'Tis a good topic, I say...
I'll just say stuff and rant as I go along.
First, the original topic -- I certainly agree with the concept of quality, not quantity for TC plug-ins (as with expansion plug-ins), and I would definitely advise you to follow that piece of wisdom. The problem is that phrase is a little vague -- how do we go about defining "quality" and "quantity" for a plug-in? Joe makes a good point about it being fun to explore large galaxies, but to make my long-winded ideas short(er), I've boiled down plug-in (and any game scenario) quality down to a factor I call "immersiveness."
Basically, I focus on the overall feel to the plug-in -- if it draws you in very well, it's good. This can be accomplished with large galaxies as Override does, or with immersive storylines like the Frozen Heart (well, okay, that did have a pretty big galaxy). But the point I'm trying to make is that if you succeed in making your plug-in immersive to the players -- to the point they get engulfed in the game and perhaps feel a connection to their character in it, you've succeeded in making a quality plug-in.
Next, regarding completion of plug-ins. Mahayana is quite right about the intention to finish plug-ins. You'd be suprised at what kinds of quality vaporware there are floating around. It's just that from both personal experience (I've had a couple vaporware projects myself) and observation, I've seen enough examples of failed projects that I wouldn't be convinced that a plug-in was for real until it was truly finished.
As far as the planetary realism thing goes, it's quite true, there is this inherent problem, but the EV engine wouldn't allow it. I'm thinking the best way to get realism into a game is to create a network game that starts in a nearly uninhabited galaxy, and the players go and actually have to build the stuff as characters in the scenario. But that's not a topic to be discussed for EV, and it really isn't something you could do.
But what concerns me more is the fact that people generalize alien races so much. We see the moody Zidagar in EVO, the warrior Klingons in Star Trek, the expert navigator Sullustians in Star Wars, and so on. I mean, humans are very diverse creatures; why wouldn't aliens be the same way?
And finally, about navigational things. Again, EV's engine just doesn't allow for this, but what you could do is make entire solar systems span several EV/O/N "systs." You'd then have several empty systs between systems to increase the distance between them. That way you can even incorporate the solar system in. Some existing plug-ins implement the solar system into the game, but since it'd be so much more effort, neglect to split up other systems into their component planets. But, it's only a game.
Well, that was long, maybe I wrote about too many topics in one long post. Maybe someone will read parts of it.
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Mike Lee (Firebird)
