[Community Game] Main Gallery Thread

[Dyntheos]

We've kicked off a Relic community "thought project" to design and create a game, to have some fun and see what the community can come up with. A recent vote on the General Discussion forum was held to pick a direction to move in. Here's the result:

--- Genre:
Fighter sim, with real-time strategy elements.

--- Universe/Setting:
World War II alternative, set in a politically chaotic Europe in the late 1930's.

--- General Description:
Alternate history: In the 1920's, a naïve scientist creates a simple device that controls inertia and gravity… and sparks a hellish arms race! Fighter planes pull crazy turns. Bombers carry kiloton munitions. Floating naval destroyers replace zeppelins. Cities rip themselves from the ground to become airborne fortresses.

You're the military leader of a small European country, both commanding and fighting with your forces in various piloted strikecraft. In single-player, defend your country by kidnapping scientists, assaulting cities, protecting factories, raiding for resources, and stealing inventions. MP campaigns would be like Risk, but with first-person combat deciding battles."


This "thought project" is intended to be a community activity that's actively seeking anyone's and everyone's input and participation. There's no real project team or leader - it's just us kicking around ideas for now, but may be formalized more a bit later on depending on how things go. If you want to help, here's how - either post an addition to this thread, or start a new thread in one of the following forums. if you start a new thread, the title must be as follows:

[Community Game] <your post's theme here>


For all storyline fiction discussion, creation of an alternate historical timeline that results in the game's setting, or main game plot discussion, visit the Fiction forum.


For all concept art, game models, interface design, craft design, visual or sound settings, music, and other elements of a visual or audio nature, visit the Gallery forum.


For all discussion of the game's gameplay, selection of possible gaming elements, control style, multiplayer game modes, and all other elements associated with the gameplay experience, visit the General Discussion forum.

Come join us and have some fun.


Here are some questions to start us off.

- What would an antigravity power source look like?

- How would models appear in the game (floating city; floating battleships; fighter craft)

- What would the game's setting look like?

- ...or post your own question and answer.


Quick Links


Main Thread (http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?t=27138) - Used for basically just general chatting about the game.


Main Fiction Thread (http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?p=459086#post459086) - For Backstory and plot.


Main GD Thread (http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?p=459084#post459084) - For Gameplay Discussions.


Archive Forum (http://forums.relicnews.com/forumdisplay.php?f=111) - Used to store all the threads that have been finished with, once a phase has been completed.

[Vijil]

What sorts of characters will we have? We neednt wait for the writers on this one, we can inspire them too.

[Retroboy]

I'd suggest you need at minimum some lieutenants that you as military commander can order about, a scientist or two (perhaps female), and various military and political leaders of those other eeevil and allied nations.

General uniform layouts for your country's airborne navy might be cool too.

-- Retro

[Handarazuur]

Jean "Jaguar" Ramadanovski - A promising new pilot in the ____, Ramadanovski is the character you will play as during the game.

Mikhail "The Kite" Dmitriez - Your "wingman" and confidant.

Virgil Carsky - A scientist.

Amelie von Schtalpenberg - Another scientist.

Commodore Susan Princeton-Lethbridge - Leader of the Royal British Navy. Your ally.

Oberstgruppenfuhrer Edmund Treuberg - Commander-in-Chief of the Allied German Forces. On diplomatic terms with you, but no allegience.

Amir Hassad Gulan - The enemy. A master strategist, and Turkish leader.

Admiral Hirayama Kubo - Leader of the Japanese Flight Division. The other enemy, and master of espionage.

Captain Fred Marsh - American military leader. Wishes to remain neutral to European conflict.

[dukes]

Organisations and Logos for them need to be sorted out aswell. What is the country/organisation you fight for called? Who is the enemy (organisation wise... it can't just be Amir on his own privately funding the whole shindig).

Suggestions: Levicorp as the corporation set up to study the anti-gravity technology. Of course, they're on your side.
You fight for the European Economic Alliance (I think that's what vigil said in GD... can be fine tuned if needed later), which also needs a logo.
The enemies are the Eastern Euro-Asian alliance (from the drift of what vigil said in GD), which could do with a better name as its too similar to the "goodies".

The only problem with a wingman is that if he's your wingman in particularly, you have to try to keep him alive. Freelancer solved that by making your wingman (well wingwoman, Juni) invulnerable, but she was also an incredibly poor shot which made up for it.

[Homdax]

May I just suggest something else that "muslims against christians" or "russians against americans" - type of game (reading Handas post...)...

Arne Peterén...head of Skandia, high tech. Northern climate. Low morale.

Shaka Mabete...head of Zambaland, vast armies, low-tech, sub tropic climate setting. An opportunist.

Lord Melbury...head of (some like dukes above) corporate capitalist high tech. Temperate climate.
Money counts, friends dont.

Hirosoka Tagewasu...head of Eastern Triads. Vast armies, high tech. Subtropic climate.
Honour is everything.

Thats a few, easy to come up with.
I am in to the idea of NO obvious villain.
You are one of them, fighting some other of them. By turns or all at once.
They have "character triggers" which could make them Your ally.

If You kill a bunch of civilians, forget about Hirosoka, he'll turn against You, but Arne could very well team up.

My :2cents:

:Homy:

[incarnate]

I'm thinking if this is in the WW1/WW2 era, especially if using vigil's histoire that ties into real-life possible events, then hands country ideas work. but instead of having preset allies and enemies, you start of as an isolationist republic, that has been minimally conducting research only to keep with others...not heavy militaristic stuff. or vice versa..you know you are out for the world. this could also tie into the campaign as a two-sided thing. you pick your "pre-war aggression level" and that determines what you start with, etc. etc.

with a dynamically changing europe/asia, this would allow for different alliances and battles, more unscripted gameplay, and MORE REPLAYABILITY!!!!!!! one thing a game like xwing vs. tie fighter had was some good replayability b.c you could choose many diff. game types, enemies, etc. so we can take a good idea like that and implement it into a campaign. events in one mission effect who your friends and foes are. sneak attacks, change of heart, and more.

great idea w/ Lts., and other commanders. good ai allows you to control your squad or ship and let the others fly smartly on their own. tell Lts tactics (aggress. neutral, defensive) and a target or escort and you can complete several objectives from one ships cockpit. but as an avid gamer, i know i dont like 100% scripted games. alternate missions really increase a games value. if someone knows they can play a game several times and never do the same thing twice (KOTOR is an example) they are willing to pay the price and get hooked. (that is what we want right :D)

[Retroboy]

I am in to the idea of NO obvious villain.Or a collection of them. This IS the 30's, and it IS a sim of sorts, so enemy aces could make good tactical villains, and stalin-like enemy leaders could make good strategic bad guys.

For replayability, I'm with Homy and incarnate. The buzzphrase might be something like "rotating factions" - you start off as the military head of your own little country in some pivotal location (perhaps you have access to a big gravitium mine or something.) Some surrounding countries are friendly, others are greedy.

I also think it's important to have some substantial differences between the Europe in this game, and the Europe in our own 1930's. Such a technology would radically change things in the intervening 10 years or so.

There's a good fiction thread going on in the stories forums that looks at the recent history of the world as of that time. Perhaps before we get too far into individual characters and their allegiances and home country motivations, it might be a good idea to get a little bit of general agreement on how the political world works. For example, Germany might not exist in this alternate universe, so evil nazi characters wouldn't apply.

-- Retro

[Vijil]

After reading Hands history, I reckon itd be cool to make the germans the "good guys" so to speak.

[Homdax]

Is "character triggers" worth a further explanation by me, as what I mean?

Thanks for seconding the villain stuff, Retro...

The "no villain" thingie is based on the conception that the player himself can decide whether to be a villain or not. A little like Jedi Knight, the Force powers you get depends on Your behaviour and You slide slowly towards Sith or Jedi.
Maybe some personalities should be potentially "bader" than others, or be difficult to engage to a specific goal, if "You" have acted in a way they deem incorrect.
As my example above, involving "honour" and killing civilians...

:Homy:

[Jaen-ni-rin]

As it's art thread I'll sugest an engine (game engine) :

Truevision 3d (www.truevision.com)
Nebula Device (esp. Nomadic Nebula) (http://www.radonlabs.de/)


Truevision 3d - fast, and quite a piece of grapchic stuff. I sugest waiting till 6.5 release (stencil shadows, normalmapping and so on)

Nomadic Nebula - mainly because of similar project - Project Nomads

Double Post

I found some ship that would be ideal for this game

http://www3.telus.net/robster7/vws1%5b1%5d_overpaint.JPG

Double Post

This is better, but all upgrades are overpaint :(

http://www3.telus.net/robster7/vws1%5b1%5daaronModOverpaint%20copy.jpg

Model (C)to Unicron, so you must ask him for it.

[Carach]

that is a nice piece of art

[Retroboy]

Agreed. Perhaps a bit too spaceshippy, but texturing to make the underside look more naval hull-like would make that thing rock in in-game visuals.

IIRC's that's based on a "joke" picture some of the Relic devs put together to show the invasion of Vancouver by Hiigara.

-- Retro

[Jaen-ni-rin]

It's a proposal of main menu.

UPDATE: Com(m)unity is okay now.

http://members.lycos.co.uk/jaennirin/pics/menu.jpg

[Retroboy]

Cool! General site concept art!

-- Retro

[dukes]

Cool, but Community needs a second M (at the top).

[Jaen-ni-rin]

And what about engines ??? (Nevermind)

The COMUNITY is now COMMUNITY.

[Jaen-ni-rin]

What about this (This is made by ... ME:) in Photoshop) :

http://members.lycos.co.uk/jaennirin/pics/shippy.jpg

[Unicron]

The major players:

The West; England, which is controlling the whole western world.

The East; Germany and Russia are allied and form one military. Germany and Russia are imperialistic.

The South; France and Italy, both under monarchist government.


England seeking control of the east in their conquest for world domination. France, after their defeat in the first world war, join Italy in their plot to restore the Roman Empire. Germany and Russia, the big player in the east, in control of the biggest territory of all major powers.

---

An alternative history, but still realistic, because it could've happened.

[Jaen-ni-rin]

:bandit:
It's

[Community Game] Main Gallery Thread forum, but nevermind.

Unicron, what about donating your Joke-picture-ship to the game community

[Unicron]

Unicron, what about donating your Joke-picture-ship to the game community

I'll create a similar ship which fits into this project better, soon.

[incarnate]

wow....being away for a week means a lot of catching up. first, i dont like the alliance thing. i think we need to craft a more dynamic story. plus, you must remember that the ottoman empire and austria-hungary were still around (no ww1). and really we could make ANYONE into an alliance. plus there is no mention of the US. granted we were still in isolation, but that could easily be taken care of by placing an imperialistic government in place that wants more than a few islands. say the whole of japan (irony, no?). plus i still think the game should be dynamic...everything starts out in chaos, you are either the head of a warmongering country bent on total victory or a defensive government hoping to stay alive by fighting off aggressors. this would allow many diff. things to happen. changing alliances, etc.

i like the idea of the menu screen...but i dont think it fits as is. the black and whites are a nice touch, but should be replaced with fake ones derived from game aircraft (when we do actually make them that is) and i think the menu needs more of a mechanical, "diesel-punk" look. some gears or mechanisms with animation when a choice is made.

anyway, just some of my opinions.

[FracturedLogic]

I tink I should point out that with antigrav devices on ariplanes there is no need for wings and it could theoretically carry a cargo of any mass. just a thought so things dont look TOO wwII-ish


BTW i like incarnates idea alot

[Havock]

I tink I should point out that with antigrav devices on ariplanes there is no need for wings and it could theoretically carry a cargo of any mass. just a thought so things dont look TOO wwII-ish


BTW i like incarnates idea alot
*first post here*

wings still make them represent aircraft more.
besides, you could say that the technology is still brand new, and you can put weapons to wings :p

and i have a much more interesting "political map".
the whole idea of germany being the badguy is sorta... done.

but how about this:
you have communism on one side, Germany would be kinda like the peacekeeper, accompanied by the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark.

Give the british a very arrogant style, they dislike the changes since they have lost many of their advantages now, they are allied with the french as the "old powers"

You have the USA, which has NOT been able to recover from the economy-crash, because of this, you can leave them out of the story for now and focus on making the european part solid.

Italy has taken control of the Balkan and is occupied by the massive uprisings there, surrounding regions are becoming unstable as well, spreading toward mid-europe.

[hunter1man]

I like Havocks ideas but just becuase U.S. in depression dont mean we dont got game bitch!!! I still think the U.S. should have a role becuase the game will be awkard if were trying to rewrite history and not include U.S.

[Carach]

The major players:

The West; England, which is controlling the whole western world.

The East; Germany and Russia are allied and form one military. Germany and Russia are imperialistic.

The South; France and Italy, both under monarchist government.


England seeking control of the east in their conquest for world domination. France, after their defeat in the first world war, join Italy in their plot to restore the Roman Empire. Germany and Russia, the big player in the east, in control of the biggest territory of all major powers.

---

An alternative history, but still realistic, because it could've happened.


British Empire* and they r led by monarchy aswell, just not totally ;)

otherwise, i like your idea, i like Britain being in power again :)

[Havock]

I like Havocks ideas but just becuase U.S. in depression dont mean we dont got game bitch!!! I still think the U.S. should have a role becuase the game will be awkard if were trying to rewrite history and not include U.S.

no, but you can make them recover, so that at first they are meaningless, then they consolidate and cause major shift of power.
tadaa, storyline involvement.

[mutated_death2]

what about australia?

[raven7399]

Sorry to bust your bubbles but the 40K universe already has its own space ship designs.

[Riess]

Who said anything about the 40k universe?
There is more to life than WH40k. The community project game has its own universe and has NOTHING to do with DoW, WH40k, or any Relic-created universe (There's more to Relic than DoW too, you know).

[Jaen-ni-rin]

Ditto Riesstiu.

Here is my moved post about grapchic engine:

Now we only need to wait for graphics engine. I humbly suggest Truevision3D (http://truevision3d/) which is free for non-commercial use. If we plan for commercial release then actual payment system is here (http://www.truevision3d.com/tv3d_buynow.php)

And some screenies (first three are from 6.5 beta, last one is from 6.2):



http://grm.m.walla.co.il/briefcase/00f3/y/e/v/g/e/n/i/m/t/@/@/@/@/@/@/@/@/@/@/@/@/@/@/@/@/r/200403271153327636/200409181200238866/mapeditor.gif

http://grm.m.walla.co.il/briefcase/00f3/y/e/v/g/e/n/i/m/t/@/@/@/@/@/@/@/@/@/@/@/@/@/@/@/@/r/200403271153327636/200410021415123343/watertrees.jpg

http://grm.m.walla.co.il/briefcase/00f3/y/e/v/g/e/n/i/m/t/@/@/@/@/@/@/@/@/@/@/@/@/@/@/@/@/r/200403271153327636/200410011728518444/screen01.jpg

http://img50.exs.cx/img50/27/shot-editor2.jpg

[Jaen-ni-rin]

Some ships there (not made by me):

http://nolowfat.deviantart.com/gallery/