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Starsector 0.97a is out! (02/02/24); New blog post: Simulator Enhancements (03/13/24)

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Messages - AxleMC131

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1696
In other words, I taught myself from scratch how to mod Starsector.

1697
I'm not a modder, but here's what I perceive as being compatible with the base game:

Well. O.O Clearly I know nothing. I'm not a programmer, or at least, I don't know Java - everything I do for modding comes from looking at the existing game files or other mod files, then writing my own using those as a template. It's a method that's served me well enough so far.

1698
Orikson,

Thanks for the feedback! I think I just really need a push as I've been thinking about making a public mod for a long time, and just haven't gotten around to it.

Good suggestions on balance, quality and consistency, and those I treat as a given (and like to think I'm not rubbish at the first), but could you explain what you mean by compatibility with the base game? I'm afraid you've lost me there.

1699
A little background...

So I've been playing Starsector since it was Starfarer (albeit with a big break in the middle), and I've loved every minute of it. I've dabbled with mods a little, but I discovered a while back that creating a mod from scratch (at least to add custom weapons and ships) was not particularly difficult.

As an amateur writer of science fiction, I decided to utilize my newfound skills of mod-making to create a simple mod to implement various spacecraft and weapons from the universe one of my stories is set in. It has nothing to do with Starsector on its own, but I discovered that the process of creating first simple sprites, then flyable ships, then weapons to be fitted on those ships, then missions using those ships and so forth, was altogether an excellent method for world building for that story. It added massive quantities of context and contrast, and I am still periodically adding new ships, weapons and features to the mod. I'm extremely proud of some of the things I have created in the mod, and it's been heaps of fun to expand.

However.

Since the mod is of a poor quality (It was my first mod, and since I started so long ago, my technique has changed over the years making things... Inconsistent) and contains some spoilers for the universe, it is not available for public access. I use it strictly for personal gameplay and world building, and I highly doubt it will ever become public. But recently it has left me thinking that it would be nice to have a go at creating a fresh PUBLIC mod that fits within the Starsector universe a little better, with custom ships, weapons, missions, and such things I have learnt over the years how to implement.

The problem...

... is that I have a really bad habit of replicating. I'm concerned that if I was to create a new mod for public use, I would find myself rapidly copying weapon and ship concepts from this private mod of mine into the new mod. On the other hand... Since the private mod is, well, private, no one out there (that's you guys reading this) would give a damn as it would all be new from your perspective. I'm only copying from myself.

Don't get me wrong. I have new ideas all the time. It's more of a brain worm that says "Hey, why are you bothering making new stuff, when you have all this cool stuff here already that you could make public!?". Yet I flatly refuse to make this private mod of mine into a public mod. Trust me, I'm sure it's got some cool features, but you'd be disappointed by the lack of consistency, unkempt style and unfinished mini-projects.

Another reason to dislike replicating concepts - at least, 100% copying them from one mod to the other - is that it would do my head in when it comes to managing the two mods, and the two "universes" would start to collide in my imagination. As a writer, this can cause BIG PROBLEMS with consistency.

Still, I would love to make an original mod using at least SOME of the concepts and ideas from this private mod, because I reckon I wouldn't be half bad at it, given a decent theme/pretense and a little further practise.

So my questions for you are as follows.

If I am to make a new, public mod from scratch, ideally adding ships, weapons, missions and a way to access the ships/weapons in the campaign...

- Should I re-use concepts from my private mod for the sake of showcasing original ideas?
- Should I have a theme to create new concepts for / choose old concepts from?
- Should I bother tying the theme for the new mod in with the Starsector lore, and if so how tightly? Bear in mind I'm not massively educated on it.
- Would people like to see how I started modding with more excerpts (screenshots/videos/showcases) from this private mod?

For a quick look at what I can do mod-wise already, here are a small selection of screenshots from the game featuring my private mod. For a little bit of context, in the story there are three warring factions (United, Freedom and Independence) who here each have a selection of ships and weapons unique to them. You should be able to distinguish the faction's ships by the colour scheme, and to a lesser extent their actual design. Bear in mind that I DO NOT "Frankensprite" or however you refer to it as - all of my sprites are original, as they are based on my own universe, NOT the Starsector universe.


All your thoughts, feedback and questions for me will be happily received in the thread below. Thanks all for your time!

- Axle


1700
Blog Posts / Re: Ship Recovery
« on: February 20, 2017, 10:39:39 PM »
 ;) Well, I AM an optimist.

1701
Blog Posts / Re: Ship Recovery
« on: February 20, 2017, 08:06:03 PM »
Currently working on exploration content (putting all those features to work!); after that, some end-to-end playtesting.

:O Not too long until the update then. Can't wait!

1702
Blog Posts / Re: Ship Recovery
« on: February 17, 2017, 05:03:02 PM »
That's a bit circular, isn't it? Giving more meaning to something can be a nice bonus, but it shouldn't be the main reason. If that's the case, the right design move is probably to remove both things.

I suppose that's true. When it comes down to it, "kinda nice" and "necessary" are two very different things.

For commodities in particular, a lot of them don't have a point right now and mostly act as background flavor, so it's totally expected they're "just credits". That'll change gradually (the next release will give more meaning to a couple, etc), but stuff that gives them meaning will be stuff that's good to add for *other reasons*, i.e. commodities are a projected part of the implementation of that stuff, just added to the game early. Some commodities may change/be removed/etc during this process.

Can't argue with that. Again it's a balance between two alternate points: "like the real world" and "just a game". Keeping a balance between them is important, and I'm no expert. I can settle for background flavour. I'm sure it's just my human nature being impossible to satisfy, haha!

Still, nice to know some commodities will have practical uses - or at least a little more meaning - in future. :)

1703
Blog Posts / Re: Ship Recovery
« on: February 17, 2017, 02:00:45 PM »
I'd argue that giving meaning to commodities for players that aren't traders is a worthy addition. As a combat focused player I only look at them as money that I will soon trade for at the next station I dock with. However, if I need metals (or other specific materials) to repair D-mods I might consider not scuttling it for other more expensive commodities every single time, thus making the choice of what to keep post-battle more interesting. It'd also make players think if they should sell everything while docking or use their station storage.

This is actually a really good point. I have never used any storage space at stations for the simple reason that I never keep any commodities, except for supplies and fuel. Even if it seems mechanically unfeasible, I feel lots of players like Cyan and myself currently see metals, heavy machinery, organics, volatiles etc. simply as "more cash". Personally I think you could do worse things than add context to those materials by making them actually usable by the player.

1704
Blog Posts / Re: Ship Recovery
« on: February 13, 2017, 11:57:52 PM »
From what I saw about XIV variants, the "...performed by pre-collapse industrial methods (or techniques)..." (caveat: may not be exact text, but close enough if not) could just mean Hegemony could build new XIV ships with pre-collapse industry tech.  Survivor of original XIV does imply the ship is likely pre-collapse.

Very true. Personally I'm not very good at flying slow, heavily armoured ships and much prefer something quicker and lighter for jumping in and out of combat (although I've found I'm useless in command of any form of Phase ship!), and I see the XIV ships very much as collector's pieces.

1705
Blog Posts / Re: Ship Recovery
« on: February 13, 2017, 05:49:25 PM »
Oh man, I'd forgotten the XIV variants. XD They are super cool, although I have yet to enjoy the pleasure of properly piloting one.

1706
Blog Posts / Re: Ship Recovery
« on: February 13, 2017, 01:55:39 PM »
It would slightly bug me if there is something in the game world that clearly should be possible for the player, but inexplicably isn't. I mean, how can the Sector be filled with converted ship if there's no way to convert them?

...not that I'd actually want to convert them all that often. I'd just consider it a nice touch for world building.


To clarify, the point I was making was from a similar standpoint to Gothars, saying that there is something apparently in the game we are informed of from lore (namely ship descriptions), yet the player has no way to access it or even any evidence that this information is true in the world of Starsector. Again, I'm not pushing for the mechanic, but that's how I was initially thinking about it. As Gothar said, it's a nice touch for world building, and as an amateur author I do adore world building!

1707
Blog Posts / Re: Ship Recovery
« on: February 13, 2017, 01:51:07 PM »
Thanks for people's thoughts and welcomes! :)

I think I see the main problem with converting ships between classes - as Alex said, there are only really two ship pairings where this applies in the lore at present, and the last thing you want is a feature that is only accessible by a tiny proportion of the game. I do really appreciate how Fractal Softworks aims extremely hard to keep out superfluous mechanics and boring grinds, so I'll follow their judgement on that.

Morrokain, you bring up a good point about the ability to have different "skins" appear as variations on a ship class other than the loadout. It's a good point that, having different skins for spacecraft, it's somewhat unnecessary to also have the ability to change a ship class just a little more - when you think about it, a Wolf compared to a Wolf (D) isn't that far off from the difference between a Condor and a Tarsus, other than the method by which the ships have been altered.

1708
Blog Posts / Re: Ship Recovery
« on: February 12, 2017, 03:45:44 PM »
Absolutely adoring the concept of Autofit. :D Something I've wanted in some form or other for a long time, and you've absolutely cracked it.

I have a thought that stems from the ability to restore ships to their "factory condition", or however you want to describe the painstaking removal of D-mods from damaged ships. Will we ever see the ability to massively overhaul one ship class into another? Obviously I'm referring to ship classes that are described as being conversions from others (Tarsus to Condor, Buffalo to Buffalo MkII), and I think it could be really cool to upgrade/modify/convert a Tarsus freighter into a Condor carrier. I don't doubt that this would take massive quantities of resources, and I'm not sure of the practical uses in the campaign, but it could be worth thinking about what with all the other factors being added with ship recovery here.

Thoughts?

(Been playing Starsector for a few years, but I'm new to the forums)

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