I am thinking about making a small replacement plug-in that would exist mainly to exploit an idea. I do not have any inclination to make custom ship models or (especially) ship resources, despite my graphics competency, so I am asking all of you how you would rank custom ships and ship graphics over the other aspects of a plug-in.
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Do you mean to replace resources in the data files? This is simple enough, the numbers in the plug replace the numbers in the data files... Otherwise please clarify...
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(url="http://"http://www.geocities.com/infernomsh")Inferno Studios(/url)
I was pretty vague, sorry
I am planning on writing a plug-in in a different universe. It is mostly based on an idea, and I was not planning to replace the ships.
I am wondering how important people think custom ships are in an EV plug-in, if they would be worth the effort, or if one can make a successful and good total replacement plug-in without new ships.
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Well, I think its cooler to make new ships, but they aren't really necessary.
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(url="http://"http://www.geocities.com/infernomsh")Inferno Studios(/url)
If it's in a custom universe, I would say that new ship resources are a must, but new ship graphics aren't that important. However, people probably like change, so you might want to explore using one of those web "Shipyards" for EV developers and use material from those. Lots of big, well-known plug-ins even use these.
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Mike Lee (Firebird)
Most of the times, I prefer plugs with new graphics over ones without. I tend to believe that a plug with original graphics is "new and cool," while a plug that just adds missions "screws up the original story." I dunno. I guess that plugs with new (and good) graphics are more interesting to me than ones without. Besides, most of the plugs without new graphics tend to lean towards so-called "cheater" plugs.
New ships/graphics really are a must, even if they come from a shipyard. I mean, Pale used ships from shipyards, as did the Empire series and many other great plugins. If someone sees a starbridge with a new name and new specs, they will be confused and annoyed. At least, I would be. Even if the graphics aren't great, it is good to have new ones.
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--ares
"Simply, I don't believe in God because I've got no more reason to than I've got reason to believe there's a large purple cow on the dark side of the moon that produces intoxicating milk."
-dre^
while on the subject of custom ships (because I can't become a member), does anyone know how to deal with the rleD and rle8s? I'm trying to make a robot (anime style) that walks. I can understand how to do this, but in the (evn) bible it explains how to flag unfolding animations, and I want to use this but I don't understand how it'll work. I want to make the robot raise a gun before firing, and when it's normal, it leaves its arm and gun by its side. I dunno if i'm being clear here, but does anyone think they can help?
Personally, I feel custom ships are not as important as an interesting, involved storyline. I'd rather play a plug with 10 new missions than a plug with 10 new ships. However, if you can mix a cool storyline, lots of new missions, and some custom-made ships, more power to you.
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(url="http://"http://www.wheenit.com/monkey-robot/")Monkey-Robot(/url)
(This message has been edited by Mahayana (edited 04-14-2002).)
Thank you for the input. I will not have a problem with graphics (as actually, they are my best field), but the plug-in is mostly based on a simple idea. If released, it will be released serially. Eventually, if the first builds become popular, the plug will have new ships, but it is mostly a way to tweak the Nova engine.
crippledpidgeon: There is a topic for the questions of unregistered users. I'm not sure if you can have a ship that walks and raises its arm, and either way there would be no way to have it walk only while thrusting. Thruster effects are overlayed on the main sprite and are programmed to flicker, so that would not work.
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