1021
General Announcements / Precursors v0.3.1 alpha Released
« on: July 24, 2005, 01:48:20 am »
Uploaded windows version, and fixed a bug in the process..... Now I need sleep....
--Chris
--Chris
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News:
New Release of Precursors! After twelve years, we've finally released another version. Consider this a tribute to all the work we've done, all the friends we've made, and how far we've come.
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1022
Precursors / Soldier Types
« on: July 23, 2005, 06:52:33 pm »Quote from: "fehknt"
[...] I'm thinking that anyone that is determined enough can get/become a prestige character. There's no selection process, just certian requirements that are pretty damn tough to meet.
Yeah, I agree. For becoming black ops, you will need ot meet those requirements, *and* be selected, however.... since we don't want everyone running arounf with black ops characters needlessly.
Let's say you want to have a member of your 'clan' (in the game... think normal MMORPG clans/guilds) become 'blackops' so they can do some spying, etc for you... they should be allowed to do so. However admins would be able to 'blow thier cover' and remove that character's blackops status.
1023
Precursors / Soldier Types
« on: July 23, 2005, 02:45:06 pm »
Hmm, I like that. I think that things should be broken up into these three catagories:
Normal Characters, Prestige Characters, Legendary Characters.
Normals are well.. normal players. Everyone should have one of these.
Prestige characters are the black ops, and sooni characters... they're difficult to get, and tend to move the 'story' along... (and also have access to things most people don't)
Legendary Characters are the big players of the universe... controlled by admins, and a *few* select people that I personally choose. (Or atleast that are chosen by someone from the dev team....) These character will be tough, and pretty impressive.
How's that work?
Normal Characters, Prestige Characters, Legendary Characters.
Normals are well.. normal players. Everyone should have one of these.
Prestige characters are the black ops, and sooni characters... they're difficult to get, and tend to move the 'story' along... (and also have access to things most people don't)
Legendary Characters are the big players of the universe... controlled by admins, and a *few* select people that I personally choose. (Or atleast that are chosen by someone from the dev team....) These character will be tough, and pretty impressive.
How's that work?
1024
General Announcements / Released!
« on: July 23, 2005, 12:00:48 pm »
It's released!! Both windows and Linux are up, and the windows version has an installer. 
Enjoy! (and leave feedback!)
[EDIT:] The Windows version is fixed! Yaaay![/EDIT]
Enjoy! (and leave feedback!)
[EDIT:] The Windows version is fixed! Yaaay![/EDIT]
1025
Precursors / RTS / FPS aspect, with comments on AI
« on: July 22, 2005, 11:21:50 pm »
No problem....
(And Yaaay for the 400th post on the forums... w00t for me!)
--Chris
(And Yaaay for the 400th post on the forums... w00t for me!)
--Chris
1026
Precursors / Character Creation, Races, and Professions.
« on: July 22, 2005, 11:20:59 pm »
Well, here's my thinking... we need to have them pick where they want to go with a character when they make it. Think about D&D... you have to build your character to be a wizard... same character is gunna make a piss poor fighter. So, pick your character before hand.... and the sub professions are what you'd like to train for... not what you start out as. That's *very* fluid. (think of it as just a question on the military application.)
1027
Precursors / Soldier Types
« on: July 22, 2005, 11:16:53 pm »
I have seral thoughts.. none of which I feel like posting right now, so 
. Actually, I like the breakdown of soldier types, and the description. A few notes though:
Grunts - These *should* be viable for experianced players. Sure, don't give all players the uber l33t chaingun of death.. but if you stay with this, you should get access to it eventually. We need to entice them to stay a GroPo (Ground Pounder).
Special Ops - I love this. Excellent idea... I also think this is there Black Ops should recruit from....
BlackOps - This is most certainly a prestiege rank... but one that *should* be *too* hard to get... but give them good reasons for *not* wanting this rank... like the whole thing in MIB. You leave your old life behind, and you live, breath, and die for whomever you report for.... something like that. (Only admins could make a person a black op I think)
Field Commander - I like you ideas here... except enhancing traits.... but we'll see how traits work before I comment more on that.
--Chris
. Actually, I like the breakdown of soldier types, and the description. A few notes though:Grunts - These *should* be viable for experianced players. Sure, don't give all players the uber l33t chaingun of death.. but if you stay with this, you should get access to it eventually. We need to entice them to stay a GroPo (Ground Pounder).
Special Ops - I love this. Excellent idea... I also think this is there Black Ops should recruit from....
BlackOps - This is most certainly a prestiege rank... but one that *should* be *too* hard to get... but give them good reasons for *not* wanting this rank... like the whole thing in MIB. You leave your old life behind, and you live, breath, and die for whomever you report for.... something like that. (Only admins could make a person a black op I think)
Field Commander - I like you ideas here... except enhancing traits.... but we'll see how traits work before I comment more on that.
--Chris
1028
Precursors / Character Creation, Races, and Professions.
« on: July 22, 2005, 01:30:19 pm »
Right now I'm not sure about most of the terms I'm going to be using here, but the concepts and the ideas are what's important.
When a user goes to create a character, what's the process going to be like? I've been asking myself this question for a while, and I decided I should answer it myself, and see what you think.
The first thing a user needs to do, is pick thier race. I've decided that we're goign to have more than Humans, but what ones we're going to have, I'm not sure of. However, let's assume that we have more than one option here.
After a user picks thier race, they needs to pick thier appearance. I would like the ability to add tattos, change eye colors, pick from a few sets of heads, arms, legs, etc... and the option to choose to be missing certain body parts... (like no left hand, no left eye, no right leg... w/e.)
After they've done that, and picked out a basic outfit, they need to pick a profession. The player should have this figured out before they pick thier appearance, so maybe we want to change the order, and put this before appearance, but we'll decide that latter. however picking thier profession also determins what factions they can be members of. Here's the list I can think of, with the possible factions attatched. (Note, *RaceX* is a race who's name I've not decided, but they're going to be a *small* power that minds it's own buisness, and doesn't bother the Terrans, or the League.)
o Military (Terran, League, *RaceX*)
o Mercinary (Freelance,Pirate)
o Smuggler (Freelance, Pirate)
o Trader (All)
o Civilian (All)
o Pirate (Freelance, Pirate) ***
*** (Seems odd, having the 'Profesion' Pirate have the option having of being of in the faction 'Pirate', however that faction is really going to be a list of different pirate groups... where as you can be a freelance pirate and create your own pirate faction.)
Now, each of these professions would have 'specializations' that are like sub professions. For example:
o Military
Now, don't get confuse... 'Navy' isn't a specialization... it's just for organizational purposes, making the specializations easier to find.
After this, the player would change thier stats, and then decide thier home planet, and starting planet (Or base). Pretty simple, I think.
--Chris
When a user goes to create a character, what's the process going to be like? I've been asking myself this question for a while, and I decided I should answer it myself, and see what you think.
The first thing a user needs to do, is pick thier race. I've decided that we're goign to have more than Humans, but what ones we're going to have, I'm not sure of. However, let's assume that we have more than one option here.
After a user picks thier race, they needs to pick thier appearance. I would like the ability to add tattos, change eye colors, pick from a few sets of heads, arms, legs, etc... and the option to choose to be missing certain body parts... (like no left hand, no left eye, no right leg... w/e.)
After they've done that, and picked out a basic outfit, they need to pick a profession. The player should have this figured out before they pick thier appearance, so maybe we want to change the order, and put this before appearance, but we'll decide that latter. however picking thier profession also determins what factions they can be members of. Here's the list I can think of, with the possible factions attatched. (Note, *RaceX* is a race who's name I've not decided, but they're going to be a *small* power that minds it's own buisness, and doesn't bother the Terrans, or the League.)
o Military (Terran, League, *RaceX*)
o Mercinary (Freelance,Pirate)
o Smuggler (Freelance, Pirate)
o Trader (All)
o Civilian (All)
o Pirate (Freelance, Pirate) ***
*** (Seems odd, having the 'Profesion' Pirate have the option having of being of in the faction 'Pirate', however that faction is really going to be a list of different pirate groups... where as you can be a freelance pirate and create your own pirate faction.)
Now, each of these professions would have 'specializations' that are like sub professions. For example:
o Military
- - Army
- x Sniper
- x Tank Commando
- x (etc.)
- - Navy
- x Fighter Pilot
- x Starship Captain
- x (etc.)
Now, don't get confuse... 'Navy' isn't a specialization... it's just for organizational purposes, making the specializations easier to find.
After this, the player would change thier stats, and then decide thier home planet, and starting planet (Or base). Pretty simple, I think.
--Chris
1029
Precursors / The 3 Paths
« on: July 22, 2005, 12:53:26 pm »
While a good deal of what you wrote is true, there are a few comments I would like to make. For one, there are numerous professions that will be available to people.... and these 'three paths' are more a conceptual thing than anything that will be programmed in the game. however, you're right that most people will follow one of theese three paths.
--Chris
--Chris
1030
General Announcements / Precursors v0.3.1 alpha Released
« on: July 21, 2005, 06:17:19 pm »
Today marks the second time since we started this project that we've done a release. This release is what the previous one should have been. It has taken hundreds of hours to get from 0.3 to here, and it will take hundreds more for our next release. However, as head of this project, I know that the team I'm working with is more than willing to do what it takes to get Precursors to a final release. I have the privlege and honor of working with two brilliant programmers, one of whom has only recently joined. As you take a look at what we've been doing, keep in mind that the credit goes to them, for all the hard work they've put into this.
This release is almost a complete rewrite of the previous version. We've rewritten atleast two thirds of the code we had before, to make it better, faster, and more stable. We have worked hard to improve controls, and even though there aren't any new features, we're now ready to put those in. I take great pride in what we've done so far, and I promise you that before the end of september, we will have a thrid release that will include a GUI, Networking, and combat. (That's the goal). Please, tell your friends about us, and try to get as many people on the forums as possible. Right now we're willing to take on new developers, or other people who want to contribute. We won't promise a dev spot to anyone, but we're open to expanding our team.
A side note. Right now there's only a linux version up. The windows version will be added tonight, with any luck. Thank you all for staying with us, and I hope you all bring more people into the community we're building.
--Chris
P.S. I will post later with a list of controls, and an update when the windows version is uploaded.
This release is almost a complete rewrite of the previous version. We've rewritten atleast two thirds of the code we had before, to make it better, faster, and more stable. We have worked hard to improve controls, and even though there aren't any new features, we're now ready to put those in. I take great pride in what we've done so far, and I promise you that before the end of september, we will have a thrid release that will include a GUI, Networking, and combat. (That's the goal). Please, tell your friends about us, and try to get as many people on the forums as possible. Right now we're willing to take on new developers, or other people who want to contribute. We won't promise a dev spot to anyone, but we're open to expanding our team.
A side note. Right now there's only a linux version up. The windows version will be added tonight, with any luck. Thank you all for staying with us, and I hope you all bring more people into the community we're building.
--Chris
P.S. I will post later with a list of controls, and an update when the windows version is uploaded.
1031
Precursors / RTS / FPS aspect, with comments on AI
« on: July 21, 2005, 05:11:36 pm »
*rubs hands together* Eeeeeeeeeexcelent!
--Chris
--Chris
1032
Precursors / RTS / FPS aspect, with comments on AI
« on: July 21, 2005, 12:07:59 pm »
Hmm. I do like your ideas about sutom loadouts for players. I'm sure in this day and age, it would be possible for sdoldier to requisition different equipment to suit thier needs. It makes a good deal of sense, and allows for the smae gameplay as the mercs, but in a very different environment.
Now, as far as manufacturing things, I highly doubt that for every battle militaries will being a portable manufacturing plant, or that every planet will have the raw materials they need... However it would be stupid not to have the ability when needed... but the manufactuing plant would have to either be brought and installed before hand, or it would have to be shipped... and set up durring battle... which might take some real effort. I doubt it'd be a standard thing.
Now, as far as manufacturing things, I highly doubt that for every battle militaries will being a portable manufacturing plant, or that every planet will have the raw materials they need... However it would be stupid not to have the ability when needed... but the manufactuing plant would have to either be brought and installed before hand, or it would have to be shipped... and set up durring battle... which might take some real effort. I doubt it'd be a standard thing.
1033
Precursors / Burning desire for a new feature?
« on: July 20, 2005, 08:52:53 pm »
No, it's a bug fix. We have masses on the objects..... nd no clue why they only spin. It's bugging me, and will be fixed as soon as possible. (It's gotta be something in our code, as the physics plugin we wrote now has a demo application (written by someone else) that proves that objects *Can* be pushed around.. why ours can't... I have no idea.
I promoise I'll look into it when I get some time.
--Chris
I promoise I'll look into it when I get some time.
--Chris
1034
Precursors / RTS / FPS aspect, with comments on AI
« on: July 20, 2005, 08:34:05 pm »Quote from: "fehknt"
Why not both? If you're fighting for a faction that has an army, then military style fits the bill. If you're fighting for a faction that has a war to fight, and cash to spend, but no army of thier own, then they hire out.[...]
Ok, I think I'm missing something here.... isn't that what I was proposing? If you're a member of any military, you won't be working freelance, you'll be working for them.... if they order you to go help, chances are they will send thier own troops (along with you) to go fight, so the military style still applies. If you're a mecinary, you will be fighting in the mercinary style, regardless of who you're fighting for....
Now, a word about cost. People working for a large military will get paid whatever the military pays people of thier rank. (ranks work just like normal military ranks... you don't become a general 'per battle', instead you're a general, who gets assigned battles) That means that all 'units' will have a certain cost, which the commander doesn't care about (money will be kept track of, and the commander will be bothered if there's something to worry about, like low funds)
If you're a merc, you care about the cost. (it comes out of your profit) I'm not sure how to work the unit costs (since mercs generally don't work for fixed rates... do they?)
Now, resorces are another thing to think about.. having tones of money doesn't mean you have a ton of guns... you *could* if you buy them. What you outfit your people with will be dependant on what's available, and what can be bought. However, ammunition, guns, and other weapons aren't unlimited like in most RTS.
--Chris
1035
Precursors / Precursors Icon
« on: July 20, 2005, 12:48:02 am »
Pole closed. #10 wins. (For now. The GUI style is still in flux... it may be updated to match at a latter date.)
1036
Precursors / New HUD in Development
« on: July 17, 2005, 12:32:03 am »Quote from: "fehknt"
How about HUD presets on hotkey combos? Basic navigation is one hotkey, combat is another, close range navigation is another, um, maybe a setup esp. for certian mission types (exploration)[...]
I agree completely. It's how we've thought of it form early on... however, what modes should we have? What should go one them? Care to make a list, anyone?
Quote from: "fehknt"
[...]These could even remap the keybindings... yes, I like this[...]
Most definitely. You see, our keybinding system is unique in the game, and it handles all that stuff flawlessly. You see, each one can have a keybinding config embeded in it, and when you swtich, it update the keybindings. Pretty simple, and support's already in the game for it. (Ask whitelynx about the kyebinding system, and what's different about it sometime.)
Quote from: "fehknt"
[...]I want to have the ability to have a window that will constantly keep track of the nearest ship that has weapons powered up, or maybe that belongs to a hostile faction, or that is a law-enforcement vechicle... I want to ba able to have it change targets on-the-fly if there's a new ship in the area that meets my "closest" criteria, so I don't have to tap the "target nearest enemy" key every now and then to know if there's an enemy nearby[...]
Niiice idea. I hate having to hit 'r' in a lucasarts game.. I swear.... it's too damned distracting. I've found it works best to have someone else man the keyboard... sort of an impromptu multiplayer session. I'd like to remove the need in this game. Let's have it auto-update....
Note: This window will only be there if we decide the mode 'needs' it. All windows will be dependant on the 'mode selected'.
--Chris
1037
Precursors / WARNING: LONG POST
« on: July 17, 2005, 12:24:57 am »
Ok, I have some major thoughts on this. Unless I have some large holes pointed out to me that I can't see, this is kinda the way I want it... (I'm open to having my mind changed, though)
There are two possible systems of command, both different, but workable.
Military Style Command
In the military, you're not asked to do a job, you're ordered to do it. So, Commanders will be given X ships, Y troops, and X equipment (including support ships, etc.) In deciding who's AI and who's player... we do it like the military. Whatever 'unit' (as in rougue squadron, not as in a single player) is the best suited to a mission will be assigned... or whatever's available. That Unit will be made up of whatever players have been assigned to is, and the rest will be AI. The players will each have whatever role has been assigned to them in the unit... on player may have decided to train as a sniper, and hece is the person the commander will use when he needs a sniper. It's up to the commander to decide who to send to do what. He should know (atleast some) of the troops, having worked with them before. Even hif he doesn't, basic stats will be easily accessable.... so he can make an iformed decision. I'm not decided if he will know who's AI, and who's player... depends on how good the AI is, really. However that will be reflected in it's stats, I would assume.
Equipment is assigned to the players. They mostlikely will not 'own' much of anything, it will all be provided. IF a player would like to purchase a certain piece of equipment, I assume it's possible, but they will still be given the choice of whatever's provided.
Mercenary Style
With mercinaries, things are a bit different. The commander will most likely be given whatever his 'customer' provides, along with his own people. Here, he will post a 'job request' if one of his own people doesn't fit the bill. It will list the equipment provided, and the equipment *not* provided, along with the payment. Whatever player wants to take the job can, but the Commander can reject someone if he chooses. The commander decides how long a job posting is open... if he needs someone, and no one's accepted, he can choose to 'buy' another merc from an available pool (read: random AI mercs). Everythign else will be like the military style.
Equipment on the other hand will mostly be personal for all mercs involved in the operation. Merc armies will most likely be much smaller, and limited in resources, so personal weapons, and ships will be a must. That also means they can be outfitted as players see fit. I can see a good number of people pefering the Merc style, as there's more freedom to play as you want. However, if you crash your fighter, you've gotta foot the bill....
Also, medical care is much more... ahem... shady in the Merc style. Bandage your own damn arm.
--Chris
There are two possible systems of command, both different, but workable.
Military Style Command
In the military, you're not asked to do a job, you're ordered to do it. So, Commanders will be given X ships, Y troops, and X equipment (including support ships, etc.) In deciding who's AI and who's player... we do it like the military. Whatever 'unit' (as in rougue squadron, not as in a single player) is the best suited to a mission will be assigned... or whatever's available. That Unit will be made up of whatever players have been assigned to is, and the rest will be AI. The players will each have whatever role has been assigned to them in the unit... on player may have decided to train as a sniper, and hece is the person the commander will use when he needs a sniper. It's up to the commander to decide who to send to do what. He should know (atleast some) of the troops, having worked with them before. Even hif he doesn't, basic stats will be easily accessable.... so he can make an iformed decision. I'm not decided if he will know who's AI, and who's player... depends on how good the AI is, really. However that will be reflected in it's stats, I would assume.
Equipment is assigned to the players. They mostlikely will not 'own' much of anything, it will all be provided. IF a player would like to purchase a certain piece of equipment, I assume it's possible, but they will still be given the choice of whatever's provided.
Mercenary Style
With mercinaries, things are a bit different. The commander will most likely be given whatever his 'customer' provides, along with his own people. Here, he will post a 'job request' if one of his own people doesn't fit the bill. It will list the equipment provided, and the equipment *not* provided, along with the payment. Whatever player wants to take the job can, but the Commander can reject someone if he chooses. The commander decides how long a job posting is open... if he needs someone, and no one's accepted, he can choose to 'buy' another merc from an available pool (read: random AI mercs). Everythign else will be like the military style.
Equipment on the other hand will mostly be personal for all mercs involved in the operation. Merc armies will most likely be much smaller, and limited in resources, so personal weapons, and ships will be a must. That also means they can be outfitted as players see fit. I can see a good number of people pefering the Merc style, as there's more freedom to play as you want. However, if you crash your fighter, you've gotta foot the bill....
Also, medical care is much more... ahem... shady in the Merc style. Bandage your own damn arm.
--Chris
1038
Precursors / Experience system
« on: July 16, 2005, 11:56:51 pm »
Well, it is interesting... nice to see other people suggest the idea. I really think it's the way to go.
1039
Precursors / Experience system
« on: July 13, 2005, 08:42:11 pm »
Agreed.
/me votes for a TI-82 emulator to be embeded in the app to do the calculation.
/me is exhausted right now, and will likly regret this post.
--Crihs
/me votes for a TI-82 emulator to be embeded in the app to do the calculation.
/me is exhausted right now, and will likly regret this post.
--Crihs
1040
Precursors / Uber-Tuff DoomSender Anti-Capital Ship Pistol [and others]
« on: July 13, 2005, 09:46:12 am »Quote from: "contingencyplan"
These are all good ideas... Unfortunately, they would also require obtaining permission from their respective copyright holders to use them.
Not really. Only if it's a part of the game.... It *could* be an 'unofficial mod' that happens to be applied.... people modify games all the time, to include things like that.... so long as it's not a 'feature' of the game... We're fine. (I've done research.)
However if we market the game with, "Random Borg battles!" in the feature list... Paramount will come down on our asses like white on rice on a paperplate in a snow storm.
--Chris