Ship interiors the easy(*) way.

[rotwhylr]

Ship interiors have been a long-promised feature which failed to materialize. At the same time, as Elite Dangerous has aged and matured, FDEV has needed to support this and other games, which appears to have stretched their resources thin. I don't know what the actual finances looks like from business perspective, but I imagine every GBP spent on Elite game dev needs to be justified in terms of increased revenue. Inevitably, over time the new game sales slows down, and revenue from existing players for ship paint jobs, etc will diminish.

To address this, FDEV needs a way to A) increase revenue from existing players, B) give new game buyers more reasons to pick up the game, and C) do it with minimal investment.

(*) Assuming the game engine would handle it, I think I have a solution.

Offer a contest to 3rd party designers to build ship interior floor plans. First contest is to build out the basic framework (where the walls go) of an interior for each ship (hallways, ship entrance/exit, pilot quarters, public spaces like lounge decks on a Beluga or Orca). One winning design is selected for each ship. Winners get paid, the content becomes FDEV property.

Second contest: design interiors that suit the different ship interiors (now that you have the walls and spaces, how do you want them decorated). FDEV vets the designs (no objectionable material like nudity painted on the walls, etc). Then they can either license it for an outright fee like contest #1, or do a revenue split of the sales in Outfitting, with a rough translation of ARX into $.

Benefits:

• Allows FDEV to make a very limited $ investment without adding more headcount while leveraging a large, distributed pool of talent.
• Creates another reason for existing players to invest more $ in FDEV, while keeping to FDEV's "cosmetics only" transaction policy (kudos for that, BTW).
• Diversity! Imagine being able to kit out your Orca passenger lounge like the ballroom of the Titanic, or as a 1970's disco, or like Russia's Winter Palace, or Versailles.
• Allows for future content development contests the same way.
• The same idea could be applied to other areas of the game like FC interiors (new decor for existing floor plans, and/or new floor plans for new FC features).

Drawbacks:

• None I can think of.

The community has members who have already designed ship interiors just for the fun of it. I'm sure most of us have seen this -

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfGfBX2gj2g
Other games have gained more player involvement by allowing a degree of player design in the game (Fallout's G.E.C.K. comes to mind). We don't necessarily need FDEV to build a kit like that, as long as game assets can be designed with industry standard modeling tools.

To simplify things, I'd suggest keeping the floor plan to spaces that are not ship modules, or at least not optional ones (passenger compartments, cargo bays, etc). Yes, I know we all want to explore those too, but at that point the physical layout of the same optional modules across all the different E ship hull types becomes a much bigger challenge.

What do y'all think?

 

[metatheurgist]

It was never promised. It was a blue sky goal.

 

[amigacooke]

It was never promised. It was a blue sky goal.

Do you really want me to get the video out again where David Braben says there will be ship interiors? Not in the initial release admittedly, but we're way past the intitial release.

 

[Dillon Fallon]

Do you really want me to get the video out again where David Braben says there will be ship interiors? Not in the initial release admittedly, but we're way past the intitial release.

Pretty sure there was supposed to be more than one TV series of Firefly as well.

 

[amigacooke]

Pretty sure there was supposed to be more than one TV series of Firefly as well.

They didn't ask me for money in advance though

 

[Thatchinho]

What do y'all think?

I think you’re coming up with solutions to things that aren’t the problems.

(And when I say ‘I think’, that probably implies more doubt than there really is. You’re definitely coming up with solutions to things which aren’t the problems.)

 

[metatheurgist]

Do you really want me to get the video out again where David Braben says there will be ship interiors? Not in the initial release admittedly, but we're way past the intitial release.

Yeah, and in the video he says words to the effect of 'in the future, if everything is going great they would like to'. Dreams.txt. Just like what CIG is selling, except he never sold them. The only thing that was promised was planet landings and getting out of your ship, as explicitly listed in the KS. That was what he charged money for.

 

[DemiserofD]

If you watch the video, what he actually says is that you will be able to walk around. That was the promise. After that, he listed a number of ways in which that might take place. Including inside of your ship, as you mentioned, inside space stations, and on planets.

They have fulfilled that promise. You can now walk around, in the majority of the places they mentioned might be possible.

That out of the way, Outsourcing work to volunteers does not save as much effort as you might think. Even after they do it, you still have to go through every single detail, double checking to make sure they haven't secretly snuck in something that is going to get them sued for copyright infringement, or is going to break the game. By the time you check and double check everything, you end up putting in just as much effort if not more.

Ultimately, it's just not worth bothering, not when you risk liability and half a dozen other problems.

If they ever should choose to do ship interiors, which isn't entirely out of the question, the main stumbling block is not the amount of effort it takes to do it, but finding enough value in that effort to be worthwhile.

The basic problem is this; in order to justify ship interiors, you need content that can only work if ship Interiors exist. If it could exist elsewhere, it would be a much more efficient investment to just do it alone, and forget the interior part.

But, what sort of content requires the interior? We can reference other games for what they've done. Subnautica, for example, primarily uses the interior of the Cyclops for growing plants and storing stuff. Only, we have no need for food in this game, and storage is handled automatically.

Games like Star Wars Battlefront 2, the original one, that is, have ship Interiors where combat can take place. But that is only inside of the large Capital ships that you cannot fly. The ships in elite, despite technically being large enough to facilitate internal combat, are not designed in such a way that internal combat could possibly work. Consider, for example, if you are in a dog fight with another player, when suddenly your ship is boarded. Do you continue to fight the external enemy? Or do you turn to fight the internal enemy? Either Choice leads to death.

Games like Borderlands 3 have ships that have shops and NPCs inside, but neither of those things would work in elite.

People have suggested content like a analysis lab for exobiological samples, but why does that require a ship interior? You could easily do that directly from the pilot seat.

No, there is no practical Niche for ship interiors. The closest I think players might ever hope for is a new class of ship, player owned capital ships. They would have to have some pretty strong restrictions, obviously, but if players could pilot them, but also they were slow and ungainly enough that players could practically leave the pilot seat and fight inside, then that would allow for at least the internal combat aspects that we see in games like battlefront.

 

[Thatchinho]

It’s probably time for the periodic reminder that ‘Ship Interiors and Combative Boarding’ was one of the major (paid) future expansions which was touted for ED by FD.

 

[amigacooke]

'You will be able to walk around inside your ship'

Difficult to get much clearer.

 

[DemiserofD]

'You will be able to walk around inside your ship'

Difficult to get much clearer.

"You will be able to walk around. Inside your ship, outside your ship, etc."

There's a clear and definitive pause between walking around and the examples he gives.

 

[Banana's_Are_Good_For_You]

I've been here before, bye!
P.S.
They said no, deal with it.

 

[Cmdr. Numa]

Pretty sure there was supposed to be more than one TV series of Firefly as well.

And currently it looks like there might be. Or did you mean a second season ? Either way, ship interiors depend entirely on FDEV's will to get their act together, renew focus and pull ED out of the hole Odyssey has dropped it in. Hello Games have done so with NMS, Arena-Net have with Guild Wars 2. It is possible, it just needs a will and not treating the game like an unwanted stepchild that can't move out of the house too soon.

 

[amigacooke]

They said no, deal with it.

No

 

[Chrystoph]

Ship interiors have been a long-promised feature which failed to materialize.

snip<

Yes, I know we all want to explore those too, but at that point the physical layout of the same optional modules across all the different E ship hull types becomes a much bigger challenge.

What do y'all think?

First, you are wrong by a factor of at least me, which means, "we all want", is not true.

Second, unless ship interiors serve a purpose, "the Pretty" wears off after a couple of iterations, and your short term solution becomes a long term time sink. In my opinion, ship interiors as described will ultimately be one more thing that leaves the portions of the player base dissatisfied and more likely to abandon the game.

As to previously proposed functions, maintenance, manual repairs, etc do not interest me. I have these things called AFMUs for a reason.

"The Pretty" also doesn't interest me. I only look at it once or twice before I ignore it.

Having to transition from the cockpit to the airlock is "realism" I can do without.

We've already had "improvements" like the by hand telescope that just made the game more tedious. I'd just as soon not add more, especially when Frontier has a long history of all or nothing when it comes to usage requirement.

 

[Gut]

'You will be able to walk around inside your ship'

Difficult to get much clearer.

You CAN walk around your ship , it's called a Fleet Carrier .

 

[Darrack]

O7

 

[varonica]

There's always an easy way, if it was so easy everyone would be doing it!

 

[rotwhylr]

First, you are wrong by a factor of at least me, which means, "we all want", is not true.

Eh, fair. Not everyone wants everything. Some want BGS. Some want Thargoids. I personally have little to no use for the on-foot shooter Odyssey stuff. But at the same time, there is a sizeable segment of the player base who wants ship interiors (otherwise we wouldn't see ship interior threads pop up).

Second, unless ship interiors serve a purpose, "the Pretty" wears off after a couple of iterations, and your short term solution becomes a long term time sink. In my opinion, ship interiors as described will ultimately be one more thing that leaves the portions of the player base dissatisfied and more likely to abandon the game.

We already have "the pretty" with paint schemes and ship kits, pilot costumes, etc. Some players like 'em, some don't care. It still makes cash for FDEV. At least the way I envisioned it, interiors would be no more mandatory in terms of game play than paint jobs.
[snip]

I'd just as soon not add more, especially when Frontier has a long history of all or nothing when it comes to usage requirement.

I see your point, and like I said, the idea I have in mind is more like paint jobs and requiring nothing from a game play standpoint. That said, the game either evolves or it dies.

 

[CMDR Bob Mcdernfingers]

Ship interiors have been a long-promised feature which failed to materialize. At the same time, as Elite Dangerous has aged and matured, FDEV has needed to support this and other games, which appears to have stretched their resources thin. I don't know what the actual finances looks like from business perspective, but I imagine every GBP spent on Elite game dev needs to be justified in terms of increased revenue. Inevitably, over time the new game sales slows down, and revenue from existing players for ship paint jobs, etc will diminish.

To address this, FDEV needs a way to A) increase revenue from existing players, B) give new game buyers more reasons to pick up the game, and C) do it with minimal investment.

(*) Assuming the game engine would handle it, I think I have a solution.

Offer a contest to 3rd party designers to build ship interior floor plans. First contest is to build out the basic framework (where the walls go) of an interior for each ship (hallways, ship entrance/exit, pilot quarters, public spaces like lounge decks on a Beluga or Orca). One winning design is selected for each ship. Winners get paid, the content becomes FDEV property.

Second contest: design interiors that suit the different ship interiors (now that you have the walls and spaces, how do you want them decorated). FDEV vets the designs (no objectionable material like nudity painted on the walls, etc). Then they can either license it for an outright fee like contest #1, or do a revenue split of the sales in Outfitting, with a rough translation of ARX into $.

Benefits:

• Allows FDEV to make a very limited $ investment without adding more headcount while leveraging a large, distributed pool of talent.
• Creates another reason for existing players to invest more $ in FDEV, while keeping to FDEV's "cosmetics only" transaction policy (kudos for that, BTW).
• Diversity! Imagine being able to kit out your Orca passenger lounge like the ballroom of the Titanic, or as a 1970's disco, or like Russia's Winter Palace, or Versailles.
• Allows for future content development contests the same way.
• The same idea could be applied to other areas of the game like FC interiors (new decor for existing floor plans, and/or new floor plans for new FC features).

Drawbacks:

• None I can think of.

The community has members who have already designed ship interiors just for the fun of it. I'm sure most of us have seen this -

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfGfBX2gj2g
Other games have gained more player involvement by allowing a degree of player design in the game (Fallout's G.E.C.K. comes to mind). We don't necessarily need FDEV to build a kit like that, as long as game assets can be designed with industry standard modeling tools.

To simplify things, I'd suggest keeping the floor plan to spaces that are not ship modules, or at least not optional ones (passenger compartments, cargo bays, etc). Yes, I know we all want to explore those too, but at that point the physical layout of the same optional modules across all the different E ship hull types becomes a much bigger challenge.

What do y'all think?

Yes