I log on, look under my name and it says scrub! What is this a TLC fansite? Just joking.

Anyway, I would like some information on Nova, not just some vague description, but something fairly in depth, ie plot, neat additions, etc. I'm just curious.

Barkman

Well, aparently ATMOS is charging $10 US to get the missions (you can still get a missionless version for free). Besides that, all I know is that there are awesome graphics

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Micah L.
E-mail: (url="http://"mailto:mjlanier@home.com")mailto:mjlanier@home.com(/url)mjlanier@home.com

Well, I saw this before pipeline obviously, so I'll try to answer that.

NOVA is a complete new universe. It has over 400 spöb's (planets, stations, etc) and over 500 systems (neither count includes additions for the replacement of systems because of storyline universe changes).

It has six main storylines, all of which are (or, rather, will be) at least 30 missions in length. All of which are branched and forked using either divergance or success/fail forks (and if you knew how much brain power went into creating a sensible, reasonable, non-recurring fork you would be impressed). As well as all that there are generic missions, some of which link to multiple of the main storylines, and others that simply become available as your combat ability increases. As for the six main storylines, a lot of the information is actually held in the planet and bar descriptions of the universe in general.

It has six main governments: Federation, Polaris, Vell-os, Pirate, Rebellion, Auroran. It also has 5 more gövt's that make up the 5 Major Houses of the Auroran Empire; these are: Heraan, Moash, Tekel, Dani and Vella. If you can see a correlation between the number of main gövt's and the number of storylines, there's a reason for that. The cultures of the govt's have been developed through a nearly 3 millenia long history that we know (and hint at throughout the game).

We have replaced all the graphics, from the ships, to the planets and stations, to the planet scenes and interface. We have even gone so far as to replace the spash and menu screen that appears on startup. Even the asteroids are changed.

We have tried to create a scenario with both visual and intellectual hooks, where the universe itself draws you into the story and lends a certain level of realism to it all. We want this to be one of the most visually stimulating, self-contained, internally consistant and fun ev scenarios ever. We think we are a long way towards succeeding...

Wow, that sounds very cool. If it lives up to the promise, maybe we could talk about an official Ambrosia release (ie, EV Nova) or such (with engine improvements if Matt will do them).

In any event, I'm intrigued, keep me up to date on the project.

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Andrew Welch / el Presidente / Ambrosia Software, Inc.

Will do Monsieur Presidente...

Andrew, did you get my reply to your mail...?

With bated breath,

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(pipeline)

Yo, easy payment scemes and a whole new game. Hope it's worth it. There's a lot to live up to, thinking of Martin Turner (Free) here. Seriously, I'm really looking forward to this one.

(This message has been edited by Alan (edited 01-18-2000).)

Aren't we all? But, seriously, we've spent a year and more on this. We think it doesn't suck.

Hit (url="http://"http://ids.tuu.utas.edu.au/williamd/nova/nova_shots/")http://ids.tuu.utas....ova/nova_shots/(/url) for some cool screenshots.

best,

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(pipeline)

Ten Bucks, huh, I would probably pay from what I have seen and heard. I have spent more for a lot dumber things.

2 words:
Awsome screenshots !!!!!

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I have gone to find myself if I
return before I get back tell me
to wait
-Me

(This message has been edited by Fuzz Bucket (edited 01-19-2000).)

I have done a bit of beta-testing for Nova and believe me, it is worth whatever Atmos asks. The man hours that have gone into Nova are astounding and the plug will be awsome.

Atmos is an Austrailian (S) company, right? If so what is the price fo the game in Canadian dollers? C'mon, give us canucks a break, we have to pay double what everyone else pays.

Barkman

I wouldn't worry mate. The Australian dollar is currently trading at about 65 cents to the American dollar. So don't think we at ATMOS are unaware of the problem...

As of today the Canadian dollar is trading at around 68.9 cents to the American dollar.

Barkman

Where can I locate a copy of the free part of Nova? All I can find is a beta directory that doesn't allow anonymous login. Is this because Nova still isn't done yet, and if so, when is it coming ( the free part)?

Reply to: Hawk

NOVA will be shareware, so when it is complete the 'free' part will be downloadable by everyone. If you like it and want more than the 4-5 missions in each storyline then you will have to pay a registration fee to get them as a series of smaller plugins. It has to be a series of plugins because if we tried to fit all the missions in with all the universe changes due to the storylines we would go over Maxmissions, Max missionbits, maxSpobs and maxsystems. You will not have to wait too long. In about two months (give or take a month) until the game is complete whereupon we will be asking our beta testers to go over everything with a fine-tooth comb looking for spelling errors, mission munts, etc.

Once that is complete, NOVA will be available to all...

So you mean late march/early april release of the basic free part and the initial expansions packs (the pay missions)?

hawk wrote:
So you mean late march/early april release of the basic free part and the initial expansions packs (the pay missions)?

Close, but I doubt it. Probably closer to late April, early May by the time we iron out the MAJOR bugs.

Speaking of which, I have to talk to Pipeline about things related to the release date of the plug. Thanks for reminding me...