A New Plug-In Project

EVN - Heretic
A New Very Special Plug-In

A Galactic Civil War has left the Core Worlds in shambles and decimated, independent worlds fighting to survive in this new volatile environment. Residing on the Fringe of the galaxy are the remnants of the old Union, reconstituted as new regimes, each one struggling for control over the next - their conflicts allow the Core Worlds to have a margin of safety, for now at least. Thus, the now backwater worlds that used to hold the centralized Union Republic are but safe, for now, against the foreboding doom from the Galactic Fringe - but new threats are rising from the ashes of Union. Amongst the Fringe of the galaxy reside new regimes, each with its own morals and ideals, convinced its are the best. The user starts precariously placed in the midst of the Core Worlds, giving them the chance to choose which regime and map area to focus on.

This is, in many ways, an inverse of the traditional EV map, with one core regime and a periphery of secondary regimes and plots available as options. Here there is no "main" storyline, and the conflict is not one that can be easily solved by the player over the course of the game; no regime in the game will be eliminated by the actions of the player. But the user can affect major change on the universe, just in a less drastic way than one side winning or losing the war.

I see this map as functioning much the same way a country might function after a major conflict (especially a nuclear one): the cities are bombed into oblivion, and the population is moving to the countryside for wont of anywhere else to go. The focus is on humanity's conflict. There will likely not be alien races in the galaxy , but as the different regimes split off hundreds of years ago, each will have taken very different technological directions, so they may seem almost alien to one another (along the lines of Aurora and the Federation).

Right now the plug-in has been started and work on the overall shape of the universe is finished, with additional systems and governments to be added as the plug-in takes shape. We are still working on refining the definition of the universe and its backstory, and hope to soon begin work on some outfits and ships. This project is in its infancy, as you can tell, and we make no grandiose claims as to what the final outcome of this early work will be.

As far as assistance goes, we're still looking for all kinds of help. If you find yourself intrigued by this idea, PM or e-mail me for more info about joining the project, or just respond to this thread. Our current team is still small, so there's definitely room for growth.

Happy Holidays,
*Xinoph

PS - About Me:
I have just recently made my presence known on these forums, but I've been playing EV and fiddling with plug-in design since the beginning. I've never really had the time or right idea to publish my own plug, but at this point I do, and I hope with others' help this can get done.

This post has been edited by Xinoph : 21 December 2007 - 11:02 PM

You may (or may not) find that you have to participate in the boards more and/or show us something you've produced on your own before you'll be able to attract a team.

All the same, though -- Good luck, and have fun!

I'm going to respond to this like I do with any other TC announcements, especially by low post-count/late join-date members: with unwarranted and unfair skepticism. And that's the typical response around here for any TC announcement. Get to the point where you can prove your project won't become vaporware at moment's notice and all of that changes.

Hey, I remember my unwarrented and unfair skepticism post from you! Back in the day...

Your idea looks good! Run with it! I'd be interested to see what you get!

@joshtigerheart, on Dec 22 2007, 11:02 AM, said in EVN Heretic:

I'm going to respond to this like I do with any other TC announcements, especially by low post-count/late join-date members: with unwarranted and unfair skepticism. And that's the typical response around here for any TC announcement. Get to the point where you can prove your project won't become vaporware at moment's notice and all of that changes.

I Understand, Josh. I actually specifically refrained from calling it a total conversion - there may not be a huge amount of new graphics and some of the standard outfits and ships may be incorporated into this universe. We're very specifically not setting grandiose goals for ourselves so we don't get caught up by our own hopes or lack of specific talents amongst the team members (I.E., giving up because we can't compose cool music, or because our ship graphics guy bails on us). Hence, it just for now a Very Large Plug-in. If we attract enough interest from enough talented people that this thing expands, then that's awesome. But for right now, my goal is to do just enough that the main idea becomes playable, and see where we are then.

@shlimazel, on Dec 22 2007, 11:12 AM, said in EVN Heretic:

Hey, I remember my unwarrented and unfair skepticism post from you! Back in the day...

Your idea looks good! Run with it! I'd be interested to see what you get!

Thanks! I thought it was an interesting idea, but what do I know? Good to hear another person say so.

Hopefully the other people I've been talking to about Heretic will post on this thread, and you'll get a chance to see that we do have a team assembled, if a small one. Certainly any help or advice will be appreciated, even if you're not interested in contributing directly to the project. I'll be happy to answer further questions about the universe as it stands in this thread until I leave for my ever-brief holiday.

Happy Holidays,
*X

This post has been edited by Xinoph : 22 December 2007 - 11:34 AM

If you have a team, you are a step ahead of most people. I certainly didn't have a team when I started out. That's a good start.

@shlimazel, on Dec 22 2007, 11:34 AM, said in EVN Heretic:

If you have a team, you are a step ahead of most people. I certainly didn't have a team when I started out. That's a good start.

Yes. We're more a group than a team right now, if you catch my drift, but I do have people to help and bounce ideas off of. Hopefully they'll post to this thread soon, but I don't want to "out" them as a contributor without their approval.

I've been asked by Xinoph to help with this project. I will be working on some graphics, descriptions, and I should be available to help with anything else I might be needed for.

This is my wonderful return to the forums. (This post is almost the same as the one in 3000.)

I will try to get a website together before January to post what I've done, and I will try to keep it updated. I should be able to afford the hosting package I was planning on buying last year by the end of this year, so I'll have virtually unlimited space and direct FTP access to make updating easier.

I am also working on 3000, so I will be very busy. I will do my best to keep up on both projects.

i was contacted by xinoph about this...i don't have a lot of time but i'm willing to do some jobs for ya as long as this project will actually get finished some day i dont like wasting my time

We'd definitely love the help, Arada, especially w/ ships and missions. Shall I send you the descriptions we have so far via e-mail as text files? I've done some basic work on ship design, but we haven't gone too far in that direction. So far it looks as though you, Dash, and another team member could be the main ship guys, if you're interested.

I'll add you to the e-mail list, if you're interested in joining the project. As I said, I can guarantee that I won't vanish on you - I'm going to do everything in my power to make this project a reality. What exactly the final outcome will be I can't say at this point, but I'm going to do whatever I can to make this work. I'm extremely dedicated to this idea, and I think the people I've gotten so far are very interested in it as well.

Happy Holidays!

Well hey there. The xinoph.com forums are not working and are not letting me in.

I'm just posting to state that I've got a work routine figured out for now, though my ships will look kinda poorly rendered (Sketchup + Photoshop), they do have complete rotation and banking effects. Xinoph, I sent you a copy of my proof-of-concept for my first ship, in case you check here before email.

So I'm finally doing work. But it took me a whole day and then some to go from initial model to final plugin-worthy ship data. We'll see how things go from here. I'm trying to setup a new workflow that will yield prettier ships with fewer dumb problems and simpler finishing. We'll see how that goes, as well.

Anyway, the first ship of mine is done. I may post a graphic here soon...or not. Once again, we'll see.

-Dash

This post has been edited by Dash_Merc : 28 December 2007 - 06:24 PM

Happy New Year, everyone!

Well, Dash, yesterday I switched us over to phpBB, a much better system than what we were using. You should be able to register now with no trouble, and you'll have to re-register. The URL has changed; I'll send you the new one via e-mail. Unfortunately, we lost the messages that were already posted, but not a huge bit, as they weren't great in number, only in quality.

*X

A Quick Progress Update (1.1.08):

I've finished the description for most of the Core Worlds and have begun working on descriptions for the Alliance, one of our three major power governments. I've also been making some landing pics and some stellar object pics. Others have begun work on ship graphics and ship design. The map is done save additions or future fiddling.

*X

Just found this thread.

The basic idea is quite interesting. However, I think you do need to consider a story-line of some kind. Back in the golden age of EV plugins (golden age, because it was a much simpler matter to complete a plugin, and there was a very strong supply of good, big plugins) there were a lot of non-storyline plugins with very interesting concepts. Unfortunately, just flying around exploring (and possibly trading) doesn't really capture most players.

Teams are very popular these days, but most of those EV plugins were the work of just one or two people, and when it was two people, they were often people who could actually sit together in a room and bounce ideas.

People will always be sceptical of your stuff until they see it actually materialise. Even in Beta people will look at your best ideas and say "that will never work, it unbalances the game". Push ahead with your own vision, take the best advice, leave the rest.

And don't forget to enjoy the creative process. There is nothing like the rush of releasing a plugin into the wild that you have laboured over for more than a year, and see people actually begin to play it, enjoy it, and talk to each other about it.

@martin-turner, on Jan 2 2008, 01:33 PM, said in EVN Heretic:

The basic idea is quite interesting. However, I think you do need to consider a story-line of some kind.

Oh, we're definitely going to have a storyline, Martin. I didn't mean to imply that we wouldn't; each major power will likely have two campaigns attached to it. What I am saying is that our storyline won't be like the Nova one in that it won't cause the war to end and cause massive map changes; I think that's a little unrealistic. Despite the proclivities of fiction writers, one person just usually doesn't have that much impact. The map will change - some systems will join one regime or another, one of the secondary governments might change, etc. - but it won't be drastically altered as it was in Nova when the Rebellion ended because little ol' you clicked in the right place.

This also will allow us to have a larger map initially, as we won't need as many duplicate systems for universe-changing missions.

Thanks so much for the input and the support! I'm glad you find our idea intriguing. I thought it was a different, interesting approach, and I'm gratified that others think so.

*Xinoph