|
Pages: [1]
|
 |
|
Author
|
Topic: UQM Post-1.0 "Feature": Alien FMV? (Read 2008 times)
|
Tamakun
Zebranky food
 Offline
Posts: 1
I love YaBB 1G - SP1!
|
Hi, first-time poster here. I've been following your progress and I've enjoyed it immensely so far. ^_^
Anyhow, I was thinking - after the direct port of UQM is completed, there will be a number of features/plotlines/etc added on, correct?
I was thinking that, given the number of artists, programmers, and ...well, the sheer number of people in the community, that we could develop full-motion video (CG) to replace the video of the aliens during conversations.
Sadly, I have no experience with working in any 3D modelling programs, but if there are plans to "upgrade" in the future (such as is being done with the music), the visuals during interaction could be upgraded, too.
Suggestions?
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
Nic.
Guest
|
I have the distinct feeling (and I could be wrong, I'm wrong alot) that all the "post-1.0 talk" is just that, talk. My reasons for thinking this involve fatigue, quality concerns and logistics.
- Fatigue. Coders have come and coders have gone, but these coredev guys have stuck with it for over a year now, and when they finally do put their stamp of approval on 1.0, I'm guessing that the next thing they're going to want to do is "rest", i.e., stop thinking about this game for a good while. This would mean that the task of creating all these new "non-canon" features would be left to those of us currently in "the peanut gallery," which almost certainly means a slower development cycle (since we're not as familiar with the code and not as competent as coredev) presuming that we'd have the time/energy/talent to pull it off in the first place. By the time we're done, it may be that nobody cares anymore.
- Quality. It is a near-universally accepted fact that "fan fiction" sucks. It is also a near-universally accepted fact that anything that is planned by a committee sucks. Therefore it follows that community-planned fan fiction will suck so bad it will cause objects around it to red shift. If you need proof of this phenomenon, go read the Timewarp forums for some of the worst plot ideas to ever see the light of day. Enjoying fiction is a wholly seperate act from creating fiction, and engaging in the former does not guarantee success in the latter. As such, the public response to "additional plotlines" is likely to be "less-than-stellar" (e.g., Star Control 3) which would deter people from starting them in the first place.
- Logistics. It has been said that after 1.0, the "official tree" is being closed (maybe permanently, maybe not) which means that the primary means of distributing the game thus far will be shut down. At this time, there is no visible means of distributing "third-party" add-ons other than posting the link in this forum, which most certainly does not scale. This means that if one does make an add-on, it might go wholly unnoticed by the community.
Note that my reasons are primarily pessimistic, and in most cases are only presenting obstacles that people may be able to trivially overcome. But the obstacles are there, and unless they are overcome, I don't see the project going very far after the "straight port" is done.
Just my $0.02 USD.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
Michael Martin
Core Team
*Smell* controller
Offline
Posts: 387
|
A little overly pessimistic, but also generally accurate...
By the time we're done, it may be that nobody cares anymore.
I'm sure there'd be a home for the end result on various fansites.
As such, the public response to "additional plotlines" is likely to be "less-than-stellar" (e.g., Star Control 3) which would deter people from starting them in the first place.
The pre-requisite for any major sort of enhancement is the ability to add executable code to add-ons. In this case, it can be solved merely by not putting in the add-on. It's no skin off of UQM's nose, since besides the remix pack, there aren't likely to be any really "official" add-ons.
It has been said that after 1.0, the "official tree" is being closed (maybe permanently, maybe not) which means that the primary means of distributing the game thus far will be shut down. At this time, there is no visible means of distributing "third-party" add-ons other than posting the link in this forum, which most certainly does not scale. This means that if one does make an add-on, it might go wholly unnoticed by the community.
Somehow, I'd think PNF might notice. 
There are two somewhat conflicting goals here.
First, make a straight port available, more or less perpetually.
Second, make the game expandable.
As of right now, the only form of expandability *guaranteed* to be in 1.0 is alternate music tracks and same-sized graphics switches. (This is guaranteed mainly because it's in 0.3.) The expansions of this capability that we have planned boil down to finer grained control of alternate content, and possibly additional flexibility in the format.
If you really want to deal with adding game logic, understand that the chances of your new logic going into 1.0 are effectively zero, unless it's related to the UQM/operating system interface somehow. Straight port is the goal, and we aren't going to deviate from that in any significant way -- suggestions that involve significantly changing the experience of the player's character are almost guaranteed to be rejected.
But.
We are much more likely to listen to people who would like to see aspects of the program be overridable. If you have an enhancement in mind, go through the code and see what would be necessary to do it. If you say something like
"It would be great if you could call user-defined functions every time the lander fires (in lander.c line xxxyy) -- I'd need that to implement my addon pack that involves the lander getting missile launchers to go with the stunners"
we're more likely to give you our attention than if you say
"It would be cool if the lander a missile launcher along with the stunner."
The core team is not currently working on an executable plugin architecture. If you want to do expansion packs, working out how to make such a thing work (and remember, it has to, at minimum, work on Windows, Linux, and OS X) is absolutely your first step.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Pages: [1]
|
|
|
|
|
