Well Part 1 Anyway...

Detective Story is a small to medium sized story based addon for EV Nova that features:

1. A single consistent story line that is playable from two opposing points of view. You can help unravel a growing conspiracy that involves some of the largest and oldest corporations in the Nova universe, or you can be the one who is instrumental in growing that same conspiracy. Once you finish go back and play from the other point of view to discover the things the other side was up to.

To get a sense of the two points of view concept take a look at the Detective Story Preambles

2. Missions designed to give you the player options and choices. You will be presented with tough decisions, life and death situations, and multiple way to complete the same objective. Life isn't always easy or fair and your choices can have profound consequences for yourself and others.

3. Neat gameplay features that make sure that Detective Story isn't your usual go here, do this story line. You've carried out hundreds of missions for others, now you'll get the chance to assign the missions. Send others to accomplish objectives, order them to assist you in upcoming battles, or do it all yourself. The decision will be up to you and making the right ones will have a major impact on how things unfold.

I'm going to be releasing Detective Story in two parts due to time constraints of school. Part one is a short mostly linear set of missions that take you up to the beginning of the main story lines. It was a good stopping point where the story lines come to a brief natural pause. I hope to complete Part 2 during winter break.

You can download Detective Story Part I here. To get started check out the Trade Center on Greenwich or accept one of the two Mission BBS missions in Federation space.

I've checked everything over pretty throughly but speak up if you encounter any problems. You'll need to start a new pilot file and I think it is probably a bad idea to try and play Detective Story with other plugins.

@ragashingo, on Aug 29 2008, 02:57 PM, said in Introducing Detective Story:

Detective Story is a small to medium sized story based addon for EV Nova that features:

1. A single consistent story line that is playable from two opposing points of view. You can help unravel a growing conspiracy that involves some of the largest and oldest corporations in the Nova universe, or you can be the one who is instrumental in growing that same conspiracy. Once you finish go back and play from the other point of view to discover the things the other side was up to.

To get a sense of the two points of view concept take a look at the Detective Story Preambles

2. Missions designed to give you the player options and choices. You will be presented with tough decisions, life and death situations, and multiple way to complete the same objective. Life isn't always easy or fair and your choices can have profound consequences for yourself and others.

3. Neat gameplay features that make sure that Detective Story isn't your usual go here, do this story line. You've carried out hundreds of missions for others, now you'll get the chance to assign the missions. Send others to accomplish objectives, order them to assist you in upcoming battles, or do it all yourself. The decision will be up to you and making the right ones will have a major impact on how things unfold.

I'm going to be releasing Detective Story in two parts due to time constraints of school. Part one is a short mostly linear set of missions that take you up to the beginning of the main story lines. It was a good stopping point where the story lines come to a brief natural pause. I hope to complete Part 2 during winter break.

You can download Detective Story Part I here. To get started check out the Trade Center on Greenwich or accept one of the two Mission BBS missions in Federation space.

I've checked everything over pretty throughly but speak up if you encounter any problems. You'll need to start a new pilot file and I think it is probably a bad idea to try and play Detective Story with other plugins.

This was to be an Aftermath storyline, right?

Correct. But it works very well in Nova's time frame with fairly minor modification... that and chopping the end off.

It's that pers thing.
Works fine with ShipVariants.
There's a new rle8 for the cargo drone, but not an rleD.
The new cargo drone can be hired as an escort, but lacks a description.

The one thing that has put me off is the spelling and nothing even close to a walkthough. But other then that its awesome!

@nonconventionally-creative, on Aug 31 2008, 05:06 PM, said in Introducing Detective Story:

It's that pers thing.
Works fine with ShipVariants.
There's a new rle8 for the cargo drone, but not an rleD.
The new cargo drone can be hired as an escort, but lacks a description.

Oops. I guess I forgot the rleD. And yeah, you shouldn't be able to hire the new cargo drone... /me fixes.

@of-doom, on Aug 31 2008, 07:27 PM, said in Introducing Detective Story:

The one thing that has put me off is the spelling and nothing even close to a walkthough. But other then that its awesome!

Any specific misspellings? Also I'll whip up a walkthrough right quick.

disturbe, you(instead of your), and lots of others I will right them up tomorrow.

Walkthrough-- Don't read unless you really really want to!

There are a lot of obviously incomplete things... missions that can be taken multiple times (I have 72 launchable self-destructing cargo drones :huh: ), descs that don't tie up, I did not board the Liberty; it was flying around. The "warn buoy attacker" needs the "can't refuse flag."
The percent chances on the missions is rather low, given that you can't continue until you've done them.
Also, the whole lines don't tie up very well. "Hey, we appreciate the fact that you've done one whole illegal cargo mission for us; we're upgrading you to attacking planetary communications systems." Perhaps this would be better based on player's legal status?
Starting the "good" side seems to would occur entirely by chance. Starting the bad side, the player would notice that the new missions come at the very end of the screen, and they have a different pay value.

Overall, the feel I have of this plug is that it is more of a story than an EV Nova plug.
My vote: needs more work; complete rewrite (not as in descs, but mission-chaining).

I like how it's unclear which missions lead where and which side is which. I'm not too far in, but your spelling is getting worse as the missions progress. Use a spell-checker. And yeah, the Liberty is just flying around - it's not disabled.

1. Spell Checking: Most stuff should have been okay but I'm guessing some stuff I changed directly in mission computer slipped through. I'll fix it.

2. The Liberty was never disabled. It just couldn't jump. There are no transporters or teleporters in Nova (to the best of my knowledge anyway) so docking with it was the only way to get aboard. Maybe this isn't clear enough in the desc?

3. Fixed 72 cargo drones bug.

4. Fixed warn buoy attacker bug.

5. The do one mission and move on thing is something Nova itself does in several places. I could make you need to complete 3 or 12 or 42 missions but in the end I don't see the point. The low percent chance of the next mission appearing should most likely give you the chance to do several hazardous cargo runs before you get upgraded to bigger things.

6. On the good side, are you saying its too hard to get the first mission? Its kinda out of the way I suppose and I have thought about nudging the player in that direction some how...

7. The bad side mission placement and pay is intentional just as the Vell-os "Delivery to Earth" mission is in Nova.

8.

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Overall, the feel I have of this plug is that it is more of a story than an EV Nova plug.

I figured I'd get this at some point. Detective Story does have a good bit of story in it. This is intentional. You should always be able to click OK and figure out what to do from the quick brief if longer descs aren't your thing.

2. Yes, the desc is confusing. Perhaps you should actually have the player board, as 141,650,651,652?
5. The real point is: the carry hazardous cargo mission is set too low. At the least I'd suggest a 25% chance, with 10% for the continue mission. Also, the desc should not read "another" until the mission has been done once.
6. I never just go to random trade centers, and pretty much never go to Greenwich (I wonder how many people mispronounce that). Note to self, figure out how to do color-coded trade map and table data - hyperlinks may complicate.
7. It's kind of inconvenient, though.

@asriel, on Sep 1 2008, 02:10 PM, said in Introducing Detective Story:

I like how it's unclear which missions lead where and which side is which. I'm not too far in, but your spelling is getting worse as the missions progress. Use a spell-checker. And yeah, the Liberty is just flying around - it's not disabled.

Why do you let such trival things like spelling annoy you?
You should get over it...

But it sounds pretty cool! I can't wait 'till it's done!

This post has been edited by Seafudge : 01 September 2008 - 07:07 PM

@seafudge, on Sep 2 2008, 12:02 PM, said in Introducing Detective Story:

Why do you let such trival things like spelling annoy you?
You should get over it...

Or he could notify the developer that the spelling is bad so that they can fix it

@seafudge, on Sep 1 2008, 07:02 PM, said in Introducing Detective Story:

Why do you let such triv i al things like spelling annoy you?
You should get over it...

Because it breaks the fourth wall and interferes with the immersion of the game. I shouldn't be reminded every few minutes that I'm playing a game designed by a person; I should be getting into the flow of the missions and pretending I'm really a contractor trying to figure out who blew up the buoys.

Ragashingo: Yes, it is unclear that the Liberty is not actually disabled, but simply can't hyperjump. Also, I agree with NC that 10% is too low on the Hazardous Cargo mission, as combined with the higher chance on the next mission you're unlikely to see it more than once.

After playing both sides, I really like how they interact. I wasn't expecting to be forced back into a Shuttle, though; a little harsh? I liked my PVIV.

It's an R(); it only happens half the time. I got lucky.

Note: the only thing that prevents the player from doing this with a standard pilot is the fact that unused perses are have the "dead" bit set. Therefore, someone should make a plug containing a bunch of dummies just so that they can use a starter pilot to branch off. I imagine there will be more pers in the next segment, so our pilots from this one will not be usable.

A few more things

1. I'll get a updated build out next weekend with fixed spelling and fixed missions. More crons and less low %'s to let it flow better, the Liberty will be disabled and boardable instead of flying around, etc.

2. Thinking back, I have no idea why the good side starts on Greenwich. Maybe because Detective Story started its life as a minor Aftermath storyline for people to stumble upon? Anyway, what would be a better place to start it? Someplace where people actually do tend to use the trade center? Gem perhaps? Sirius II? I'd need some place with a second landable stellar.

3.

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I wasn't expecting to be forced back into a Shuttle, though; a little harsh? I liked my PVIV.

Hehe. Not all that harsh as you did get paid a combined one million credits for your two previous missions.

That said one of the rules about Detective Story is that it can and will be harsh on you. Try saying no to Tom and David when they tell you about attacking the relay buoys for instance. Also, while not reading and clicking OK will never outright kill you, it could have unforeseen consequences, especially in Part II. But on the flip side reading and paying attention to clues will work very much in your favor via alternate story paths and the like.

I'd suggest renumbering the missions, for the sake of future expansion.
Max misn ID = 1127
Min misn ID = 919
So, my recommendation
919-927 Miscellaneous block
928-1027 Light side block
1028-1127 Dark side block
I'd also renumber the bits used, so they start somewhere obvious.
All of the 2000-range is free
The bottom 3/4 of the 5000 and 7000 ranges are free.
Other ranges have more free, but with inconvenient bits used.
Pick a range for each, and start with mission 1 of that string setting bx000.
While you're at it, you have some clutter bits going on. For example, the two missions that start the Dark Side don't need their own bits. Just set by000 on accept, and set availability to
!(bx000 | by000). To differentiate between the two branches, have one set an extra bit at the end. Note that you won't have to use onSuccess otherwise - the next mission, the one that offers the illegal hazardous cargo signup, is only available when you get to the planet. However, you would need to put !by000 in the onAbort and onFail fields.

@ragashingo, on Sep 1 2008, 09:51 PM, said in Introducing Detective Story:

Hehe. Not all that harsh as you did get paid a combined one million credits for your two previous missions.

That said one of the rules about Detective Story is that it can and will be harsh on you. Try saying no to Tom and David when they tell you about attacking the relay buoys for instance. Also, while not reading and clicking OK will never outright kill you, it could have unforeseen consequences, especially in Part II. But on the flip side reading and paying attention to clues will work very much in your favor via alternate story paths and the like.

Haha, good point. Looking forward to the next build!