Author
|
Topic: Project 6014 – Ur-Quan Masters mod (Read 199504 times)
|
Kwayne
*Many bubbles*
 Offline
Gender: 
Posts: 189
|
I'm quite indifferent about the ISD. It looks like a good experiment and display of skill, though I generally don't like crossovers. (Says the one who snuck SC races into Space Empires V)
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
OakTea
Zebranky food
Offline
Posts: 15
|
I registered just to post this! Though I was sure I had an account from ages ago...nope! Every Star Control site except this one.
I've been a huge fan of the Star Control series since the mid-90's, and I've been waiting for a sequel for the longest time. I don't care if this one isn't canon, it looks promising enough to be canon! I really love and admire all the hard work that has been put into this project.
I spend a good few hours playing the mod and exploring, and I thought I'd share my thoughts.
The Excellent:
-The HD graphics are incredible. Everything fits in perfectly (with one exception) and looks like Star Control 2, but significantly more visually appealing.
-The beginning of the plot. It's really got me hooked and hoping for more. It seems to fit in-universe perfectly so far.
-The implications behind Alpha Vulpeculae and Arilou Space
-The Vux's speech about what it's like under the slave shield. Very powerful, and fits right in with the plights of other races in SC2
-The Lurg. They're very intimidating, and are just as intimidating as the Kohr-Ah and the Kzer-Za were in SC2. The voice is perfect!
The Great:
-The orbiting and rotating planets. There do appear to be some minor issues with those (I believe I've been brought into the planet's "screen" after leaving it, but I can't reproduce it) but it's a really nice detail, and I know it'll be improved.
-The new starmap! It looks like a lot of work and detail was put into it. It feels a bit small in the demo, but that's sure to change. It definitely feels a lot of key areas are close to "home", and with the Explorer, everything feels too easily accessible. Of course, this is a demo. I can't wait to see how all the space gets used and what other mysteries lie in these new stars!
Things I'm Not Sure About:
-The Explorer. Starting off with it might be a little bit too powerful. It feels more like a "devtool" of sorts since it's very easy to scour the whole star map, refuel with the Melnorme, and evade all the enemys. For savvy players, I'm sure they'll immediately begin the game by picking up everything they possibly can at this point in the game and completely ignore the missing Shofixti scout fleet.
It's very different from SC2. In SC2, I was always afraid of running into probes. In this demo, I was hardly afraid of the Kohr-Ah because they couldn't catch my ship unless they spawned right next to a star I was heading into.
That being said, the design of the ship itself is great, and it's incredible fun to use in Melee! I'm especially pleased that it's in Super Melee. It also makes a lot of sense plot-wise, and Commander Hayes' description of it really pumped me up to put it into action. It just feels a little overpowered in terms of exploration if it can be used without bounds from the beginning of the game.
If that precursor vessel becomes your main vessel, I'm imagining that it would be similar to the Vindicator of SC2 in terms of upgrades etc...but if the Explorer is used before that ship, wouldn't most of the aliens and secrets be easily discoverable a little early? Or perhaps this really is a "devtool" of sorts. I'm sure you guys have spent a lot more time thinking this through than I have! 
-Commander Hayes hating the Vux so much. Maybe I'd have to go back to SC2 and hear what he has to say about them, but he seems to endorse the slave shielding a little bit too much. Though he is a war veteran, so he has an excuse. 
-The lander starting off fully upgraded. This fits in with the ship. (Makes accumulating resources too easy...but it's probably just for the demo so we don't spend too much time mining )
-The Lurg's ship. I didn't test it out in Super Melee so I didn't know what to expect. These guys sounded like brutal destroyers and I expected a big, deadly vessel that would rival the Avatar in power...I sent out a Cruiser first to see if they would be a threat to humanity...and took out 2 of their ships without taking any damage, and escaped from the battle to use a Terminator...not a single crew member was lost, and the Lurg were attacking. I never considered myself a pro, so this was somewhat disappointing. The ship is awesome, but fighting it after talking to the Lurg was like fighting an Eluder after talking to the Kohr-Ah. While everything else fits perfectly, the ship's combat style (or maybe just the AI) didn't fit with what was revealed about the race.
Don't take my criticisms too harshly, please! I'm trying to be constructive, and if I've offended anybody who worked on the project, I apologise. Especially as this is still in the early development stage, I feel that you guys would appreciate all the input from fans that's out there...if we didn't think that this could be the next SC game (in spirit) we wouldn't care so much about it!
I'm really looking forward to the finished version (and hearing about progress on the way there), however many years it takes! Keep up the excellent work; everyone involved with this project deserves a round of applause. 
|
|
|
|
« Last Edit: March 04, 2012, 05:21:05 am by OakTea »
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
OakTea
Zebranky food
Offline
Posts: 15
|
Sorry! I added it in. I had a feeling that I would forget to add it in the later section...
It's the Syreen commander at the Starbase, which I'm guessing is a joke and probably a placeholder. The rest of the Syreen artwork is incredible!
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
hackdx
Zebranky food
Offline
Posts: 26
|
Nice post!
-The Explorer. Starting off with it might be a little bit too powerful. It feels more like a "devtool" of sorts since it's very easy to scour the whole star map, refuel with the Melnorme, and evade all the enemys. For savvy players, I'm sure they'll immediately begin the game by picking up everything they possibly can at this point in the game and completely ignore the missing Shofixti scout fleet.
It's very different from SC2.
I just wanted to comment on that one point: I actually really like the fact that this time you get a suitable tool for your task at hand. This is a continuation of the story, not a beat-by-beat repeat of the game, so it's nice to do something new. We had escape from oppression and struggle-of-the-underdog the last time, and this isn't the only type of story there is. So this time you're in an established, resourceful society that faces a new challenge, and that's always a good thing. This time refuelling and resource gathering aren't your main concern - and that's great.
Space is big, and a lot can happen, so it's always nice to see when something new happens and a sequel isn't just a repeat of the same motions of the first part.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cedric6014
Enlightened
Offline
Gender:
Posts: 701
|
I know I am asking a longshot question but I am curious, do you guys currently plan on releasing another expanded demo or is the next goal aimed at a completed game and in either case, what kind of time table are you looking at for release right now?
It's a reasonable question.
I personally don't think there's much point in another expanded demo release. We sort of broke with SC2 tradition by having a fixed point in the plot with the Lurg encounter. To have another meaningful demo release we'd have to have another fixed point in the plot - and that takes us away from SC's open-endedness, or at least the ability to do almost anything in any order.
More likely the next release will be a beta for testing, I.e the full thing in buggy form. As for timeline, well that is utterly impossibly to predict and relies on all sorts of factors, not the least of which will be crew fatigue and motivation, or real life getting in the way. So much work to do though. So much work.
However, we're a diverse team, and others will have other opinions on releases. And I know some are way more optimistic/ambitious about final release dates than I am.
|
|
|
|
« Last Edit: March 05, 2012, 05:22:10 am by Cedric6014 »
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
OakTea
Zebranky food
Offline
Posts: 15
|
We had escape from oppression and struggle-of-the-underdog the last time, and this isn't the only type of story there is. So this time you're in an established, resourceful society that faces a new challenge, and that's always a good thing. This time refuelling and resource gathering aren't your main concern - and that's great.
I'll agree that it makes sense plotwise, and initially I was thrilled to start off with a ship like that. From a gameplay sense, I feel that it might be a little bit too overpowered to have at the start of the game. In the demo, it makes sense to have a ship that can easily explore everything, talk to all the races, see all the new star systems...but if the ship is identical in the full release, it might be too easy to beat the game.
I understand that mining probably won't be a big part of the game (which again, makes sense plotwise, but I really liked that aspect of SC2), but exploration will certainly be a big part of the game. If it'll be this easy to fly from one race's area to tthe next, I'm worried that it'll be too easy to zip through the game.
If we're to fear the Kohr-Ah, it's reasonable to expect that they should have some chance to catch us at some point in the game.
Possible ideas...
-The Chmmr don't want to allocate too many resources on one ship, they want to focus on building their own fleet.
-Less fuel storage and speed early on, making it more important to stop at starbases on long journeys (and preventing galaxywide travels at the start of the game)
-Chmmr scouts appear (spawning in front of the player) if you go too far away from the mission area and force you to go back.
And on the Lurg point, I tried Super Melee against their ships...I took out about 8 of them with a single Chmmr avatar. 
Possible ideas for making them more menacing...
-Causing the bubbles to do 1 damage each in addition to their current effect. I initially treated them this way and still destroyed them with a Cruiser and a Terminator. It shouldn't be too overpowered, but if it is, maybe they could be more easily destroyed by weapons? (If it's possible to allow nukes for eg, to plow through them...)
-Making their crew regenerate faster. It was noticable, but it didn't feel like a threat. At its current speed, it was more annoying than threatening.
-Making their AI more aggressive. I know it's in its early stages, but I do think it'd fit [what little I know about] their personality better.
-Having the bubbles seek their own ship (and not damage it). This might aid in making the ship more offensive than defensive.
I hope you guys like these kinds of ideas. I'm obviously not going to 'boycott' this if you guys make this mod and it doesn't match up with what I have in mind- You're doing excellently!
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
Kwayne
*Many bubbles*
Offline
Gender:
Posts: 189
|
If it matters, I like these ideas.
You're right OakTea, it's positive to innovate storywise but the priority is on designing gameplay. It's just not right to have half the world hand-in-hand with you while you have the most kickass equipment and your resources are unlimited. That is how a game ends. Showing such wealth at the prologue of the game might serve as a message: "you'll lose all this" and "you'll have to regain this". But the prologue is not the real game, and in case of P6014 it's not even necessary, since we have an intro sequence where all can be summarized until reaching Beta Naos incident.
Resource gathering was an important part of SC2 and I wouldn't like it becoming sidenoted, instead I'd add some new uses of the mined resources. Besides, there are a few new phenomenae and bio lifeforms on planet surfaces for which I'd make using the Landers more necessary.
The ideas about the Lurg are pretty good. I also would like to see them regenerate faster, and on top of that I'd like to add to the concept that only one specimen of Lurg resides on one Prawn, and the rest of the "crew" is merely the representation of the Prawn's own health. That would mean that the Prawn is literally regenerating instead of replenishing it's own crew like the Mycon Podship does, however that also infers that the Prawn is resistant to the Syreen song.
I would also make the Lurg a tougher nut in combat, though the minefield idea would make the Prawn into an Androsynth Blazer variant. Right now I'd say keep the Prawn using a fortress tactic, but change the primary weapon to something insidious when combined with the bubbles.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
OakTea
Zebranky food
Offline
Posts: 15
|
The ideas about the Lurg are pretty good. I also would like to see them regenerate faster, and on top of that I'd like to add to the concept that only one specimen of Lurg resides on one Prawn, and the rest of the "crew" is merely the representation of the Prawn's own health. That would mean that the Prawn is literally regenerating instead of replenishing it's own crew like the Mycon Podship does, however that also infers that the Prawn is resistant to the Syreen song.
I would also make the Lurg a tougher nut in combat, though the minefield idea would make the Prawn into an Androsynth Blazer variant. Right now I'd say keep the Prawn using a fortress tactic, but change the primary weapon to something insidious when combined with the bubbles.
I like these ideas! Having the Prawn resistant to the Syreen's song seems feasible..I found it difficult to approach them with the Penetrator (again, this was when I thought they were damaging), and if those bubbles destroy crew, then it'd mean it won't be an easy kill with another early game ship.
I always imagined what the Blazer would be like if it had a more offensive projectile in place of the Blazer form, so maybe I'm biased.
Another one of the Project 6014 races had an interesting pair of weapons where it could essentially plant mines, and then detonate them if its projectile hit one. (Which could cause a chain reaction). I know it's on another ship, but that's another way it could be made more dangerous...hmm.
What made the Dreadnaught and the Marauder (and even the Avatar...I was surprised to see these were good guys after facing them in Super Melee!) menacing was the fact that they could destroy you from far away, but could still rip you apart from up close most of the time.
Perhaps if the ship were faster, or its primary weapon had subtle homing capabilities...
Ahaha, though maybe these guys aren't the big bad of the game, and are closer to say, the Mycon. Obviously evil, hostile, and incredibly dangerous/powerful as a species, but not the ship you're running away from in combat.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
Mathius
Zebranky food
Offline
Posts: 3
|
For those who are responsible for this I say thank you from the bottom of my Precursor Artifacts!
I have a few questions and reading through this novel of a thread just can't be done at the moment.
1) Is this mod ever going to be compatible with the 3DO in any way?
2) When I try to run the game it's either in an extremely tiny window, or it's in a GIANT window that's so big I can't see the bottom of the screen. I have tried different resolutions but can't seem to correct it. What am I doing wrong???
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
