Hard Light Productions Forums
Modding, Mission Design, and Coding => The FRED Workshop => Topic started by: Jabba on April 19, 2010, 08:15:32 am
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How are you gentlemen?
First of all, I would like to personally thank each and every person who has been a part of the SCP, the Freespace Port, Freespace itself and everybody else involved in the process in keeping this game alive. This includes the people behind some user made campaigns I have just played, the installers, everybody a big thank you :yes:
The story:
I was digging around my old game collection as I moved house and without internet yet, I found myself a little bored so I dug up some older games to replay. Owning a copy of retail FS1 and FS2, I thought I would give them a go. FS1 decided to magically scratch itself and so I pondered if maybe somebody has ported the original campaign into FS2? I searched online and found what was to be the beginning of a new chapter in my life! After several weeks of pure bliss blasting Vasudans, Shivans and even Terrans it had such an effect on me, I had to take it further.
And so as I write this here now with FRED in one window and the Freespace Wiki in another and after completing the quickstart mission in FRED, I would like to announce Project: 'Megaton'.
Project: 'Megaton' is the code name for what I would like to see as a campaign for Freespace using the SCP in all of its mediavp glory. At the moment I am currently working on the story, putting ideas down to paper and/or keyboard. Generating the general direction in which I want it to go and some basic ideas on how to implement key elements into the concept itself. My FREDing skills have been dormant since 1999 but I am not completely clueless as to the basics idea on how Freespace works. So, while I will complete the entire walk though and research some new ideas over the coming fortnight, hopefully I will have a basic direction and even a mission layout in which I want the story to unfold. But this is the tricky part...
I may need some help
I don't think that I am going to take this into areas where it just wont work, I have a feeling that it might combine some innovative thinking and direction where others have gone and it will be this fusion that will make this what it will be. I am hoping that a time frame of one year is not unreasonable for Project: 'Megaton' as hopefully I can compile most of it myself but there are a number of things in my head that I know that I will not be able to do. And if I can manage to get far enough to the point in which I feel that Project: 'Megaton' will work, that is when I know I will require assistance.
And so as a newly created member of the Hard Light, I welcome myself and will gladly link to my Project: 'Megaton' facebook page which I will update regularly as I have just started the whole facebook thing.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Project-Megaton/116681605023944 (http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Project-Megaton/116681605023944) (Hope this works)
Thanks again to the whole of everyone involved with continuing the 'Freespace Experience'. I feel honoured to be a part of it and now it is my turn to contribute my part to everyone else.
Jabba
EDIT: PS sorry about the long post it's just that I am committed to this now - there's no turning back!
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Best of luck! Your optimum strategy is probably to FRED together a demo release or a short unrelated mission set to draw attention to your elite skillz, then see if you can recruit a team for the main effort from that. It'll also give you good practice on FREDding, packaging up VPs, and doing error checking and playtesting.
As I tell all new community members, particularly developers, I would strongly suggest playing Blue Planet, Silent Threat Reborn, Transcend, Windmills, and The Procyon Insurgency as research. All of these mods were extremely innovative (or at least very solid) in terms of their FRED approaches, and they all offer some lessons and how to move the medium forward.
(Derelict is also notable as a community classic, and while I wouldn't model your missions directly off it, it's amazingly varied and textured.)
If you're into total conversions, Beyond the Red Line's demo and The Babylon Project are also both excellent.
Looking forward to seeing what you produce.
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Wow that was quick!
A lot of my inspiration to get me thinking of taking innovative directions will be from the campaigns you have listed, as I have played most of them!
The idea of compiling a few mission based loosely on the direction in which I am heading to demo the concept of t3h campaign is a good idea.
I have many hours to just even much around with FRED and just make missions for the sake of making missions in an effort to aquire +2 FREDing skillZ
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Good luck!
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Welcome aboard !
If I can give you a quick advice : use debug builds. Those in the most recent versions of SCP are very strict when looking for errors, but it is an incredibly efficient medium for tracking down potential bugs even before you start a mission.
There are many tutorials and advice for beginners around there. Be sure to check the Wiki too.
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Welcome and good luck
and if you have questions of any kind, do not be afraid to ask them. HLP is happy to help (most of the time that is :P )
oh and please don't set us up the bomb
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Come to the IRC channel too. Is good. :yes:
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HLP is happy to help (most of the time that is :P )
(http://punditkitchen.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/political-pictures-vladimir-putin-care-suffering.jpg)
Jabba The S|ut: once you reach the point where you think you're ready to release your campaign, remember to read this (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=68817.0). Reading, understanding and following everything written on that list will ensure that life is as easy as possible for everyone.
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No Fallout 3 conversion? Awwww :(
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Welcome to HLP, best of luck and may the Force be with you. :D
Minor note - only the first part of your FB URL is hyperlinked.
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Wish you good luck mate :yes:
And welcome to HLP, may you lurk forever with us...the doomed :D
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I wish you the best of luck, although I highly recommend you change your username if you'd like to be taken seriously.
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Yeah, I'd like that too.
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Don't hate on the username. I find it amusing. :P
Besides, its true.
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Thank you all for your support and assistance in guiding me through. I will endevour to follow in the footsteps of others to bring a rather polished campaign in the months to come.
If my username comes across offensive, I can change it (I think?)
I will fix the facebook link, as I will be using that as a blog for peeps to check on my progress, and you can even become a fan of Project: 'Megaton'. BTW that will not be the campaign name but it may or may not have something to do with something realated to it perhaps...
Thanks again for the warm and amusing welcomes, and just so you know - I'm Australian. So gidday mayte! Throw anutha shrimp on tha barbee :lol: but really its just steaks and sausages - mostly.
Jabba
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Cool. We have a proud tradition of Australian modders here.
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If my username comes across offensive, I can change it (I think?)
No, but you can ask the administrators to change it. With a good enough explanation they'll do it. And it would probably be even easier now that you're still a rather new member.
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What side of the island Jabba?
[EDIT]NM, quick facebook-stalk says you're a banana bender. Ah well, you'll get over it.
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quick facebook-stalk says you're a banana bender. Ah well, you'll get over it.
lol
On another note...
I don't think I will learn moar FRED tonight as I have a bit of a headache. At work today I was working underneath an industrial sized warehouse roof light when as I was pushing it off to the side so I could complete my task, it detached from its fitting and came down like a brick and hit me on the head. I was taken to the medical centre to get some suches or stitches or whatever they are called to close the wound.
Pics or ban so I uploaded to my facebook and the Project: 'Megaton' facebook page. Some of the ladies at work felt a little ill as a was exerting myself at the time of injury and so had a lot of blood circulation going, and the fact that I cut my scalp it automatically bleeds heaps. I wish I had a photo then as it looked incredibly bad. Now it looks quite fine and I will resume in the next few days. Tomorrow I might try and dig up some old missions I made back in the day just to have a look...
Full facebook link (I hope)
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Project-Megaton/116681605023944
Jabba
Edit: I don't know why only half of it is a hyperlink - just copy and paste the whole thing into the address bar
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Don't hate on the username. I find it amusing. :P
Besides, its true.
I agree, I find it quite amusing too
And ouch Jabba, that look like it must have hurt.
Take it easy for a bit.
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Don't hate on the username. I find it amusing. :P
Besides, its true.
I agree, I find it quite amusing too
Personally I disagree. But your name, your choice.
And yeah, that accident sounds...well, um, painful. Hope you have a quick recovery.
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Thanks for your concern :yes:. The stiches (suches?) come out next week. The plot and overall story is roughly designed and am building a mission structure to suit at the moment. That and reading all of the help topics in FRED. It's all coming back to me now when I used to FRED a little in FS1. Yep it was that long ago. Will do the walkthrough tonight I think and the next day or two figure out how the campaign is going to go with the story. I think I am able to do most of what I want to do, however some things may have to be shown via cutscene so when it comes to working out if that is the case, it should be an interesting read/learning experience on creating those.
Now I was reading somebody elses topic on a campaign that he is creating and he explained that he didn't want to come out in the beginning and announce it for fear of his idea getting 'shot down' so to speak or just genereal disbeleif and the assumption this nobody guy will not even get to the final stages. I think I may have come across like this to some people. And to be honest, I haven't even considered that until I read this chaps post about his campaign that he is most of the way through. I would have liked to have done that but I don't think that if I would have kept it secret I would have finished it. Meaning, that now that I have told everyone, I HAVE to live up to your expectations! I don't want to make a disbeliever out anyone - because I said I was going to complete this campaign idea I have. I have almost no friends who are into computer games in Australia (many favour consoles) let alone modding. So the time of one year to finish this project 'hopefully' is not too unreasonable.
BTW digging through some old FS1 missions I created before the turn of the century I found this gem I forgot about where the 'evil' Vasudan ace was named after a girl at our school and her voice was a sample I recorded of our dog barking. Oh yeah, those were the times :D
Jabba
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It's a damn shame this forum doesn't allow avatars or images in signatures; I think it would be a riot to see what this guy would have.
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BTW digging through some old FS1 missions I created before the turn of the century I found this gem I forgot about where the 'evil' Vasudan ace was named after a girl at our school and her voice was a sample I recorded of our dog barking. Oh yeah, those were the times :D
I like your style. :lol:
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;-)
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Just an update to Project: 'Megaton'. I have pretty much the campaign mapped out on paper and I have completed the walkthrough mission in FRED open. However there was an interesting/frustrating part in FRED in creating a SEXP in the events editor to do with directive text in regards to the scanning of the cargo if I remember correctly. I couldn't use the 'or' argument in the way that they show in the walkthrough but I could still manage create the event. Mine just looked more messy than what was shown. Anywho, I thought I had better update because I said I would and I am going to complete this. Yep.
Jabba
Oh and don't feel obliged to reply - just an update
BTW, is this guy -> :drevil: picking his nose? Because if he is, he is copying me......
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Remember, there's a FRED board if you need help or just want advice...
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Glad to see you are into it, FRED can be discouraging most of the times but don't give up :yes:
And as Scourge said, you can go over FRED section if you have found a problem that you can't fix yourself (in regards of sexp's of course).
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Cool thanks :D
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My advice as someone who I believe is in a fairly similar position is to make sure you're happy with your FREDing abilities before starting on your "big plan". Otherwise you'll end up having to redo your earlier missions once you have got the hang of it properly to bring them up to the standard you'll be producing by the end (which you may not mind doing, and fair enough if that's the case).
I'd do a few stand-alone (and not to be released) missions first at least (or joining the FRED Academy is a very good alternative).
But, don't feel pressured. Especially with release dates; you'll be the norm if you're a few years late, hehe.
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BTW, is this guy -> :drevil: picking his nose? Because if he is, he is copying me......
No, he is just doing the Dr Evil pose from Austin powers! Wish you luck on your campaign! I have one in the works.... so far it's 0.00009% done! Good luck!
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Thanks for the helps everyone. I am taking all of your advice on board and it all seems to make sense. I really like the hard light community BTW. Everyone is much friendlier here than some other forums I have been and gone on. Also everyone seems to be quite humorous at times. I like humour. Especially when it's funny.....
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Where are our manners, you haven't been beamed yet have you?
:welcome:
and yes, there are one or two witty posters around HLP. I came here for the mods and stayed for the humour.
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and yes, there are one or two witty posters around HLP. I came here for the mods and stayed for the humour.
:lol:
And thanks for the friendly beam! I normally end up by getting killed by friendly beams.....
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and yes, there are one or two witty posters around HLP. I came here for the mods and stayed for the humour.
:lol:
And thanks for the friendly beam! I normally end up by getting killed by friendly beams.....
Avoid the beam and you won't get hit, pilot.
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Avoid the beam and you won't get hit, pilot.
Cheers mate! :D
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;-)
Oh, seriously, did you just keep on doing ;-)'s just to get yourself over a hundred posts?
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;-)
Oh, seriously, did you just keep on doing ;-)'s just to get yourself over a hundred posts?
:sigh: No, he seems to be at "it" again. Check the date of posting in his post. Then check the "Last edited..." part. He's messing up his old posts. I don't know if he's deliberately trying to render entire discussions worthless or what but whatever his motives are, that is really stupid and annoying. Monkeyworthy even, if I dare say so aloud.
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I fixed your link in your post sir.
Have a wonderful day.
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Monkey worthy indeed.
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Update?
Ok so it has been a while since I have commented/updated this thread about any progress on Project: 'Megaton', so I thought I had better post up. I was using facebook as a service to show updates and the like but I don't use facebook anymore and I think that me closing my account cancels the Project: 'Megaton' facebook page. Oh well, I didn't want Mark Zucherberg stealing my super sweet ideas anyways ha ha. But seriously, I haven't really done anything on the campaign. Don't get me wrong, I am certain that it will make people bow to it, it's just that I have had this slight problem come up just as of late. You see, EB Games had a half price sale on not too long ago, and I may have bought a few games and have been playing them and everything :D.
But that's not to say I have made no progress. I have created a teeny weeny four mission campaign just to test out campaign branching, breif/debreif texts and a few different events. Sure it may only be to kill a few 'bad guys' but nonetheless, my skillz are on the inprove.
So, after I finish a few moar gamez, I will start on another slightly more detailed campaign for some further improvement (it may even include an escort mission!) before I start on a demo for submission to the hard light community. That would be awesome ha ha :lol:
Now back to the actual progress, I have changed the story up a little. Now it more closely matches up to the direction in which the gameplay is headed. Characters have names, even a bit of background which will show up during the campaign, and something that I thought couldn't be done that is critical to the way this is giong to work can actually be done! Yay! There is one other thing that is totally super critcal and everything that needs to be played around with to see if it will work. I know that it is for certain that some small modding may be in place to make that work, but it should be an easy fix. Just need time to look at that one and there are just too many games to play atm.
Oh and I forgot to mention that I have actually completed the very firkst campaign breifing OMG!!! Will it be changed later on? Of course it will! But it is saved and it is real and it is AWESOME!!! :lol:
On a more serious note, it wouldn't suprise me if I have been dismissed as (vapourware?) or whatever you would say for something that's going to be made and then it doesn't. It's ok I would probably be thinking the same thing. As a matter of fact I did start to think that about myself for a bit. But then I did the first command brief and I fell on to my knees and cried in joy! Adriaaan!
Wel I had better shut up now or I will just keep on going - and who want's to read long boring posts?!?!?
Cool beans.
Jabba
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Man, I totally forgot EB had a half-price sale.
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Man, I totally forgot EB had a half-price sale.
Tis cool. I spoke to the girl there and she said that it continues for the rest of the month. Actually we had a wierd conversation about the Farcry movie and Ewe Boll and about FPS's and stuff. I think I might go back there..... EB win @ 1/2 price :D
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Heh, well EB always seem to find an occasion every few months to price their games at RRP as opposed to the $20 extra they usually charge. :P
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Heh, well EB always seem to find an occasion every few months to price their games at RRP as opposed to the $20 extra they usually charge. :P
HA! So true...
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It's good to see you're resisting the urge to immediately work all-out on your big project; it'll mean for a better-quality product at the end.
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It's good to see you're resisting the urge to immediately work all-out on your big project; it'll mean for a better-quality product at the end.
Everybody convinced me it was a good thing to do. I agree now.
I have come up with an idea. The decent dummy campaign I make before the demo campaign should be funny and members should play it so they can rofl or even just lol a little. Yeah, I might run with that :D
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Another Update?
Long story short (as I am at work atm) as to why I have still done absolutely nothing to do with my campaign I am creating...
- helped mother move house (about 400m down the road or a quater mile - it still takes a while)
- had to take some of mums trees and put them in my garden cause they were free (not all are put in yet)
- had to remove old crappy trees first (that sucked)
- mothers 53rd (boy did that drag on)
- sisters 18th (had to organise some party hire and setting up and stuff)
- visit relatives 250kms away (that's 155 miles for ya'll)
- service car (it takes me a while)
- get involved in a car crash in which I capsized the trailer of the ute (pickup) I ran into (don't worry our insurance says it's his fault anyways :D) I win!
- fix FOUR computers (how frustrating)
- something else
- work an extra day for the week (lame)
- help a friend move (also lame)
- get beat up at a friends party by a bunch of gate-crashers (don't worry I nut-punched one of them about 5 times whilst in a headlock)
- play some other games I bought at EB Games (for half price mind you)
- help brother in-law route cables up through his bedroom wall at his parents house and re-network the house (oh the joy of cables and networks that wont play nice)
- just hang out and do some random stuff
Well, that kinda covers most of it.
I think now I am hopefully back to the normal 'don't do much' stuff. Apart from planting the rest of the free trees I got from my mums house and some game playing, I should manage to do a little bit of FREDing. Except when my fiance says to stop spending too much time on the computer. I actually do want to do some FREDing but I also really want to play some games so I gotta get these games outta the way first I think :doubt:
Happy financial new year!!!!!
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Ew, fight. :(
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- get beat up at a friends party by a bunch of gate-crashers (don't worry I nut-punched one of them about 5 times whilst in a headlock)
Good man. :yes:
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You know that sounds very similar to what happened to me last month. About a hundred bad things all at once, huh?
Good work popping that guy's balls though. :yes:
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Thanks for the support :)
The doctor suspected I may have had a cracked rib because it hurts when I do something involving an awkward movement. He said he wouldn't bother with an x-ray because if it was cracked, or just really really bruised, there would be nothing he could do anyways. I also got kneed in the thigh a few times which hurts. Kinda explains why I don't even really go out to pubs or clubs much. Last time I was in a fight, a proper fight, was in primary school I think. Too many jerks out and about with the intention of ruining peoples nights. Like with these people. One of them hit a guy I know and I go over there to help him and two other gate-crashers got my from behind so he could continue to fight him, and so these two fellas just lay into me. Hell ghey. They stopped when a friend took one of the guys off me plus me hitting one of them in the nuts a few times. Ruined the night it did.....
Anywho to get back on topic - this will be the best campaign EVAR!!! Moar Megaton j00 will all say! ha ha :lol:
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I don't even see the point in gatecrashing a party with the intention of picking a fight, hell (in an example more relevant to my age bracket), I don't see the point in a dozen sixteen year olds gatecrashing the parties of other sixteen year olds, carrying cleavers and kitchen knives. I mean, if you're going to gatecrash a party, free booze is the only excuse. :P
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EDIT: Old Thread...
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Good luck with your campaign