Interiors, why?

[Vasea Azure]

big difference between a bus and a ship in terms of complexity...

Why SRV, why landable planets, hey why even stations? I go further - 3d graphics is complex and waste of developer time, we should go back to 2d Elite, it was fine. Im sorry but I cant discuss those ridiculous topics in a calm way.
God forbid AAA studio with full price game and on going game extras store, model 3d ship interior in a game about spaceships, oh the horrors of crunch.

 

[Leper Messiah]

I would love that too. Sounds like to do it properly there could be an entire expansion worth of stuff there however
I don't think this should be a blocker BUT FD would have to figure out a way of meshing into the game for those with and those without the DLC. If I had all the DLC and lets say you didn't ..... And we were both doing trade runs in a T9.. because I have the DLC I could be having to fight off pirates boarding my ship... You would be far more efficient than me which could make you better at BGS work AND PP stuff.

To be honest as a not competitive player at all I actually don't care I get to enjoy fighting off NPC pirates from my ship and get the added bonus of what ever loot I can salvage from them (and perhaps THAT is how they balance it)

But some people who ARE competitive would absolutely complain that it is not fair that they get more stuff "interrupting them" if they have the DLC than those who don't.
This is actually the downside of optional DLCs as opposed to just making a new game. (True in all games not just ED)

Couldn't the competitive person either not buy the DLC OR load up non Odyssey game, like Horizons owners can right now?

 

[myothershipisacobraiv]

while I appreciate the amount of work that would have to go into the interiors, especially given the scale of the ships in this game and Elite's high ambient standard for realism

I don't have a clue why you need to ask why.

Anything is better than nothing in this respect. Even if it's just a selection of zones that you fast-travel to by a "lift" or something.

 

[Leper Messiah]

Yeah except that completeness is somewhat as much work graphically speaking as what already is in the game... not kidding.

I don't know about that, corridors could be cookie cutter with the ship manufacturers having a unique style, all the internal compartments can be cookie cutter too, a slf hanger will look the same in an Anaconda as it does in a Corvette, SRV bay looks the same in any ship. I actually think if FD are clever it's less work than you fear.

 

[Cemenotar]

yes because spoilers and paint packs alter hit boxes, we live in different realities indeed.

Well, to be fair, during last devstream the community management guy did claim that the back of his beluga liner (or whichever of these he was flying) got stuck when leaving mailslot due to.... shipkit spoiler. My first reaction to that was "and I thought they don't affect the collision boxes" and the very next one was "are you sure it was not that huge tail that is part of core model?".

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

Couldn't the competitive person either not buy the DLC OR load up non Odyssey game, like Horizons owners can right now?

Sure they could but making a DLC which actively encourages some players NOT to buy or use it sounds counterintuitive to me. Not saying it bothers me either way I just don't see it happening.

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

yes because spoilers and paint packs alter hit boxes, we live in different realities indeed.

Dude, I'm talking about the hull which makes up the EXTERIOR of the ship. Stop moving your goalposts to create your little own reality.

 

[Leper Messiah]

Sure they could but making a DLC which actively encourages some players NOT to buy or use it sounds counterintuitive to me. Not saying it bothers me either way I just don't see it happening.

That's why I said the system ww have now with the choice of base game or horizons. So competitve player when not wanting to be competitive and faff around in their ship can start up Odyssey interiors.....but when they want to be competitive for BGS, they load up base game. Win win?

 

[Leper Messiah]

Look at it this way people...how much dev time did Engineers, Multicrew, PP, CQC and Fleet carriers take? I never and hardly ever use those parts of the game...whereas I WILL use interiors if they ever come.

 

[myothershipisacobraiv]

I don't know about that, corridors could be cookie cutter with the ship manufacturers having a unique style, all the internal compartments can be cookie cutter too, a slf hanger will look the same in an Anaconda as it does in a Corvette, SRV bay looks the same in any ship. I actually think if FD are clever it's less work than you fear.

While I would accept some form of corner-cutting and homogenization for the sake of viability, and the groundwork for something like that is already laid in the game's lore, too much of that would kill the allure.

The whole point of ship interiors is to see more of the soul of the ship. To come to know more of it and to make it more alive. Imagine if every ship in the game had a similar "Faulcon DeLacy cockpit module". Wouldn't be good.

 

[Leper Messiah]

While I would accept some form of corner-cutting and homogenization for the sake of viability, and the groundwork for something like that is already laid in the game's lore, too much of that would kill the allure.

The whole point of ship interiors is to see more of the soul of the ship. To come to know more of it and to make it more alive. Imagine if every ship in the game had a similar "Faulcon DeLacy cockpit module". Wouldn't be good.

Just to clarrify (apart from modules they should look the same), cookie cutter corridors for the devs, to quickly build up the interior...then spend a bit more time adding some unique details here and there, or design the corridors with cosmetics points and let the players use ARX to buy decorations to make their ships unique themselves?

 

[Sunyavadin]

Incidental.

My point is, players USE those spaces, a whole bunch. You spend time there, you don't meet up with other players in some tavern the devs plonked in the world, you meet up in their houses where they've decorated the interior, maybe placed a few interactables, there are various services available based on what they've upgraded it with. Some groups use them as guildhalls in games with no dedicated guildhall system. They are where player interaction happens.

The devs only need to create a barebones outline and players fill in the rest to create spaces other players WANT to visit. Plus it's potentially a microtransactions goldmine when you begin adding premium cosmetic items on top of all the ones purchasable with ingame currency.

Ships are FAR better than spaceports and the like in that regard. they're the places where players are, not places they have to go to. You don't need to put time into handcrafting those spaces and all the details, you just create a barebones tileset for each ship manufacturer, and set interior layouts based on ship size, with doors to certain rooms accessible only if the ship has certain modules installed. The players decorate the rest. Then the system is infinitely expandable as you continue to release more game content.

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

My point is, players USE those spaces, a whole bunch. You spend time there, you don't meet up with other players in some tavern the devs plonked in the world, you meet up in their houses where they've decorated the interior, maybe placed a few interactables, there are various services available based on what they've upgraded it with. Some groups use them as guildhalls in games with no dedicated guildhall system. They are where player interaction happens.

The devs only need to create a barebones outline and players fill in the rest to create spaces other players WANT to visit. Plus it's potentially a microtransactions goldmine when you begin adding premium cosmetic items on top of all the ones purchasable with ingame currency.

Ships are FAR better than spaceports and the like in that regard. they're the places where players are, not places they have to go to. You don't need to put time into handcrafting those spaces and all the details, you just create a barebones tileset for each ship manufacturer, and set interior layouts based on ship size, with doors to certain rooms accessible only if the ship has certain modules installed. The players decorate the rest. Then the system is infinitely expandable as you continue to release more game content.

From my incidental experience players use hubs much more intensively.

 

[Kenneth McGrew]

For views and 'atmosphere'? The challenge of driving an SRV to a location? Ultimately, to find a location/view that is unlike something you've seen before.

And of course building in more and more layers to this experience (as CMDRs have been asking for now for half a decade) such as clouds, weather, rain (of varying element types), snow (of varying element types), aurora, storms, thunder & lightening, rivers and seas (of varying element types), and plant life based on a solid procedural engine, etc would all add more variety and 'atmosphere' to exploration.

But, once I've walked around my ship a few times, clockwise and anticlockwise, how 'atmospheric' is it going to be to find the same chair in the same place for 5th time? Likewise with a station interior?

Hence why I'd much rather FD dedicated time to adding those layers of depth to planet surfaces, than allowing me to walk around stations and ships.

I'll place a good bet that for most CMDRs station and ship interiors will prove of little interest after a few hours of novelty. Indeed, if CMDRs have to walk to a location to get to a mission board and the like, instead of at a key press, it'll even prove an annoyance to them.

Take your opening statement and fly a saud kruger ship, or even the obs deck on an anaconda. The views and "atmosphere" from any of these vantage points backdropped into a window out the ship will be epic in their own right.

i think you would lose that bet significantly, the screenshot threads are testament to the lengths CMDRs go to for that perfect pic.

 

[Kenneth McGrew]

Dude, I'm talking about the hull which makes up the EXTERIOR of the ship. Stop moving your goalposts to create your little own reality.

the post you quoted is based around cosmetics, i suggest you read before going off on your own tangent about hulls

 

[The Nephilim]

I'd like the kind of gameplay you get from X3, whereby a pilot bails and leaves his ship for you. You can then repair it, climb aboard and send it remotely to a station so you could sell or scrap it.

That's the only use for ship interiors I can think of that I'd enjoy.

 

[Kenneth McGrew]

Well, to be fair, during last devstream the community management guy did claim that the back of his beluga liner (or whichever of these he was flying) got stuck when leaving mailslot due to.... shipkit spoiler. My first reaction to that was "and I thought they don't affect the collision boxes" and the very next one was "are you sure it was not that huge tail that is part of core model?".

they dont even play their game they have no idea, one live stream mentioned core rocks being red, while sub surface were green... i mean if only! but yeah they havent a clue.

 

[NeilF]

Take your opening statement and fly a saud kruger ship, or even the obs deck on an anaconda. The views and "atmosphere" from any of these vantage points backdropped into a window out the ship will be epic in their own right.

i think you would lose that bet significantly, the screenshot threads are testament to the lengths CMDRs go to for that perfect pic.

You can already get a view from the ship and around the ship using the camera feature. Why invest a bucket of development time, creating a rod for future developments, just so you can get a different play on the same views already possible?

Again, I'd argue 99% of CMDRs, once they've walked around their ships clockwise and anticlockwise a couple of times, will rarely use the feature again. Likewise with stations. IMHO it will be Multicrew 2.0.

2021 is going to be interesting...

 

[Kenneth McGrew]

You can already get a view from the ship and around the ship using the camera feature. Why invest a bucket of development time, creating a rod for future developments, just so you can get a different play on the same views already possible?

Again, I'd argue 99% of CMDRs, once they've walked around their ships clockwise and anticlockwise a couple of times, will rarely use the feature again. Likewise with stations. IMHO it will be Multicrew 2.0.

2021 is going to be interesting...

Ship interiors is one of the most asked for features, much like the external camera there will be a dedicated following, cant compare it to multicrew because no-one asked for it as no one wanted it.

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

the post you quoted is based around cosmetics, i suggest you read before going off on your own tangent about hulls

No, it wasn't. It was about ship exterior. Which is the opposite of ship interior, naturally.