I just had an idea/was wondering:
What if / when will the cinematic code / MVP graphics be good enough to replace the FS1/2 cutscenes with scripted cinematics?
ie, you'd have a special mission file that would play, and instead of viewing a recorded video, the scene would actually be played out with scripted AI/events.
Of course, I have no clue as to how hard this would be to pull of, so let me know if I'm being ridiculous. But the advantages would be that you could save disk space (or avoid having to put a CD/DVD of the videos in), and that any campaign creator would be able to do their own cutscenes.
What gave me the idea was that I was thinking to myself that some of the in-game graphics actually seem better than the cutscenes... so I figured, why not replace the cutscenes with scripted events?
I guess you'd have to code into FRED a special mission type, and have all the cinematic controls etc., or have a cutscene-generating program to use instead of FRED. I'm not sure if it'd be feasible to make it so that the scripted events can take over after / halfway between a mission. (ie, after certain events happen or not, the remaining ships are taken over by the scripting and the mission ends, or something else happens... not sure if I'm being clear there.)
Of course I'm sure that'd be much harder to code for than to implement, but I know that FSOpen has some limited cutscene generating ability already... I guess I'm just asking if it'd be able to re-create the FS1/2 cutscenes, and also if it could take over a mission (which may already be implemented, I forget... been a while since I fooled with it.)
