Calling all modders

Discuss and distribute tools and methods for modding. Moderator - Grognak
brothershogo
Posts: 80
Joined: Fri Mar 22, 2013 11:03 am

Re: Calling all modders

Postby brothershogo » Wed Apr 17, 2013 7:42 am

I'd be happy to create some new ships... but what are you going for? Like "Master and Commander" type ships? "Pirates of the Caribbean" type ships? "Empire: Total War" type ships? Some reference pics would be nice. Also if you are going for "realism" then wooden submarines are just out of the question. That's why I'd recommend some kind of fantastical element.... but it's your idea/mod so I have no say.

The fantastical element just opens the mod up more. You could have "drones" act like mini zeppelin bombers, or steampunk helicopters like in "Water World" or "Mad Max 2".

Hmmm if your not interested in adding these elements then I might have to create my own "Nausicaa"/"Castle in the Sky" inspired mod. :P j/k j/k j/k
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DryEagle
Posts: 363
Joined: Thu Oct 04, 2012 11:17 am

Re: Calling all modders

Postby DryEagle » Wed Apr 17, 2013 1:55 pm

@shogo: glad to have you join us!
I don't mind steampunk kind of stuff, i.e. historically inaccurate but scientifically possible (in theory). I just don't want guys running around in magicka robes.

For the ships, yes, as I said we'll be looking for 9 of them to be playable: 3 small size (think rebel rigger), 3 large size (think most stock FTL ships) and 3 midsize (think zoltan cruiser) submersibles. Then as many hostile/NPC ships as we can come up with, at least 10 would be good.

If you want some kind of inspiration for the subs, take this: http://i.imgur.com/5SWGnp8.jpg
Speaking of historical accuracy, http://i.imgur.com/pAqhCwM.gif

Basically since we're having 9 ships with 3 classes, we want 3 different "shipyards" so the ships match in style.
So, we can have one that is "standard" ships with regular hull shape etc, one that is catamaran-type hulls, and the third... ? maybe a more technologically advanced type (in steampunk style)? also they can be different visually e.g. one can be more ornate and stuff like in pirates, one could be more functional like in commander, etc. just do whatever makes sense ;)
The small cutter ships will all have 3 weapon mounts, the larger line ships will have 4. The subs can be either.


@aval: looking good, though the bright purple might need to be toned down a bit later, if it looks odd ingame - but that's not hard to do after the fact.

for the animations, most of it should be pretty straightforward - I don't know what we'll do with teleporters though, but I don't want to leave them out since boarding should be important. Perhaps the just climb through a hatch in the floor? any suggestions here would be welcome


@pieman: that's quite a ways away and we're still going to have to go through a lot of making before testing, but thanks for the offer
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Alvarin
Posts: 71
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2012 5:54 am

Re: Calling all modders

Postby Alvarin » Wed Apr 17, 2013 2:16 pm

At first I thought making a Monty Python style giant hand pick and place the crew for teleporting, but swinging on a rope into and out of "frame" would be more in style. Need to see if the frame has enough width for that.
ThePieman
Posts: 43
Joined: Thu Mar 07, 2013 4:05 pm

Re: Calling all modders

Postby ThePieman » Wed Apr 17, 2013 2:18 pm

Maybe teleporters could be like a zipline thing, to sorta shoot the crew over to the other ship? I suppose a hatch would work as well, and it'd probably look better...
EDIT: What is a giant hand pick...?
DryEagle
Posts: 363
Joined: Thu Oct 04, 2012 11:17 am

Re: Calling all modders

Postby DryEagle » Wed Apr 17, 2013 9:43 pm

maybe the crew can just climb inside a box (solid snake style) and out of a box at the destination? though there's likely not enough frames in the anim for that...

at worst, we can just have them disappear into a cloud of smoke and emerge from smoke at the destination
All ships I have created include custom weapons, graphics etc:
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brothershogo
Posts: 80
Joined: Fri Mar 22, 2013 11:03 am

Re: Calling all modders

Postby brothershogo » Wed Apr 17, 2013 10:18 pm

DryEagle wrote:maybe the crew can just climb inside a box (solid snake style) and out of a box at the destination? though there's likely not enough frames in the anim for that...

at worst, we can just have them disappear into a cloud of smoke and emerge from smoke at the destination


Like MAGIC? LOL j/k j/k But seriously reconsider the Magic aspect please...? It doesn't need to be full blown in your face, just subtle... I mean FTL isn't even that realistic...
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aaaaaa50
Posts: 260
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2013 9:08 pm

Re: Calling all modders

Postby aaaaaa50 » Wed Apr 17, 2013 11:27 pm

A very small and reasonable amount of magic, as opposed to making everything run off and breath magic perhaps?
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Trollhax
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Apr 18, 2013 12:13 am

Re: Calling all modders

Postby Trollhax » Thu Apr 18, 2013 12:17 am

Hai. I could be a playtester if you need another one.
DryEagle
Posts: 363
Joined: Thu Oct 04, 2012 11:17 am

Re: Calling all modders

Postby DryEagle » Thu Apr 18, 2013 9:11 am

brothershogo wrote:But seriously reconsider the Magic aspect please...? It doesn't need to be full blown in your face, just subtle... I mean FTL isn't even that realistic...

what did you have in mind? and why is it needed? just seems like a cop-out, a lazy hand-waving excuse... "I can't figure out an explanation for X... MAGIC!" as I said I don't see any real reason to go down that path, and I don't want this thing ending up as some silly caricature. The events etc were all going to be of a more serious nature, not some "help us, tinkerbell is lost, can you find her?" nonsense.
If needed we can have some borderline-fictional technologies and such (this is essentially what steampunk is) ... I just don't get the -why- that's all.
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brothershogo
Posts: 80
Joined: Fri Mar 22, 2013 11:03 am

Re: Calling all modders

Postby brothershogo » Thu Apr 18, 2013 5:40 pm

Sorry. I get it. Borderline fictional steampunk technologies was what I was going for anyways NOT full-blown ship runs on mana and power crystals deal...
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