What is the big deal with ship interiors???

[znôrt]

What am I missing?

the immersion factor should be obvious.

are you asking what sort of gameplay ship interiors would make possible? irrelevant, since we don't get them ...

believe it or not, we get shabby pewpew in bases yay ¬¬
you are going to get your mind blown by the spectacular gameplay you'll find there!

 

[babelfisch]

I don't know, my feelings regarding ship legs are confuse.

Ideally there would be related gameplay like repairing your ship, visiting passengers, play some chess during SC and, most importantly, feed the cat.

Well, let's say that's asking for too much, but there are still reasons to add ship legs, like board enemy or abandoned ships.

Let's say that's still too much and interaction wouldn't be possible at all. I still want to have ship legs. Not because I would walk up and down doing nothing all day. I realise that it would be mostly a waste of time and that people would rightfully criticise it. But knowing that I could stand up and walk around my ship is still reason enough to add it, just because it would completely change the feeling I have when playing the game.

 

[askavir]

Mostly copypasted from past posts, but since this keeps getting asked every couple days anyway...

Ship interiors would allow, among other things:

- EVA from and into other ships (you cannot get inside other ships if they don´t have interiors). This alone provides tons of gameplay opportunities. Pirating, salvaging, rescuing, kidnapping, resupplying, investigating etc etc.
The simple fact you could enter any ship (not just your own) would unlock many gameplay possibilities. You could retrieve the black box to find out what happened to a derelict ship, deliver supplies to ships, recover items from ships, investigate why a stranded ship lost comms, breach a stolen / hijacked ship to recover it or sabotage it, salvage parts from abandoned or wrecked ships, etc etc etc etc.

- Other players seamlessly boarding your ship (or yourself boarding someone else's) to go do some missions / exploration / walkabout / whatever together.

- Salvaging, scaveging parts from inside shipwrecks on the ground (again, you cannot get inside ships without interiors), or sabotage / theft missions from landed ships.

And then there is the immersion value, that will vary for each people of course, but its value is often underrated. For instance, RPG games do not need to have things like day/night cycles, seasonal weathers (or even just weathers), NPC daily routines, etc, none of that provides gameplay on it's own, but all of these make the game world feel much richer and usually enhance your experience while roaming those worlds. Again mileage will vary per person.

 

[Astaran]

Fully modelled ship interiors could provide new gameplay and drastically enhance existing gameplay. A number of examples have already been given.

• salvage missions or exploration points of interest with crashed ships (planetside) ranging from a "small" Cobra Mk III to a massive, multistory Anaconda where you have to bypass blocked doors, clear debris and/or fight off NPCs.
• combat/infilration missions that target a landed ship
• boarding action in space
• player housing (with plenty of stuff to earn in game or buy in the Arx store)
• investigating the interior of Generation Ships as part of CGs
• investigating the interior of derelict ships in space as part of CGs

*

 

[Rat Catcher]

Mostly copypasted from past posts, but since this keeps getting asked every couple days anyway...

Ship interiors would allow, among other things:

- EVA from and into other ships (you cannot get inside other ships if they don´t have interiors). This alone provides tons of gameplay opportunities. Pirating, salvaging, rescuing, kidnapping, resupplying, investigating etc etc.
The simple fact you could enter any ship (not just your own) would unlock many gameplay possibilities. You could retrieve the black box to find out what happened to a derelict ship, deliver supplies to ships, recover items from ships, investigate why a stranded ship lost comms, breach a stolen / hijacked ship to recover it or sabotage it, salvage parts from abandoned or wrecked ships, etc etc etc etc.

- Other players seamlessly boarding your ship (or yourself boarding someone else's) to go do some missions / exploration / walkabout / whatever together.

- Salvaging, scaveging parts from inside shipwrecks on the ground (again, you cannot get inside ships without interiors), or sabotage / theft missions from landed ships.

And then there is the immersion value, that will vary for each people of course, but its value is often underrated. For instance, RPG games do not need to have things like day/night cycles, seasonal weathers (or even just weathers), NPC daily routines, etc, none of that provides gameplay on it's own, but all of these make the game world feel much richer and usually enhance your experience while roaming those worlds. Again mileage will vary per person.

Fully modelled ship interiors could provide new gameplay and drastically enhance existing gameplay. A number of examples have already been given.

• salvage missions or exploration points of interest with crashed ships (planetside) ranging from a "small" Cobra Mk III to a massive, multistory Anaconda where you have to bypass blocked doors, clear debris and/or fight off NPCs.
• combat/infilration missions that target a landed ship
• boarding action in space
• player housing (with plenty of stuff to earn in game or buy in the Arx store)
• investigating the interior of Generation Ships as part of CGs
• investigating the interior of derelict ships in space as part of CGs

*

Exactly this...

Add a heap of 'good' content to go with it and it will be a winner! (I'd love to do most of the activities suggsted)

 

[fu9ar]

I would love to be able to leave the pilot chair and walk around into the recreation area...where i can sit down at a pc and load my favorite game Elite Dangerous and play Horizons....Where during that game i can leave the pilot chair and walk around into the recreation area...where i can sit down at a pc and load my favorite game Elite Dangerous and play Horizons....Where during that game i can leave the blah blah blah.........

This is basically how it is in the Oculus Home. I have a "virtual console" with a collection of cartridges sitting on a table. So I log into my Home, walk up to the virtual console, plug in a game, and press the button. Then, a virtual HMD materializes above the console. I grab it and put it up to my face and it loads the game.


Edit: To answer the OP it is because Star Citizen has them, nothing more complicated than that.

 

[S. Belmont]

Big yes for ship interiors! I like walking around the stations and in my freighter in NMS, love the atmosphere and feel of entering a ship in SC (not much else going on in that "game" though)
And Silent Hunter 5! I have not played it for a while since I don't have too much time atm. But I just loved it (with mods ofc). I did not use teleport and used to periodically check my boat and interact with my crew, like a good captain should. Dropping down from conning tower and ordering emergency dive, in fps, seeing, hearing and feeling the whole boat and crew around you... And just knowing you can go and check everything from stern to bow with your own feet, not magically teleporting. That makes it feel so much more real.

So yes, I think that ship interiors in ED would be pretty awesome!

 

[CMDR Nef]

Star Citizen spoiled me. Nothing beats being able to have tea in the crew lounge while you're in quantum, waiting to reach your destination, or inspecting your rover's parts and doing maintenance. The novelty never wore off for me. I still love physically carrying my cargo out of the cargo hold down the ramp to the station.

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

It's not about ship interior - that is just a placeholder for demanding special treatment.

 

[sandkid]

So, since this is such a warm/fuzzy topic...two answers: both honest, one inflammatory and one sensible.

Flame: If ship interiors are such a bad idea, why does SC have millions of dollars raised for a game that, you know, isn't a game?
(Hint: It might have something to do with immersion has equal value to gameplay)

Honest: Immersion is a gameplay mechanic. Walking simulators, 3D museums, Movies, kids and cardboard boxes, role playing (D&D, anybody?), and more all demonstrate that what is 'fun' to a population doesn't necessarily require deep systems of interaction. The human imagination is quite capable of entertaining itself, as evidenced by billions of podcasts listened the world over from the not-so-exciting comfort of a truck cabin.

Ship Interiors fit more with Elite Dangerous - and its principal pitch of 'commanding a starship' - than just about any other proposed feature beyond actually piloting said star ship. Most of the population interested in a game like Elite are also enamored with the simulated space inside the ship. From playing space chess in the Millenium Falcon to Ripley running from an Alien in tight corridors to the bridge of the U.S.S. Enterprise to the mighty-morphin' cockpits of campy kid's shows...

Inside Matters.

Detractors tend to focus on the 'physical' need for gameplay loops - and point out how hard those loops are to make (they aren't wrong) - but completely gloss over and ignore why interior spaces matter. Heard of a sudden breakout game called Valheim? Is it popular for its survival mechanics? What about its gear progression or story?

Nope. It's ok, Minecraft didn't gets its following from those same systems and gameplay loops.
It got it from something as stupid (in the words of detractors) as being able to have interiors.

Humans like to live in spaces.
Games that reflect such spaces attract us, retain us, and entertain us.

From houses that do nothing like in older games, to mini-task managers like Word of Warcraft, to City Building Simulators, to "I'm going to build Minas Tirith in 8-bit blocky goodness"...humans love interior spaces and are infinitely more entertained by them than repetitive game loops. It speaks volumes that Animal Crossing holds more sway than all of the most advanced simulations of entertainment currently in production.

Inside matters.

Don't you want to walk up the ramp of an Adder, open the door, and see it?
It's not about what you do after that. It's about the fact you can do it at all.
Suddenly, it's not pixels and fade to black animations.

It's home. Even if you only visit it a handful of times.
And people - gamers especially - love their homes.

 

[MVBanks]

I remember Subnautica, walking inside Cyclops submarine was real pleasure. Very good implemented - but it was only one ship in this game.

 

[Mrat13]

What is actually important, is if Odyssey brings ship interiors, Fdev will make bank. It doesn't matter why, because money is money for a business.

 

[Misty_Dark]

I do not think it is for just "walking" around. As it is just so fun to explore once, and then what?

Now instead imagine all the stuff this could allow us to do... customized crew quarters, be able to collect all rare goods and display them! So this would cater to all those who like to spend hours building bases in NMS, decorate your Elder Scrollls homes, and all other such games where you have some creative freedom do design and showcase your "stuff"

Then we have the role playing aspects, of being able to leave your ship through the airlook and "float" over to your friends ship and visit that. and if we can do that, then salvage stuff from ship wrecks is doable thing. as most of us should have come across those ship wrecks that are just decoration, instead of us being able to scavenge stuff from them.

So the ship interiors is not the main thing, but having them there, opens up for more potentially interresting game loops to do. And many of us have seen the chair in the hidden "cockpit" on the Anaconda, often referred to as the observation deck.

 

[Wrecked]

Well, Super Cruise exists and there's barely any gameplay with that, but ask to have it removed and the pitchforks come out...

Also, see my avatar for a full explanation.

 

[CMDR Nef]

Flame: If ship interiors are such a bad idea, why does SC have millions of dollars raised for a game that, you know, isn't a game?
(Hint: It might have something to do with immersion has equal value to gameplay)

That is solely why I play SC more than Elite, despite it being a barely functional like pre-alpha preview, lol. I have had some of my downright best gaming moments ever in that game, and it was all due to immersion. Like breaking out of prison, jumping into the back of a ship, and the ramp raising as the guards are shooting at us and I had to run through the ship while it was shaking and sparks flying to get to a gunner turret, which I had to manually control by sitting in it.

 

[Cohen the Worrior]

Ok, so first thread post... Hi y'all o7...
At the risk of being to oblivion for my heathen views, but what are people hoping to get out of having ship interiors?!? It seems to weave into every other thread and ignite passion like no tomorrow... I mean, sure - I'm in VR, and I bloody love getting up and having a little wander round my cab in different ships, but surely once you've had a wander round your ship and gone "ooooh" a few times, there really isn't anything else to it... I struggle to see how gameplay is going to be incorporated and what the added value would be... wandering round other ships, like damaged megaships - now that would be awesome, but my own ship? Meh....

So what does everyone expect/want/hope to get out of ship interiors that would justify the enormous amount of time and effort for the devs to facilitate? What am I missing?

They want to chase a mouse through Jefferies tube 32.

 

[imski]

Because stories.

Making our own, building a crew, who with multi crew you could actually be real people.

Say you own the ship but you take on player crew that don't have the cash (or interest) in flying, you can be the getaway driver on a settlement heist, maybe one could drive in on an SRV drop them off and you provide air cover with your SLF.

 

[Boltzmann Brain]

Ok, so first thread post... Hi y'all o7...
At the risk of being to oblivion for my heathen views, but what are people hoping to get out of having ship interiors?!? It seems to weave into every other thread and ignite passion like no tomorrow... I mean, sure - I'm in VR, and I bloody love getting up and having a little wander round my cab in different ships, but surely once you've had a wander round your ship and gone "ooooh" a few times, there really isn't anything else to it... I struggle to see how gameplay is going to be incorporated and what the added value would be... wandering round other ships, like damaged megaships - now that would be awesome, but my own ship? Meh....

So what does everyone expect/want/hope to get out of ship interiors that would justify the enormous amount of time and effort for the devs to facilitate? What am I missing?

Because it's a game about spaceships.

 

[Helvellyn]

I'd very much like ship interiors for the good old immersion factor, but they need to be functional, doing things, for a purpose. I'd also like to need sufficient crew in them for a bit of the old Mass Effect wander around the ship (plue the Mass Effect transition to outside, although I'd also like to be able to walk out - just don't want to have to, because it'll doubtless grow tedious pretty quickly unless it's usually only going to be a once per session type thing). All rather a lot of work though so it's not a priority for me.

 

[imski]

I'd very much like ship interiors for the good old immersion factor, but they need to be functional, doing things, for a purpose. I'd also like to need sufficient crew in them for a bit of the old Mass Effect wander around the ship (plue the Mass Effect transition to outside, although I'd also like to be able to walk out - just don't want to have to, because it'll doubtless grow tedious pretty quickly unless it's usually only going to be a once per session type thing). All rather a lot of work though so it's not a priority for me.

For the bigger ships a Star Trek style turbo lift system to take you direct to different areas in the ship as well as manually walking would work for me.