A rediculous idea?

thedecline

Ok, what I am about to propose is something quite extreme as far as EVN plugin development goes.

Everyone at the moment is working on something right? Most people who come to this board are building a TC, or making a few ships, or an extra few systems with a new government, etc. Some will get completed and go on to public realease, others won't. They will become abandoned and disapear, and in a months time no one will even remember them.

Why not unite together and create something so amazing, so huge, that everyone can work on it, and the end product will be something anyone who plays Nova will want - Counterstrike style, a plug which becomes a new game - like Nova.

Now this is just a crazy idea, and would obviously mean a lot of work from everyone, and obviously people are going to be comming and going and what comes out at the end is going to be very diverse - but this could be good:

If different groups of people worked on different parts of the galaxy, we could end up with something people could play for years - a galaxy so huge, so diverse that the possibilities are endless. It would be great !

This would be the sort of project that would max-out Nova's game constants.

Obviously their would be a lot of pre-production work and a lot of planning, not to mention the huge amount of work involved in actually physically creating a a galaxy with over two thousand systems - but it would really be worth it.

So what do we say? Spaceward Ho!

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(url="http://"http://3114.spyw.com")26th Century Living(/url) Plug In Development
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Starbridge42

While i think it could be a fantastic piece of work I don't think it is feasable. Think of it, how many developers are there here? Lets say fifty and the most. Now from just that fifty think how many conflicting ideas and opinions you would get. I won't elaborate. Just think of it. IT could be summed up in one word. Anarchy. Of course if it were completed it could quite possibly be the greatest achievment of the EV Development community. The other problem is that some people here don't develop for Nova, they do EVO or EVC.

I think if it showed signs that the sizeof the team wouldn't destroy it I would be very willing to work with it.

Off topic, did you get the stuff you were going to send to me finished? I'm not keen to keep pluggin away at a mountain of systems for my plugin and so any excuse will do to get away from it. I need a holiday...

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Entarus

Its incredibly difficult to manage even a small team. The only person you can count on is yourself.

That said , I think its a nice idea.

Entarus,

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Denb

You would have one person putting everything together, and "handing" out specific RID etc. Then people would have to constrain to those, and as such the different parts of the galaxy and story, wouldn't interfere with each other, still, you could put together a ship from part of the galaxy, and go to a different part.

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TheRedeemer

It would be hard to do, but I think it's a great idea. You could propose a basic Idea, What races, storylines etc, then all the developers could choose a race they want to design ships, outfits, missions, planets etc for, so you would have teams of about 6-10 people working on each race. As there would be so many people working on it, there would not be to much for each individual person to do.

Think about how much talent there is on this board, think about all of it put together, think of the great things we could accomplish. Im sure there would be a few disagreements but they could be sorted out, and If you left the different groups of developers to do there own thing, you could tie it all together at the end.

It would be very interesting to see this happen.

TheRedeemer

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what_is_the_matrix

Quote

Originally posted by Denb:
**You would have one person putting everything together, and "handing" out specific RID etc. Then people would have to constrain to those, and as such the different parts of the galaxy and story, wouldn't interfere with each other, still, you could put together a ship from part of the galaxy, and go to a different part.

**

While it's a nice idea, how do you enforce people doing specific jobs? You have just as much power over them as they do over you, absolutely none, so its really hard to say the least to be able to make people do their jobs. I mean, you can't threaten to cut off their paycheck as there is none, you can't threaten legal action, you can't even go over to their house and beat on them. Perhaps if you were really serious, you should gather all your friends, get them to like to develop plugs, and that way, you could at least physically check on them.

Matrix

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Kate

While I agree that this is an interesting idea, I also have to concur with the prevailing sentiment: Impossible.

Did you ever do a really big group project for school, when (or now, if you still are, like me..) you were in school? Usually the only way that anything gets done is by constant threats about grades, and some people still wind up getting away with doing nothing at all. On a project like this, ever month (or less!) people would vanish on you, from boredom, loss of interest, or the pressures of real life, and you'd have no way of calling them back or getting in touch. Most probably wouldn't even notify you first.. You'd have to find a new person to take on that job, or do it yourself, and with a limited number of developers in the community (and, supposedly, all of them working on the project), it would come down to a few people working on a huge project. Poof! You have vaporware.

Just my two cents..

-K

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thedecline

It does sound like quite a thing I'm suggesting here. Here is the basic idea, read that, then give it another thought:

We all have a jolly good sit down and discuss everything. We all put forward ideas, we work out which are the best, and which ones we don't want. Everyone has a say - we vote.

We don't even begin plugin assembly until we know what is going to happen as far as the galaxy goes - worry about misns later (I think).

Several people, "El Commendants" if you wish, will allocate various resource numbers (or simply fields of numbers) for the different races - so we know where to put stuff.

When the pre-production is over groups of four or five people work on specific races, creating their ships, their outfits, their portion of the galaxy. The graphic developers are part of these groups too.

Different roles will be assigned to different people according to their skills - there will be story writers, ship designers, galaxy mappers, cron programmers, etc.

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I mean who hasn't thought of doing somehing like this before? People are going to come and go, and yes people aren't going to work - but thats when you send an email saying: "we haven't had any work from you, please send us what you've done and thankyou very much" If this train gets moving, there is bound to be countless people wanting to help.

As TheRedeemer said, think of the all skill out there, think of all the people who have so many good ideas - imagine all of that combined (just like Captain Planet).

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B Rob

Sounds cool, might work if adminastrated properly, but I'm wondering about game balance. Is somebody going to be able to buy a ship at one end of the galaxy and conquer everything on the other end? If you get too heavy handed on regulating balance, you lose a lot in the creativity department.

Just something to think about.

If this turns out, I'm in. Keep in mind I've got school and a job though.

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Vaumnou

That would be awesome. I would really like to take part in something like that if it ever came about. Sure, administration would be hard, but there are such things as large game companies, as we all know. THEY seem to have figured out how to get 100+ people to work together. As for enforcement, you could have people officially commit to doing certain tasks (meaning they promise to do xyz and know the penalty if they don't), and then have a mod in charge karmaslapping people who don't keep their promises. Is that a valid suggestion, or are the mods not allowed to "deal out death and judgement"? Once again, I think a monstrous TC/plugin/project is a spectacular idea.

-Vaumnou

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(This message has been edited by Vaumnou (edited 06-26-2003).)

Masamune

I think it sounds like a wonderous idea, and I'd love to be involved.

Personally, if it were to work, I think it would have to be structured alot like open-source software. Someone would need to set up a CVS server (standard version-control/management software, FYI), or something similar. I think the first step would be for someone to step up and volunteer to write about a 10-page backstory, laying the background for the most open-ended universe ever made- something relatively generic and non-objectionable, to keep haggling to a minimum. Next step would be to create a design spec. Partition all the resources into slices, using whatever measure is convienient- by race, for ships, systems, and spobs, say, or by asteroid type for roids. After that, let people go for it. They DL the current version from the CVS server, add what they want- whatever they want- and submit it. Require a small document detailing changes, a read me. Keep a thread or five open here for debates over controversial changes- something that the majority decides is no bueno or unbalanced, scrap. That's what CVS is for. The biggest thing is to not make people commit to anything- with the voluntary submission system, people do what they want, when they want, and if they disappear, no problem.

You'd probably want to make a skeleton plug based on the backstory- maybe just a basic layout of the home systems of all the major races, the major government of those races, home planets, and maybe a hypergate or two linking them. This would form the core of the plug, around which everything else is built. Also, in that original design doc, divy up mission bits into specific ranges. Something like 0-999 for system/spob related stuff, 1000-1999 for weapons and outfits, etc, and require everyone to update the doc, detailing what mission bits they've used. After they've gone to the trouble of making a chunk of plug, this would be a minor inconvienience. Again, CVS would be the lifesaver. In any case, we'd still need an official administrator to clear up conflicts- definately an elected official, who will have a big job.

That's how I'd do it, at least.

I hope someone does do it, though- this would be alot of fun. Putting all your good ideas into a TC without having to do all the work. Great fun.

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thedecline

Here are a few ideas I have been thinking about for awhile. They may help to build a bit of interest amongst the community. These are all just a few ideas though. They are by no means something that is to stick:

The year is 9920 110M (110th millennium) which translates to about 118920 AD.

Humans have colonised the majority of inhabitable stars in the Milky Way and have travelled as far as 3 billion light years away from Earth. Many different alien species have been found, and many have been destroyed. And many have dominated

Yet still, we remain the most dominant species in our super cluster.

As it can take something from 1 - 2 years to traverse from one side of the universe to the other, many different governments have evolved, and centralised ruling no longer exists as it once did 100,000 years ago. In fact there are over two hundred known organised governments, and over one hundred and fifty of those are human. Some have ownership of one system and perhaps a planet, others take control over fifty or sixty worlds, some, such as the National State (based in the Solar System) manage a hundred systems.

Wars constantly break out against smaller factions, ending as soon as they had started, others have been fought for over hundreds of years. One particular conflict has been waged since 8640 110M. Some empires choose the path of the pacifist and avoid trouble, others decide that the ancient way of war is all that should matter. Yet which ever way, conflict is inevitable and will always be a part of life.

Technology is obviously advanced beyond anyones wildest imagination. There are such inventions that can make one fly, should he be able to concentrate his thoughts well enough. Although this technology is deeply broken up across the 3 billion light years of known space. There are still, strangely enough, worlds that have been long forgotten, and space travel is something only gods may do. Different races opt for different technologies. From Internal Combustion and Cold Fusion to Inertial Drives and Gravity Repellent Engines. Weapons range from wooden spears with shale heads to fibre-fuelled laser dispersion cannons. Space ships obviously range in size from simple trade vessels able to support a control computer and a ton of cargo through to ships a mile long with a crew four hundred strong.

Mind control is another technological advance (or set back depending on which side you are looking from) that has been invented. While nine out of ten races choose not to use it, some, and some large ones at that, control whole planets and star systems with bio-electrical devices, which in every sense of the word, control peoples minds through a number of pre-set parameters. A free-minded person or norms as they are called in certain parts of space are often denied landing access to such worlds.

Artificial Intelligence is another technology that has evolved for better or for worse. Robots and computers have always been programmable to carry out simple duties such as cleaning and driving cars, yet to have an imagination and think freely - this is so much more. The technology has been around for about six thousand years now and has been incredibly useful in parts of the galaxy, such as the Northern Capricious Quadrant of the Milky Way where rich beings are supported entirely by armies of worker droids, all running the planets and systems by themselves without help, and for the greater benefit of man kind. Yet in the M21 Galaxy, a large portion of habitable space has been forcefully taken over by armies of robots, constantly evolving quicker than a human mind can think.

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Lets get motivated!

I'm not to sure about that CVS server business. Please explain in a bit more detail how anything gets done, and how people don't do something someone else has done and write over it?

It is great to see some support, and that people actually wan't to do something like this!

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(url="http://"http://3114.spyw.com")26th Century Living(/url) Plug In Development
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(This message has been edited by thedecline (edited 06-27-2003).)

Azdara

Well TD, I'd sign up, but I'm already working on a plug...

Sounds good, but is unfeasable. I mean you could probably do something with a bearaucratic structure, say mission writers for each bit of space, mision writers for in between different spaces, for example. But it would be hard... very hard.

So, you are crazy.

How about we finish off 3114 first? Shouldn't take that long.

~A~

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thedecline

Yes, quite, quite mad.

I can always think of new ideas though...

Hows the gunship going? From your first email, it looked pretty darn good.

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(url="http://"http://3114.spyw.com")26th Century Living(/url) Plug In Development
(url="http://"http://thedecline.mirrorz.com")the.decline:(/url) The dot is back. New version out now!

what_is_the_matrix

Quote

Originally posted by thedecline:
**It does sound like quite a thing I'm suggesting here. Here is the basic idea, read that, then give it another thought:

We all have a jolly good sit down and discuss everything. We all put forward ideas, we work out which are the best, and which ones we don't want. Everyone has a say - we vote.

We don't even begin plugin assembly until we know what is going to happen as far as the galaxy goes - worry about misns later (I think).**

Starbridge42

Quote

Originally posted by thedecline:
**Here are a few ideas I have been thinking about for awhile. They may help to build a bit of interest amongst the community. These are all just a few ideas though. They are by no means something that is to stick: