Ok... so I'm thinking of starting to make a TC... thinking being the key word 
I'm going to be busy.. so I want to make sure that I'm going to do this.
I have been fiddling around with making my own small plugins, and they are working fine.
My question is, which would people rather, that I use chars to start each individual storyline, or that you only have one char and you have to find the storylines yourself?
Opinions?
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Well... it depends on your story... Do you want the player to be retricted to only choose between two big storylines anyway, or will you offer lots of small independant storylines. Do you want the player to be a simple merchant that is by "mistake" drawn into a conflict? Or do you want to give the player the option to get right to the action in the role of an adept warrior aligned to side he chooses?
I would have preferred the latter, since I have played the former before, in the original scenario... but it is entirely what fits into your scenario, I think.
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Windows seems to have a problem with multiple chärs, so having all storylines available to the defualt char would be a good idea. Having a few other chärs available which jump you into storylines straight way might be a good way to keep everyone happy.
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(url="http://"http://homepage.mac.com/jonathanboyd/evn/index.html")Classic4Nova plug-in(/url)
Hmm...
Maybe by the time I've finished the TC (if I choose to do it) the windows problem will have been sorted out... if not I could always put all of the universe except for the chars on one plug, and put individual plugs with each char with it as well, so that you could move them depending on the char.
I need to think about it, of course, even the 'set paths' could have splits in them...
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I'm (trying) to make a TC too, and I'm goiing to make 2 chärs, cause you only have two large stories. But you can also do many little stories (pirates, corporations,...) So you have to choose the way you want to go in the beginning, but you can do all the little stories before or after it.
The Vortrex
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You can run but then you die tired
Why does everyone want to make TCs all of a sudden?
A better question would be - do you have a story to tell that is worth a TC - and that you couldn't tell within a variation of the Nova Universe. Remember that a big plugin can change everything it wants to change without going to all the hassle of having to create all new ships, all new spob pictures, all new landing pictures, all new weapons, all new outfits etc etc.
For my money, the Char resource is there for two different characters rather than two different storylines. If your characters have or develop personalities as a result of what they experience, or if they are coming from different backgrounds, then Chars are the way to go. If there are just two major storylines, however, you would be better off having a branching plotline at some point where they have to make a decision about which way to go. This was implemented as far back as the original EV. Restricting the player to just one for no good reason seems a bit of a waste.
On the other hand, it would be nice to see some really creative use of chars coming out.
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M A R T I N T U R N E R
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Quote
Originally posted by Martin Turner:
**Why does everyone want to make TCs all of a sudden?
**
Well, it's not all of a sudden... I tried to make this one for EV... which then moved onto EVO so i tried again... but the project stalled from lack of action... then recently I found the old files.. was not too impressed at what I had done, and then started fiddling with little plugs to see if I could work my way to a level at which I was ready to start work again on the TC...So it's not a split second desicion...
Oh, and before you ask, the reason why my plug stalled last time was for a simple reason... (well two) I wasn't committed enough and I was very scattered (i.e. hmm.. I'll make a fleet for no reason... and then, hmm, I'll make a person just for fun), which really isn't the way to go for a TC, maybe a small testing plug, but not a TC.
From my plans so far... one of the characters is going to be a cadet in one government's military, one will be a trader (a more flexible character), and one will have something to do with another government... if I choose to go down the route of multiple chars
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Martin, I think the reason that people want to make TCs so much is that Nova's scenario is really not as conducive to expansion and modification as it wants to be. As the universe is so large and complex anyway, making large scale modifications to it becomes exceedingly confusing both to make and to play - it is almost easier to start from scratch.
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Go get your knife.
I think it's also all the extra engine features. So many things are possible now that weren't in EVO. Certainly quite a bit of my TC would be much harder to do (or just impossible) without the new stuff.
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Cybernetic Organism since 5/14/02!!
Both fair points, Mazca and Mrxak.
Perhaps I'm just hankering after the old glory days of Clavius and Beyond, Pale, Angels of Vengeance and Eye of Orion.
However, one issue with packaging something as a 'TC' is that there is an expectation that it will be as big as the Nova Universe - at least in terms of number of planets to explore. So the amount of work to produce a TC in Nova is much, much more than it was in previous incarnations.
Also, although the new features are great, and certainly the control bits are magnificent after the machine-code like system of EV and EVO, there is far more stuff to grapple with.
Likewise, any ships with glows, lights, animations or anything else take much longer to make.
Equally, features that are in the engine but not implemented in the Nova game like the Char resource are liable to come up with (possibly unwelcome) surprises.
Don't get me wrong, I applaud anyone who releases a plugin for Nova, but the stakes are much higher than they were.
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Quote
Originally posted by Martin Turner:
**
Also, although the new features are great, and certainly the control bits are magnificent after the machine-code like system of EV and EVO, there is far more stuff to grapple with.
Likewise, any ships with glows, lights, animations or anything else take much longer to make.
Equally, features that are in the engine but not implemented in the Nova game like the Char resource are liable to come up with (possibly unwelcome) surprises.
Don't get me wrong, I applaud anyone who releases a plugin for Nova, but the stakes are much higher than they were.
**
This is definantly one of the reasons we don't have as many plugs for Nova as we did for EVC/O.
Also, it makes me laugh when people say "Make it 3D!" or "Make it Multiplayer!" because then, it would be even harder than it is now to make plugs, and the plug capability is easily the most appealing thing about the game.
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Fat cat, small dreams.
