Progress Update #3

Thanks guys. I suppose it's time for a response and a bit of an update!
TCS-Concordia: I've got some free time coming up - I could definitely do something like that.
Maltinator: I'm sorry, what? My process here is quite simple: I took the original sprites (https://www.wcnews.com/ships2/wc1ralari.shtml) and added the same sort of high-res details from (https://www.wcnews.com/chrisreid/fmtownsbookhigh.jpg). That's pretty simple, and I stuck absolutely to the available sources. I'm not sure what you're seeing, quite frankly.
The shape's the same, the colors are the same, the details don't interfere with any of that, and just add to what's there, and the details were directly pulled from an existing Origin source. I'm unsure what else I could do by way of accuracy.
Dyret: Heh. Yes, I figured you might have that complaint...so here's a question: would it be better if I left the black track behind the windows intact (I really like the lines it forms on the hull) but made the number and brightness of the visible windows to be less? Would that fix the problem?
ZorClone: Thanks! As for the Concordia, I don't have any plans to make it anytime in the near future - but that's just near-term. Long-term it's definitely a project I'd love to tackle! As for your kind offer of assistance; I'm not sure where we could use you currently.
It's not that we don't need the help, it's just that at this point I'm a great deal ahead of the code-side when it comes to art creation. I've been slowing down recently and have begun to help Joel more on the engine side - setting up asset and task management systems ( Joel did all the heavy lifting), and providing test cases for various ongoing efforts. In fact, I've done very little actual artwork on this project recently, and I've managed to get sidetracked by other projects (if you're interested in what that might be, take a look at this: http://www.hedfiles.net/~hday/Final_Test.mov 22MB Steam-powered Aeroglider)...
So in conclusion: Everything is going well, I'm just at the tail end of a rather long mad run of art creation. I'll put aside some time to put the Tiger's Claw together!
 
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Howard Day said:
Dyret: Heh. Yes, I figured you might have that complaint...so here's a question: would it be better if I left the black track behind the windows intact (I really like the lines it forms on the hull) but made the number and brightness of the visible windows to be less? Would that fix the problem?
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Nah, it's fine as it is. No need to change anything. :)
 
Has he already thought about the gameplay? In all the time he only publishes object art. That's a quite great work anyway, my respect, but now I want to hear something about the kind of playing the game: How big will the world be? Will the world be manipulable or will I just complete several separate quests? How many quests may I complete at the same time? Will the game be more storyboard related or will I be completely free capable of acting? Will I have the ability of improving my skills in several professions when I join to several guilds? Just tell us more about the contents and less about the graphics.
 
maltinator said:
Has he already thought about the gameplay? In all the time he only publishes object art. That's a quite great work anyway, my respect, but now I want to hear something about the kind of playing the game: How big will the world be? Will the world be manipulable or will I just complete several separate quests? How many quests may I complete at the same time? Will the game be more storyboard related or will I be completely free capable of acting? Will I have the ability of improving my skills in several professions when I join to several guilds? Just tell us more about the contents and less about the graphics.
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Wow. Did you come up with this yourself or did you copy and paste this from some MMORPG pre-launch forum archive?
 
An RPG element would be kinda neat, but I don't think it would fit the established goals of the game.

However, some sort of skill system in a WC game would be pretty sweet. I suppose it'd be kinda like Elder Scrolls . . . IN SPACE!
 
overmortal said:
An RPG element would be kinda neat...
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I think RPG elements need to stay in RPGs. I understand everyone wants a progress bar now, but it's a poor replacement for a compelling story and addictive gameplay. Also, a game shouldn't tell the player how good they are, and that they can't do the stuff they bought the game for because they haven't spent 129 hours making their virtual person learn to do something via mind-numbing repitition.

We're sorry, but you can't fit this Laser Turret on your Centurion because you don't have 89,102,938 points in Duct Tape yet. It also requires 123,390,531 points in Turret Gunnery to fire. But you do have the 938,745 points in Bartending required to build an Orbital Refueling Station. However, that costs five trillion fluffytons to build, which are harvested by killing Kilrathi Dreadnaughts. It's an epic ultra rare drop, so you'll only get 1 fluffly ton per about 1,000 Dreadnaughts killed. Happy questing!

I would excuse the above being in Pioneer if it was renamed Statswhore Commander, had a $50/month subscription rate, and I was entitled to 5% of the royalties.
 
t.c.cgi said:
I think RPG elements need to stay in RPGs. I understand everyone wants a progress bar now, but it's a poor replacement for a compelling story and addictive gameplay. Also, a game shouldn't tell the player how good they are, and that they can't do the stuff they bought the game for because they haven't spent 129 hours making their virtual person learn to do something via mind-numbing repitition.

We're sorry, but you can't fit this Laser Turret on your Centurion because you don't have 89,102,938 points in Duct Tape yet. It also requires 123,390,531 points in Turret Gunnery to fire. But you do have the 938,745 points in Bartending required to build an Orbital Refueling Station. However, that costs five trillion fluffytons to build, which are harvested by killing Kilrathi Dreadnaughts. It's an epic ultra rare drop, so you'll only get 1 fluffly ton per about 1,000 Dreadnaughts killed. Happy questing!

I would excuse the above being in Pioneer if it was renamed Statswhore Commander, had a $50/month subscription rate, and I was entitled to 5% of the royalties.
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I couldn't agree with this post more.
 
Calm, please.

There is still no need to brow beat people for asking questions. Its an honest and simple question. That is one issue I have with this forum. People are so quick to flame people. I know I don't post much but I do read alot here. I've been watching for a while. Please folks, don't be so quick to since a salvo of napalm in some hapless person's direction.

:(
 
In their defense, maltinator's entire gimmick seems to be trolling all the fan projects in this manner. That's why no one is defending him -- take a look at his posting history.
 
TCS-Concordia said:
There is still no need to brow beat people for asking questions. Its an honest and simple question. That is one issue I have with this forum. People are so quick to flame people. I know I don't post much but I do read alot here. I've been watching for a while. Please folks, don't be so quick to since a salvo of napalm in some hapless person's direction.

:(
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Aside from malt's dubious posting history, the post I responded to doesn't ask anything that wasn't technically answered with the first sentence of Pioneer's announcement.

https://www.wcnews.com/news/update/6504

"It's Privateer set in the WC1 timeframe."

Oh wow! You've posted a lot of nice artwork but you must be lazy, incompetant fools because you haven't made a giant checklist of buzz-word features from World of Warcraft! Quests? Skills from guilds? What does that mean? And the Pioneer folks have discussed gameplay a lot. Howard Day has addressed questions from landing on the Tiger's Claw to flying Dralthis to whether or not shooting externally mounted missles will damage the ship and be a viable tactic.

It's a post that literally came out of the woodwork. It's insane.
 
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maltinator said:
Has he already thought about the gameplay? In all the time he only publishes object art.
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That might possibly be because I'm the artist. Still, that's not exactly true - I've been posting quite a bit of info on the game, in fact, if you had read the forum, most of your questions would have been answered.

That's a quite great work anyway, my respect,
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Thanks, I guess - sort of a backhanded compliment.
but now I want to hear something about the kind of playing the game: How big will the world be?
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You mean the universe you fly around in? 4 sectors (quadrants?), same as the original Privateer.

Will the world be manipulable or will I just complete several separate quests?
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You mean will you be able to dramatically alter the shape of the universe you fly around in? No. No blowing up planets. You are a single freighter pilot - you will not seriously alter the environment. In the context of the story, yes - you will alter the story based on your actions.

How many quests may I complete at the same time? Will the game be more storyboard related or will I be completely free capable of acting?
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Well, then. We don't have quests, we have missions. And all these things are easily answered by one simple statement: It will be as much like Privateer as possible. And I mean as close as possible! Once we have that, we don't have a problem updating some things - allowing you to cancel missions you've previously accepted, for example - but only, only if they're consistent, reasonable, and not distracting.

Will I have the ability of improving my skills in several professions when I join to several guilds? Just tell us more about the contents and less about the graphics.
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All this really does sound like you're used to playing a MMORPG. Let me be clear - this is not an RPG. Yes, it may have some elements of that genre, but it's only elements. Our focus will be the space combat - as it should be. If that's not fun, then everything else is useless.

Honestly this post makes as much sense as that guy who said that the Ralari looked nothing like the original... Oh, wait. It's the same guy.
 
One of my big regrets in life is that nobody gets to see the hilarious ban remarks I put in for these guys. Especially the robots.
 
privateer is already rpg enough.
money = gold
ship parts = equipped items
you could even say that your general condition is your level (good ship good gear = high level).
no need to take d&d-ish concepts such as explicit level or what not, and make them a part of something that does just as well or better as-is.

-scheherazade
 
Perhaps something basic like Privateer 2 did might work--your "level", and therefore the difficulty of the enemies, rose in proportion to your kill scores. Basically, as you kill more ships of a faction, the enemies in that faction would tend towards having stronger AI and more Ace pilots facing you as they make your death a higher priority.

Anyway, having your character stats (and flying and fighting ability) rise as a result of fighting rather than as a result of your equipment and crew/wingmen promotes "level grinding" too much. I'm perfectly content with my character being stronger because I've upgraded from a Hunchback to a Tarsus, rather than because I've killed a certain number of Kilrathi or pirates.
 
There are many things about WoW that would not work in a Wing Commander MMO simply because WoW is not WC it can't be, and it never will be. Let the Pioneer guys playtest and develop their stuff out. They'll come up with an appropriate gameplay system to match their artwork. Ideas are great to throw around but ultimately, the devs have final control. If you want WC: WoW make it yourself because noone else is going to, there are a few wc projects being worked on that are planning multiplayer, they will each stand/fall on their own, development is a process and whiny fans are not a major part of it.
 
Ok I see your point

scheherazade said:
privateer is already rpg enough.
money = gold
ship parts = equipped items
you could even say that your general condition is your level (good ship good gear = high level).
no need to take d&d-ish concepts such as explicit level or what not, and make them a part of something that does just as well or better as-is.

-scheherazade
Click to expand...


Ok..... that was funny... I yield sir.. :D

I do want to say though that some people might be 12 and A> Not know WC like we do, B> never actually played a WC Game, and C> Might honestly not know anybetter. I know I don't have bitching rights by any measure but sometimes things just seem over the top. To the Pioneer team, you guys do great work and you actually have given me a reason to plan to upgrade my gaming system. The last time I did that out of neccessity was WC:P. Otherwise it was a convience thing. You should be proud, not because I have to UPgrade my system, but becuase you are, like origin, setting the bar high. This is as it should be for any WC game.
 
I think the Idea of more RPG and Interaction is great.
Privateer 1 was a great game, but the lag of interaction (beside the storyline) was sad. It would be great if the universe arround you acts more like in one of those "Eldar Scrolls - Games". Like you land on a carrier (or other kind of capship) and you can interact with the crew. Or you can walk arround a town and you can have you own falt or house (meant the building not the doctor! ;-).

Howard Day, you are an great 3D-Artist! Shame on EA that they don't produce another Wing Commander with you as the Nr.1 3D-Artist! Simply superb! Great! :-)
 
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