Feature requests for FH2

Gus

I never got into FH.

But I tried it, and got annoyed by the fact that every ship was just an EV:Classic ship with a different picture.

So, uh, sort of unique ships.

And that.

Anyways, if you are going to do it, I'm sure to give it another try.

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Starbridge42

One thing I would like would is to be able to have more say in the way you play the game. The only thing I ever disliked about Frozen Heart (I never played FF) was that the things you could use to finish the game were thrust upon you (the Tachyonic fighter). I remember the first time I played I spent about a week gathering enough credits and I got an ultimate- fully kitted out Falcon, only to find that I couldn't use it because of the time restrictions on the missions. Don't get me wrong the idea was great and added an element of urgency, no more pottering around, but it did mean that you had very little choice in what you could do.

Thats just my thoughts though.

All the best
-Starbridge42

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mrxak

Very cool. I can't wait to play it!

Guest_UE_Research & Development_*

Quote

Originally posted by Martin Turner:
**Time travel implies the ability to go backwards as well as forwards - that's what I'm really interested in. I haven't checked out yet whether you can put a negative number in.

**

According to the Nova Bible (revision 4/9/2003),

Quote

DatePostInc: If this is set to something greater than zero , the game date will be advanced by this number of days after successful completion or auto-aborting of the mission.

(emphasis is mine)

You can still try it out just to see if it'll work after all, but I doubt it will :frown:.

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Bomb

Quote

Originally posted by Martin Turner:
**You heard it.

What do you want?

**

Good luck to you, bro.

The engine, she's chewed up many an ambitious developer..

_bomb

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"I've over stayed a while..
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pipeline

Quote

Originally posted by Bomb:
**Good luck to you, bro.

The engine, she's chewed up many an ambitious developer...**

Sucks, eh? :frown:

Vodalian

The only thing I would personally like to see in Frozen heart would be that failing some critical missions wouldn't actually screw up your whole game but rather take you into an alternate storyline. That would be awesome.
The only problem I have with playing FH2 is that I don't own EV Nova. Should I buy it just for the purpose of playing a single plug-in?

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macmaxbh

Quote

Originally posted by Vodalian:
**The only thing I would personally like to see in Frozen heart would be that failing some critical missions wouldn't actually screw up your whole game but rather take you into an alternate storyline. That would be awesome.
The only problem I have with playing FH2 is that I don't own EV Nova. Should I buy it just for the purpose of playing a single plug-in?

**

It'll be a long time before FH2 is released, you don't need to buy it now-- and it depends-- how much do you value Martin Turner's work (as well as supporting your favorite mac software company)..

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KingsKnight

I'd like to see more minor story-lines dealing with all of the awesome little details like the planet discriptions. For people who don't know, there were tons of things like Kont in FH.

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UE Crusader

Well, I've been racking my brain....in terms of twisting the engine I'm a bit stumped, so I'll talk about storyline instead.

It'd be nice to have a string based on "The Hawk"--Mordillo was his name, was it not? In short, a plotline based on the "Flight of the Eagle" idea mentioned in Frozen Heart's original documentation

Also, in Femme Fatale we got to catch a few glimpses of an organization of sorts that Alaina, Lars, and some other characters were in on, which was basically the counter to Human JUSTICE. Its been a long time...ah yes, RESCUE. Some further focus on this and what Lars and Alaina are up to after the events of FH would be intriguing indeed. For that matter, involving Jasta Hela in the story after she discovers and turns down her old memories would be quite something.

Near the end of the Frozen Heart novel Lars comments that he doesn't give the Rigel Empire 20 years. Some developent on the detoriation of that power or the Rigel/Magella conflict in general would be yet another way to approach things from another angle, one that took a backseat in the original plug-in.

Someone else may have mentioned this, but extra background on Rift-B culture and/or other artificats relating back to that (like the Alien Wreck) would also be welcome.

That's about it I think...best of luck with your goals, Mr. Turner.

UEC

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(This message has been edited by UE Crusader (edited 09-22-2003).)

Bomb

Quote

Originally posted by pipeline:
Sucks, eh?:frown:

Sort of, but it means ATMOS will stay top dogs of the EV world for a long, long time..

Posted Image

_bomb

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"I've over stayed a while..
my time in exile..."

(This message has been edited by Bomb (edited 09-23-2003).)

pistgavin

I consider myself an expert at plug development in EVO. When I put my heart in my work I can make about 8-10 good missions a day, or whole chunks of galaxy in a week.

But one go on nova and I was thinking sideways. I am officially giving up and I'm afraid to say you will never see a nova plug authored by me. Hopefully Martin Turner will be able to overcome this and make a biggun, but it could take a while.

And Martin, if you release a new Frozen Heart, does that mean I can finish and release my Rigellian storyline for the first game? I mean FH1 will be graveyard material by then, and besides, the story I've made's great. Reconsider?

--gav

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(This message has been edited by pistgavin (edited 09-24-2003).)

Martin Turner

Please see the thread on porting EVO plugins on the developer's board.

Let me make it quite clear: I am not intending to authorise any Rigellian or Magellan storyline plugins.

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Dr. Trowel

Quote

Originally posted by Martin Turner:
**You heard it.

What do you want?

**

It's been a while since I played FH & FF. As I recall, right at the beginning of at least one of them (FH?) there's a critical mission in which the dialog box question has to be answered based on information that was supplied during an earlier mission. Once this experience made it clear that I was going to be tested on my knowledge of the story and the universe, I paid much more attention -- I actually took notes on each mission as I went through it. It sucked me in.

That's something you did quite well, and of which I want to see more: missions that reward the player for paying attention. I once watched someone play through a storyline (not one of yours!) without reading the boxes -- he just clicked them closed, checked the active missions list, and blasted off again. I was amazed how far he got without being tripped up. He missed a lot of what can made the EV experience so engrossing.

The trick is to do this without having too many missions where giving a "wrong" answer kicks you into a mission-less limbo with no hope of re-entering a storyline. If anyone can do it, you can.

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Infinite

Quote

Originally posted by Gus:
**I never got into FH.

But I tried it, and got annoyed by the fact that every ship was just an EV:Classic ship with a different picture.

So, uh, sort of unique ships.

**

I played it for quite a while but when I boarded a plauge ship and lost a really good pilot I gave up since I had no back up of it.

I will totally go with gus's idea about the unique ships in the game, but still keep up the awesome writing.

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Martin Turner

Quote

quote:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by Gus:
I never got into FH.

But I tried it, and got annoyed by the fact that every ship was just an EV:Classic ship with a different picture.

So, uh, sort of unique ships.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
(/B)

Erm, Gus? Did you actually play the main string at all?
FH is ultimately about one ship, and it is completely unique - to the point that the first reviewer who looked at it said 'you can't have a ship like that - it won't work'.

For the record, entirely new ships in FH:
Tachyonic Fighter - in two different versions
Rim Prospecter
Hunter Killer
Satellite
Black Hole
Asteroid
Gas cloud
Space mine
Stratofighter
Gun platform

That's ten ships which have no parallel whatsoever in EVC, EVO or any other plugin.

Femme Fatale introduces some more:
Cargo Shuttle
Cobra
Viper
Moonraker
Condittori
Arbiter
Triffid
Thor Superfreighter
plus about ten more

As it happens, even if the stats on some (but not all) of the other ships are similar to those in EVC - although the game balance is different because of the introduction of the TF as the main player ship - the ships are very different. They have different histories, different descriptions, a different look and feel.

Ultimately, FH is not a ship-sampling game, although FF is to some extent. FH is the story of the acquisition of a single ship which is intrinsically so powerful that it could totally change the balance of power in space. The tension in the story comes for exploring what you can and can't do - morally, politically, personally and emotionally - with that kind of power.

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double_zero

You are staying with the original design of the tachyonic fighter, right? Based on the Lego model?

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Martin Turner

Basically, but with some refinements. It needs to retain the 'knocked up by an engineer' look. However, all the other ships have been redesigned. The new models are much more complex - some are more organic, especially the Rigellians, and some are more mechanistic.

I've not gone over the top on animations etc. The gun platform now animates to fire, the black hole constantly sucks stuff in, and the corrossive clouds move slowly. There are now a number of different kinds of asteroids - some which do nothing, some which bump into other asteroids and destroy them, and some which bump into your ship and destroy it. None of them now appear on the scanner, and the screen is fairly full of various asteroids so there's a fairly convincing impression of being in an asteroid storm.

I've re-rendered or rephotographed all of the landing picts. Players will have to judge for themselves, but I think they stand up pretty well against the competition.

There are some nice touches like slowly rotating space stations. There are also some new twists on the game engine which I've introduced which I won't reveal now as they will spoil the wow factor - suffice it to say there are things you haven't seen before.

I've also refined the behaviour of the black hole. It is now scarily realistic.

Essentially the transfer of all the FH stuff is now complete and tested, as well as the re-rendering for all the ships, all the spobs, all the landing pics and most of the outfits.

What I'm now working on is the new outfits and some new missions. I'm also intending to bring FF into the same plugin, so that you will choose by character.

There are now some well established EV conventions which have persisted from EVC through EVO to EVN. I will be attempting to break those as much as possible. Look out for outfits that become missions, missions that become ships, ships that become planets, planets that become hypergates and various other stuff. Also expect to see much more ability to make a fast buck buying old ships and selling their parts for scrap, like the Rim Prospecter Easter Egg in FH.

I'm also trying to introduce bar pictures into my favourite bars. Most of these will be actual photos of my favourite places.

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Guest_UE_Research & Development_*

Sounds really good- especially the part about the graphics; I thought they were extremely creative to begin with. But bar pics? Is such a thing even possible?

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Guest_vIsitor_*

Blessed Turner,
I wish to adress a few thoughts on the end of FH now that you are making an update:

1...What might happen if a shield computer failed?
2...Why does the Tach Fighter, class 12 stratofighter, look nothing like the normal one?
3...I wonder what the first hyperlight ship looked like?
4...Are you ever going to make more sequls and/or get elected to parliment?