The Ur-Quan Masters Home Page Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?
December 09, 2024, 11:59:10 pm
Home Help Search Login Register
News: Celebrating 30 years of Star Control 2 - The Ur-Quan Masters

+  The Ur-Quan Masters Discussion Forum
|-+  The Ur-Quan Masters Re-Release
| |-+  General UQM Discussion (Moderator: Death 999)
| | |-+  Fan made Star Control sequel – how should it be made?
« previous next »
Pages: [1] 2 Print
Poll
Question: Should the fan-made sequel should be a brand new game or mod of UQM?
brand new game
mod
Other/hybrid

Author Topic: Fan made Star Control sequel – how should it be made?  (Read 5384 times)
Cedric6014
Enlightened
*****
Offline Offline

Gender: Male
Posts: 701



View Profile
Fan made Star Control sequel – how should it be made?
« on: January 14, 2009, 11:18:59 pm »

I’d like to know what kind of game should be made. A brand new one or a mod of the original? Please vote and post your thoughts/opinions

New Game
Pros: Bringing graphics to the 21st Century. A fresh approach all round.
Cons: a lot more work (potentially), losing the feel of the original game

Mod
Pros: Bringing back the nostalgia. Everything we liked about SC2, just with new problems to solve and aliens to meet
Cons: old-school graphics, same old same old game play

Other
Not sure about this. Is it possible to have a mod with updated graphics?

Also, HOW can it be made? How feasible is it to make a brand new game from scratch? What will be the major technical challenges?







« Last Edit: January 15, 2009, 10:14:24 am by Cedric6014 » Logged

Play online melee here! http://irc.uqm.stack.nl/
Elvish Pillager
Enlightened
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 625



View Profile
Re: Fan made Star Control sequel – mod or new game?
« Reply #1 on: January 14, 2009, 11:24:12 pm »

Other. The same graphics, but rewrite the engine.

Reason: New graphics is a lot of extra work and probably loses some of the flavor of the original. On the other hand, it would probably be easier to rewrite most of the code than to alter the current code to do everything we want in a universe-sized project.
Logged

My team of four Androsynth and three Chmmr is the most unfair team ever!
My mod
Cedric6014
Enlightened
*****
Offline Offline

Gender: Male
Posts: 701



View Profile
Re: Fan made Star Control sequel – mod or new game?
« Reply #2 on: January 14, 2009, 11:26:00 pm »

I voted mod because:

a)   what I most desire is to rediscover the magic of SC2 in a new story.
b)   I understand that a mod approach will take a lot less time, although I’m happy to be advised otherwise. I think time is important. We don’t want this project to die because its taking 10 years.

Over all I suspect is the way to get the most with the least effort
Logged

Play online melee here! http://irc.uqm.stack.nl/
jaychant
*Smell* controller
****
Offline Offline

Gender: Male
Posts: 432


Please visit my homepage


View Profile WWW
Re: Fan made Star Control sequel – mod or new game?
« Reply #3 on: January 14, 2009, 11:30:19 pm »

I say mod.
Logged

Please visit my homepage.
Shiver
Guest


Email
Re: Fan made Star Control sequel – mod or new game?
« Reply #4 on: January 14, 2009, 11:51:39 pm »

I'd like a brand new engine to be quite honest. It's 2009. We need better visual and audio quality. And more than 16 stupid firing angles.
Logged
Tim
Zebranky food
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 10


Bleh.


View Profile
Re: Fan made Star Control sequel – mod or new game?
« Reply #5 on: January 15, 2009, 12:54:53 am »

I think I'd prefer a new engine for a new Star Control project. Updated graphics, updated interface, etc. I can see why someone would want to work with it just as a mod, since the coding is likely familiar to a lot of people, but it's been done before.

Though, if a mod sequel turns out like any of the fanmade Fallout sequels, I would be okay with that too. I'm willing to bet the Star Control community could actually finish it's sequels though. It's likely not as sloppy as the Fallout coding and engine actually is. Isometric RPGs, whoo.
« Last Edit: January 15, 2009, 12:56:54 am by Tim » Logged

I don't need a signature.
Cedric6014
Enlightened
*****
Offline Offline

Gender: Male
Posts: 701



View Profile
Re: Fan made Star Control sequel – mod or new game?
« Reply #6 on: January 15, 2009, 01:06:23 am »

I think if I could change my vote I would - to "other/hybrid". My vote for mod was based on the assumption that it would be a lot less time consuming.

It makes sense to make a game for the 21st century where practicable. Really its all down to what's feasible, sensible and achievable. If people hvae the desire and enthusiasm to make something with new code and new graphics in a reasonable timeframe then why not

Logged

Play online melee here! http://irc.uqm.stack.nl/
Cedric6014
Enlightened
*****
Offline Offline

Gender: Male
Posts: 701



View Profile
Re: Fan made Star Control sequel – how should it be made?
« Reply #7 on: January 15, 2009, 10:26:24 am »

I've revised the scope of this thread to be more open about addressing the technical challenges of a new game.
Logged

Play online melee here! http://irc.uqm.stack.nl/
Lachie Dazdarian
Zebranky food
*
Offline Offline

Gender: Male
Posts: 35



View Profile WWW
Re: Fan made Star Control sequel – how should it be made?
« Reply #8 on: January 16, 2009, 12:19:50 am »

I would say a brand new game for multiple reasons. Flexibility being the first. Also, I really think SC2 Melee got a bit outdated. We need something more smooth.
Logged
countchocula86
*Smell* controller
****
Offline Offline

Gender: Male
Posts: 345


Culture 20!


View Profile
Re: Fan made Star Control sequel – how should it be made?
« Reply #9 on: January 16, 2009, 12:56:31 am »

I think a whole new game would be good because it would update the game and potentially make it more palatable for a new audience.

However a fanmade game, aimed at current fans, could do very well as a mod.  So ultimatly Id prefer a mod, because it could be made much faster, and retain that retro quality I love.
Logged

I like to think you killed a man. It's the romantic in me.
Terrell
Frungy champion
**
Offline Offline

Gender: Male
Posts: 75



View Profile
Re: Fan made Star Control sequel – how should it be made?
« Reply #10 on: January 16, 2009, 01:00:58 am »

In my opinion, the basics should be the same as SC2.  Anyone who knows how to play SC2 should be able to play the sequel easily without having to learn much as far as basic controls go.

We should have a much larger portion of the galaxy, that includes all the area in SC2 plus at least 1/2 of the quadrants that would be adjacent to ours.  There should be on one side some worlds that were enslaved by the Kzer-Za (both battle-thralls and fallow slaves), and on the other side other races that met the fate of the Burvixese and the Gg (the Gg's homeworld should probably be in the new game), but there should be races that the Ur-Quan fleets did not detect in both quadrants.

All the races that were in SC2 should be available in the sequel, but the Ilwrath and Thraddash should be in bad shape.   Maybe some time should have elapsed enough for them to at least partially recover. but they should be significantly weaker in terms of fleet size than in SC2.

There should also be new things to do, new plots and subplots necessary to win.  One idea I liked from SCnot3 was the ability to find Precursor artifacts that could improve ships.  Perhaps in the new one, there should be such artifacts, but they shouldn't be so strong that they make the ships unbeatable.  

As an example one could find an artifact that takes the Earthling Crusier from near the bottom of the pile in terms of speed and accelleration, and puts it somewhere in the middle of the pack.  Artifacts would be specific to a ship design, and give a specific effect but only to that type of ship.  Each ship can have only 1 artifact's effect.

If you for example find 2 artifacts, one that will increase a Crusier's speed, another that would increase it's battery, and therefore it's firepower, you can pick one to use.  You can use it on your current Crusiers, and make all future Crusiers be able to use this artifact, but by using it, you cannot use the other one without cancelling out the first one.  (or maybe you can have 2 types of Crusiers, one with the effects of one artifact, the other type with the effects of the other artifact.  

Artifacts should marginally to moderately improve a ship's overall capacities.  Each type of ship should have at least 2 types of improvement artifacts, but no artifact should make a ship overpowering.  

Melee mode should have the option to pick an availabe artifact for each ship in your team, and should include all the ships from SC and SC2.  (maybe SC3 but some mention that many of the ships in that game need major fixes, I don't know how practical that would be)

Make a Precursor vessel that is comparable to the one in SC2.  After all a ship built by the Precursors, and fully equipped for combat, should be more powerful than any other ship in space in 1 on 1 combat.  (it would probably still be beatable by the Utwig Jugger).

For combat, make sure that ships like the Kohr-Ah (and any other black but uncloaked ships) a little easier to see.  Sometimes it's rather hard to see the black blades on black space to avoid them.  Could just be my bad eyesight.

I got the while you were typing a new post was made warning, so I hope I didn't repeat someone else's idea.
Logged
Cedric6014
Enlightened
*****
Offline Offline

Gender: Male
Posts: 701



View Profile
Re: Fan made Star Control sequel – how should it be made?
« Reply #11 on: January 17, 2009, 12:58:42 am »

Who are we doing this for? For us or for a newer audience?

If we're doing this for a newer audience then a mod of the old game (with its obsolete graphics) won't cut it, so a brand new game is required. This is what Timewarp is/was

If we are doing this for our own self indulgence then maybe a mod is better. Clearly we are nostalgia junkies otherwise we wouldn't be here. This is what Nicholai's mod is/was

This kind of thing has been attempted with all the best intentions on numerous occasions before.

TimeWarp was a huge profect that a LOT of creative energies went into. it seems bizarre that nothing came of it. Or are they just on hiatus?

After having a good look through the TimeWarp forum (which i hadn't even seen before), and also re-reading

Who knows what's happened to Nicholai. He had quite a few forum members helping him out with art and voice contributions. Can anyone out there tell me if they've had any contact with him recently? Valaggar was goind a lot of stuff there, a pity veryone was so mean to him. We might know what was going on.

Really I dont care who does it and how its done, I just want something to be done.


Logged

Play online melee here! http://irc.uqm.stack.nl/
Lukipela
Enlightened
*****
Offline Offline

Gender: Male
Posts: 3620


The Ancient One


View Profile
Re: Fan made Star Control sequel – how should it be made?
« Reply #12 on: January 17, 2009, 08:41:11 pm »

I'd vote brand new game, even though that is resource intensive.
Logged

What's up doc?
Tim
Zebranky food
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 10


Bleh.


View Profile
Re: Fan made Star Control sequel – how should it be made?
« Reply #13 on: January 18, 2009, 07:03:33 am »

Who are we doing this for? For us or for a newer audience?

If we're doing this for a newer audience then a mod of the old game (with its obsolete graphics) won't cut it, so a brand new game is required. This is what Timewarp is/was

If we are doing this for our own self indulgence then maybe a mod is better. Clearly we are nostalgia junkies otherwise we wouldn't be here. This is what Nicholai's mod is/was

This kind of thing has been attempted with all the best intentions on numerous occasions before.

TimeWarp was a huge profect that a LOT of creative energies went into. it seems bizarre that nothing came of it. Or are they just on hiatus?

After having a good look through the TimeWarp forum (which i hadn't even seen before), and also re-reading

Who knows what's happened to Nicholai. He had quite a few forum members helping him out with art and voice contributions. Can anyone out there tell me if they've had any contact with him recently? Valaggar was goind a lot of stuff there, a pity veryone was so mean to him. We might know what was going on.

Really I dont care who does it and how its done, I just want something to be done.
I find it sort of funny that TimeWarp is constantly brought up, when I was involved in the original design of it. I worked with the project for a while, and we were developing a story, I thought. I was working on a few sprites - and just nothing ever really happened with it. I lost interest when I stopped understanding what was going on with the project, and while they created a release, I was still never quite sure what the point of what they were doing was. In my opinion, the failure of TimeWarp was just too many people with too many ideas, and they constantly strayed away from ideas that would have worked. But, what do I know, I was in 6th or 7th grade at the time.
Logged

I don't need a signature.
Cedric6014
Enlightened
*****
Offline Offline

Gender: Male
Posts: 701



View Profile
Re: Fan made Star Control sequel – how should it be made?
« Reply #14 on: January 18, 2009, 07:27:33 am »

I think Timewarp is very relevent. Having just now started trawling through the threads in the forum I'm only now starting to understand the project. All the best intentions, but way too many ideas and no one person to wade through them and see it through.

I think a forum to collect ideas and contributions was sensible. Probably just needed a core team of 6 or so to maek the hard decisions and move the project on. Or maybe they had that and the just lost enthusiasm?

Seems a shame to waste all that work. Can's someone just pick up where they left off?

And can someone tell me what aspects of Timewarp were universally agreed up on as cool (plot, graphics, game play, aliens etc)?
 
As far as what I think I want to do....I think a mod might be a smarter idea for now. Making a brand new sequel from scratch that lives up to everyone's expections is very ambitious.

I'll do as advised and get something done myself. This will include plot layout, new map, and script for the first parts of the adventure. From there on in, I'll need help.




Logged

Play online melee here! http://irc.uqm.stack.nl/
Pages: [1] 2 Print 
« previous next »
Jump to:  


Login with username, password and session length

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.21 | SMF © 2015, Simple Machines Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!