Plug-in idea

Anyone from devon, uk?

I've had what i think is a good idea for a plug but i'm not bright enough to make it.
Is there anyone local to me who'd like to give it a go? I don't really want to shout about it or someone will make it and i won't get credit for being a genius!

The wonderful thing about the internet is you need not be geographically near to someone in order for collaboration to occur. If you are familiar with the process of creating plug-ins for EV Nova but have a specific effect you can't quite discern how to synthesize, by all means describe it in plain terms. When you get a response detailing how to pull it off, you can adapt it to your specific scenario. Conversely, should you learn your goal to be impossible within the bounds of the current game engine, then you'll know.

On the other hand, if you are new to creating plug-ins and don't know how to start, we can also help you with that. If you are on Mac OS X, download the latest version of MissionComputer. On Windows, snag EVNEW. On Mac OS 9, should you be so lucky, install ResEdit with NovaTools. In order for us to further assist you, we'll need to know what level of experience you have making plug-ins for the Escape Velocity games.

This post has been edited by Qaanol : 10 August 2009 - 08:19 PM

See, the people who've been on these forums the longest are also the ones who know how to communicate well over the internet, so there's no need for you to see somebody face to face so you can get help from them. In fact, our most experienced members are not concentrated in one area of the world, so it's doubtful you'd get the best help from somebody in your area in any case.

Go ahead, bounce your idea off of us. We're not known for stealing stuff (well, for as long as I've been around) and many, many ideas have come up during Nova's 8 year existence. It's may be that your idea has already been thought of, and perhaps implemented or shot down. Who knows. We won't know anything until you tell us what your idea is.

And it had better not be 3D or Multiplayer, that's gotten old. Very old. Stone cold old. glowers

Being unsure of the limitations, i figured it would be neat to buy a planet rather than dominate it. Diplomatic missions to the other governments to encourage them to trade and make their ships and technology available through your shipyard and outfitters. Similarly maybe making missions available through the bbs. Income generated for the player comes from the success of the planet. Could ev use a bit of micromanagement?

That is very doable on a per-planet basis. You just do a sÿst swap to make the "owned" version of the spöb replace the existing one. Then it's a matter of adding all the missions and effects that come from the new situation.

Though you need not do anything I say, I think that changing the amount of money you receive from the planet should change over time as you become more successful, but at the beginning, you need to make large payments, until you've "paid it off."

I don't know what a syst or spob is, but that last is a good idea. If anyone fancies doing it then go for it. I don't know how to do it

...here's the Nova Bible, (top of the page) containing an explanation of all the resources and how they work, here's Mission Computer, a plug-in editor/creator for Mac, and here's EVNEW (top of the page) a plug-in editor for Windows. The editors simplify things greatly, and the Nova Bible helps explain some of the intricacies of the Nova engine. It's not as hard as it looks; go ahead and give it a try.

Thanks for all the words of wisdom.
I still don't understand it so someone else could do it if they felt like it...!

One other idea: how about buying a naked planet and having to terraform it first?

Hmm, that's harder. You'd need to use multiple systems (or multiple copies of the same system, rather) containing multiple stages of the planet in question, using VisBits as appropriate. Then you'd need to use missions to start the terraforming process then one mission for each stage of the terraforming, perhaps some crons now and then to make the process take longer. Hard, resource intensive, but not impossible. It's already done in the stock scenario, albeit you're merely helping the terraforming team by transporting equipment. (see the Terraforming string)

This post has been edited by JacaByte : 15 August 2009 - 09:51 PM

I can construct the plug-in and make it work, but only if you manage to find someone willing to work on graphics.