quote: Original post by aDasTRa

i like the idea of working to unifying the estranged colonist. that could only be a part of the game though. you could have the first part of the game consist of unifying these people and organizing in to a large force. then this entire organized colony can move as one from the asteroids to a new home world, and begin to ''move in''.

Thanks aDasTRa! There are some nice empire building components suggested by your storyline. I think, though, that because the gameplay focuses on being a single ship and flying around and such, it might piss off people who were expecting more of a SimCity or Civilization experience. Do you think these two play styles would be compatible?

It *might* be cool to try to build up an empire of bases with only a single ship! Although, it could get frustrating if you lose bases and aren''t able to defend them the same way you do in an empire game.




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Just waiting for the mothership...

I''m reminded of a movie I saw a while ago called Last Man Standing. The idea is that a lone traveller comes into a town with two opposing gangs and does dirty work for both of them. In the end, both gangs are destroyed. In this case, our "hero" is somewhat of an outlaw. He does dirty work. After all is said and done, however, he leaves the town better off than it was before he arrived.

You could throw this idea into the game. It allows the player to do both bad and good. You could maybe turn it around, so that, rather than bad leading to good, he starts out with good intentions and ends up bad. The down side, depending on how you do it, is that it could limit the freedom the player has to choose his alignment.

quote: Original post by halfgold

As the aforementioned privateer or pirate, you''ve been chased (or exiled) into this region of space for your crimes. Alternatively, you could be a political exile fleeing assassins. This would explain why your ship differs from those in the current region, and allows for various plot points and goals. Maybe you must gain control of a large portion of the sector before your enemies gather an invasion force. Maybe you need the political clout of a large guild or nation (created in this asteroid field and headed by yourself) to negotiate your return to "civilization".

halfgold,

Thx! Just like sunandshadow''s plotline, I like that this gives you immediate focus when you arrive and explains why you''re doing what you''re doing. But I''m not sure I can apply this to multiplayer. Would everyone be exiles? I don''t know if that would work. I guess I''m looking for a more general situation. Everyone *could* be exiles, which would explain why there''s competition and backbiting among players... but it seems much more applicable to a cool single player storyline than multi.



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Just waiting for the mothership...

Last Man Standing is a remake of the Akira Kurosawa film Yojimbo.Starring Bruce Willis and Toshiro Mifune respectively...

Bug''s Life borrowed and modified the plot to Seven Samurai..

(akk! Last Man Standing)

quote: Original post by Wavinator

S&S,

Thanks, I love Cherryh''s space trader writing. I just finished "Heavy Time" and it really captures what life might be like as a hard rock miner when we get out there.

Your story setup makes for some cool motivation and gives a lot of immediate character and flavor. My only problem is that I wouldn''t be able to apply such a specific situation to multiplayer. It''d work great for single player, tho!

It''d be great if I could compose a compelling setup that worked well for single *and* multiplayer. I''m trying to avoid the lame, crappy "You''re one of 4 factions fighting over..." nonesense that seems justify multiplayer mode in *every* RTS storyline.

Although... maybe I could concoct several stories like this? Then, relationships and abilities and such would be like playing a side in an RTS? Have to think about this more!


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Just waiting for the mothership...

I think that making several stories would work well for both single player and multiplayer. Or, why not let the players each make up their own specific story from some modular motivations and blanks for ships'' names? That would make every one unique, but you could use the modules to tailor the plot/NPC''s reactions to the character. And it would be very simple to code.

LF : and some of his movies are taken straight from Shakespeare, but God, I respect this man so much
Ketchaval : LOL, if it was the only movie to do that. If you really want to see how fuck!ng useless some writers can be, look at the Seven Magnificent, and be amazed at how much as NOT been changed (I can imagine the writers saying "uh, yeah, but look! it''s a western"). I think there is also Three Amigos, who''s itself a remake of an old movie, itself based on the 7 Samurai ...

in the end, it''s all about style, I guess. Kurozawa is a genius.

Wavinator : well, AAMOF, RogueTrader *IS* the first game made by the Games Workshop team, which later evolved into a sweeter, more Hollywood rated universe... it was made in those times where their writers could do 700 pages on the 4 Gods of Chaos... but GW have sold their souls to the God of Money a long time ago (though now, at least, the drawings kick major a$$).
As well, my idea is to inspire yourself from the concept of the RogueTrader (did you read the description of their job ?), not to copy/paste the concept It seemes to me that your description of a lone ship, able to handle an army, to build bases, etc, is very similar to the mission of the Rogue Traders.

God, I have to find 5 minutes to write down my idea. Ok, more later.

youpla :-P

quote: Original post by Ketchaval

Bug''s Life borrowed and modified the plot to Seven Samurai..

(akk! Last Man Standing)

Modified = Ruined

Well, I think that Last Man Standing is the worst film I have seen in a cinema.

Sunandshadow Quote "You grew up on the [insert player''s chosen ship name here].
Everyone you knew was part of this self-contained little world.
Your mom was the astrogator, your dad was the cook, your uncle
was the captain, your uncle''s partner was the trade officer, your aunt was the weapons officer, your grandma was in charge of all you cousins, etc. Now all of that is gone.
[For some emotionally involving plot related reason]"

If the player spent a lot of time involved with these characters in the beginning chapters of the game, then I think that an "emotionally involving plot related reason" would work, but if they died in the game BEFORE you had even met them, I doubt that this would have any real emotional effect on the player. Unless it was the fake block-buster emotion of things like Armageddon.