Alright, if you want to totally understand a resource, pick one you really really want to learn above all others. Now explore it and tamper with stuff in there, go crazy and experiment. Look at other resources of the same type from the data files and other plugs (don't make modifications to other people's plugs without permission from the authors).

Once you've learned it, start on related resources. For example, if you learned ships, look at weapons or outfits. If you learned spobs, look at systems. Also, keep in mind many of the less interesting resources are typically similiar. For example, the desc resource is pretty bland, but very very simple, as its just for displaying text (not to say the text contained within is bland...). Whereas the ship resource, the heart of Nova, is one of the most expansive and complicated in the game!

System and spob coordinates aren't too difficult, just tedious without a visual editor with which you can place systems with (much like the one Mission Computer has), as you have to put in some, save your progress, load Nova, check the system/planet's location, close Nova, fix it, rinse, and repeat.

Basically, coordinates are just where it appears on the map. For the hyperspace map, its purely cosmetic, since a system can link to any other system. For planets, it determines where they are in the system. The closer they are to (0,0), the closer to the center they are. Its just like plotting points on a graph in algebra, minus all the evil equations and "solve for 'x'". Just remember negative numbers = up instead of down for the 'y' coordinate. Its really simple, the hard part is just getting them right where you want them.

@jacabyte, on Apr 10 2007, 11:06 PM, said in Escape Velocity: Collision:

Personally, I believe that there's a bunch of chimpanzees randomly typing away to formulate something that's called a "horoscope". I don't believe they have any sort relevance in the universe at all.

While I whole-heartedly agree, I'm one of those people who believe that everything happens for a reason. There are no coincidences; I saw that horoscope because I was meant to find that horoscope. It encouraged me to 'enlist' some other developers to help me create my vision. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you need to watch ' Signs '. Now.

@jacabyte, on Apr 10 2007, 11:06 PM, said in Escape Velocity: Collision:

What's wrong with the EVDC?

While the EVDC is an excellent resource for information and help, that's all it is. If I said to you right now, "Hey, I'm working on this plug, could you make these resources with these specifications for me?" you'd just tell me how to make those resources. One man alone did not create EV, EVO, EVN, or ARPIA2. You see now how having a team to work on a project can be more advantageous?

@starbridge21, on Apr 10 2007, 11:11 PM, said in Escape Velocity: Collision:

While I whole-heartedly agree, I'm one of those people who believe that everything happens for a reason. There are no coincidences; I saw that horoscope because I was meant to find that horoscope. It encouraged me to 'enlist' some other developers to help me create my vision. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you need to watch ' Signs '. Now.

While I also believe there are no such things as coincidences, God doesn't roll dice. I don't try to link events with superstitious articles or acts and above all I don't make decisions based on superstitions as I've found they usually lead into trouble.

@starbridge21, on Apr 10 2007, 11:11 PM, said in Escape Velocity: Collision:

While the EVDC is an excellent resource for information and help, that's all it is. If I said to you right now, "Hey, I'm working on this plug, could you make these resources with these specifications for me?" you'd just tell me how to make those resources. One man alone did not create EV, EVO, EVN, or ARPIA2. You see now how having a team to work on a project can be more advantageous?

Yes, but for the moment that "project" you're working on doesn't exist.

@warlord-mike, on Apr 10 2007, 09:28 PM, said in Escape Velocity: Collision:

Win. I am adding this to my sig.

EDIT: It appears I don't have the space. Never mind.

Do you have room for this: View Post? (It's a snapback to my post.)

This post has been edited by JacaByte : 11 April 2007 - 11:47 AM

@jacabyte, on Apr 11 2007, 12:30 PM, said in Escape Velocity: Collision:

While I also believe there are no such things as coincidences, God doesn't roll dice. I don't try to link events with superstitious articles or acts and above all I don't make decisions based on superstitions as I've found they usually lead into trouble.

Just so you know, I didn't make this decision just because I saw that horoscope. Rather, I was already considering doing this when I saw it, and seeing it helped me understand the advantages of having a partner or team. The horoscope isn't why I asked; the horoscope just helped me realize that I can't -- or at least shouldn't -- do this alone. You haven't a clue how big this project is going to be -- but I'll help fill you in below.

@jacabyte, on Apr 11 2007, 12:30 PM, said in Escape Velocity: Collision:

Yes, but for the moment that "project" you're working on doesn't exist.

True dat. I guess I just got over-excited; I wasn't planning on asking for at least a couple more weeks, once I had gotten started.

This plug-in is going to be huge -- colossal, even. At least as big as EVN itself, but almost certainly bigger. In fact, I guarantee that if and when I make this, the galaxy will be more than twice its current size, there will be about twice as many outfits, probably thrice as many ships, etc. The only real difficulty will be developing long enough story lines to fill up this enormous universe. Mind you, I'm not without ideas. I've already got a basic outline for more than 50 'standard' missions, which will be kind of like the Fed missions, as you will mostly be helping/interacting with the Fed government. I've also got about 40 Auroran missions.

The plug will be a kind of 'sequel' -- that is, it's what, in my opinion, happened after the 'true' story, also in my opinion, the Rebel's story. I don't remember the exact ending of the Rebel story, so I'll have to re-play it, but I know some things will have to be 'fixed' -- I'll explain what in my story differs from the end of the rebel story in an intro that will come with the plug. You will not be Ory-Hara in this game, but that doesn't mean Ory-Hara won't be in the game. You can expect many more familiar faces to show up, some very unexpectedly.

I initially wanted to have 6 different story lines, just like in EVN. At first, I could only think of 5 that I wanted in there; however, now I am thinking of 7, and that's just too many for me. I think I'm going to ditch the 'Wild Geese' story line; I hadn't even begun to think of where I'd go with that one. That means I'll have a Federation, Auroran, and Polaris story lines; the Vell-os story line will become a minor one. Without giving too much away, I can say that there will be 3 other story lines, and that one of them will probably be for an organization known as "The Brotherhood of Peace."

What is ARPIA2 like? Was there ever an ARPIA1? How big are they? I'd just like something to compare my vision with.

This post has been edited by Starbridge21 : 11 April 2007 - 02:38 PM

Perhaps you should download them and see for yourself.

Perhaps I should, but I simply don't have time at the moment. I actually really wish I could try them. (remember, I'd have to download them and convert them to WinNova)

Does that mean there is an ARPIA1 then?

How big are they, please?

@starbridge21, on Apr 11 2007, 01:48 PM, said in Escape Velocity: Collision:

Does that mean there is an ARPIA1 then?

Yes, there is an Arpia I. Peter didn't just screw 1 and go ahead with 2 just for the heck of it.

@starbridge21, on Apr 11 2007, 01:48 PM, said in Escape Velocity: Collision:

How big are they, please?

About 600 to 700 kilobytes and 40 megabytes for Arpia I and II respectively. It actually doesn't take too long to convert Arpia II, it's all reliant on the speed of your computer.

This post has been edited by JacaByte : 11 April 2007 - 03:12 PM

Oh dear, didn't I tell you to start small? No seriously, you are currently on the road many new developers take that leads to the catastrophic dead end that makes all of us in the Nova community highly skeptical of any TC announcements, especially by new developers. And I'm not exaggerating anything either, which is the sad part. You honestly have no idea what you'll be getting into if you attempt this.

Let me give you an idea. Make a variant of any of the ships in the game. Give its own description, both shipyard and escort, and araments. Make it appear in existing dude and fleet resources so you can see it flying around. Maky it fit logically into the game as well. Then play test it and tweak it until it fits with the rest of the balance of the game. Once its done, write up a readme, pack it up, and submit it to the addons page. Finally, check to see how long this took you. Now multiply it by the number of ships you plan to make and you have roughly 1-5% of the total time you'll spend developing your TC, and thats without making new graphics for them.

Let me give you another idea. ARPIA2 is just an addon expansion to the existing Nova scenario and took (an educated guess) 1-2 years, not counting ARPIA1. Some TCs have been in development for years, I think SFA has been worked on for five. Colosseum TC is a small TC, very small (12 playable ships), and its about to hit its first year anniversery of development and it is still short of being 1/3 complete (though, arguably, I could be working more on it than I do).

This is why I strongly recommend you start with small plugs, very small. Gain experience before you undertake a project like this. Otherwise, you'll quickly become frustrated and give up, which would result in us never seeing any of your work (because you never made anything else).

But, if you insist on going through with this, don't start recruiting now. It'll waste your time. Why? Very few people are willing to join a team that some new member just decided he'd make because he is now interested in plugs and had this great awsome idea, but has never released anything, not even a plug that gives a Shuttle an extra point to its shielding. You'll need something to show that you've got something worth while. Get something playable and get the basic foundations laid out. Once you've done a bit of work and your project is obviously going somewhere, then ask for help. Even still, don't expect everyone to come running to join, I've had trouble recruiting team members. In all honesty, I'm still short a graphics person and I haven't heard from my other graphics guy in months, so I might have nobody doing any graphics at all anymore, and my TC could be released as something playable in its current state and still be called a TC.

And yes, I am trying to discourage you from working on a TC, or even a large plug. I don't want to see another aspiring developer to crash and burn from trying to swallow a whole chicken in one go when he reality he is only able to eat a leg in several bites. Additionally, producing several smaller plugs will get you much more support and recognition, which can go a long way in helping develop a TC, even if its just morale support.

Whoa, JTH. Let me assure you that I had no intention of even starting this TC any time soon, and that I didn't mean to ask for partners so early. It just kind of popped out of my...fingers.

My plan is to practice making small edits and plugs while developing the story I want in its entirety; by the time I finish the story, hopefully by the end of the summer, I'll be experienced enough with EVNew to feel my way through my TC (maybe with a bit of help). I'm really only working on my story; I know I won't be able to even try to do anything I've said I want to do for at least another six months.

When I started this post, I had no idea plug-ins were so complicated and such long-term projects. I think I get the gist now, though.

And I assure you I won't be making any (or at least not many) graphics for this TC. The arts aren't exactly my specialty. More than that, I can't draw a picture to save my life; I consider myself an intellectual (which is just a fancy word for nerd ), and proud of it!

A lot of the other things you seem concerned about won't be as much of a problem as you think.

I appreciate the advice, and would like to add that I have a rather bad habit of biting off more than I can chew (both literally and figuratively). But don't worry; I haven't choked yet!

Update: All of the test edits that I made (desc, outf, weap, & ship) have been tested and all tests were successful -- with the possible exception of the light blaster's range and damage (I may have made the changes so small they weren't noticeable).

This post has been edited by Starbridge21 : 13 April 2007 - 03:16 PM

Uh-oh. Time for the obligatory 'my idea is not good enough' panic.

Will this still be considered a total conversion, even though I'm only changing a few things with the already-existing features, and mostly just adding new things? I am taking out all of the missions and putting new missions in their place, plus the Known Galaxy will be a little different, but for the most part, the territories, ships, outfits, governments, organizations, planets, systems, hyperspace routes, standard BBS missions, and hypergates will all start out the same (or close to the same -- no more Rebellion, for example). Of course, that'll all change within the first 10 missions for any government, I expect.

What is a 'splash screen'?

Will people who play my plug-in be disappointed if there aren't any "new" graphics or ships?

Gah, it's no use worrying over now, but I want people to enjoy playing this game as much as I'm enjoying writing it. Most of all, I don't want people to say, "I've seen all of this before."

The thing is, there won't be anything radically new in this plug. It'll all just be EVN, but bigger. Much bigger -- and more exciting, if all goes as planned.

This post has been edited by Starbridge21 : 11 April 2007 - 08:15 PM

Eh, its what happens when you misread a post.

What you're thinking about is what is unofficially termed as a "quasi-TC". Basically, a really really big expansion. People will play it, even if it doesn't have new graphics. Graphics are nice, but nobody expects new ones when there is no reason for including them. If the plug plays well and your story is solid, it'll be liked.

I'm not sure abut the majority of people, but I don't really care so much about how they look. Its how they act that matters.

A splash screen are those two screens that you see when you start nova. the ATMOS/Ambrosia screen, and the one with the picture of a starbridge flying away from an explosion.

@joshtigerheart, on Apr 11 2007, 09:40 PM, said in Escape Velocity: Collision:

What you're thinking about is what is unofficially termed as a "quasi-TC". Basically, a really really big expansion.

Eh, that's fine.

@joshtigerheart, on Apr 11 2007, 09:40 PM, said in Escape Velocity: Collision:

People will play it, even if it doesn't have new graphics.

Good, 'cuz it won't.

@joshtigerheart, on Apr 11 2007, 09:40 PM, said in Escape Velocity: Collision:

If the plug plays well and your story is solid, it'll be liked.

Also good, 'cuz it will, and it is.

@lnsu, on Apr 11 2007, 09:41 PM, said in Escape Velocity: Collision:

A splash screen are those two screens that you see when you start nova. the ATMOS/Ambrosia screen, and the one with the picture of a starbridge flying away from an explosion.

How do you change that -- and why would you want to?

@starbridge21, on Apr 11 2007, 10:23 PM, said in Escape Velocity: Collision:

How do you change that -- and why would you want to?

PICT resource 8100 is the ATMOS/Ambrosia screen and PICT 131 is the loading screen (Sbridge and Valk flying from explosion).

You would modify it for a TC (so it doesn't say "Escape Velocity Nova" in giant letters with pics of EVN ships) or you could add your own logo to PICT 8100 for a large expansion (e.g. ARPIA2 adds the Arpia logo to one of the splash screens).

Edit: Also, I forgot to mention, the cölr resource can be used to change the color, size, and position of the loading bar on the loading screen.

This post has been edited by Nil'kimas : 12 April 2007 - 07:56 PM

Ah. Thanks.

Ummm....not much to report...still working on that story, haven't gotten around to much EVNew work...you know, same old, same old. Hopefully I'll be able to do more plug-in practice this weekend.

*Woo! >50 posts and >500 views! (yes, I know that's not a lot, but give me a break, I just joined 5 days ago.)

This post has been edited by Starbridge21 : 12 April 2007 - 10:41 PM

I agree with everything Josh is saying here about starting small. I've played around with small plugs for EV, EVO, and EVN for almost- let's see now... this is 2007, so... 10 years before I started working on my TC. This TC has taken a year of development (admittedly, not steady) to hit 90 systems, 12 governments, 49 missions (counting the invisible ones used for special escorts and text), 68 outfits, 38 weapons, 36 planets, and 33 ships. I have rendered one ship myself, and spent an afternoon working on re-coloring stock Nova weapon sprites. Almost all of the text is filler.

Trust me, young one, a TC is not a good first project. Actually maybe it is... if the TC is tiny. Like TCTC. Anyhow good luck with whatever you decide to start with. It's good when enthusiastic new people want to start developing. It's better when they don't burn themselves out in the first month

I think I'd be more likely to burn myself out in the first month if I didn't have a huge project I was working towards -- it gives me a goal, you know? Anyway, I don't really have 10 years to kill, and who knows how much of this story I can forget or lose in 10 years? Besides, by then I could be completely uninterested in making plugs or even playing EV (though I doubt the latter). No, it's like they say: there's no time like the present.

Also, remember that this is not a total total conversion. And plus, having no artistic abilities to speak of, my graphics set will consist entirely of EVN, EVO, and EVC graphics. Though I'll try to make EVC/O ships '3D' etc. of course. Anyway, since it's not a TTC, the entire Nova galaxy will already be there, so bingo: I'm starting out with dozens of ships, scores of systems, hundreds of planets. As for the descs, those will be easy -- or at the very least, I will greatly enjoy making them.

Oh, I'm not saying that you should wait 10 years. I'm just pointing out that you shouldn't start with a huge project. Get a little experience first, ya know?

Precisely, so you don't get frustrated by "Why won't this $%&# thing work!?!" moments and quit plug making altogether.

@gray-shirt-ninja, on Apr 13 2007, 12:43 PM, said in Escape Velocity: Collision:

Oh, I'm not saying that you should wait 10 years. I'm just pointing out that you shouldn't start with a huge project. Get a little experience first, ya know?

I think you need to go back and read this post.

@starbridge21, on Apr 11 2007, 05:02 PM, said in Escape Velocity: Collision:

Whoa, JTH. Let me assure you that I had no intention of even starting this TC any time soon, and that I didn't mean to ask for partners so early. It just kind of popped out of my...fingers.

My plan is to practice making small edits and plugs while developing the story I want in its entirety; by the time I finish the story, hopefully by the end of the summer, I'll be experienced enough with EVNew to feel my way through my TC (maybe with a bit of help). I'm really only working on my story; I know I won't be able to even try to do anything I've said I want to do for at least another six months.

When I started this post, I had no idea plug-ins were so complicated and such long-term projects. I think I get the gist now, though.

And I assure you I won't be making any (or at least not many) graphics for this TC. The arts aren't exactly my specialty. More than that, I can't draw a picture to save my life; I consider myself an intellectual (which is just a fancy word for nerd ), and proud of it!

A lot of the other things you seem concerned about won't be as much of a problem as you think.

I appreciate the advice, and would like to add that I have a rather bad habit of biting off more than I can chew (both literally and figuratively). But don't worry; I haven't choked yet!

Update: All of the test edits that I made (desc, outf, weap, & ship) have been tested and all tests were successful -- with the possible exception of the light blaster's range and damage (I may have made the changes so small they weren't noticeable).

Though I haven't really made one, I'm thinking about a time table: finish 'planning' phase by some time in August -- preferably early-mid August; finish 'Alpha-phase' by the same date in '08; finish 'Beta-phase' by the same date in '09; finish the plug completely by the same date in '10. So I'm going to take my time on this, I assure you I don't expect anything to happen quickly, and the slow working rate will make the game less buggy (hopefully). 'Alpha-phase' and 'Beta-phase' are the points at which Alpha testing and Beta testing will be finished, respectively.

This post has been edited by Starbridge21 : 13 April 2007 - 03:22 PM