Escape Velocity: Star Fleet Genesis

[prinzemathieu]

Bravo brad.Les modèles que tu fais sont très ressemblants.Congratulations.

[Bradster]

Many thanks again, prinzemathieu!   I've started implementing the Imperial Drone Craft in the game. I've got a beam/laser weapon hooked up to the gun under the front. The default positioned for added weapons is there as well, but turreted weapons will be positioned on top of the head, I believe. I haven't quite decided concretely on that yet.Here's the sprite itself, reduced in colors so I could make it an animated GIF:The "eyes" actually glow slightly (that's just the base layer of the sprite). What's really cool about that is when you are flying through a region that has sensor interference or it cloudy like a nebula, you may not see the body of the ship itself, but you will see the glow of the eyes cutting through.One problem with this, though, is that when you launch the fighters, the ship still looks like it has them docked. I have read, however, that in Nova you can programmatically toggle between *two* different sprites when you, say, launch fighters. I may make this when you launch any of the fighters, it will toggle to a version that has *no* fighters attached. This, at least, would give a better appearance than of still having them all docked.

[Bradster]

This just in!!Earth Defense Forces deep space intelligence reports indicate that the Gelma Empire has developed an upgraded classification of the standard Imperial Fighter.http://homepage.mac.com/bradste....r-1. ... ..r-2.jpgA crack squad of our top analysts have developed a size comparison of this new ship with the previously encountered fighter:http://homepage.mac.com/bradste....son.gifAlso spotted on long-range scans is what appears to be a new Imperial carrier ship for these new upgraded fighters:http://homepage.mac.com/bradste....r-1.jpg

[Bradster]

EV: Nova for Windows is out! In other news, I have a question regarding the copyright and sharing of ideas in your Star Fleet Genesis Storyline, Andy. I have been in and out of the hospital a few times lately and have taken some of my time off to review some old notes on my own Star Fleet projects. With them I found a full copy I had printed of your storyline and re-read through it. Anyhow, with the final release of the Windows port of EVN, I was giving some thought as to how I could develop the story of my SF conversion. Your Genesis plot would make an excellent base for the missions in one thread for the game. I can think of several missions that would work very nicely with it. Of course, I wouldn't dare to start writing them without explicitly getting your full permission and cooperation. So, what are your thoughts? Would you mind if I "stole" a large chunk or your story in the future?Cheers!

[AndyThomas]

Well, I've no objection provided some sort of credit is attached, and obviously if it became a massive commercial hit I'd quite like a cut! Let me know if I can assist.

[Bradster]

Thanks for the positive response, Andy. I have no intentions of selling this plugin for profit, though. At most I might post a link to a donations PayPal account, but I doubt that even. It's more just a project I'm doing for fun and as a learning experience. When I've developed the plugin to a usable point, your name and site information will certainly be included in any documentation.Right now, I'm just starting the early process of planning missions and still have a very long way to go. I suspect it'll be a whole year before I've made some significant progress. I really should organize a better agenda of tasks I need to complete. Here's a basic list of things to do:(in progress) * create ship and weapon 3D models and graphics(in progress) * program ship physics (shïp resources)(in progress) * program graphic sprites (spïn, shän, rlëD resources)(pending) * program weapon behaviors (wëap resources)(pending) * program purchasable items (öutf resources)(just started) * program individual personalities (përs resources)(just started) * program fleets of ships, escorts (düde, flët resources)(just started) * set up governments and factions (gövt resources)(near complete) * map the star systems (sÿst resources)(near complete) * create nebula graphics(near complete) * place nebulas in map (nëbu resources)(just started) * create planet graphics(just started) * place planets in systems (spöb resources)(near complete) * create HUD graphics(near complete) * map UI to new HUD (ïntf resources)(near complete) * set UI control colors (cölr resources)(pending) * write descriptions for missions, ships, people, purchasable items, hails, planets, systems, news events, etc (dësc, STR# resources)(pending) * create timed events for missions (crön resources)(pending) * program missions, requirements, results, flags, etc (mïsn resources)(pending) * create ranks and privileges to earn with (and may be required for) certain missions (ränk resources)(pending) * create random events for news reels that affect traded goods (öops resources)(pending) * create rare tradable items (jünk resources)There are other things to do as well, but these are the majority and most important items. Of course, the items pending and just started are the longest and most complex of them all, especially the writing of missions and descriptions. The interface items, for example, I did already because I knew they'd be easy to complete early. I have just two rudimentary governments set up with only a few basic fleets and individuals for testing purposes.

[Bradster]

Huh. Silly me, I'd nearly forgotten about this little project.Boy, I'd love to pick back up on it again soon. It was starting to be a lot of fun, but was rather time consuming. I'll have to dust off the cobwebs and see just where I left off...

[Bradster]

I've decided that this game is just too much fun for me to abandon so early in its development. I have a *lot* of work to do if It's going to ever come close to a releasable form.Before, I think I spread myself too thin among too many tasks. Right now I'm going to focus on just getting the basic ship models complete, first. Then I'll make them into sprites and set up their physics. Later I'll work out the plot and missions.Between an increasing course load at university and increasing demands from my job off-campus, though, it's going to be a long journey.One step at a time, Brad. Just one step...

[Bradster]

Here's my first venture back into the world of 3D. It's the transport from episode 4 that was attacked by the Imperial Alliance.and for comparison: