LEGION: Microspace

The first TC made of LEGO!

I've always wanted to make something big , and this is how I'm going to do it. I'll come up with some story later; I had something going earlier, but it just didn't suit the relative happiness that is LEGO.

Anyways, this will be a Total Conversion. That means all-new ships, a bunch of nifty outfits, a new galaxy to explore, and many new missions to undertake. Will you side with the Core Worlds Confederation or the Outer Rim Alliance - or make your own path?

Being made of easy-to-connect bricks, I expect to provide frequent updates as far as ship and outfit construction goes. After that, things might slow down as numbers are plugged in. I hope for a publishable Alpha to be ready within three months at worst - I have a lot of free time on my hands.

Aaand... discuss.

........

This post has been edited by Odie : 21 June 2009 - 01:28 PM

Thaaaat's pretty cool.

One word of caution: it seems like you're expecting the ship/outfit/weapon creation to take the bulk of your time, but in my own experience, adding missions takes way longer than even rigorous balancing. I like the approach though, and wish you all the best in your TC exploits!

And a sumptuous grin crawls up my face. I like it.

I'd like to further that word of caution by saying that writing descs to bind all your ships, outfits and mission together is going to be the hardest part. What you write is going to be the actually legos you use to build this universe, I'd like to point out. If you can make it seem convincing, excellent, I'll play this TC till I know it like the back of my hand, as I did with EVN and EVN:EVC, but if it seems forced or tacky, it's not going to work out.

Thanks for your kind words, everyone!

Writing this was one of the first challenges I presented to myself for this, even more than making ships! I'll really need to put some hard thought into just why all the ships are made of LEGO, especially considering Fighters and Capships are built at two different scales. A sample of my handiwork:

The basic Shipyard PICTs for the Confederation Interceptor and Patrol Ship, respectively. The front part of the Patrol Ship is supposed to be at least as wide as three of the Interceptors. I've got something in mind to work it out, but only time will tell if it'll work.

I did something like this a while ago back in the first round of my plug making and it ended up looking really nice. Unfortunately it's now nothing more than some screenshots. Good to see someone else using the concept.

You might want to render the lego ships twice as big or larger than the PICT that goes into the shipyard then scale it down using something like GIMP or Photoshop (MS Paint is only good for scaling on powers of two, anything else will produce jagged edges) to get rid of some of those jagged artifacts along the straight corners on the legos.

I see an immediate problem. while you are focusing on your nice graphics made of lego you may have neglected thinking about a storyline or the whole universe. People complain about star wars episode one the phantom menace because it was nice visually but it had no real storyline or universe consistancy. All I am really trying to say is good graphics are nice but a good storyline is the lifeblood of any EV plugin. That said good luck with your project if you require any assistance in the universe or storyline fronts do not hesitate to ask, for many of the people on this board would be more then willing to help.(probably)

(Edit)
ok PLEASE let me help. please please please? my main expertise are coming up with interesting ideas and doing mission bits and universe consistancy.

This post has been edited by of doom : 12 April 2009 - 12:31 PM

@JacaByte: Yeah, my main method of "rendering" is zooming out until the model fits in the area and taking a screenshot of it. Might be a good excuse to pry more into GIMP.

@of doom: Of course. I'm doing my best to swallow my pride and get help with this, and I might take you up on your offer! I've got the barest of outlines for my story, and I am currently assembling a basic starmap in Paint. There's also a few unique (and maybe ambitious) ideas that I think would be really neat.

I already wrote my "Hey, TC" post, so I just have to re-post it!

I wish you luck! It's a long, hard road, which can stretch into a years long road far, far more easily than you'd ever believe, but it's also extremely satisfying and rewarding, and usually pretty fun. The most important piece of advice I can give you is, in fact, not to tell you to do it how I think it should be done (which many people here, with the best of intentions, will do.)

No, instead, I advise you to decide on how you will do the TC, and do it that way until you finish. If you want to make lego ships first, awesome. If you decide to slog out the missions first, groovy. But whatever method you decide on, make sure it's one that you will be able to use ultimately finish the TC.

Going off what Shlimazel said, don't feel compelled to do all of one aspect at once either. I know that's not what he was trying to say; sometimes you've just got to write what the muses speak when they speak to you! Besides, I've found that if I hit a mental block on one aspect (like storyline), I can get the juices flowing again by working on something else (like balance, outfits, or graphics). Just my experience; your mileage may vary.

At the very least, I am dedicating myself to making tangible progress each day. Here's a couple more ships to show a little of what one can expect from the factions I have planned...

The Raider, basic fighter of the Outer Rim Alliance. A tad slower than the Confed Interceptor, made up for by its sturdiness.

The Scion Exploration Corps' Scoutship. I'm thinking about a game-spanning sidestory involving expansion of the Galaxy Map...

You thought you could get away from The Shuttle , didn't you? Well, you can never escape The Shuttle! HAAhahahaha~ aaack

ahem More to come tomorrow.

might you be willing to give us a slight overview of the universe as we know it.(or rather currently as we don't) you might want to get a tad more detailed then that with your ships. that said i really like the design of the scoutship.

I suppose a short faction primer would be in order.

The Core Worlds Confederation
Based around Terra Sector (of course), the Confederation is the most recent in a string of governments lasting just over a millenium. It also appeared the most stable, with the lowest-recorded number of military incidents per year, until a number of ambitious proposals were passed that threatened the borders of the Rim worlds. The situation has rapidly deteriorated, and is now on the brink of exploding into all-out war.

Confederation vessels are above-average in shielding and manuverability, and almost all of their capital ships feature Mass Drivers, magnetic accelerators capable of firing torpedoes, superdense metal slugs and remote-guided gun drones at several times Terran escape velocity.

The Outer Rim Alliance
History has shown that colonies are like children to their parent nations - and many parents are reluctant to easily release those they raised. This is how the Alliance came about, attempting to "free" themselves from the not-so-united Terran Union of old. The Outer Rim colonies have always been rather adamant about keeping out of Core Worlds politics, and the Confederation's recent movements have not made the situation any better.

Rim ships are more well-armored than their Core counterparts, and many of the larger vessels feature "lances", devastating short-range energy weapons.

????
While the Core and Rim have always been at odds, armed conflict was at an all-time low until recently, when a starliner carrying several Confed VIPs was attacked and destroyed near The Gap, an area filled with gravitational anomalies and no stars. A single survivor made claims of shadowy vessels, appearing suddenly and swarming the ship only to vanish just as quickly. Naval officers are quick to dismiss the story as Rim stealth ships, but the more open-minded secretly believe a more sinister threat to be lurking just out of sight...

I like it. The 'verse is a bit ripped from Firefly, but then again, it's a pretty standard sci-fi concept.

Yeah the whole "Colonies Seeking Independence" shtick is a pretty reliable trope and I sometimes wonder if that's actually what will happen in our space-faring future. Also:

Scion Exploration Corps
"If anyone needs it, we can find it!" The motto of the ages-old Scion holds true even to this day, as the diametrically opposed Alliance and Confederation both draw on their services. Whether surveying worlds for natural resources or searching far-flung star systems for new jump routes, this is the home for those who would love to go where no man has gone before.

Scion's fleet of personalized ships are designed to study the ends of the galaxy and return in one piece. Their shields are some of the strongest available, and their FTL range is always the top of their size class. Their armament is modest, however, needing only to deal with the occasional pirates, and heavy armor would dull the readings on their fragile sensors.

But a sci-fi universe ripping off Firefly is like a fantasy book ripping off Tolkien; if you don't do it, you're not writing well enough because everything worth doing, they did.

Well, unless you're Ursula K. Le Guin, who does both without ripping off either. But barring her.

(Speaking of Firefly, I just happen to be listening to Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog as I write this. :))

Totally right on that one, Archon. Totally right. Firefly was the peak of sci-fi. It's all downhill from there. The last fantasy book that I picked up that wasn't ripping off Tolkien and still good was written by one of my profs. It's called Name of the Wind. Highly recommend it if you like the genre. And you're dead on with Ursula LeGuin, too. I actually taught He, She, and It to my seniors, and they really liked it. Very challenging fiction.

The unknown, partly dismissed space threat that shows up and leaves no survivors is pretty Reaverish, but again, a sci-fi staple. I do really like the Lego idea.

For the record, I don't think I thought of Firefly at all while coming up with the basic concept so far. Actually, if any of you have played it through, the final missions of Armored Core: Nexus are a bit closer to what I have in mind.

And just so it's out there, the main reason why, say, the Confed Fighter is so out-of-scale with the white ship in the top banner (the Confed Destroyer), I was mainly putting these ships together for a tabletop game where the fighter models actually represent a whole squadron.

Speaking of, Survey Time! When this is all finished I may put up links to let people buy their very own ships from LEGO Factory. Is this awesome?
( )Yes
( )No
( )Cake?

sorry i have to say no. the amount of detail i have seen from you so far i could assemble with spare parts from my lego box. I am practically the only scifi fan around who hasn't seen firefly. I am pathetic.