Firefly Source Mod *May Contain Spoilers*
POSTED BY: Novan
UPDATED: Wednesday, January 17, 2007 19:24
VIEWED: 15144
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I'd be willing to play in a cold minute. I will E-mail you privately concerning any assistance I might lend.
"You can't take the sky from me..."
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We have an idea, but no real story. If you would like to join, just say.
Also, what are the graphic setups of the people who want to play. I plan on using sources High Dynamic Range Rendering if I can figure out how. You need a ATI 9800 or a NVIDIA 6800 or higher to use it. It would be optional. There would be two versions of the map, one with it and one with out it.
HDR stands for High Dynamic Range, and is also sometimes referred to as High Dynamic Range Imagery (HDRI) or High Dynamic Range Rendering (HDRR). The Dynamic Range is the ratio of the largest value of a signal to the lowest measurable value. Current 16-bit integer-based formats use colour component values from 0 ("black") to 1 ("white"), but don't allow for what is known as "over-range" values, for example, a whiter-than-white highlight glinting off a piece of metal.
HDR facilitates the use of colour values way outside the normal range in an effort to produce a more realistic rendering of a typical 3D scene. If you have ever driven through a dark tunnel in your car, and then emerged out the other side into blazing sunshine, temporarily blinded by the difference in light levels - that oversaturation is one example of what is possible with HDR.
For the average enthusiast, there are only three things to remember about HDR:
1. Bright things can be really bright
2. Dark things can be really dark
3. And the details can be seen in both
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I've got the hardware requirements on my laptop.
I'm planning an upgrade to my primary desktop so it will be up to speed as well. I've already speced the parts I'll need (I've built my last 5 boxes).
"You can't take the sky from me..."
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Heck Yes.
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Do you have any sort of design specifications, planning or other doco that we could look at?
It's definately going to be a lot of work to undertake, especially if you are intending to incorporate flying too. A few years ago I was the 3d artist on a Halflife Singleplayer mod, the three of us worked on it for eighteen months until it was released quite sucessfully. It was even mentioned in a few mags, including PCgamer. :)
Flying the ship would be fun, but I doubt it would be essential, and it is going to be a lot of work to incorporate into the source engine. It'll be downright hard if not impossible to get seamless travel between planets, and I feel any sort of occasional flying mission might seem gimmicky.
I don't know if letting the player be all the characters would serve the game well. You'd get a much more character driven experience if you were the one character. I get it depends if you after the engaging story or more arcade action etc...
Are you looking to take the player on a story, or allow them to play in an open ended world?
As far as gameplay goes, it's going to be much more work for you if let the player take the role the captain. It would be very hard to guide the player along a path, as it's not in the character of Mal to be told what to do. Its going to be hard to get the player to follow a basic story, so an open ended, living world is what you'll require.
If you want it to follow a story, my thoughts would be to have the player take the role of a new passenger or crew member, and slowly have them accepted into the family, similar to the journey of River and Simon. This will allow the player to experience the crew first hand. It will also allow you to mold a story around the game as the player will be taking orders from the captain rather than running around unguided.
One interesting approach would be to have the player take the role of the new pilot and have them try to fit in. It will ensure plenty of conflict and emotion while trying to fit in with the crew. This would also be an easier way to implement a flying aspect of the game.
Just some ideas, I've been thinking about a mod like this for some time.
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I have almost no experience with programming in the the HL2 engine, however I would be happy to test anything you can give me. If you need to contact me you can do so via e-mail @ blacknight@carolina.rr.com.
I do have some C++ experience, but it is nothing very fancy, so if you need a monkey to throw together some code let me know what I can do.
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OK, here's my take on it...
About 3 months back, a Firefly mod project was announced back on hl2files.com. At first, I was horrified. I didn't want them making a game where I got to be Mal and the crew. I didn't want to take part in any of the stuff that they do in the show. I was later VERY relieved to find out that it didn't have anything to do with that. It was going to be a Counter-Strike/Day of Defeat/Dystopia-esque war mod between the Browncoats and the Alliance. Big sigh of relief.
'But why, Duff?', you may ask. 'We all love Firefly and being Mal is 2x as good as watching him'
Here's the thing. It's not. I'm finding it hard to explain, and I understand why everyone is so excited, but... there's just no way we can re-create those feelings we get when watching the show. We can't get the actors, we can't hire Joss or anyone else to do the writing. In every way shape and form, there's just about no way we could possibly capture that feeling. It the same kind of feeling as I have with the Halo movie. I hope the Halo movie has NOTHING to do with the Master Chief. The Master Chief is a character game fans were always meant to PLAY as, not observe as an outside party. So, yeah, same kinda feeling. But... opposite.
I think that the only reason I would play it is to have a quick look around to see how closely you've recreated Serenity.
HOWEVER... There are so many things you could do with the 'verse that have nothing to do with Mal and crew. You can have that same idea with the COunter-Strike-esque Battle of Serenity valley situations. You could have a Brain Bread/Zombie Panic style co-op mod while you hold off Reavers (And have characters like Mal and crew as unlockables for doing well in that round). You could still have that single-player experience described, but as different characters. Both Joss and Mal make the point several times that they're just 8 guys in the whole 'verse. There's millions more to choose from.
But all I ask is that you consider steering away from a story involving Serenity. Well, Serenity can be in there, if you were to play as past/future owners. A-la Millenium Falcon, or the Ebon Hawk.
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I'd like the idea of playing as a character outside of Firefly that sometimes comes in contact with the crew.
More insane ramblings by the people who brought you beeeer milkshakes!
The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four persons is suffering from some sort of mental illness. Think of your three best friends -- if they're okay, then it's you.
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Just replying to show my support for what sounds like a fun project.
I've got HL2, but don't have any experience with the Source SDK. I know some C++ and my writing skills aren't too bad.
Basically I'd be happy to be another tester hehe, but if you need any simple tasks done I could possibly be a coding/writing monkey.
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We are still working out the basics. Ive decided to make it one character instead of all, and it wont be one of the shows crew. Although, there is a chance you would be able to interact with them be it thruout the whole game or just in certain parts. Ive been planning interplanetary flight to be something similar to Knights of The Old Republic where you use a computer and select the place you want to go. The physics needed to create a belivable space flight sim using Sources Ragdoll physics engine is impossible so Im dropping that. There is going to be a main story but Im hoping to let the character go off on his/her own on side quests and such. I also plan on including a multiplayer version where it would be like CS:S. In some maps it would be Browncoats VS. Alliance and in others it would be One of the two vs the Reavers. And If anyone would like to work on it please email me at Gladiusmagister@gmail.com. We need all the help we can get to have this mod come out in a reasonable about time. Thanks again and I will keep updating as we progress!
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