There is a saying, out of sight, out of mind, however sometimes the mind takes control and create it's own reality.
Elite back in the 80's was a new type of game, no fancy graphics, mostly it was just strings, lines and dots dancing around on your screen,
and as you entered the world as a space captain in the flickering light from your BBC Micro your mind filled in the empty space and amazing stories was born.
It was not the game per say that made you experience whatever story line you followed, it was you, Mom Mom I just .... remember? watching my nephew some years back playing
a game made me realize how strong the mind can be, and we lose that or most of us do when we get older, we compensate by inventing more powerful computers, create better
graphics, and today you can create a world that almost looks like the real world. The question now is where did the stories go? we now turn to the developers to create these stories
and we hope they can fill in the empty space so that you can get the immersion of being a space captain once again.
Back in 2012 we all was filled with hope, our distant dreams have come true, once more we will dress our space suits and go where no man has gone before!! David Braben was back
and it was time to enter the vortex generator and fire up the engines once more.
Imagine if...
I'm sure Sir Braben would like to erase this video from the internet, then again it is a snapshot of the time when dreams still ruled the world and only your imagination was the limit.
Then reality hits you like a brick wall, issues with the engine, maybe skills of how to do it, we really don't know because we are only observers, one thing however is very obvious
what was the dream and what became reality didn't match. The plan was changed too many times, time was spend chasing shadows and it was now the financial board who controlled
the development cycle for the game. It's a virus that spread through the game industry, and the studios was getting further and further away from its player base, corners was cut, and the grinding mechanics to force the player to do the same thing over and over to accomplish a modification on their ships was born, "there you go, that will make them busy for a while".
The past is the past, lets not beat the same dead horse, because at this point it's not a horse, it's a pile of processed meat attracting flies and worms.
So where do we go from here?
It's better than nothing I guess, however it really don't explain where we are going, just that we are going somewhere.
New Mission variant? what does that mean? more of the same, or a redesign of the missions, how will they be redesigned?
I don't want to even want to try and analyze this, because I really don't have a clue where to start, mission design is key to make the game interesting, and today
you get the feeling it's generated by RNG Jesus and the storyline is forgotten, but it's a MMO I hear you say! you can't make it interesting for everyone!
Wrong my young Padawan, let me give you an example;
So you get a mission, it's easy, just take this gas thingy from the locker and deliver it back to me, ok off you go, find the settlement, and just as you are going to "extract" the gas canister from the locker all hell breaks loose! alarms goes off, guards swarm the area and there is shooting everywhere, explosions, gunfire people scream, you look around and see a worker runs towards you, should you shoot, should you run, what should you do? You chose to let him/her closer, and you are handed a package and told this need to get to the outpost located in X, however you need to run it cannot fall into the wrong hands. In all the confusion you run towards your ship, get back in your seat and takeoff! program the navigation to the destiny you was given and off you go. Oh noo fighters are following you, they must have been close by! you make some quick maneuvers, give the order to deploy the weapons and start to fight off the fighters, deploy flares, target hostile you scream as the cat is jumping on the table and walks on your keyboard swinging its tail in your face!!! For Christ sake, missile is locked and you fire bib bib bib bib bib booom one down, 2 to go!!
After eliminating the last fighter you retract your weapons and go into hyperspace ahh that was good, arriving at the outpost you are called on the comms, this is flight control, you are redirected to military base Y, please follow our directive, there will be someone there to meet you. You follow the instructions and land at the base on the planet, and surly as you disembark from the ship 3 people are waiting, please follow us they say, on the way you are told that the package is a part of a science project and you have done a great service and will be rewarded for your service, you hand over the package and receive your credits, you are ask to do one last thing, deliver this message to a contact, on the FC located close to a Thargoid crash site. Arriving at the FC you land and meet your contact, handover the message and get paid, you walk back to your ship and just as you're ready to take the airlift everything shakes, and the countdown to jump sound through the whole ship, you can hear some explosions, the lift is now blocked and you need to return to the seat and get ready for departure, as you move to the seat area the captain pass you and ... ain't you the guy/girl who delivered the message? yes sir that's me, we need all the hand we can get, will you join us? what should I do, what is goin on? don't worry just sign here and I will explain on the way! you now enlist yourself into the federal marine corps and the FC "WeKickButt".
Can this be done, would it work in a multiply game, sure it would nothing stops people from doing the same thing at the same time, variations is the key, items can changes however the mechanics will be the same, just like EVA in abandoned ships floating around, mega freighters where you need to get access and loot the ships, fight off pirates' or soldiers, however it will require a bit more imagination than fighting for a blue or green capture the flag mechanic.
So what if I shot the worker? well quest ended right there, you never get started because of your action, what if the fighters get me, well same thing the quest ended, it's all about advancing fluently through the missions from one to the other, and expanding the story, a story made for you, A-B, can also be A-C missions design today need to connect and can be a variation of the outcome of your action, so you didn't shot the fighter but you escaped, that could lead you to a different side quest.
Wish you all a good weekend, just my 2 cent.
Elite back in the 80's was a new type of game, no fancy graphics, mostly it was just strings, lines and dots dancing around on your screen,
and as you entered the world as a space captain in the flickering light from your BBC Micro your mind filled in the empty space and amazing stories was born.
It was not the game per say that made you experience whatever story line you followed, it was you, Mom Mom I just .... remember? watching my nephew some years back playing
a game made me realize how strong the mind can be, and we lose that or most of us do when we get older, we compensate by inventing more powerful computers, create better
graphics, and today you can create a world that almost looks like the real world. The question now is where did the stories go? we now turn to the developers to create these stories
and we hope they can fill in the empty space so that you can get the immersion of being a space captain once again.
Back in 2012 we all was filled with hope, our distant dreams have come true, once more we will dress our space suits and go where no man has gone before!! David Braben was back
and it was time to enter the vortex generator and fire up the engines once more.
Imagine if...
I'm sure Sir Braben would like to erase this video from the internet, then again it is a snapshot of the time when dreams still ruled the world and only your imagination was the limit.
Then reality hits you like a brick wall, issues with the engine, maybe skills of how to do it, we really don't know because we are only observers, one thing however is very obvious
what was the dream and what became reality didn't match. The plan was changed too many times, time was spend chasing shadows and it was now the financial board who controlled
the development cycle for the game. It's a virus that spread through the game industry, and the studios was getting further and further away from its player base, corners was cut, and the grinding mechanics to force the player to do the same thing over and over to accomplish a modification on their ships was born, "there you go, that will make them busy for a while".
The past is the past, lets not beat the same dead horse, because at this point it's not a horse, it's a pile of processed meat attracting flies and worms.
So where do we go from here?
It's better than nothing I guess, however it really don't explain where we are going, just that we are going somewhere.
New Mission variant? what does that mean? more of the same, or a redesign of the missions, how will they be redesigned?
I don't want to even want to try and analyze this, because I really don't have a clue where to start, mission design is key to make the game interesting, and today
you get the feeling it's generated by RNG Jesus and the storyline is forgotten, but it's a MMO I hear you say! you can't make it interesting for everyone!
Wrong my young Padawan, let me give you an example;
So you get a mission, it's easy, just take this gas thingy from the locker and deliver it back to me, ok off you go, find the settlement, and just as you are going to "extract" the gas canister from the locker all hell breaks loose! alarms goes off, guards swarm the area and there is shooting everywhere, explosions, gunfire people scream, you look around and see a worker runs towards you, should you shoot, should you run, what should you do? You chose to let him/her closer, and you are handed a package and told this need to get to the outpost located in X, however you need to run it cannot fall into the wrong hands. In all the confusion you run towards your ship, get back in your seat and takeoff! program the navigation to the destiny you was given and off you go. Oh noo fighters are following you, they must have been close by! you make some quick maneuvers, give the order to deploy the weapons and start to fight off the fighters, deploy flares, target hostile you scream as the cat is jumping on the table and walks on your keyboard swinging its tail in your face!!! For Christ sake, missile is locked and you fire bib bib bib bib bib booom one down, 2 to go!!
After eliminating the last fighter you retract your weapons and go into hyperspace ahh that was good, arriving at the outpost you are called on the comms, this is flight control, you are redirected to military base Y, please follow our directive, there will be someone there to meet you. You follow the instructions and land at the base on the planet, and surly as you disembark from the ship 3 people are waiting, please follow us they say, on the way you are told that the package is a part of a science project and you have done a great service and will be rewarded for your service, you hand over the package and receive your credits, you are ask to do one last thing, deliver this message to a contact, on the FC located close to a Thargoid crash site. Arriving at the FC you land and meet your contact, handover the message and get paid, you walk back to your ship and just as you're ready to take the airlift everything shakes, and the countdown to jump sound through the whole ship, you can hear some explosions, the lift is now blocked and you need to return to the seat and get ready for departure, as you move to the seat area the captain pass you and ... ain't you the guy/girl who delivered the message? yes sir that's me, we need all the hand we can get, will you join us? what should I do, what is goin on? don't worry just sign here and I will explain on the way! you now enlist yourself into the federal marine corps and the FC "WeKickButt".
Can this be done, would it work in a multiply game, sure it would nothing stops people from doing the same thing at the same time, variations is the key, items can changes however the mechanics will be the same, just like EVA in abandoned ships floating around, mega freighters where you need to get access and loot the ships, fight off pirates' or soldiers, however it will require a bit more imagination than fighting for a blue or green capture the flag mechanic.
So what if I shot the worker? well quest ended right there, you never get started because of your action, what if the fighters get me, well same thing the quest ended, it's all about advancing fluently through the missions from one to the other, and expanding the story, a story made for you, A-B, can also be A-C missions design today need to connect and can be a variation of the outcome of your action, so you didn't shot the fighter but you escaped, that could lead you to a different side quest.
Wish you all a good weekend, just my 2 cent.
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