhal on August 03, 2008, 09:38:36 am
Actually, my idea was that by the end of the work, the "user-made list" of the wiki could be replaced by my reworked list. Even though for maybe one third of the campaign, you don't know the exact date, you can know, given the ships available, in what era they belong. Hence, keeping rthe categories of the original war (pre Great War / Reconstruction / 2nd Great War) and putting the "undated" campaigns at the end of the Era in which it belongs, I could have a rather good looking result.

My problem is more - psychologically - on campaigns dealing differently with the same event (Inferno vs Blueplanet for instance, and the return to Sol system). While the dates are different, it gives a "alternative universerse" flavour I dislike (too bad both campaigns are great, else I would have still psychologically just forget that one campaign ever happened).
Title: Re: Chronological order of User-made campaigns
Post by: nubbles526 on August 03, 2008, 09:52:21 am
Indicate the ones you don't/aren't sure of the campaign time period in grey.

And I don't think anybody minds when two campgaigns conflict each other (or else, I don't)
Title: Re: Chronological order of User-made campaigns
Post by: TopAce on August 03, 2008, 10:59:08 am
Let's state right in the beginning that the campaigns are to be considered independently. Mark only those that are supposed to be linked.
Title: Re: Chronological order of User-made campaigns
Post by: Stormkeeper on August 03, 2008, 11:14:27 am
I suggest grouping campaigns which are linked together, and like nubbles said, grey out those you ain't sure of the campaign period.

I'm pretty sure quite a few campaigns will contradict each other in terms of term period.
Title: Re: Chronological order of User-made campaigns
Post by: Snail on August 03, 2008, 11:16:13 am
I am currently against the idea, as all these campaigns are conflicting each other it makes no sense putting them in chronological order like this.
Title: Re: Chronological order of User-made campaigns
Post by: Narwhal on August 03, 2008, 11:24:52 am
Well, originally I wanted to play all the campaign in their chronological order. Since of course they conflict each other, it seems to make little sense. Yet, many campaigns are really coherent one another, and get really well within the canon without creating too much (typically Hellgate Ikeya/light of Antares/ Rain on Ribos 4)

Of course since I have no legitimacy whatsoever to select which campaign are really close to the canon, and which of them aren't, I'd like them to be all classified in a chronological. Still make more sense then not being classified at all as it is right now.
Title: Re: Chronological order of User-made campaigns
Post by: Snail on August 03, 2008, 11:30:22 am
Still make more sense then not being classified at all as it is right now.
I beg to differ. Right now it's coherent enough to understand. But the way you've done it is mish-mashing BlackWater Operations with Inferno with Machina Terra, which all have their own iterations of the isolated Sol factions, and it makes absolutely no sense.

But whatever.
Title: Re: Chronological order of User-made campaigns
Post by: Narwhal on August 03, 2008, 11:50:12 am
That's a good point, even though I haven't arrived to BW and Inferno as of yet.

Right now, thought, it's not "coherent enough to understand", at least on this page : http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/User-made_Campaigns_%28FS2%29 since it's in alphabetical order.
As it has been suggested, once the list is done, I'll find a way to "link" the different set of campaigns which follows the same "user-made canon", so to speak (Inferno, the two BluePlanet campaigns, ...)
Title: Re: Chronological order of User-made campaigns
Post by: Snail on August 03, 2008, 11:59:31 am
They are coherent enough to understand. Generally, you're only interested in the era (Great War, Reconstruction, Second Great War, Post-Capella), not which month or which day they appear. That amount of precision is not needed.

Anyhow, I don't see how this thing is really doing any harm so I'll let it slide (not that I have any choice in the matter...).
Title: Re: Chronological order of User-made campaigns
Post by: Narwhal on August 03, 2008, 12:04:15 pm
Well, you do have the choice, since the clout of a 10 000 posts member with FREDing experience is much larger than the one of a newbie using broken english and who might be gone next week :)
Title: Re: Chronological order of User-made campaigns
Post by: Snail on August 03, 2008, 12:07:46 pm
Well, I'm hardly important, I just post a lot.
Title: Re: Chronological order of User-made campaigns
Post by: TopAce on August 03, 2008, 12:19:41 pm
I can still see potential in such an article. It doesn't have to be only a list, but might also function as a collection of inconsistencies between any two "supposedly related" campaigns.

Have fun playing through all the campaigns, by the way. :D
Title: Re: Chronological order of User-made campaigns
Post by: Narwhal on August 03, 2008, 12:41:20 pm
Thank you Snail and Topace for the help on the page :) I finished the Second-War Era, was easier than I thought since most missions in the campaigns starts with a reference to a FS2 canon event :)

Now, Snail's point is going to be EXTREMELY relevant in the post Capella campaigns, since they're so numerous and one out of 3 deals with the Sol system in a way or another :)
Title: Re: Chronological order of User-made campaigns
Post by: TopAce on August 03, 2008, 02:00:20 pm
Yes, but even the Second Great War-era campaigns don't form a coherent storyline. They are connected to FS canon, but not interrelated.
Title: Re: Chronological order of User-made campaigns
Post by: Narwhal on August 03, 2008, 05:36:49 pm
Well, finished the page, somehow.

I felt giving the date for the post Capella campaigns was useless, since the stories differs really completely from that point on. Though, it enabled me to regroup campaigns which belongs to the same "canon" (sometimes because an author decide to carry on the story of another author), and to put some campaigns out of the post-Capella category in which they didn't belong.

I notice a LOTS of campaigns are missing, and also that they are something like 4 different (5 with mine, but it's a work-in-progress) user-campaigns on the wiki, so I will post a thread next week-end about this, I think. I could be regrouped with much profit.

I won't be here during the week (well, shouldn't), but I will be back :)
Title: Re: Chronological order of User-made campaigns
Post by: Narwhal on August 03, 2008, 06:13:59 pm
Tried to work with a tabler, putting release status, author and other informations. Works perfectly, looks great. Will finish this ASAP.
Title: Re: Chronological order of User-made campaigns
Post by: Narwhal on August 03, 2008, 07:27:14 pm
Tabler made up (and including) the second Great War.

For post Second Great War campaigns, I'll drop the date column. Meanwhile, I ll go to sleep.
Title: Re: Chronological order of User-made campaigns
Post by: Goober5000 on August 03, 2008, 09:02:10 pm
Holy crap, dude.  Use the Preview button.  Don't make 500 edits in a row on the same page.
Title: Re: Chronological order of User-made campaigns
Post by: Stormkeeper on August 03, 2008, 11:55:24 pm
:lol:

Didn't notice. The recent changes page is flooded now.
Title: Re: Chronological order of User-made campaigns
Post by: Snail on August 04, 2008, 09:05:50 am
Didn't notice. The recent changes page is flooded now.
I noticed, but thought it was quite entertaining so I didn't say anything.