Hard Light Productions Forums
General FreeSpace => FreeSpace Discussion => Topic started by: librarycharlie on March 26, 2012, 09:40:49 pm
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I'm a new poster, but spent the last several weeks tweaking out Freespace to allow for inputs from 4-5 players. I'm starting a pen & paper Battlestar Galactica roleplaying game, and I'm going to use Freespace to simulate certain combat events, and thought I'd share the layout and why I'm doing this.
Me:
I've been GMing forever and thought I'd incorporate one of my favorite video games into an RPG. As an additional fun note, I always thought there were WAY too many buttons to hit in Freespace and that it would help to have a co-pilot. So now there are 4 players to one ship. I don't know how to program anything, and I'm using FSPort "out of the box" with the new MediaVPs. Here's how I'm doing it.
The background:
Players are survivors aboard the Battlestar Gemini, led by Commander Eva. The Gemini features an AI developed during the 40 years after the First Cylon War, which defends them against the initial hacking, etc. of the Cylons. This advanced AI is supremely loyal and would never betray its (her) masters. Right? Anyway, several other ships fled with them, for a total of about 50,000 survivors who believe that they are the solitary remnants of the human race...
Sound familiar?
The twist:
Anyway, so the Eva Fleet heads in the opposite direction of the Adama fleet, and the premise is this: Just as you might stand at the edge of the Sahara and move westward (as Adama does) and never find another living being, by the same token you could head eastward (as Eva will) and encounter abundant life. So our BSG will encounter strange other peoples and cultures, arriving only shortly before the Cylon hordes arrive to butcher the biologicals, possibly rescuing some from these planets as they go by, and hoping to find an advanced culture that can help them defeat their foes.
Getting Freespace Involved:
The HUD control makes this possible, and we're beginning with FSPort. I reduced the visibility of the communicating heads to 0, making the system seem more like the BSG wireless. The first Cylon skinjob that the Gemini encounters is named Vasuda, leading them to call the entire race of advanced Cylons the "Vasudans." This war rages on the run back and forth until a new race appears, called the Shivans. By incorporating the story of Freespace into the campaign background, the use of the computer game feels somewhat more seemless (although not perfect).
The Ship:
The ship to which the PCs are assigned is actually a fighter/bomber hybrid that features the handling of a Viper and the Crew capacity of a Raptor. It also has a prototype for a device that works as a shield. We call it a "hammerhead."
The Players and Controllers:
The Pilot: Uses a Cyborg X Joystick. 10 buttons, primary pilot. In charge of aiming/targeting (hostiles only), shooting, and the afterburners.
The Engineer: Uses a Saitek gamepad (looks like a PS2 controller). Controls shield angling (right analog), power distribution to weapons, general acceleration (not afterburners), several other minor controls.
The Powder Monkey: Uses a Logitech G13 gamepad. Controls which weapons are active, decides on loadout before missions, also fires countermeasures.
The Comm: Uses the laptop. Controls communications, jumping, targeting non-hostiles, and all other features not controlled above.
How it works:
I'm using an HDMI cable to connect the laptop to the big screen tv. Only The Comm uses the laptop screen, and for dramatic purposes will be turned around and facing the other players, who are all staring at the tv.
I use the program Xpadder to remap the keys from all three USB inputs. The Cyborg (for example) uses all LShift+Numpad keys, so when bound in Freespace, it appears as Shift+NumPad1 instead of "Button 1." This prevents overlap from the multiple gamepads and allows more than one gamepad to function in Freespace, though it only allows one joystick (be sure not to map the joystick in Xpadder).
I will have playtesting for the Freespace part starting this Thursday, so by the time the game gets running in earnest, we should be all ready to play.
Yes, I understand that some jobs are bigger than others, but I love the idea that everybody is a player in the same game.
Things I'll do to my players in this game:
The pilot will have to do shots while we roleplay, then fly drunk.
The Comm will have communications jammed and be unable to reach anyone.
The Powder Monkey will be blackmailed into choosing a bad layout.
The Engineer will have a panic attack and take all power to the shields.
One player will secretly sabotage the others in some way and all will accuse each other.
Skill rolls by a player who is not on the Hammerhead prior to the adventure will dictate whether the mission is done on Easy, Medium, or Hard difficulty.
If you've got advice for how to incorporate more classic BSG ideas and conflicts, how to incorporate things from later parts of Freespace (and later FS2 and/or Blue Planet), or any ideas of a technical nature, I'd be glad to hear it.
Thanks for all your work, community of Freespace. Hopefully before the end of the campaign, we'll be able to bring in some Diaspora.
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Playtesting was done last Thursday.
Everyone should be playing Freespace with at least 2 people. Having a pilot and an engineer alone is invaluable. Controlling shields and weapon power, plus directing wingmen is a full time job.
The players had a great time and gravitated toward jobs in line with their video game experiences, so it was a great test.
Can anyone recommend some multiplayer mods/scenarios so I can add a second fighter to the mix?
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Blue Planet has a pretty well-developed multiplayer package including capship command.
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Playtesting was done last Thursday.
Everyone should be playing Freespace with at least 2 people. Having a pilot and an engineer alone is invaluable. Controlling shields and weapon power, plus directing wingmen is a full time job.
The players had a great time and gravitated toward jobs in line with their video game experiences, so it was a great test.
That brings back memories of playing through FS1 for the first time. My younger brother wouldn't work any controls, but he would watch me play and call out random info about my hull integrity, missile amounts, enemy ships, and the like.
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The way you doing it reminded me of this: http://www.artemis.eochu.com/ :)
Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=68WikEewVXA#!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72XhdVqDT1g&feature=player_embedded#!
Now I want a Freespace version of it lol.
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Playtesting was done last Thursday.
Everyone should be playing Freespace with at least 2 people. Having a pilot and an engineer alone is invaluable. Controlling shields and weapon power, plus directing wingmen is a full time job.
The players had a great time and gravitated toward jobs in line with their video game experiences, so it was a great test.
That brings back memories of playing through FS1 for the first time. My younger brother wouldn't work any controls, but he would watch me play and call out random info about my hull integrity, missile amounts, enemy ships, and the like.
I used to play DragonStrike (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpIvn4tMqKQ) with my brother sitting side by side at the keyboard.
"MORE POWER TO THE ENGINE WINGS" was the most common call.
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Oh wow...I had no idea someone had ever come up with a dragon flight sim. :)
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Oh wow...I had no idea someone had ever come up with a dragon flight sim. :)
Curse you for reminding me of that great game and making me ache for Dragon Strike II ... again :p :)
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Followup:
We got the whole thing working, but it's a tactical mess, and we've got six players and only 4 reasonable controls.
I figured out the solution here:
http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=81118.0 (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=81118.0)
Enjoy!