It's been nearly 2 years since Nova was released (and since I've last posted.) and there's exactly 1 Nova TC plug out. And it was released a few months after Nova. Interesting trend, eh? The majority of plugs seem to be just vaporware.
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"Veni, Vidi, Vici"
"I came, I saw, I conqeured."
Julius Caeser
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Originally posted by zhouj:
**It's been nearly 2 years since Nova was released (and since I've last posted.) and there's exactly 1 Nova TC plug out. And it was released a few months after Nova. Interesting trend, eh? The majority of plugs seem to be just vaporware.
**
No s---.
Do note though that TC's take like a year to two to develop in some cases, so be patient.
-Az
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It is here. EVNEW Public Beta (url="http://"http://www.aznt.com/EVN/EVNEW")www.aznt.com/EVN/EVNEW(/url)
Stuffit is a piece of .sit.
Polycon wasn't exactly an original EVN TC, it was more of a port from an EVC plug attempt to EVN with extra features added in and all the ships re-rendered.
As for the vaporware comment, it's true. However, there are some good ones being developed right now. Just check out the links in the signature below.
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Retribution: An Upcoming Plug-in for EVN.
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(url="http://"http://www.cwssoftware.com")Sephil Saga(/url): An upcoming TC, visit the web page today.| | | Both the best and the worst plug-in editor for Windows! (url="http://"http://www.aznt.com/EVN/EVNEW")EVNEW(/url)!
Check the links on Nova weblinks page. Half of the plug-in ones don't work. And most of the ones with working pages don't get much work done. Yes, TC's take a while to develop. There are numerous ones that were in progress before Nova came out and many were probably switched to Nova ones. BTW, I quote "TC's take a year or two to develop in some cases.." I don't think I need to explain how to determine if "1 or 2" is less than or equal to 2.
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"Veni, Vidi, Vici"
"I came, I saw, I conqeured."
Julius Caeser
whoa... who are you so pissed at? Yeah, he said 1 or 2 years. But, they aren't out. Maybe he's a bit off, maybe there's one right around the corner... whatever. Anyway, TCs for EVO took 1 to 2 years, that we pretty much know. But we don't have any information on how long it takes to make a Nova plug from scratch. Since none have come out yet, either they take more than 2 years, or really productive plug teams didn't get together until more recently.
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"I am against evolution being taught in schools. I am also against widespread literacy and the refrigeration of food." - The Onion
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Originally posted by sparky:
**whoa... who are you so pissed at? Yeah, he said 1 or 2 years. But, they aren't out. Maybe he's a bit off, maybe there's one right around the corner... whatever. Anyway, TCs for EVO took 1 to 2 years, that we pretty much know. But we don't have any information on how long it takes to make a Nova plug from scratch. Since none have come out yet, either they take more than 2 years, or really productive plug teams didn't get together until more recently.
**
LoL. I apologize if anyone infered that I was pissed off from my post. I have a habit of using sarcasm and rhetoric. The point I was trying to make was to use common sense at least when making statements. IF stuff was around the corner, there'd be at least some rumor about it or announcement. I think the primary problem is that making a Nova plug-in requires time, and you don't get paid. Since most people have a life and stuff to do, that's not a very enticing endeavor, at least after the initial excitement and fervor wear off.
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"Veni, Vidi, Vici"
"I came, I saw, I conqeured."
Julius Caeser
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IF stuff was around the corner, there'd be at least some rumor about it or announcement.
I'm going to try my hardest to prove this wrong.
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Retribution: An Upcoming Plug-in for EVN.
Visit the (url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/cgi-bin/ubb/forumdisplay.cgi?action=topics&number;=20&SUBMIT;=Go")Chronicles(/url) today! Be sure to read the short story ' (url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/cgi-bin/ubb/newsdisplay.cgi?action=topics &number;=20&forum;=*EV/EVO+chronicles&DaysPrune;=100&article;=000262&startpoint;=")Fiery Descent(/url)'!
(url="http://"http://www.cwssoftware.com")Sephil Saga(/url): An upcoming TC, visit the web page today.| | | Both the best and the worst plug-in editor for Windows! (url="http://"http://www.aznt.com/EVN/EVNEW")EVNEW(/url)!
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Originally posted by UE_Research & Development:
**I'm going to try my hardest to prove this wrong.
**
Heh. Good luck. I, for one, believe that Murphy's Law is the only certainty in life besides human stupidity. ;-). Sephil Saga looks to be interesting though.
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"Veni, Vidi, Vici"
"I came, I saw, I conqeured."
Julius Caeser
There are more than a plenty of rumors of late. In fact there has been a public beta of a very big one that was available for a short while as well. If you had been around a bit recently you would know that though. Now that us PC owners can finally start work just recently having been given a working editor, I think you will see even more stuff in the works.
By the way since after two years you came back to hassle everyone about our work, where is your effort? 
I think it would be far better to have you showing off your work rather than hassling those of us that are making an attempt. Don't you think? 
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Nothing like the smell of burnt rubber in the morning. - Now let's see some Tiresmoke!
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(This message has been edited by Tiresmoke (edited 01-13-2004).)
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Originally posted by zhouj:
**LoL. I apologize if anyone infered that I was pissed off from my post. I have a habit of using sarcasm and rhetoric. The point I was trying to make was to use common sense at least when making statements. IF stuff was around the corner, there'd be at least some rumor about it or announcement. I think the primary problem is that making a Nova plug-in requires time, and you don't get paid. Since most people have a life and stuff to do, that's not a very enticing endeavor, at least after the initial excitement and fervor wear off.
**
And you are releasing your plug when? 
But there are some that are around the corner, you just haven't been around in a while, am I right? Most notably SFA I'd say (a star trek plug) which looks imminent to be released soon, and others that are going strongly are on the way... for a similar discussion aimed at upcoming plugs look at the topic below, uh it's called "I'm a newb so..." I think. Typical, no hint of what the hell it's about inside...
90% of TC's are vapourware, people don't realise the work involved untill three months down the track. In addition to that, most willing to work on a team don't stay willing for long, and just leave without a word, or never do any work. (RANDOM: Holy ****e, it won't be like this when it's posted, but just now it says work work work in a coloumn. Wow, now there's four 'work' in a column... spin out) The project just dies. You have to be dedicated, free enough to do the work, and lucky enough to be able to either do everything yourself (including graphics etc) OR even luckier and actually find people who will stick around, and themselves have enough free time on their hands. This is a rare occurance.
I'm all typed out now...
~A~
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"How can I make it go faster?" -Me-
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Originally posted by Azdara:
**Most notably SFA I'd say (a star trek plug) which looks imminent to be released soon,
**
Eh...soon is a relative term. If you think about it, he has bugs to fix, and like 1200 planet/mission descriptions to write. That's...a lot.
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"Back in the day, when men were men, and women were also men..."
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1200 planet/mission descriptions to write.
Planet descriptions and mission descriptions are two major milestones. If one finishes both, he or she can safely say that his or her work will not become vaporware, because these two elements are the foundation of the non-visual portion of the plug. Ships without descriptions and descriptions without ships are both useless.
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Retribution: An Upcoming Plug-in for EVN.
Visit the (url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/cgi-bin/ubb/forumdisplay.cgi?action=topics&number;=20&SUBMIT;=Go")Chronicles(/url) today! Be sure to read the short story ' (url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/cgi-bin/ubb/newsdisplay.cgi?action=topics &number;=20&forum;=*EV/EVO+chronicles&DaysPrune;=100&article;=000262&startpoint;=")Fiery Descent(/url)'!
(url="http://"http://www.cwssoftware.com")Sephil Saga(/url): An upcoming TC, visit the web page today.| | | Both the best and the worst plug-in editor for Windows! (url="http://"http://www.aznt.com/EVN/EVNEW")EVNEW(/url)!
Quote
Originally posted by LawnGnome:
**Eh...soon is a relative term. If you think about it, he has bugs to fix, and like 1200 planet/mission descriptions to write. That's...a lot.
**
Oh... I was under the impression he was in beta stage. My bad, I guess he has a bit longer to go.
~A~
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"How can I make it go faster?" -Me-
Quote
Originally posted by zhouj:
**It's been nearly 2 years since Nova was released (and since I've last posted.) and there's exactly 1 Nova TC plug out. And it was released a few months after Nova. Interesting trend, eh? The majority of plugs seem to be just vaporware.
**
**I think we can safely say there are two main and direct causes for the lack of quality EVN TCs-
1. The graphics threshold- in EVO, anyone could turn out a little sprite and it'd look decent. In EVN you have bigger glossy shipyard pictures, glows, better sprites, etc. Which eliminates almost all developers, because it is exceedingly rare (essentially only one: martin turner) that you'll find someone with the graphical prowess and the sand to do all the data/testing work involved with the rest of the plug-in. Or even more rare, you'll have a dedicated developer working with a dedicated graphics guy who can stay on task.
2. It's just so much damn work. Who has time to develop a plug-in in any reasonable time at all?
_bomb
**
Quote
Originally posted by UE_Research & Development:
**I'm going to try my hardest to prove this wrong.
**
I've already proven this wrong. I released EVNEW with no warning whatsoever. I wanted it to be a surprise of happiness to the sullen world of Windows users who wanted to make plugs but couldn't, and that's exactly what happened.
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Get (url="http://"http://www.aznt.com/EVN/EVNEW")EVNEW(/url) - the free, open-source EVN plugin Editor for Windows!
Quote
Originally posted by Aprosenf:
**I've already proven this wrong. I released EVNEW with no warning whatsoever. I wanted it to be a surprise of happiness to the sullen world of Windows users who wanted to make plugs but couldn't, and that's exactly what happened.
**
And we are quite grateful too.
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Nothing like the smell of burnt rubber in the morning. - Now let's see some Tiresmoke!
(url="http://"http://www.rsdg.net")www.rsdg.net(/url)
I wonder if people realize how many times they inadvertently called Masamune a lucky bastard.
Anyhow, yes, TCs are a lot of work, and get tedious at times. When you're writing, it's fun, but when you have to populate 1500+ systems, it gets to be a bitch.
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The programmer's code of entomology: there's always another bug.
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From playing the last two alpha releases, I'd say that Starfleet Adventures has progressed to the point where it is almost unstoppable. It has a bunch of little bugs and oddities, sure, but even in it's current bare-bones state it is already good for many hours of Klingon-blastin' fun.
Over at ev-nova.net today, Uncle Twitchy (who is doing the plug single-handedly) wrote he was intending to put a beta on the ASW Add-Ons page once he had fixed a bunch of bugs and finished writing descriptions for the remaining planets and outfits. Even if (Zeus forbid) he never gets around to releasing storyline missions, when the beta is released a lot of people are going to have a great time exploring his huge map and working their way up through the Starfleet ranks.
Plug makers are artists, and no one should judge them harshly if they choose not to release projects until they are 100% satisfied with them. I'm rooting strongly for UT to get the whole thing finished. But, even if he gave up the project tomorrow and didn't just lock it up in his hard drive -- if he looked upon his Creation, saw that It was Good, and Bestowed it Upon Us -- I suspect that SFA would still flourish. It's that good, and that intriguingly different from EV, EVO, EVN, and Polycon. Moreover, I expect that other authors would step up to the plate and write at least some short storylines. Quality might drop some, but SFA would live, and gamers would have that all-important Real Good Time. That's why I'm calling it almost unstoppable.
I haven't gotten my hands on the other major TCs-in-progress. Anyone else in the same position? If so: congratulate yourselves! And then, for Pete's sake, keep going!
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(url="http://"http://home.comcast.net/~drtrowel/")Dr. Trowel's E.S.W.P.(/url) -- Featuring Cold Fusion Graphics for EVN Override, and an EVN/O outfit bug fix.
Very Good Stuff: (url="http://"http://ev-nova.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2832&sid;=43627ead61761e7f19060b00c14c739c")Big Nova FAQ(/url) (url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/cgi-bin/ubb/forumdisplay.cgi?action=topics&number;=31&SUBMIT;=Go")Bomb's Plug-in Guide(/url) (url="http://"http://www.evula.com/escape_velocity/")EVula's Lair(/url) (url="http://"http://w00tware.ev-nova.net/")NovaTools(/url)
Interests: The Good, The Bad, and The Loopy.
Quote
Originally posted by Bomb:
**I think we can safely say there are two main and direct causes for the lack of quality EVN TCs-
1. The graphics threshold- in EVO, anyone could turn out a little sprite and it'd look decent. In EVN you have bigger glossy shipyard pictures, glows, better sprites, etc. Which eliminates almost all developers, because it is exceedingly rare (essentially only one: martin turner) that you'll find someone with the graphical prowess and the sand to do all the data/testing work involved with the rest of the plug-in. Or even more rare, you'll have a dedicated developer working with a dedicated graphics guy who can stay on task.
2. It's just so much damn work. Who has time to develop a plug-in in any reasonable time at all?
_bomb**
Indeed the graphics and time are a key problem with the lack of large plugs like a TC. Keep in mind it took the Polycon TC 6 years from start to finish. The Nova scenerio, which started as a plug for EVO, took 3-4 years to do. So any plug of the magnitude of EVN or Polycon will likely take just about as long.
When I started my plug EVN Omega, I was doing it for EVO, and transfered it over to EVN. I don't have the graphics programs or skill to render new ships, so I came up with modified graphics and dialog boxes to handle the smaller 100x100 graphics. (I made these modified graphics (url="http://"http://www.captainz.net/downloads/evo_graphics/EVO_Graphics_Mod.sit.hqx")available here(/url))
Though my plug lacks all the cool graphic goodies found in EV Nova, it gives the reminisent feeling of playing EVC/EVO, and makes a much wider source of ship and outfit graphics available. Started in July 2002, I plan on finishing some time late 2005 to mid 2006.
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Captain Z - Mobile Operations Commander of the (url="http://"http://www.literatureclassics.com/68kmla")68K Macintosh Liberation Army(/url)
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