[Dekzar]

Hey everybody.

As some of you may be aware, I am currently in the process of creating a MASSIVE continuation of the FreeSpace 2 story. With a twist.

However, as is rather evident in several campaigns, good help is hard to find. Thus, to try and gather some interest, I made this quick little teaser video for you all to enjoy (11 mb), and then below that listed the help I need should anyone be interested.

Apologies if you're downloading it slow. My host hasn't gotten his pretty new incredibly fast connection yet.

http://ghost_bear.ssnt.org/FSCG-Teaser.zip

Now, I know I didn't really give away any of the plot or anything. But hey, it's a teaser, not a trailer/review.
So, if anyone is interested in helping, and is experienced in any of the areas listed below, please email or PM me.

My email is: [email protected]

Modeller - Needed to model ships, Terran & Vasudan characters.
Requirements: Must have the skills required to create FS2-quality ships, and/or characters. Since characters are so much harder to make, the level of quality equal to Volition's characters is not required. Must be able to export objects into one of these formats: OBJ/LWO/3DS/COB.
Please send me an email or PM with links/attachments of sample images.

Animator - Needed to animate cinematic cutscenes, involving ships, nebula, as well as Terran & Vasudan characters.
Requirements: Must be able to animate and render ships in FS2 quality. Ability to animate characters must be at least minimal - enough to move arms/legs, make basic walking/hand gestures, and basic lip-sync. Must be able to upload/email large files.
Please send a PM or email with links/attachments to sample animation featuring either characters or vessels.

FREDer - Simply that. I need people to help develop the missions.
Requirements: Must be able to create missions based on scripts, including any and all SEXPs, triggers, etc.
Please send a PM/email with link/attachment of a sample mission for me to look over.

Voice Actors - Individual characters are still being worked out, but I'm starting to recruit voice actors for the characters who are ready enough to be selected.
Requirements: Must have a mic/recording software, and be able to record near-static free. Must be able to email/upload medium/small files.
Please send a PM/email with a link/attachment of a sample voice acting file.

I know, it's probably a lot to ask from a relatively small community, but ANY and all help is appreciated. And if you know anyone, or other communities, who may be able to help, please let me know.

Thanks.

-Dekzar

[karajorma]

First off the trailer does look pretty cool so full marks on that one.

That said it's time for my standard answer to this kind of request. (Hmmm. I'm definately going to have to put this in the FAQ regardless of whatever else I do with it)

First off. I really don't want to discourage you as it's evident you've put a fair bit of time into your project from the fact that you're making teasers etc. I certainly don't want to stop you from working on it if you're committed to it. The thing is that making a campaign is a huge undertaking. Many people don't realise how big a task it is when they start and that is a problem.

I'm just going to note down a few things you should think about.

1. Do you realise how big a task a campaign is? Most of the big campaigns have been going for 2-3 years. It's easy to dream up a campaign with tens or hundreds of new ships but it's much harder to actually succeed in completing it.  
 Recently Reci one of the big campaigns died. Before it we lost OTT and countless other promising campaigns have completely vanished without a trace. The result is that people are reluctant to sign up to work on a campaign unless they know that it will be finished and they won't end up wasting their time.

2. Who are you? I'm not stupid enough to judge someone solely on their post count but the fact is that a high post count proves you've been with the community a while (or that you're a spammer - either way it lets us know who you are). You've only got 18 posts. That means that unless you've been introduced to HLP by another member no one on the board knows what you're like.
 Basically that is a problem. Cause it means we've got no way to know if you're the sort of person who will see this campaign through to the end or if you'll give up halfway through. Lots of new people come to the forums with big ideas but end up giving up before a year has passed. Can you point to any mods you've done previously? Can you show us you have staying power?

3. What can you do? Lots of people can come up with ideas for a campaign but if you can do something other than plan storylines you'll get a lot more help. Can you FRED? Model? Texture? If you can you have much more hope of attracting staff cause that way people know that you'll be workig hard on the campaign instead of just leaving it to them.

4. What is your campaign about? The trailer looks great but it doesn't tell me much about the campaign. And that's a problem. For all we know this could be a noobish campaign with multiple new Colossi and very little in the way of plot. Or it could actually be a great story with very little in the uberisation that newbies tend to do to campaigns. The problem is we don't know. I'm not saying that you should give away the entire plotline. It's perfectly okay to play your cards close to your chest but it means that you won't be able to attract people. The only way a secretive project can get off the ground is if the leader is someone with a reputation for producing. You don't have that (yet). Hopefully one day you will but until then we're going to need a little more.


I've said it before but the best way to solve those three problems is to join a campaign that is already running. That way you'll gain experience in what it's like to make a campaign. The other team members will know who you are which means that if you're productive and fun to work with they'll be more likely to help you with your own campaign.

It's possible that you'll get lucky and recruit people even without that and I certainly wish you luck with your campaign.

[Singh]

downloading the trailor...boy is it sloooow...

[aldo_14]

Anything described as a 'massive continuation' worries me.  Reci lasted (struggled onwards) for something like 2 or 3 years, and we never even got close to having the volume & quality of work required.  (granted, it was partly because I kept scrapping stuff to redo it in better quality).

There's just not the manpower justnow.  We have probably only something like 4-6 active modellers justnow, all of whom are involved in some form of project.

EDIT: I know this seems like we're jumping on your back...but the truth is we've seen a lot of bit, expansive projects go down the tube - and it's almost always because of a lack of people to work on them.  

So consider it fair warning - you are very unlikely to get enough people to help you in this.  It's a bit ****, but it's what happens in a relatively small community.

[Black Wolf]

Originally posted by aldo_14
There's just not the manpower justnow.  We have probably only something like 4-6 active modellers justnow, all of whom are involved in some form of project.

While I definitely agree with the sentiment, I'd argue that particular point. TI alone has 3 active moddelers on its staff, not counting my sporadic efforts. The SWC has 3, again, not counting me. TBP would have at least 3 or 4, TVWP has at least 2 or 3, AotD has 2 (though it shares one with TVWP), then there are the unattatched modellers like Ryx and UT, and the new ones like Swamp Thing, and the dozens I've forgotten.

[Dekzar]

Hey guys,
Yeah, I figured I'd get a few responses like this, it's pretty common in other communities I've been involved in.

Thus, let me answer your questions (Questions may not be the right word for them, but eh.):

1) Yes. Yes, I do. I've done campaigns (Scripts and some missions) for other games, but never as leader, and unfortunately all those died out and have been lost to time. So I'm well aware of the problems that plague big campaigns.
I've actually encountered them before in campaigns I've worked for in other games, or watched the development of. I believe I can get around them because I'm a stubborn hardcase who'll keep going until he sees this through to completion.
I hate (And I mean HATE) not finishing something that I enjoy. And I love making mods/campaigns, but I've lost one or two that I started. Not through lack of people, as I've never had more than one or two people help me, but through technical limitations. I just sludged on until I hit a barrier in the game. Bad. Very bad. Killed the whole thing.
But I'm being more careful this time. I've played FreeSpace/FreeSpace 2 the whole way through almost a half dozen times, so I think I'm pretty familiar with it. I'm making sure, in the design process, that I don't include *anything* that could be impossible in FreeSpace 2.
So, basically, yeah, I know what I'm getting in to. But, I can also finish it. It'll go faster if I've got help, but I'll keep working on it 'till it's done or I die.

2) I'm me. Yeah, I figure a low post count could show badly on somebody recruiting for a 'massive continuation'.
Well, I've been unregistered lurking these forums for a couple months, but aside from commenting on the ships, I never really had anything to contribute. Once I got this idea, I decided to register to see if I could get help, or have somewhere to turn if I got confused.
So no, there's no one here who could give you an idea of who I am/what I'm like.
As for pointing to mods I've done? Nope. Sorry. But I have yet to be involved in one that's been completed. I started one for StarShatter called Black Genesis about a year ago, and I've been working on it all since then, but SS has a few limitations that bug me. I've thought of porting the mod to FS2 or some other game, but I decided against it. So I'm still working on that a little, but until I find a way around a few limitations, it's sort of "on-hold", but I do still add new ships occaisionally, just so I can get enough of them in to release what I have, and maybe sometime in the future I'll be able to find a way to do what I want. http://www.blackgenesis.tk if anyone's interested, BTW.

3) Ah, yes. Knew this one was going to come up.

Well, I've been complemented on my writing skills quite a few tims, so I can detail the story line and missions easily and quickly, for starters.

I can also FRED, although my SEXP stuff is a little rough, but getting better.

I can model, but the reason I asked for help there is I don't know how to texture, and for years of trying haven't been able to figure it out to an acceptable level. But if I can't find anyone who can texture, I'll just keep trying until I get something passable. It's not really that I don't know how to do it, I understand the concept, it's just that I have to switch tools for every single mod I've been involved with (URGH!) and haven't ever used one long enough to really get to know it.

I can animate, too, so I can handle the cutscenes myself if I have to. I asked for help because, while setting up the animations isn't bad, rendering them takes about 5 hours for 30 seconds-1 minute of stuff, depending on detail levels and anit-aliasing quality. Sloooow.

4) Well, I do want to keep a lot secret, as it has a couple of plot twists and such, but I'll say a little. The basic set up at the beginning is:

It's been eight years, as the trailer said, and the Shivans haven't come anywhere near GTVA space that we know of.
More rebel factions, taking after Hammer of Light and NTF ideas, have caused continual trouble, though minor, since then.

The GTVA is searching every single system incredibly thoroughly, looking for anything that may have slipped past, like the Knossos in Gamma Draconis.

Construction of GTVA Knossos-imitation is nearly 3/4 finished, hopefully it will be able to reconnect Delta Serpentis and Sol.

Terran-Vasudan relations continue to be fragile, as groups like the Shadow Avengers and the Justice Flame, pirates and rebels for either Terran or Vasudan species, fight to break the GTVA apart.

It's a simple setup, which I prefer, because it gets complicated, fast. And I'll toss a few plot hints out there too, just for the fun of it.

As the teaser said, there is another threat, waiting. But it's one no one suspects, and it may not be so new after all...

New systems will be discovered, but not because the GTVA gets the urge to go exploring...

Complete genocide should not be ruled out for our more...sadistic...pilots...

And finally:

There's something funny-looking around the Capella jump node...

Also, just to allay your fears: No Colossus. Eight years may have been enough to build it, but really, would YOU spend all your effort making one ship you knew could be destroyed, and only taking one or two enemy juggernauts with it?



So, there's my answer. As I said, I can do all of this myself. It'd just take a lot longer than if I had help, so I'm looking for anyone with skill to assisst me.
I'll be releasing updates often, with little tid bits of story, or screenshots, or something, and hopefully gather up a bit of interest in the mod.

Can't wait for you guys to see it. It'll be incredible.

-Dekzar out

[karajorma]

Originally posted by Dekzar
Hey guys,
Yeah, I figured I'd get a few responses like this, it's pretty common in other communities I've been involved in.

Thus, let me answer your questions (Questions may not be the right word for them, but eh.)

It wasn't so much questions as things I felt needed to be put across by you to help you recruit. On the basis of what you've said the campaign sounds pretty promising.

[Black Wolf]

Downloaded the trailor - rather neat that one

[Gloriano]

Nice trailer

[Xelion]

Very creative , the idea of re-using existing footage is great! The trailer is very well put together