[CommanderDJ]

I haven't played FS in at least a year, with the exception of two missions of Diaspora before it crashed and it didn't hook me in enough for me to try again (probably because I've never seen BSG). The problem is that to me the gameplay is all the same, no matter the mod or alterations. I stopped playing the Antagonist after a few missions because I got bored - people kept telling me that the gameplay was nothing like FS, but I couldn't see it - it all felt the same to me just with different weapons, models and table values.

I doubt you got far enough in to judge that.

Spoiler:

If you've played a campaign before in which you flip in and out of subspace whenever you want in order to battle enemies that can 'submerge' and 'surface' I'd be very shocked.

That was actually the last mission I played. After that, I stopped.

However, I have been keeping up with what the SCP's been doing, and once my exams are over I hope to return to do some bugfixing at least. Once WiH 2 comes out, and the next JAD, I'll play them, since it's more the story and the setting of those that keeps me coming back.

I don't mean to belittle anything that's been done here! FreeSpace has been a part of my life in some capacity since 1999, and HLP since 2008. There've been some great times, and this community will always hold a place in my heart. There's the new MVPs that I'm greatly looking forward to, and several mods like I said above. The dedication that key members of the community put in is incredible. I only wish I could put in the same dedication.

[mobcdmoc3]

I've got my own project going, but I've still managed to fit in some time for playing other mods/campaigns. I really, really regret not finding this community sooner than I did. Only until a few years ago did I even realize that a FS2 existed (boo Interplay and their failsauce marketing). I ran through FS1, and then wondered if there was a FS2. Surely enough, there was - Along with this community standing strong.

I've managed to get through almost everything that's been put out there, minus a couple that I simply haven't been able to get enough time to sit down and get into. I appreciate everything that has been done -> It's managed to extend the viable playing time of this game beyond any single game by itself. There's just so many mods out there that bring something new to the table. As long as there isn't a shortage of support or mods, I'll be happily playing this to the very end.

[Scourge of Ages]

Just skimming this thread has giving me enough motivation to get back to it and finish the two campaigns I've started playing (Derelict and CoW2), and start some of the great stuff that I haven't gotten around to yet (like the latest JADs, in order, DE, Ridiculous, SHMUPSpace, and WCS, EDIT: Antagonist).

[SypheDMar]

I wish I had the time that you have.

[Mongoose]

Hey, sometimes you have to just make some time for yourself.

*says the guy who employed that philosophy to disastrous effect in college*

[CP5670]

Interesting thread. I actually just loaded up FS2 again last weekend, after not having played it in a couple of years. I need to catch up on several campaign and content releases.

There was once a long period when I spent a lot of time making missions as well as posting here, but hardly playing the game (except for testing things). After I finished PI, I got back into the actual game for the next year or two, especially the multiplayer side, before eventually burning out on that. I was still reasonably active on the forum until last year, having been involved with this community more or less continuously since 1999. It's been a good run, but you move on eventually. As always, there will continue to be a steady flow of newcomers making up for the people who leave over time. I do still play FS2 every now and then, but not necessarily more so than other games, and spend much less time with games in general than I once did. It's simply one of many "good games" in my gaming rotation that I cycle through over time.

[Capt_Thunder]

    I do play FreeSpace 2 a lot. As well as a lot of other First person shooters. They help me relax and de-stress after a hard days work. I do gender research, human sexuality and such. My calling is to heal both victims and perpetrators. I have to look at the darkest soul and find a way out for him or her. Those that need to help them, come to me to figure that out. I am the first person to have come up with a mathematical model to predict human sexuality. In any group of people, I can successfully pick out who will most likely commit a sex crime and what it will be. But I am digressing. I play FS2 because it helps me.
   One has to remember that when playing FPS games, it adjusts one's mentality to be more hardened. One focuses on ones will to survive; on the narrow local environment; on the company you have and surviving together; on just getting though the day.
   FS2 is different. It brings out the best in people. It brings out a care for people; Honor; determination to protect; will to sacrifice for others. The good qualities one would want to bring out of oneself. "Were in this together, I will help you if you help me, and we will see our way through this" type of thinking.
    Thank you all, Volition especially, for giving me the opportunity to de-stress like this keeping this type of mood.
    So my question is...what's next that you are making for us players to play.

[Capt_Thunder]

P.S. You may have marketing issues, considering the statement this is a moders forum not a players forum. Not many young people here know about FS2. Maybe you need a greater you-tube presence. Is it possible to make a gripping mini movie of your most popular work to get non moders attention?

[General Battuta]

P.S. You may have marketing issues, considering the statement this is a moders forum not a players forum. Not many young people here know about FS2. Maybe you need a greater you-tube presence. Is it possible to make a gripping mini movie of your most popular work to get non moders attention?

Never gonna beat this one

[jg18]

P.S. You may have marketing issues, considering the statement this is a moders forum not a players forum. Not many young people here know about FS2. Maybe you need a greater you-tube presence. Is it possible to make a gripping mini movie of your most popular work to get non moders attention?

Never gonna beat this one

I dunno about that.

I would argue that you really need more than story. A trailer needs a couple things. So it needs to explain what the piece is about or explain the plot some. equally important it needs to have an attention getter or something to hold the viewers interest; this could be some funny dialogue, an interesting idea, a cool scene, action sequence, or plot revel. It needs to give the viewer a reason to care which might be fulfilled by the attention getter and maybe something to unify the above themes.

Sorry for this, but gonna rag on the FreeSpace Movie trailer to illustrate the point. That trailer was an intriguing idea in how it was put together, but honestly wasn't as good as it could have been. It did nothing to enlighten the viewer to what the game/media was about. If I hadn't played the games, I wouldn't have a clue what it was about. I asked my sister for her summary of what it was about and her response was "Well. . .there are some ships. . ..and they're doing. . ..stuff". That pretty much all I got out of it as well. The trailer also lacked a full scale attention getter. The music served very very well as a unifying theme and partly as an attention getter, but after about 50 seconds in I'd lost interest because nothing was happening and the song couldn't keep me occupied that long. What would have alleviated both major issues in my opinion was some sequences of actually flying and shooting and explosions and fighting the shivans after the 35-40 second mark. Alternate between the action sequence and the solemn view of the iceni moving and Bosch's solemn viewing of whatever and portray that as a reflection on the war. Have the flying and shooting sequences mute so that the only sound is still twinkle twinkle little star, and try and illustrate a struggle against the shivans where humanity clearly isn't winning to fir the dark tone of the music.

Now to bring this back to the relevance of Spidey's Awesome Trailer and the elements in it. ok what does this trailer tell us? Its about space ships and a war.  humans are being attacked by evil looking ships and they are losing (i.e. all the stuff blowing up that isn't evil looking). the humans respond and put up a fight, but the outcome is uncertain though it looks slightly grimm with the deimos making a suicide run on the super big evil ship at the end. Now attention getter. that comes out right at the start as the tension is ratcheted up by the frantic sounding pilot as he freaks about about something. the shivans pop in, lots of cool explosions and dialogue that fits well with the scene. Basically Spidey's trailer hold the attention. now as a reason to care, there was an explenation at the start to "say freespace was a game in ...xxxxx""....dedicated modding community has worked on it since.. ...xxxxx".... and then you have the end with the "come see what you have been missing" bit encourage viewers to come visit the website.

tl;dr = spidey has an awesome trailer with all elements needed to make a good trailer

p.s. to the maker of the Freespace move trailer, sorry about picking apart your work and hating on it. I think It was actually really cool, and I know that I could not make a better trailer myself.

[General Battuta]

Uh, isn't the 'awesome trailer' he's talking about the one I just posted?

e: yeah, it is, so I'm not really following your point. 'I don't know about that, here's this big post about why that trailer you said was awesome is actually awesome?' 

[jg18]

Beskargam pointed out its various flaws in that quoted post, although he sugarcoats his criticism at the end. I intended it as a reply to the anchor text in

Never gonna beat this one

But never mind.

[General Battuta]

Beskargam pointed out its various flaws in that quoted post

Where? In the first paragraph he's talking about a different trailer entirely.

[General Battuta]

Not that I think it's flawless, but

[jg18]

Taking back my "never mind" to clarify things...

Battuta, I know you can read, but I'll summarize his post anyway, paragraph by paragraph.

[elements of an effective trailer]

[shortcomings of Spidey's trailer that greatly limit its effectiveness as a marketing tool, with suggestions for improvement]

[summary of the trailer, focusing on the good points]

[tl;dr that, well, kinda sugarcoats his criticism and contradicts his first two paragraphs]

[apology to Spidey for criticizing his trailer]

Consider mjn's reply to Beskargam in that thread:

p.s. to the maker of the Freespace move trailer, sorry about picking apart your work and hating on it. I think It was actually really cool, and I know that I could not make a better trailer myself.

There's no reason to contradict yourself just to be nice... You may not have the technical skills to make a trailer, but you clearly have an idea of the elements a trailer requires in order to be a successful piece of advertising.

Don't get me wrong, I love the trailer; I just watched it again before writing this post. But as a marketing tool, its effectiveness is limited, for the reasons Beskargam describes.

[General Battuta]

No, dude, you're the one misreading it. I've been trying to tell you that your summary is completely off. You've totally misunderstood what Beskargam is talking about because you missed the fact that he's discussing two totally different trailers in his two paragraphs.

This is what you should be seeing, paragraph by paragraph:

[elements of an effective trailer]

[shortcomings of THE FREESPACE MOVIE TRAILER, which involves Bosch monologues, an Iceni, and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. This is NOT THE TRAILER I LINKED; the one I linked does not involve Bosch, an Iceni, or Twinkle Twinkle Little Star]

[summary of the AWESOME SPIDEY TRAILER, the one THAT I LINKED, explaining why it is more effective and different

[tl;dr that doesn't contradict itself because he has been talking about two different things]

[apology to the maker of Trailer #1, the one that I did not link, for the unflattering comparison to trailer #2, that I did link

So c'mon, there's no need to

Battuta, I know you can read, but I'll summarize his post anyway, paragraph by paragraph

sink to this level.

[General Battuta]

Let me make this absolutely clear:

This is the trailer Beskargam was criticizing in Paragraph #1

This is the Spidey trailer that I posted and that he was praising in Paragraph #2

They're two different trailers, by two different people, and he thinks #1 isn't effective, and #2 is.

[X3N0-Life-Form]

You know it's going to be a bad day when batts double posts twice :s
/off-topic

[Dilmah G]

That said, that trailer's made me want to play some FS again. Awwww yeaaah.

[redsniper]

Pfffffhahahaha. Oh good lord, this is going to be good...