EVN - Delphi

Photoshop makes some REALLY big files. Also, I have a lot of spin animations done in extreme high-res, as well as the resultant PICT files, which are also tremendously large. The one for the Cephecon spin is almost 70 MB on its own, and that's not including masks, lights, engine glows, etc.

It all adds up.

PS - Hey! I reached 200 posts!

Photoshop DOES make giant files. I was doing a graphics arts project for school, using a LunarCell planet and a starfield/nebula background I learned in a tutorial. The Illustrator file is 65.8 MB (we weren't learning Photoshop in that class, though, so I had to port it all over to Illustrator.) It wasn't bad for a night's work.

Yeah, I've been learning size issues with my EVN Firefly stuff. One of the models I'm working on is already sitting pretty at over 15 mb for the sprite sheet, so I'm working on taking that down a bit. PNG files suck up a lot of space, though. I have to be a bit extra careful, because since I'm doing 90% of my development on a Windows machine, it was only recently I learned about the whole issue of data limits with the files. Last time I did any programming with either a Mac or with resource files in general was when I was a kid playing with OS7 and my little LC585 that I bought from my school when they threw them away.

You may want to try copy/pasting your work from Photoshop to Graphic Converter. It can display everything Photoshop can with the advantage of smaller files. By this, I mean make what you want to make in Photoshop, flatten the layers, select all, copy to a new document in Graphic Converter, and then save it. If needed, you can save as a .jpg first in order to adjust the size of the file (this may require lowering the quality of graphics) before saving again as a .pct or .PICT for use with EVN.

The trouble with lossy, compressed formats of anything is that some of the data is always lost, and cannot be restored by putting it back into an uncompressed or lossless format. You could reconvert the file from a .jpg back to a .png, but you'd lose data like an alpha channel. With modern hard drives, it's not the worst thing in the world to have gigs of development files. If I recall right, Nova's development files were 8 gigs, at a time when a 30 gig hard drive was enormous and expensive. As long as the TC itself doesn't end up as a 4.5 gig download, I think we'll be okay. And if it does, I can see already that it will be well worth it. You know, short of adding in a lot of .mov files, I don't know if you even could create a TC that would have that much data to it without maxing out every resource in the game...

Perhaps a TC with entire system backgrounds in PICT format?

Someone tried that. It didn't work out. It would be better (and easier) to simply color the background using the sÿst editor.

Of course, I know you weren't serious about that in the first place, Delphi... you were kidding, right? Right?

Yes, I was kidding. Trust me, I entertained the thought once, and even tested it, but the parallax starfield doesn't agree with the giant sprites. They jitter a lot if you make them too big.

I am, however, not in the slightest bit against large star maps.

I've added more star clusters, and I think this is a good final shape and size for the Orion Arm of the Milky Way galaxy. There is still the Crux arm to do, but that's for another day.

:death: Dear God Delphi! That is a lot of systems! This is...... amazing! If I had determination like you....... I could do a lot of things! That is just amazing!

Meh, don't get your hopes too high. A lot of it is unpopulated space, but I am hiding a few planets and stations with goodies and side-missions only available outside of the star clusters to encourage exploration and pirate-blasting. It should be noted you'll also find "wanderers" in void-space: lone adventurers and scouts searching for rogue planets in the dead of the emptiness. A lot of these will offer customized/randomized escort missions much like the lone Terrapins in Nova that want your help going to ___, but these little adventures will likely be a lot more... adventurous than you initially anticipate. You never know if that "innocent" little Versatile shuttle asking for escort assistance is actually piloted by a legendary mercenary, with extra guns hidden under the superstructure and a bounty on his head, getting your own ship into a whole world of trouble. Others, comparatively, may ask for your help finding a hidden world, unlocking new places in the galaxy. There will be a lot of systems with initially hidden status, until a random encounter event reveals them, and they'll often provide you compensation for their discovery, whether through credits or unique upgrades suddenly becoming available, strengthening the RPG element of the plug. What fun is a full TC universe if the story line is all you can play around with?

Also, some enemy ships will have impeller interdiction systems, meant to hold you in the system until you either break range with them or take them out. I learned that an invisible beam weapon that simply tractors you with zero strength will still prevent you from jumping, so long as you're in range. Only NPC pirates will have this ability though, so you don't have to worry about it during "honorable" wartime combat.

QUOTE (Delphi @ Mar 15 2010, 11:39 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Meh, don't get your hopes too high.

The rest of your post only raised my hopes exponentially higher. Nice try, though.

QUOTE (Delphi @ Mar 15 2010, 08:39 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

<snip>

... to encourage exploration and pirate-blasting.

<snip>

Wait, you actually need to encourage those? I thought everyone took pleasure in mapping out the entire universe in-game and hunting down pirates because they were there. Shows what I know...

It certainly makes it more "adventurous", though. Now, exploring = level up!

QUOTE

I learned that an invisible beam weapon that simply tractors you with zero strength will still prevent you from jumping, so long as you're in range.

Nice find! You should consider posting that on the Cool Nova Hacks thread.

QUOTE (Delphi @ Mar 15 2010, 07:39 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

...strengthening the RPG element of the plug. What fun is a full TC universe if the story line is all you can play around with?

This is such an ingenious idea that we've never thought of it, despite the fact that said side stories are highly important staples in any, if not all, RPGs.

QUOTE (Delphi @ Feb 3 2010, 03:34 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I hate to mention this, especially since you are doing such a good job with everything else, but I just can't make sense of this. There's no way that this weapon can be held and shot comfortably. Placing the butt on your shoulder puts the trigger mechanism at ear level. Placing the butt against your gut looks like a really bad idea. Don't get me started about how heavy it looks.

Again, I'm really sorry to bring it up, but it just looks insanely impractical.

Hmm... http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/rocket3l1.html

Oh yes, the KADA-4 is almost inordinately heavy. However, it is also designated as a heavy rifle. Heavy weapons like the KADA-4 are meant to be carried by armored assault troops, wearing servo-assisted combat armor, such as the venerable NDC Archons. Even basic security/light infantry armors are often compatible with a shoulder-spanning rig that affords limited additional lifting/throwing power. NDC grenadiers carry an exoskeleton device just simply for this purpose, affording them extra throwing range. The harness resembles a backpack connected to a pair of armored pauldrons and gauntlets, with an estimated maximum lift weight of 80 lbs. When worn by a human, this complements the wearer's initial lifting ability, whatever that may be.

Though odd in design and size, the KADA-4 is gyroscopically stabilized, intensely reducing the gun's powerful kickback and enabling precise concentrated fire even when held without bracing. The stock does not extend; rather, it pivots either to the left or to the right for bracing against the user's hip or combat belt. The KADA-4 is carried by NDC Archon squadrons as their primary weapon, perfectly matched with the lifting power and dexterity of their assistive armor.

The KADA-4 can also be easily rack-mounted, affording it utility as an anchored heavy machine gun.

Basically, the gun is meant to be braced against the hip for better center-of-gravity stability, and targeting systems linked to the user's helmet or headset afford them the same sighting power as a traditional "iron sight" system. Think about something like the heavy pulse rifle from Aliens.

A-ha! Conveniently enough, I still had this drawing kicking around.

Female NDC Archon Carrying KADA-4 Rifle

This is the recon variant of the typically-heavy Archon armor, but you can still see the torso harness built into the suit, powered by an armored "turtle-shell" backpack energy cell.

This post has been edited by Delphi : 16 March 2010 - 10:08 PM

Awesome drawing I could only dream of such details, it kinda looks like Robocop was hit with Rule 63

thumbs up

With most of the proper galaxy developed, I'm doing a whole new batch of planet images, ranging from frozen M-class worlds to volcanic nightmare planets. I'll post again once I have some good new images.

Oh, and I also found a nifty way to make LunarCell generate gas giants pretty convincingly.

This post has been edited by Delphi : 20 March 2010 - 07:43 AM