New Project

Star Wars: Rebel Uprising

I am doing a TC for EV nova.

yes I know the implications, yes I know the difficulties, yes I know the amount of patience and commitment required, but I have decided to do it anyway.

Reason: Because I like Star wars
Progress: in the research stage. I have researched 313 systems that I intend to put into the game, and so far have found 56 stellars that go into 11 of those systems when researched completely: I still have a lot to go.
take that average, and you end up with roughly 1,650 stellars, about 500 below the resource limit: feasable.

Problem: I, simply put, have no artistic capabilities whatsoever, and therefore cannot design the graphics required.

I also would appreciate others helping me in research gathering, desc writing, and general things that put polish to a plug.

Another thing that would help me is to find landing and planet graphics for all the planets once I find all the ones I plan on using.

Would anybody be kind enough to join my "team" and become known as one of the ones who made the first total star wars conversion?

note: I primarily operate at the ev-nova.net forums

You need to decide something now.

Do you want this to be a huge project which you (and any collaborators) greatly enjoy working on, but which never sees the light of day?

Or do you want to ever have something you can actually release?

If the latter, you are going to have to lower your targets.

Let's say there is a ship graphics artist reading here, who is looking for a project to work on (unlikely, but not impossible). When he reads '313 systems', '56 stellars that go into 11 of those systems' and '1,650 stellars', his reaction is going to be: 'Right - this is a project that will never be completed. I'm not going to spend my efforts on that.'

I would strongly suggest you shift your targets a little. Another thing that would be well worth your time doing is learning to create graphics of a tolerable standard, so that you actually have something you can show to people who may be interested in your project. (This is a very useful skill to have in general anyway.)

One last point. The resource limit for stellars is 2048. However, the real limit on real stellars is much lower. This is because an image and a description do not make a planet. To really live, a planet needs to have something unique about it (like a mission series associated with it). This in turn requires other resources, which are in shorter supply.

Look at Nova. It has just over 400 stellars (some of which are altered copies of the same actual world), and almost 800 missions. This ratio is important, and you just can't get 3,300 missions. (Even if you could, you couldn't write that many.) (Note: To be fair, Nova's ratio is only quite that high because so many of its missions belong to exclusive story-lines. If plots are less exclusive, a 1:1 ratio would be okay, but 1,600 missions is equally out of reach.)

Good luck with your ambitious plan - but it might do better if it was just a touch less ambitious! 🙂

This post has been edited by pac : 30 January 2007 - 07:14 AM

Hasnt someone made a starwars TC that was never completed? I remember downloading an alpha of it and it was pretty sweet. Anyway correct me if im wrong somebody.

The 1650 average is just that: an average.

Research is easily done when you have wookiepedia: starwars.wikia.net

I found those planets by searching on wookiepedia under the system name. I do not need all of those planets and I can tell you that I was planning on cutting down the list: way down. In all, I hope to have 1 to 3 inhabitable stellars per inhabited system, or around 600.

Basic overview of my drawing skills: If I try to draw a stick figure, I wouldn’t be surprised to find a horse when I’m done
If I try to make a voxel graphic for a 3d simulation of a ship, I wouldn’t be surprised to find that I have some sort of animal graphic: I’m that bad

This is why I need a graphic artist more than anything for this project

Note: I already have a lambda shuttle, X-wing, Y-wing, B-wing, TIE Fighter, TIE Defender, Nebulon-B Frigate, YT-1300 shuttle (millennium falcon), YT-2400 shuttle, Lancer frigate, NOVA class Battlecruiser (unrelated to EV), and Imperial Class Star Destroyer.

That leaves for my list an A-wing, TIE Interceptor, TIE Bomber, Assault II class Dreadnaught, MC80A Cruiser, Carrack Cruiser, and possibly others for other sides, like pirates or smugglers.

I know there was a Star Wars: Nova project going on a while ago which was canceled. If you could get in touch with the creators (use search) and get their permission to use some of their assets, that would probably be a very, very helpful start.

Here's an option you should think about. There are many 3D-model communities on the Internet, a fair number of them which have Star Wars-related meshes and models. If you get the permission of the creators first , they would make it much easier for you to acquire graphics for your plug-in. For landscapes, you could always think about having orbital shots (like in SFA), which are probably much easier to do than making land shots and populating them.

There are actually a few star wars plugs that I have found.

sw: tnjo
SAE Nova
star wars plug: simply that: found in ambrosia nova files network
A-wing plug: all it has is an A-wing Graphic

so far that is all I have.

the problem is, for some reason stuff-it isn't able to read the first, third and fourth plugs, so as a windows user, those resources are out of my reach.

can a mac user convert it for me and post them here?

@alphakiller, on Jan 30 2007, 04:14 PM, said in New Project:

Basic overview of my drawing skills: If I try to draw a stick figure, I wouldn’t be surprised to find a horse when I’m done
If I try to make a voxel graphic for a 3d simulation of a ship, I wouldn’t be surprised to find that I have some sort of animal graphic: I’m that bad

This is why I need a graphic artist more than anything for this project

And the majority of would-be TC developers are in exactly the same position.

I have no more ability to draw than you do, and had no knowledge whatsoever of 3D graphics design when I started out. I'm still not any good, but can make the more minor things, and even occasionally a reasonable ship (although it helps if someone gives me a concept drawing to work from).

If you are serious about embarking on a 300 system TC project, it will take a long time, and you will learn a lot of new skills in the process. Make this one of them.

But the thing is, every TC developer is looking for someone to do graphics. It's been that way since EV came out. Graphics people are always in short supply and high demand. The question you have to ask is: what is it about my TC which would attract a graphics artist to work on it rather than some other project?

@pac, on Jan 30 2007, 11:40 AM, said in New Project:

If you are serious about embarking on a 300 system TC project, it will take a long time, and you will learn a lot of new skills in the process. Make this one of them.
But the thing is, every TC developer is looking for someone to do graphics. It's been that way since EV came out. Graphics people are always in short supply and high demand. The question you have to ask is: what is it about my TC which would attract a graphics artist to work on it rather than some other project?

well, that's a tough one.

Perhaps because of the accuracy of the game, for I will be consulting every bit of storyline and planet info, ship info, ship behaviour, and anything else of the such, with online databases, cheifly wookiepedia. Another source will be www.artapprentice.net/memories/data/planets, which will provide a good base for planet descriptions, another thing, called TIE fighter hanger bay, will provide ship specs and descriptions that are more complete than any I have seen. I do realize that this will take a while, and I am prepared to take that time, since I have long awaited a star wars plug that was complete, and I am sure that many share my views. As I have posted Earlier, I already have a few ship graphics, and I have not too demanding a list of military ships still needed. I have all of the systems configurated where they are supposed to be, and I have a reasonable knowledge base of how those things work.

I am experienced enough in how things work in EVNEW, and i have made and released a couple of working plug-ins. I already know what installation instructions I will need to include, and I am even working on part of the story.

This plug will probably be released some time in the far future If i get no help, but it will not be nearly as good as I hope it to be If I get help.

@alphakiller, on Jan 30 2007, 11:48 PM, said in New Project:

Perhaps because of the accuracy of the game, for I will be consulting every bit of storyline and planet info, ship info, ship behaviour, and anything else of the such, with online databases, cheifly wookiepedia. Another source will be www.artapprentice.net/memories/data/planets, which will provide a good base for planet descriptions, another thing, called TIE fighter hanger bay, will provide ship specs and descriptions that are more complete than any I have seen. I do realize that this will take a while, and I am prepared to take that time, since I have long awaited a star wars plug that was complete, and I am sure that many share my views. As I have posted Earlier, I already have a few ship graphics, and I have not too demanding a list of military ships still needed. I have all of the systems configurated where they are supposed to be, and I have a reasonable knowledge base of how those things work.

That sounds promising. 🙂

I hope my posts haven't sounded like an attempt to put you off. I just felt it important to make clear to you that everyone is always looking for graphics people. Your best bet probably is, as another poster mentioned, to find and use existing Star Wars graphics. In that respect, you've got a leg up on other TC makers.

Again, good luck - and try not ever to lose the enjoyment of the project!

I know that you weren't trying to put me off, your just one of those realists :rolleyes:

but seriously, I do know what I am doing.

BTW, I have expanded my ship list to include mc80b cruiser; It is no longer needed.

P.S.: what do you think of this mission intro I decided to write on my spare time?

You walk through the blast door into the dark room, and you find the shadowy outline of the one who has been giving you these tests of "loyalty." "Good, Captian <nickname, will be changed to last name to make naming more realistic>," an emotionless voice says, "you have proven yourself sufficiently loyal to me." while this woman said this, a red eye seemed to bore into your soul, while the other, blue eye, stared with a cold, calculating menace. "My name is Ysanne Isard." You are stunned to be speaking to this person, empress in all but name, who took the reigns of the Empire after the defeat at Endor, and the destruction of the second death star. "Your next mission," she continous, "is to Infiltrate the Rebel Alliance, and become a part of Rouge Squadron, under the command of Wedge Antilles. I have created an alias for you to use. your name will be <Erisi/Cory> and you will be from Thyferra. As the Thyferran bacta <princess/prince>, you should be well endorsed, and your account has been adjusted properly. Now, what do you think of flying around in an X-wing for a while?"

@alphakiller, on Jan 31 2007, 06:26 AM, said in New Project:

P.S.: what do you think of this mission intro I decided to write on my spare time?

You're really exposing yourself by inviting comments like that. You're just asking people to say discouraging things to you.

It's not bad, though. It's a good first draft. It's the kind of scene that belongs in a Star Wars story. Dark machinator meets loyal pawn is a good, generic, Star Wars-type event. It's dramatic and interesting.

I've written half a critique, but I don't think it's really fair to publicly pick apart a first draft. I know I'd hate it if anyone did that to me.

I'll just say: there's room for improvement in what you've written. Make sure you get someone you trust to read it over and act as your editor before you publish (release the plug to the public). Even the best writers profit from a good editor.

As for the project, have fun with it.

This post has been edited by Bubbles : 31 January 2007 - 09:42 PM

@bubbles, on Jan 31 2007, 09:20 PM, said in New Project:

You're really exposing yourself by inviting comments like that. You're just asking people to say discouraging things to you.

It's not bad, though. It's a good first draft. It's the kind of scene that belongs in a Star Wars story. Dark machinator meets loyal pawn is a good, generic, Star Wars-type event. It's dramatic and interesting.

I've written half a critique, but I don't think it's really fair to publicly pick apart a first draft. I know I'd hate it if anyone did that to me.

I'll just say: there's room for improvement in what you've written. Make sure you get someone you trust to read it over and act as your editor before you publish (release the plug to the public). Even the best writers profit from a good editor.

As for the project, have fun with it.

thanks for the advice.

I just wanted to show people that I actually have material, and im not just saying that im doing all of this work.

BTW, Ysanne Isard, in canon star wars fiction, really did take over the Empire, and a girl named Erisi really did infiltrate Rouge squadron.

I have also decided to branch each side into 3 different storylines, in order to make six: the Rebel Intelligence, Rebel Fleet member, Rebel Admiral, Imperial Intelligence, Imperial Fleet member, and Imperial Admiral; What can a say, Pace? I love your plug!

sigh...

My main computer broke down, so, until it is repaired, I cannot continue this project online.

Note: I will be continuing it offline, like writing descriptions and doing a little amount of research online at school (where I am posting now)

If anybody has any questions, comments, suggestions, or offers of help, just PM it to me, ill get to it eventually.

The SW: Nova curse strikes again.

- Bob

Can you say "VaporWare", boys and girls?

@gray-shirt-ninja, on Feb 1 2007, 08:29 PM, said in New Project:

Can you say "VaporWare", boys and girls?

What?

No, promising though - and unfortunate computer problems. I'm hoping one day there'll be an EVN Star Wars or Trek TC though, and this could be part of that.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooo.
Im downloading that one. 😄

Does anybody ever listen when I say: "am still working on it?"

I am posting here when at school, and am writing furiously and outlineing, and researching in the books when I am at home.

I already have ideas for maybe 100 missions, with many more to come.

It is not anywhere near vaporware

Good, I hope you keep at it. This seems like a promising project. Don't let any realists get you down. You won't need help.

I'm not saying I dont need help.

I could finish all the plug really needs offline (computer is fixed, but internet connection is dead), and still not have the graphics.

I have written 2 pages of mission descriptions about an hour ago, and I am still working on a mission outline: So far I have all 6 storylines planned, and all of the side missions outlined.

When I am finished with all of this, I will again plea for graphics artists, since that is all I will need.

however, I may be able to save pics or mission ideas on a floppy, so if you could get somthing for me to copy and paste by posting it, go ahead and do concept art, missions and matching descriptions, or anything that might help, I might just use it! (remember, I want a bigger credits list.