Are You Interested...

in some weird plugs?

So I've been brainstorming some different plug ideas, and I'm wondering if anyone would use them...
First, I was playing a really weird game, and you were a turret in the middle of the screen, and it was a lot of fun. So I thought, NOVA PLUG! The concept is, you go to a certain system that has a planet where you can buy these certain ships, and the ships are turrets! There could be different kinds, and you could outfit it the way you want! Anyway, the plug could add a few new missions for this ship, only available if you buy the ship. One could be, a ship hypes in and you kill i. Or, an allied convoy hypes in, and either a ship or a fleet hops in and you have to kill them off before they kill your convoy? Interested? Also, I could take some of my golden ships that are in the Delphi Ships thread and make a flet resource or a mission in which you have to destroy then. If it is a flet resource, then it is of a government that hates EVERYONE, and attacks on sight. If it's a mission, then they still want to kill you, but only show up if you accept the mission. I'll have others shortly, but I typed them in a word document that I can't really seem to find right now...
Let me know if you like these ideas.
Thanks,
Jai.

I like the idea but hardly have the time to make it without producing some trashy, ugly frakenplug.

I'll be making these, Darthkev, I'm just trying to find out if anyone would use them.
And, frakenplug???

@spartan-jai, on Sep 26 2010, 10:07 AM, said in Are You Interested...:

I'll be making these, Darthkev, I'm just trying to find out if anyone would use them.
And, frakenplug???

You're still working on airborne TC right? It's just that unless you can really manage the time you shouldn't make any other plug ins at the same time or else you might become overwhelmed and then they all become vaporware.

Or if you are still working on that TC, consider a method to smoothly add it to that. Two birds with one plug!

I'll consider adding these to Airborne, but they are mostly side plugs that will barely take any time. And yes, I'm still working on Airborne. I might not do a whole lot because I'm thinking about switching to Blender. I'm still mainly doing graphics for Airborne, and I won't be doing mission coding or anything else until I'm finished with the graphics. Plus, these will help me get practice for adding ships, spobs, systems, missions, and flets before I try to do it for Airborne.

I think that is a good idea for any TCs in progress (unless some have already implemented it) which would be Defense Turrets. Simple -- ship like a Hyperoid but with no ability to move. Turn and fire -- a 200mm railgun is one idea. Every time you jump into a syst the defense fleet would be different, so that helps.

@spartan-jai, on Sep 26 2010, 07:07 AM, said in Are You Interested...:

I'll be making these, Darthkev, I'm just trying to find out if anyone would use them.
And, frakenplug???

Sorry for the misunderstanding, I guess I was confused by this line:

@spartan-jai, on Sep 25 2010, 06:17 PM, said in Are You Interested...:

So I've been brainstorming some different plug ideas, and I'm wondering if anyone would use them...

As for the frakenplug comment, you've heard of Frankenstein's monster? It's common practice (or at least used to be) to take 'franken' and add on something else after it to suggest it resembled Frankenstein's monster by being either ugly, haphazard, or just thrown together.

I agree with Mk.32. If you're still learning the basics of plug-in making, it's a good idea to pause production of your TC and experiment with a small plug-in based around whatever it is you're trying to learn how to do. That's how The DarthKev Plug for EVN and DarthKev's Plug for EVO came into production. I made them to learn the basics of plug-in design.

I also agree with Mr. Tigerheart's suggestion. If you can find a way to fit that in, it would be really cool. Maybe even the next Spaceball...

It'll be there if there's enough support. And I have heard of Frankenstein's monster. And I understand how to make most components of the TC.

@darthkev, on Sep 25 2010, 09:34 PM, said in Are You Interested...:

I like the idea but hardly have the time to make it without producing some trashy, ugly frakenplug.

I was confused about this too; you misspelled it.

And here's an example of a frankenplug if ever there was one:

View PostDelphi, on Aug 24 2010, 10:52 PM, said:

Yeah... I mean, I like the color, but perhaps no.

Once again, Photoshop proves that just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

... a hot pink Cyphus -class vessel from Delphi. :blink: :wacko: :hector_bird:

Whoops. Missed the spelling error. And yeah, I also remember him remaking the Alexander in green. Not good.

Huh, I never noticed that spelling error, either. Weird...

And I actually like the green Alexander. Really, it looks really cool that way.

I like it too, but I think it looks more powerful with the blue. It makes a statement. Opinion. Anyway, regarding plugins again, I was thinking about another TC. This will be hard, but extremely small. Ten systems max. Each system has 2-4 spobs. Short storyline. Four different ships. Not including the two reward ships. Ten including variants. Few simple* missions. Four governments. Max twenty weapons. Few outfits. I'm actually hoping this will force some people to adapt to a different fighting style, much like AG. No cargo space. Tons of combat missions. In all, it will be small and easy to make. Money won't be. Ships will be expensive. The four ships are as follows:

Shrike Class Fighter-simplest ship. starting ship. weakest, but not by much.
Scylla Class Interceptor-slightly better than the shrike, but not up to a gunboats standards.
TNO Limousine-Made for hauling passengers. NOT GOOD IN COMBAT.
Charybdis Class War Cruiser-the only capital ship. Built for war, it carries a formidable compliment of twelve Scylla class fighters. Six turrets and eight missile types, do NOT shoot at this unless you want to die. THERE IS NO ESCAPE POD. PLAY STRICT AT OWN RISK.

*By simple, I mean like the ones offered in the mission BBS's

EDIT: Don't know if you noticed, but the Scylla and the Charybdis are from Homer's Odyssey. I know the Scylla is a huge sea monster but I needed a fighter name. Charybdis is a whirlpool/maelstrom.

This post has been edited by Spartan Jai : 05 October 2010 - 05:49 PM

@spartan-jai, on Oct 5 2010, 06:47 PM, said in Are You Interested...:

Anyway, regarding plugins again, I was thinking about another TC.

Sounds pretty cool. It could be an interesting experience, especially if it forces you to adapt to a different fighting style. I'd play it.

@spartan-jai, on Oct 5 2010, 06:47 PM, said in Are You Interested...:

I like it too, but I think it looks more powerful with the blue. It makes a statement. Opinion. Anyway, regarding plugins again, I was thinking about another TC. This will be hard, but extremely small. Ten systems max. Each system has 2-4 spobs. Short storyline. Four different ships. Not including the two reward ships. Ten including variants. Few simple* missions. Four governments. Max twenty weapons. Few outfits. I'm actually hoping this will force some people to adapt to a different fighting style, much like AG. No cargo space. Tons of combat missions. In all, it will be small and easy to make. Money won't be. Ships will be expensive. The four ships are as follows:

Shrike Class Fighter-simplest ship. starting ship. weakest, but not by much.
Scylla Class Interceptor-slightly better than the shrike, but not up to a gunboats standards.
TNO Limousine-Made for hauling passengers. NOT GOOD IN COMBAT.
Charybdis Class War Cruiser-the only capital ship. Built for war, it carries a formidable compliment of twelve Scylla class fighters. Six turrets and eight missile types, do NOT shoot at this unless you want to die. THERE IS NO ESCAPE POD. PLAY STRICT AT OWN RISK.

*By simple, I mean like the ones offered in the mission BBS's

EDIT: Don't know if you noticed, but the Scylla and the Charybdis are from Homer's Odyssey. I know the Scylla is a huge sea monster but I needed a fighter name. Charybdis is a whirlpool/maelstrom.

Seems a bit too much like the Project Micron to me.

Really? I don't look at micron too much. Also, while brainstorming during first period, I thought, why just one TC? My idea is that there's only one character to choose from, however, there is more than one cluster of ten systems. Maybe four. So then, each cluster of systems have their own set of four ships, and small storyline, and four governments. So in this one TC, you could end up playing as many as four different ones. So the ships I gave are the four for just ONE Cluster. Also, when you beat a storyline, you get sent to the reward planet, which has no reward. Just 'gates so you can choose to go to a different cluster. Don't know how I can make the reward ship available only after you finish the fourth storyline, as you can't control which cluster/plot you start in. So maybe a reward for each storyline, like an income for one, an outfit for another, a ship for another, and maybe something else. Just a thought. Reminder, the clusters won't be linked. Only linked by the reward system.
EDIT: Relooked at project micron, there are a couple large differences. One, there are AT EXTREME MAX four spobs in each system. Shlimazel has gone up to fourteen. I really don't have time to type the rest...

This post has been edited by Spartan Jai : 07 October 2010 - 04:14 PM

Just thinking about a third TC that I won't necessarily make, but what about making ships look like blips on a radar? Just an interesting idea, as if there were no materials strong enough to withstand space that were translucent, and you had to rely on sensors.

That’s an interesting thought. Presumably they wouldn’t rotate any more than the dots on the radar do. What would your own ship look like — some sort of crosshairs? Perhaps you could draw the shapes that are used by real navigational aids for aeroplanes.

That would make it tricky to handle ships. If the player's ship looked like crosshairs but the rest of the ships truly resembled radar blips, then you'd have to have two of every ship; one for the player one for AIs. You also wouldn't be able to let players board AI ships or they would have the chance to capture an AI ship and no longer look like crosshairs.

I like the idea, but ships would have to have their own unique shapes per ship class. Perhaps a silhouette.

QUOTE (DarthKev @ Nov 13 2010, 08:02 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If the player's ship looked like crosshairs but the rest of the ships truly resembled radar blips, then you'd have to have two of every ship; one for the player one for AIs.

Couldn’t you have an invisible KeyCarried ship that's silently installed on the player ship, and changes its appearance?

QUOTE (DarthKev @ Nov 13 2010, 08:02 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I like the idea, but ships would have to have their own unique shapes per ship class. Perhaps a silhouette.

I had thought that the lack of unique shapes was exactly the point. From the sprite you could tell the ship’s mass at most, and you’d need to rely on the targeting scanner to learn anything else about it.