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(Working Title Only)
The Nova universe features a rich history, while a lot of stuff happened in Nova, a ton of interesting stuff happened before Nova's start in the year 1177NC. We here at the Aftermath Team saw that nobody has really shown too much interest in doing a plugin based on the events before Nova. So we have decided to start work on a second plugin while we continue work on Aftermath. We are giving this new project the working title, Beformath.
Beforemath will be unique in the EV plugin scene. Most EV plugins have multiple strings that the player can play, but these strings almost always lead to different results, as if the player is so important that he can change the entire dynamic of the universe. Also most EV plugins have time lines that really only span a few years. Beforemath will be different.
In Beforemath you the player will cover most of the one thousand one hundred seventy seven year time period between the death of Omata Kane, and the begenning of EV: Nova. You'll be there during the construction of the great hyperspace jump gate network, and the great expansion that followed. Watch as the massive Demios colony ships head out to colonize unknown worlds that you take for granted in EV: Nova. You could help establish the Polaris's new home past to Polaris star, or take part in the Auroran's conquering of the five outer territories. You may even get your chance to take a vital role as one of the Armetis terrorist that brought about perhaps the most definitive point in human history, the destruction of the hyperspace jump gate network.
There will be plenty of battles for you to take part in, including the Colonial Councils wars against the Polaris, Vellos, and the forming Auroran Empire. There are also of course the multiple civil wars between the Auroran houses. You'll get to fight in the battles only briefly mentioned in EV: Nova. In Beforemath a fleet won't just show up in the system a battle takes place in, you'll actually be able to watch as mighty battle fleets journey on their way from system to system to major battles. And yes, this is for each and every major battle.
But the vital part of Beforemath is that you'll be able to do all of these things with a single pilot file. Now of course you won't be able to play as a character on both sides of a war, but you will have your choice of which side you wish to follow. With one pilot file you'll be able to span the entire 1177 year history of EV: Nova.
How do we plan to let you do this? Will you become some sort of all powerful super being that drifts through time taking part where it pleases. No. Instead we will be breaking down the history into several "player entry points". When your character dies, weather its through a clamatic space battle or simply through old age, or even because the story demanded it, the universe will continue on without you, until it comes to another entry point where you will be able to pick up the story as a new person. No, you won't be flying around as a ghost or something, you'll simply see a dialog explaining what happened since your death, and then you will be reinserted into Nova's history with a new character.
Another unique thing Beforemath will have to offer is a single consistent series of events that the player can take part in from many different points of view. For instance if you choose to join with the Vell-os in their fight to protect the Polaris against the Colonial Council you had better be ready for the telepathic enslavement device thats in your future, and to live out the rest of your life as a slave. In Beforemath the player's actions can not change the history of EV: Nova, he simply is not that important. If you fail an important mission there will be somebody appointed to replace you, and you'll eventually get used to ferrying annoying passengers from place to place for small sums of money. But if you succede you'll rise in rank, and maybe even get to run the entire show, for a limited time, you can't live forever.
Beforemath will be many many times the size of any plugin, ever. Even the large size of Aftermath will be eclipsed by Beforemath, several times over. Our current estimates put the size of beforemath in the range of 40,000 different missions, not including the silly random cargo delivery missions. Also, expect plenty of system changing. Beforemath will begin in the years prior to the hypergate network's constrution. Instead of traveling the galaxy, you'll, travel the Sol system, which will be comprised of several typical systems. As interstellar travel comes into existance and expands journeys that seemed to be long distances will shrink and shrink as a whole new area to explore will open up. But you'd better watch out, when the hypergate network is destroyed you'll be trapped, and the system you are in will again expand to be one system comprised of multiple areas. Additionally each and every planet will have a day and night cycle composed of morning, noon, evening, and midnight, creating a far more immersive universe than has ever been seen before.
Beforemath's graphics will be far more expansive than anything else out there. You'll be able to watch, not just read about, as new technologies and ships are developed and become common place. No longer will variants simply be marked as such in the target screen. Every single ship variant will have a different model, not just different textures. Each planet will also be animated, some will have storms, or lightning flashes, while others might have firey lava or moving clouds. Beforemath will be so big we expect there to be a sharp rise in hard drive sales worldwide.
Finally, this project is so large, and complex that we finally decided to do something drastic. We've had perhaps more than our share of roadblocks with the EV3 engine and Aftermath, so we decided to completely avoid them, by writing a custom EV like engine. All the things above that sounded ludicrous, should be simple in our engine. We'll be making use of data files instead of resource forks which will mean you will no longer have to have fifteen different plugin files for one large plugin. There is however a slight bit of bad news, the framework our engine is being built off of will currently only run under Windows, but we do hope to port it over once its completed.
Now for a quick set of frequently asked questions, that are completely fake, since this is the first time the pulbic has heard of Beformath
Q: Beforemath, what kind of stupid name is that? A: Well we couldn't decide on a real name for this project, or perhaps we have but we don't want to reveal it yet, you be the judge.
Q: This sounds awesome and very big, do ya'll need any help? A: Yes, yes we do. If you have writing, graphics, or Mac programming skills and wish to help with this truly massive plugin, post in this topic.
Q: Windows only! What in the world were you thinking!? A: The engine frameworks sadly are Windows only at this time. We're confident once we get the engine finished somebody will step forward to port it to Linux and then of course the Mac.
Well thats all the questions I could think of, but feel free to ask your own, we'll be happy to answer everything, there are very few secrets behind Beforemath, as its plot is already public knowledge (see Nova Preamble 1). There are a few more things to "reveal" in regards to Beforemath. For instance you'll notice we have no website for it, and there are a few other odd things that still need to be done. Hopefully all that will be solved in about a weeks time.
I don't mean this in a bad way, but I just wanted to let you know that past attempts at projects like this have generally fizzled out (i.e. VOID, Nova, Epsilon/Xenocide 2).
I'd be willing to offer my services but I have absolutely no time. I'm sure if you have the determination to do this it'll be done, and will be one of the coolest games I could imagine. So...best of luck!
Sounds cool. Have any projections for how long you think it will take? It seems that a project of this magnitude could take years upon years upon years, especially considering that you guys are also working on Aftermath.
I would like to help. I can't program other than some Turbo Pascal... I could probably write (I've only done limited stuff with plug-ins before, but could pick it up quick enough), or maybe do some graphics (Terragen/Mechanisto-- maybe you could post a standard of what quality work you're looking for?).
<edit> Reading over that again, it does seem rather far-fetched. Still, he mentioned this before in his Mister Aftermath thread, and April 1st isn't here yet, so it seems pretty elaborate to be just a joke. </edit>
This post has been edited by Azdara Ace : 26 March 2005 - 03:25 AM
What a glorious dream.... Are you pulling our legs?!?
-- This would be awesome. -- This will take years. -- If you start putting resources into this instead of Aftermath, you may never get Aftermath out the door. -- Why would Ambrosia a/o ATMOS let you use copyrighted story ideas to build something that won't require a licensed and paid-for copy of EVN, and might well steal business? -- What happened to to the "Genesis" project? -- April 1 is still a few days off....
If you really do want to pursue some of the cool ideas you have outlined here, please, please try to release Aftermath, or at least some playable fragments of it, before you get caught up in writing a new game engine and working out the details of a millennium's worth of history!
This post has been edited by Dr. Trowel : 26 March 2005 - 02:32 AM
Ragashingo is joking. If the Aftermath team has any sense whatsoever, as so far they've demonstrated that they do, they will not do this. The only thing I can't figure out is why he went to so much trouble to dash our hopes so elaborately, and why he's so early for April Fool's.
Ragashingo, on Mar 26 2005, 07:11 AM, said:
<big big snippet>View Post
Ha! I was right! Though of course it seems a little far-fetched
If you're serious about this, good luck, but get Aftermath dealt with before seriously working on Beforemath.
Dr. Trowel, on Mar 26 2005, 08:23 AM, said:
-- What happened to to the "Genesis" project? View Post
Genesis is set 500,000 years before the Nova present, and has therefore nothing in common with Beforemath.
This post has been edited by Pace (haldora) : 26 March 2005 - 03:59 AM
This so totally must be a early April Fools' joke...
SS did it first.™
The idea of having multiple strings leading to the same outcome but allowing you to view it from different perspectives is not unique. We even have parts of the story where, if on the wrong side, the player will be blown to s###.
You guys have no idea how much fun it is to inform people of this in 85% of the "I have a new idea that nobody has thought of before!" topics.
Would be awesome, but you'd have to get permission from Matt to use the name Escape Velocity, and you'd need to get it published by Ambrosia since they hold all rights to Nova (plus, they're a great company we all know, love, and trust :)).
This post has been edited by orcaloverbri9 : 26 March 2005 - 11:44 AM
orcaloverbri9, on Mar 26 2005, 05:43 PM, said:
You guys have no idea how much fun it is to inform people of this in 85% of the "I have a new idea that nobody has thought of before!" topics. View Post
Well, orca, unless SS comes out soon, a few of your ideas that you say "SS did it first.™" will be already used, and you'll be the ones seen as copycats
Pace (haldora), on Mar 26 2005, 12:03 PM, said:
Actually, it probably will be out fairly soon. Hopefully by the end of the year, but I haven't talked to Masamune in a while, and I'm not sure how much he has left to do. We're actually waiting for Retribution to finish for a couple of reasons I won't say here.
Awesome idea, I can't wait. drools all over keyboard
We're very excited about getting this project going. As Raga said, we will be needing some help though...
(edit: heh, so excited that I can't spell excited correctly :p)
This post has been edited by mrxak : 26 March 2005 - 12:39 PM
That sounds amazing.
But, wouldn't it be very hard for you to program it so the system you are stuck in when the gates go to become one of the expanded system.
...Jaw...on..floor...must...not...drool...
If this is an honest project and not a joke of some kind, I would love to be involved with the coding of the engine. I can develop algorhythms well, and I have a list a mile long of engine feature ideas...
Seriously.
Tell me this is a joke?
I really can't see it ever being completed. Maybe you could go ahead and announce EV4 as well? We'll believe you :mellow:
Sorry if that sounded sarcastic, but I've been around here long enough in one form or another to become well accustomed to vaporware launches.
Please prove me wrong by actually getting it done without sacrificing Aftermath. I'll will grovel at your feet and beg for forgiveness
Otherwise, I wouldn't bet on it.
No fair! All you guys saw this post before me and got to sya all the stuff worth saying! I'm skeptic myself, couldn't you just stick to the regular "Your fly's unzipped!" or "your shoelace is untied"?
Quote
I'll will grovel at your feet and beg for forgivenes
I too will grovel at your feet and beg for forgiveness, but I'm not holding my breath until this comes out...
What an odd idea!
Dave @ ATMOS
Aftermath, Beforemath, Duringmath
Too much math!!
That sounded somewhat realistic until the part about 40,000 missions.