Ideas/Notes
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Revision as of 23:44, 22 August 2007 by Ghoulsblade (Talk | contribs)
these are old notes, some things might be obsolete by now, see Design Documentation for up-to-date stuff
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chatlogs
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articles and links
notes
14.05.2007
Ghoulsblade 22:07, 14 May 2007 (CEST) just a few thoughts
http://freegamer.blogspot.com/2006/06/open-source-3d-space-games.html vegastrike : project does not seem too healthy , hud and map not pretty both vegastrike privateer mods: not very pretty (2d gfx, cockpit, station-backgrounds) vegastrike mods : Babylon 5, Star Wars, and Star Trek : copyright problems ? No Gravity : not very pretty (hud, skybox, lowpoly ships) oolite : not very pretty : hud, lowpoly spaceships parsec : dead, last news 2003 planetery landing (elite, about TWENTY years ago) , walking inside spaceships (sundog, also about TWENTY years ago, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SunDog:_Frozen_Legacy, old abandoned opensource follow up) (also has planetery landing AND driving around in a jeep or something like that i heard) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/New_sundog-interior-revised2.png spaceship construction : lego like with intuitive ingame editor possible for players, important for modders, vegastrike seems to suffer from ship creation being very difficult viable project even with few artists, as it reduces the need for complex good looking models knowledge of 3d-modelling not needed to create spaceships trading, mining : chemical system (producing building materials from raw ore) building plans (constructing machines from building materials) coop lan based instead of massive multiplayer : makes project more realisitic (no mainserver cluster, does not require big playerbase (empty worlds are no fun)) suitable for "casual" gaming (nice for having a few minutes of fun) too few coop games, opensource interesting for LAN parties no tough cheat protection is needed for coop-LAN target audience (at least not as much as for mmorpg) boarding disabled ships (escape velocity) trying to avoid overkilling enemies so ship-parts can be reused encourage modding : scripting language for core parts of the game, c++ only for performance critical stuff making new ships/equipment/maps etc should be easy plugin system so people don't have to make a "full" mod, but can do make a custom hud element. (no tough cheat protection needed, see above)
GUI
- switch between flight-controls and mouse-mode
- e.g. with esc
- like in systemshock
- enables much functionality without requiring a monstrous keyboard layout
- mouseover text can show keyboard-shortcuts, and can also be used for learning ingame without reading big manuals
- visual help for targetting and travelling could be easy to control this way
- targetted actions (scan, communicate, escort) can be activated WITHOUT using tab to navigate a list of all ships
- icons for ships outside the view-radius on the border of the screen in the appropriate direction
- playernames, shiptype, government, FOF (friend or foe)
building-kit
- old, emptied ships could be sold on a junkyard
- size and fleet limit by exponentially increasing fuel usage for hypespace
- mass-center point
- middle alignment of main engines required
- efficiency of steering engines uses leverage effect -> max entfernung zum schwerpunkt
- main engines can be used for steering
sensors and cloaking
- mono : you only get direction, not position
- stereo : approximate position (area/gradient on hud)
- triangulation : exact pos
- planar and 3dimensional sensors ? no...
- strong differences in sensor-range
active Sensors
( similar to ping on submarine, you get infos, but you tell others can detect your positions )
- radar (metal, blocked by stealth-material)
- rotating and omni
- laser (exact distance, does not work on reflective surfaces) , in combo with visual
- eject dust : cloaked can be detected if it flies through
- dust : neutralises reflection on smooth surfaces (laser)
- metal pieces -> can be seen on radar if they are pushed aside by a ship
- radioaktive dust : radiation between dust and own ship is blocked by other ships : direction can be determined
- luminescent material : improves visual detection
- sensor-carpet : many little sensors, that transmit on contact, similar to mines
passive Sensors
- visuell
- infrarot
- uv
- passive radar
- passive-laser
- radioactivity (geiger-counter)
- radiation generally
- magnetic
- electric
- chemical : scent,exhaust,signature visible/detectable when near enough, can be followed
- mass-displacement
- quantum stuff
- telepathic/psionic
- gravitation-sensors (gyroscope), to detect objects with big mass (planets, capital ships, starbases,..)
- (if not visually possible, e.g.suns, planets, moons, capital ships)
cloaking
- only passive sensors
- hull has to be covered in special material, or shields must be installed
- engine and weapons strongly limited (weapons probably disabled)
- different types of cloaking against differnt sensors
weapons and shields
- high-mass (ballistic,rockets) cannot be deflected by shield, but requires ammo
- different shields
- turrets and guns with 1 to 4 barrels (faster firing rate)
- ring-weapons (area, effective against groups of ships)
launching devices
- guns
- turrets
- beams
- grenades (against persecutors)
- mines (also spidermines, that follow the enemy)
- rockets (unguided)
- missiles (different tracking systems, see sensors)
- torpedos (long-range controlled rocket)
- warheads (can be controlled, can have shields and cloaking)
- drones, spores
- glue to hull, damage over time
- disturb steering and engine
- leech energy
- destroy wiring
- invade ship and destroy important systems
- kill crew
- chemical/bio/nanite/plasma clouds (similar to flamethrower, different livetime)
- against certain engines, slow persecutors
- pulse (e.g. EMP) , uniform spread in all directions
- lightning (overload engergy net)
- leech energy
shield-types freelancer
Graviton - strong laser, photon, pulse; weak plasma, particle
Positron - strong tachyon, neutron; weak laser, pulse, photon
Molecular - strong plasma, particle; weak tachyon, neutron
effect
damage and energy requirement in MegaJoule ?
- proton
- elektron
- neutron
- laser (pulse laser)
- plasma
- railgun
- ballistic (chaingun,nailgun,cannon,revolver,magnum,colt,gun,minigun,rifle)
- chemo/bio
- nuclear
- spray-shot : reduce enemy shield quickly
shields
- deflector,field
- magnetic,organic,quantum,proton
- many little plates floating around
- chemical/structural shields (plastic hull, soap bubble, etc)
- heat : burning plasma ring (trigger rockets early)
- defense laser, magnetic pulse : deflect single projectiles
- shield-nanites/droids/robots on hull, serve as mobile armor
Fighter / Drones / Mobile weapons
- nicht nur fliegerform, weil kein luftwiederstand und keine schwerkraft
- pyramiden-/würfel-/kugel-artige mit vielen steuerdüsen für den nahkampf
- zylinder-/kegel-artige mit einem haupttriebwerk für den fernkampf
- fliegerformen für kampf in atmosphäre, und mischung aus nah- und fern-kampf
- inovative taktische steuerung :
- click,click : die langstrecken-waffen-drohnen sollen sich auf diese beiden punkte verteilen
- formationen können abgespeichert und geladen werden. (speerspitze, hinterhalt, breite front, etc)
- evasion- / attacking- / navigations-maneuver
- bombard, loop, flank, chase, escape, dogfight
- power-slide (approach fast and use inertia : flank + back attack)
- orbit (different heights/speeds for different mass)
- docking
- enter atmosphere, landing
- gravity-whip around sun / planets (centripetal force)
- long-range route planning suggestions, by section
- multiple suggestions when considering jump-gates and costs
- shows fuel usage
- buy/sell goods can be planned in
- autopilot-maneuver possible without using mouse-controls, or controlling a turret while the auto-pilot is flying
- evasion- / attacking- / navigations-maneuver
- bombard, loop, flank, chase, escape, dogfight
- power-slide (approach fast and use inertia : flank + back attack)
- orbit (different heights/speeds for different mass)
- docking
- enter atmosphere, landing
- gravity-whip around sun / planets (centripetal force)
- long-range route planning suggestions, by section
- multiple suggestions when considering jump-gates and costs
- shows fuel usage
- buy/sell goods can be planned in
- autopilot-maneuver possible without using mouse-controls, or controlling a turret while the auto-pilot is flying
environment conditions
- in planets and nebulaes
- strong radiation
- storms (electrical, magnetic, heat, wind, ion, plasma)
- lightning strikes
- volcano eruptions, magma, gas, acid
- nebula,clouds,rain (bad sight)
- extreme temperatures
- acid atmosphere
- strong atmospheric pressure
- water,liquid (diving, strong pressure, different engine)
- heat on atmosphere-entry (heatshields)
- asteroids und meteorites
- engine works differently depending on gases (nebula, planet)
- burnable / explosive gases
- earth-quakes
- parasites (eat hull)
- sun-corona
- navigation in atmosphere depends on air friction and gravity
- some things leech energy, in other you can charge energy (with appropriate devices)
- solar cells (sun)
- turbines (heat)
- condensers (electricity)
- receptors (ion)
- gases and acid atmosphere can be sucked in and processed or stored
general ideas
- multiple hud-sets ( fighter = wingcommander with radar radar , cruiser = computer-like, bridge, multiple screens, birdview with sensor infos, radar only .. )
