Player created campaign?

from Sins Forums
First off, does one exist?

If not, is there any interest in creating a traditional, story-driven campaign for SoaSE?

Campaign modes exist for two reasons- first, they provide a reason for people to play. Start out fighting weaker battles, keep working against harder and harder enemies until you finally win against the ultimate foe, whoever that might be. Or in some cases, win well enough to ensure your faction can fight again somewhere down the line (See also: Starcraft expansion pack)

Second, they give players a softer introduction to the game. A newbie jumping into ungoverned online play for the first time is going to get shredded. This will probably happen at least the first ten games they play. It's the nature of the beast. A newbie jumping into a campaign mode game will probably win, especially in the first handful of scenarios. Losses may occur, but overall it's much more enjoyable than getting beat down again and again while you figure out which buttons to hit as fast as you can.

Part of that softer introduction is a limited scope of units, research possibilities and area to explore. As time goes by, they get a bigger, rougher sandbox to play in. Drop a newbie into a 10-sided, multi-star, Unfair-difficulty map with pirates and unlocked alliances, and they will usually not do well. Drop a veteran into the same scenario and he'll spend an afternoon cheerfully beating down the AI with a totally different technique from the one he used yesterday.

As far as I know, that gradually sloped, well-plotted introduction to the game doesn't exist. Making it might be fun. Anyone interested?
modding
7,500 views 7 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top
I'd love to see something like this, but it would really need to be done well. By that I mean decent quality writing, voice acting, artwork (i.e. matte paintings for storytelling purposes), and competent direction in integrating a scripted-event- and "cutscene"-driven story into fun and challenging gameplay.

It could be done, but I think it's rather unlikely that there are enough talented people willing to do the huge amount of work this would require.

Still, if enough people were serious about putting this together (once the new mod tools are released and it becomes possible), then I'd definitely be interested in helping out.
Galactic Civilizations IV
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top
u would need to add cut sceens for certain events happening in story and hire the voice actors to do the added voiceovers..
Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top
I highly doubt this will be possible even with the "new mod tools".
Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top
not when you expect so much from a simple player made campagain, its PLAYER made, not a company that has a few grand lying around to do something like this. All you really need is the ability to script in events and have someone who knows how to use the movie mode fairly well along with a good artist for still pictures if your going to do like they did in the opening. As for voice acting, it is not the hardest thing to do if you know how to edit audio as well as has someone with the "sound" or so to say that you want (one that would suit the character, not a pic of a 60 year old man with the voice of a 5 year old kid). Of course as stated above, a good storyline is a MUST.
Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top
All you really need is the ability to script in events
End of quote


This is what I'm saying.

If a scripting language does not exist in the game in its present form it is highly unlikely one will just poof out of mid-air.
Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top
This is what I'm saying.If a scripting language does not exist in the game in its present form it is highly unlikely one will just poof out of mid-air.
End of quote


So what's up with the introductory missions? There might be a key to some sort of scripting abilities within those files.

As far as the storyline goes, it's almost a given with the introduction we already have. Aliens from the big black beyond vs contented, mercantile, Old Republic-style civilization, morphing desperately into an "Emergency Coalition" to defend their homes, followed by a surprise attack from an undefended sector by vengeful exiles?

That's got 'Awesome campaign plot' written all over it.

I'm already thinking of a possibility for a final TEC map, if it's possible to pre-place objects on a map- a Returning Armada equipped locked alliance Vasari on one side of the map, another locked alliance of Advent on the other, and you in the middle with lots of space and a handful of very high population, zero defenses planets. The mission brief explains how random planets have begun going over to the Advent for no apparent reason just as the main Vasari armada popped through an unnoticed wormhole leading directly to the capital sector. Try to trade space for time, and good luck.