[DamoclesX]

Hey guys,

I got some questions to bounce off you guys.


What would you look for in a new space sim type game based around the freespace idea, as in a game with campaigns consisting of a story and strung together missions.

I might have the chance later this year to be pretty much the nexus for a new space sim game and IVe decided that i'm going to hit the fans and see what really makes these games in your eyes.

Some of the key features I already know would be in are.

Control of capital ships and fighters.
Scripted camps
all sides playable
multiplayer functions
extreamly moddable
dx9 enhanced engine with bells like normal mapping and what not.

For those of you who know me this is -not- starshatter 2 this would be built of a heavely moddifyed version of starshatter 4.5

The key features that I see of right now would be a solid story and solid missions, by that I mean it woudlnt be a fly here and blow everything up type game, but it wouldnt be uber complicated either.

I know this all sounds vauge but I thought it would be a good starting point.

Please have at it lol

[Rictor]

If you want my honest opinion, modability isn't, or shouldn't really be a priority, except for very popular AAA games. The simple reason is that there are not enough modders to go around, and even very popular games like UT2003, Homeworld 2 and Call of Duty only have a few good mods with a dedicated team. Lesser known games, if you will forgive the term (which includes 95% of all games), don't usually get enough talented and dedicated people to make it worthwhile.

You could say that games like Starshatter and FS2 are the exception, but I would say that because a) they have been around for many years, and so have built up a strong community over time and b) are a niche genre.

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Ok, as for actually helpfull suggestions...well, I would say you pretty much have it covered. For me, it's not so much a matter of how much features you have, but how well they are implemented. Some sort of mission selection, even among 2 or 3 choices at a time sounds like a good idea (if you have ever played Freedom Fighters you know what I mean).

[DamoclesX]

True.

However since this game will be built upon that base its pretty much there already, all that it really needs is some decent documentation to explain everything.

you are right if we were say going to be busting our asses to add moddability into the framework, but it its already there then I think its worth it to just take the time and document it properly

Thats an interesting idea bout mission selection actually.

We originally were looking at a semidynamic camp

where you would have key missions that would come about when certain things where met, with generated missions inbetween and them being based on the outcomes of the key misions and what not

but it REALLY became a giant clusterfck once you got thinking about it and it just seemed it would come off..... impersonal.. or lacking, or more like WORK you know working through the generated ones to get to the "meat"

[Krackers87]

Ease of play, ability to be able to figure out how to fly your ship, kcik some ass, and not die without pouring over a 200 page manual. And non-newtonian physics, at least to the point of flying.

[Deepblue]

Gah, newtonian physics are good if done right!

[Ashrak]

X2 with lots and lots and lots and lots of campaigns

[Bobboau]

good customiseable controles, good graphics, fun (as opposed to realistic) physics. gameplay that involves lots of explosions, I like the 'fly through and blow stuff up' feeling, were you can turn arround and see the hole you made in the enemy lines. a good atmosphere, of desperation and (at least for the most part) hopelessness, so a few missions were you get swept asside by your enemy effortlessly.

_*->no open ended mmorpg crap<-*_
no economic system, no go anywere do anything style,
some options is good yes, but too many and it becomes an RPG, have two or three branches early on and two or three branches at three our four other places in the game.

[Ransom]

Originally posted by Bobboau
good customiseable controles, good graphics, fun (as opposed to realistic) physics. gameplay that involves lots of explosions, I like the 'fly through and blow stuff up' feeling, were you can turn arround and see the hole you made in the enemy lines. a good atmosphere, of desperation and (at least for the most part) hopelessness, so a few missions were you get swept asside by your enemy effortlessly.

_*->no open ended mmorpg crap<-*_
no economic system, no go anywere do anything style,
some options is good yes, but too many and it becomes an RPG, have two or three branches early on and two or three branches at three our four other places in the game.

Yeah that pretty much sums up my opinion.

Gah, newtonian physics are good if done right!

Any examples? (This is an honest question, I do think it's possible to make it fun, it's just that all the sims with newtonian physics I've played have been nothing but frustrating.)

[DamoclesX]

Some very good points here.

It will have full net physics setup, but they can be turned off and played like how freespace 2 playes also.

I cant really say a word about story or balance or anything,  but its not going to be a tryed and true thing with some sort of X alien or X computer thing, its going to be human on human, our own making basically.

Your going to be a cog in the gear, not an invincible god like player, sort of like starshatter, for those of you who have played it, going off on your own and trying to take down a capital ship without support is suicide.

I totaly agree with the boom factor, its a must, lots of pretty stuff going on lol.

I'm big into the whole HDR glow surface damage deformable geometry so thats up there in the "must add" category.

[Ashrak]

customization of ships would rock ... to literally bust through enemies with superrior firepower

[Lynx]

Engulfing storyline with believable, interesting characters. A defined style both in gameplay and graphical appearence. Technical looking ships(in most new games and shows ships look more like something growing on a tree or living in the deep sea than spaceships - Some FS2 vasudan ships for example). Fast combat(from all space games I played FS was the slowest, is some cases painfully slow). No obvious plotholes.
The ability to do something beside inmission combat, like walking around on the ship, playing some mini-games in the rec room, talking to people and so on. An interface system and appearence that gives you the feeling that you are actually accesing a computer on a military ship.

[DamoclesX]

Excellent.

I had not thought of some of these, I love community input:)

[phreak]

http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,32034.0.html

[DamoclesX]

awsome thanks

[Ace]

Yeah, there's an earlier thread by Inquisitor.

Check out the design document posted. If you like some of the ideas there, contact me.

[achtung]

Maybe being able to walk around on your base ship or something would be nice or maybe play a multi-role part such as being abel to board ships as a marine as well as be a pilot.  Basically FS2+FPS.