I got an idea keeping this game alive
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@angel:
you can divise all your mods, all your instructions in how to getting into MP, but its useless in the long run.
Advertisement can get you freshblood, which is great.but only if you can keep it.At the moment, and deadly serious, the FL community is seperating into little groups, some go with mod 1,others with mod 2 etc etc.
Fl’s community is where we need to concentrate. Have a great community,which sticks together and communicates effectively between the mods will be much more appealing to new freshblood, Atm it looks like a mess, little huddles fighting for survival, why join that?
We need to reunite the different communities under one banner before we try anything effectively.I do not usually like to speak up about this, but I can not agree more with this statement. While in most modding communities for games you see people recommending all sorts of different things for players to try out (look at Half-Life or Unreal Tournament), all I see in Freelancer is mod advertisements trying to convince people that their mod is the mod to play. As soon as something new comes along, the “this versus that” arguments almost immediately spring up. I have even heard first-hand testimonies of people getting banned from servers for discussing other mods - rather this is really true or not could be totally debated, but the fact that I hear about it in the first place is discouraging.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that I wish mods would cooperate more than they would compete. I mean, in general, competition is fine, but it’s gotten to the point where I feel the Freelancer community is nothing short of sorely divided (again, I’d like to refrain from citing specific examples, but I’m sure you can all think of plenty).
I realize I’m touching a sore spot, and I sincerely don’t mean to start any arguments over it. It’s just that I can’t help but feel like this is what’s happening, and I’m sure there are others whom agree.
In terms of progress, I think the FL Community Bar is one of the greatest things to happen in the Freelancer community, as visiting just one site allows you to be exposed to (almost) everything else in the Freelancer community, and I think is a great first step towards community unity. I’m disappointed certain communities have opted out of this system, but that’s their call, so I will none-the-less respect their decision.
Revisiting the community video idea, I think this would be another great step towards community unity. Let’s face it - we have a lot of great talent and imagination from everyone who still works on this game, and instead of bickering who’s better, let’s just put together an amazing video and kick some ass. -
@angel:
you can divise all your mods, all your instructions in how to getting into MP, but its useless in the long run.
Advertisement can get you freshblood, which is great.but only if you can keep it.At the moment, and deadly serious, the FL community is seperating into little groups, some go with mod 1,others with mod 2 etc etc.
Fl’s community is where we need to concentrate. Have a great community,which sticks together and communicates effectively between the mods will be much more appealing to new freshblood, Atm it looks like a mess, little huddles fighting for survival, why join that?
We need to reunite the different communities under one banner before we try anything effectively.I do not usually like to speak up about this, but I can not agree more with this statement. While in most modding communities for games you see people recommending all sorts of different things for players to try out (look at Half-Life or Unreal Tournament), all I see in Freelancer is mod advertisements trying to convince people that their mod is the mod to play. As soon as something new comes along, the “this versus that” arguments almost immediately spring up. I have even heard first-hand testimonies of people getting banned from servers for discussing other mods - rather this is really true or not could be totally debated, but the fact that I hear about it in the first place is discouraging.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that I wish mods would cooperate more than they would compete. I mean, in general, competition is fine, but it’s gotten to the point where I feel the Freelancer community is nothing short of sorely divided (again, I’d like to refrain from citing specific examples, but I’m sure you can all think of plenty).
I realize I’m touching a sore spot, and I sincerely don’t mean to start any arguments over it. It’s just that I can’t help but feel like this is what’s happening, and I’m sure there are others whom agree.
In terms of progress, I think the FL Community Bar is one of the greatest things to happen in the Freelancer community, as visiting just one site allows you to be exposed to (almost) everything else in the Freelancer community, and I think is a great first step towards community unity. I’m disappointed certain communities have opted out of this system, but that’s their call, so I will none-the-less respect their decision.
Revisiting the community video idea, I think this would be another great step towards community unity. Let’s face it - we have a lot of great talent and imagination from everyone who still works on this game, and instead of bickering who’s better, let’s just put together an amazing video and kick some ass.Well spoken, fully agree
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fox speaks the truth. What needs to be done, however, comes from the modders and server admins. I’m all for sharing, and I think we came a long way in the past 6 or so months, but there definitely is a lot more to do.
However, a question needs to be answered: how? It’s a nice ideal, but how should cooperation work? What should be shared? How to do such a thing? What actions should be taken?
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We will need to ensure we agree all on one home. which is neutral and ensures that no group will have power over anyother group of admins/owners from the various servers.
the Starport is truely capable of this role if it wish’s to accept.Actions…First we need to see what communites/servers will take part in this, i hope most will see this as the correct way for FL, but there is always possibilities for some to wish to take there own way
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Hmm…
Well, every server/community contributing could deliver a spokes/dev person.
We could setup a project on the Freelancer Forge site, give the dev’s from the mods/servers (login per server should work) developer status and a good enviroment to talk with each other and share code via SVN.
A test server for online testing would be nice to have as well, don’t know if anyone has a spare box hanging around somewhere.One thing should be clear, it should be SP playeble not only online. I don’t know how to acomplish the flhook / flac features into a SP mod (dynamic economy, beam after reaching level 70 or somehting, cloak so the NPC’s can’t spot ya), so a close line of communication between modders and software dev’s should happen.
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Well im all for this idea as long as its not gonna be uberlancer take 2.
Every idea should be posted and discussed openly rather than a closed group of people making all the decisions. If it is to work then i think that is the way to do it.
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yes it will ned to be open as dragnite says, no point only having modders/admins talking,we need viws from all angles and areas of FL.
It should create a haven so to speak for all to contribute and work together,no matter the mod u work/play on etc etc -
I’d be game for something like this.
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maybe so but 1 person = 1 idea and lots of unheard ideas and opinions and lots of unhappy people who didnt get a say.
On MU we are an open group and discuss every step of the modding and not just between the admin group either. At the end of the day we do what we do for the players and we find they are happier if they have a say in what happens to the mod as well. Granted we dont do everything they want but we find we have a happy medium.
So 100 people = 100 opinions but at least nobody goes away thinking “that was a waste of time nobody listend to me”
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Im all in favour to discuss opinions and options public, no doubt about that.
What I ment was the actual coding, and how to acomplish that. If 100 people start to get involved in that there is no end to it, cos everyone has its own idea’s on how to get to a certain point.
Remember its a vast project, if people realy like to get involved they realy need to put dedicated time in it. Its a vast project and needs some sort of management. Im sure there are people around here who know how to lead a project, if not i will happely give support to someone who is willing to do such a job and help him in setting up things and get communications roling.
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OPR, no offence but u dont seem interested in the idea,so dont bother posting here, other are however interested and are looking to get this to work. that will require a place for all to talk and discuss on equal ground,no advantages,no disadvantages
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Indeed. I think a video showcasing a rough sum on a mod-by-mod basis would be a great way to show that the Freelancer community is indeed still ticking. I was discussing this with Why485, and one issue he brought up (and a valid one) is how much airtime each submitted mod gets in a community video. YouTube has a max length of 10 minutes, and the human attention span the max length of rougly 1-5 minutes. =P
Also, an issue of which order the mods are displayed comes up as well. I think it could possibly be done on a first-come, first-serve basis, or an alphabetical basis. As for the airtime per mod… Why485 and I came up with perhaps 45 seconds per mod? Sure, it’d be tough to sum up most mods in 45 seconds, but it’d force you to be concise and would be best at keeping the causal passer-by interested in the video. Thoughts?
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Or we can do themed videos. Say, one vid is “Combat in FL” and showcases all sorts of combat sequences in all kinds of mods.
Also, I think it’d be a lot more interesting to make short 10 seconds sequence and swap back and forth mods if necessary. It’d make the video far more dynamic and would make mods only show short bursts of their best stuff, instead of long winded sequences of okay stuff.
However, I’d like to see a community mod. I just have no idea how to tackle such a thing.
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Well for example, for a “patchwork mod” which is a very successful project if accomplished works like this:
You need a head coder, who, however, is bound to certain “rules” that are aggreement-based, for example:
- Original FL universe must stay, slight altering of systems (defined number of extra bases per system, extra commodities/equipment/ships allowed) allowed
- A mod corresponding to a different-to-FL universe has its systems in one certain group on the navmap (mod-world), may link to the FL systems as it should (to avoid -direct- mixing of for example X-Wings and Starfliers)
- Head coder must not give extra weight to his own contributions
- Must showcase his work every week (or so)
Of course the head coder is free to build up a team around himself, preferably from various mods (this should be made compulsory in my opinion)
Mod development communication on public forum boards as well, that everyone may visit and showcase their ideas (“I want my mod-world linked to northern Omicron Alpha, if possible”)Naturally certain restrictions should be applied to the mod itself as well to make it look spaceworthy, see the first paragraph for some, but others as well, that are more for the form of the mod, for example:
- Linking to FL Universe: JH in FL Universe, any object in mod-world
- Hiding of mod-world systems from the navmap(?) ==> allows for more systems and a more complex universe, whilst not overwhelming the universe map.
Long story short, putting all my management studies to work, I’d say the safest way of building a patchwork-mod is to keep original FL, and give each mod-developer a mod-world area in space, that is linked to the FL world via 1 connection each. (For example FreeworldsSystem1 to Edinburgh; WTSWorldSystem1 to Dresden; PlasmafireSystem1 to Hokkaido; etc. I just used the names as examples of course) ==> This provides grounds for everyone to work with, and an easy system of travel to navigate for the player. Everyone’s world is as big as the amount he wants to contribute. With the navmap hidden this allows for a fairly discriminationless mod.
Weapons/equipment balancing should be the primary job of the modding team, and NOT changing the work of the contributors. Of course they will need to be consulting with the contributors on a regular basis.
Choosing the head coder should be via a forum poll if possible; and people need to put aside their “if this guy is the coder I’m no way helping you lot” and be proud of being part of this project. This is a serious question as you need someone with good balancing skills to do this job. I, for example, have learnt mostly how FL works, but have made no releases, therefore there is no real trust in me I think. Also, I can’t do anything about FLHook, that is applying functions to it, which is vital in the case of this project.
Whatever the case, the person of the head coder must remain neutral no matter his forum nickname. It is utmost ethic that he does not proclaim himself as the author of the mod and does not modify other people’s contributions, only after consulting with them about balancing requirements. He is only the “nuts and bolts” holding the machinery of all the modders together.
The possibility of mixing equipments from various worlds only makes the mod more fun to play, in my opinion, and is therefore out of the question; balancing, however, requires a mastermind.Well, FF, I do have a serious idea how can a community mod be tackled, as you can see. My greatest problem is that I personally feel I haven’t the reputation that will encourage others to join in, or the time to sort out the balancing issues. Not to mention FLHook. And the other most critical part: the contributors. Who will add?
(joke ofc)