Soup to Nuts: SW Mod and Group Organization

Hi everybody, and welcome to Organization Meeting #1. Here we will try to hammer out many of the details of this mod that haven't actually been discussed, just assumed.

One thing that has been sorely lacking is a design document of some kind, even a small one. MajorTom has at least tried to document updates and changes to the mod as they occur, but what we're missing is a document that lays out the foundation for what we're trying to accomplish.

The way I see it, we're suffering from two main problems:

• Lack of a collective focus on what this mod is for and what it should be able to do, caused by;
• A steadily increasing amount of participation and responsibility by group members without a clear idea of what they should be responsible for.

For example; when I first started working with MajorTom on this mod I was just supposed to supply ship models for what was essentially his mod. But as time passed, and the mod grew, I started to take on the role of "canon fact checker." And slowly but surely my opinion on the mod structure seemed to take on more and more weight until I felt like what I said actually made a difference. Which is great, but here's the problem; like Roi, I still don't have the slightest idea of what this mod is actually going to be capable of. I've had a tremendously difficult time playing anything but bot-matches with it (due to OS incompatabilities), and I've never even tried MP before. I barely play SP! Mostly, I just play Instant Action while I work out the design of my own mod. So as you can see, I've taken on more responsibility by participating in discussions on how the mod should work without a clear indication of what is actually expected from it.

Roi mentioned he would like to see what game scenarios MajorTom plans to include so he can use his time wisely. I agree. But it needs to be more than that. I suggest making a thread to act as our working design document. This document will cover all aspects of gameplay, and by extension all aspects of necessary custom content (models, scripting, ect.). It will be a dynamic document that can be changed as we find out what works and what doesn't. This way, everyone can always be on the same page regarding what the goal of a specific discussion is (all too often the goals of a particular discussion are elusive and make it difficult to agree on).

By nature the design document thread is dynamic and will need to be maintained, so now's a good time to volunteer (or volunteer someone else ). It's probably going to be quite a bit of work, and will require some basic game design knowledge. It doesn't have to be massive, but it does have to be comprehensive. Believe it or not, I think I actually have the most free time of the group. So I volunteer, unless someone else wants to do it. I think this mod has already grown far beyond its original intentions (correct me if I'm wrong here MT), and is really turning into something amazing which, if the atari forums are any indication, is being highly anticipated. To prevent it from growing beyond our ability to cope with it I think a design document is critical. Does anyone have a different opinion?

Well, that about covers problem number one. Now, about number two; this isn't so much a problem as it is a hindrance to productivity. First, I'd like to make a list of who is officially on the team and what skills or knowledge they have (technical or not, everything is important). Then I'd like to clearly illustrate in what capacity they contribute and what their main resonsibility is. This is mainly to help alleviate and distibute the workload.

Wow, I'm suddenly really tired. So, I'll wrap it up here for the moment.

I'd like to use this thread to discuss all aspects of organization, so feel free to bring up additional points or questions.

mailto:second_chance@cox.net
The Ultimate Guide To Modding: I-War 2 - Edge Of Chaos (on hold during SW MP mod)
cartoons.sev.com.au/index.php?catid=4
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I'm still not so sure whats going on here, or how I can contribute to increase the confusion that is apparently not widespread enough yet.

I think it is important that everyone involved play (try out and evaluate) the different maps in the dev version so we have more than just a theoretical common denominator. They show the capabilities and flexibility avaliable.
I never considered this to be my mod. Thats why I always solicited new ideas and asked for opinions.

What the mod can do? As far as I'm concerned we are, with exception of the models, nearly done with the design phase so I'm confused too.
We have ships and sounds from the Star Wars universe and we've worked on properties to provide a more star wars like game play feeling

I don't see any reason why we shouldn't have a design document, but from a practical perspective I hope it won't distract from open issues like:
How to increase interest in the Tie fighter? should we put a green "Rebel Griller" on it?
How to fix the "dork force" docking problem?
What to do about the delayed ship animation?
How to get the ships to appear larger in the game?

Nonetheless, if those issues are not part of the design document, is the following what you are looking for?

We can use the first few minutes of game play to start describing what the mod is capable of.

It is a LAN and I-Net multiplay game for 1-12 players with two factions: Imperials and Rebels. The factions feelings (who is Red and who is blue) are defined as the game starts. The player chooses his side as he joins the game.


To join an I-Net game you have two options:

The ingame browser:
It's very basic and shows you the name(s) of any servers running, the game being played on each server, your ping to the server and the number of players currently in the game.
The Gamespy browser:
It shows everything above and much more detail. you can click on a dropdown for each server and see: each players name, which team he is on and each players ping to the server. It also shows the name and version of the map and the game being played.
To use gamespy you have to register as a non-subscriber (which is free) and log on to it.
Gamespy also offers a "join" button that starts your game automatically and connects you with the server you have selected. The function bypasses the ship selection and gives you the last ship you selected as read from the multiplayer.sav file.
If you are running the Star Wars mod, for the first time there is no ship selected! Thats why it is so important for us to provide a default ship (!)open issue(!)

If you just select a game and join your own server you just have to wait until someone chances by and joins your game. Gamespy features a chat room where you can meet and mutually decide which game you want to play, choose team members, ect.


To host a game you have the option to run a dedicated server or just select a game and automatically join your own server.
The dedicated server option allows you to leave your game and change ships without shutting down the server and disconnecting the other players (When leaving you do loose your aquired points but the team points remain).

The "automatically join your own server" option offers a means of starting missions. Be they coop missions or more like a SP mission for a single player who just wants to play a mission in the Star Wars environment (with the ships and sounds) we have created. The missions we can (have yet to) contrive are based on the game functionality, and the maps we make to play on. For example you can play strategicly orientated, class based Team Fortress, Team Assault, Bot Matches and Search and Destroy (through a maze of tunnels). We can describe each of those games in detail later in the design document.
Theoretically you can also play "intercept a freighter convoy", "Steal ore from a mine", "Scout out an secret research facility" (and be attacked by Imp bots) or whatever we can think of.
Missions are nothing more than a special map and a bit of supportive script

You also have the option to make your game invisible to the internet so no one else can join. Or, you can set a password for your server so only those you want to include in your game can join.

In a Lan game, you can only use the ingame browser. That isn't a problem since you can localy decide what to play ect.


Those are the basics! I've probably spent a hour writing about the first 2 minutes of a game. Isn't that boring and something no one will read anyhow? (everyone here has probably just skimmed over this anyway)?

I guess I just don't get it. But you're welcome to use this as part of the "design document"


Iwar2 Multiplayer Fan Site

Second Chance, you should join a "Testing Game" to get a better impression of the mod. Most of the stuff is working fine and the things to be solved are discussed on this board. Major Tom did tell the four main actual problems above. The mod is playable but does not deliver the "perfect" feeling.
You may give the efforts to finish this mod some structure, but I guess it's not necessary at all.





There is no safe distance

Wow, much to read.
Second Chance, thanks for the post, so MajorTom made a good summary of the Mod itself and the most important details.

So I don't see the requirement for a so called "design document", but the infos you want to get are good for a website for this mod! (for example the "who does what ... like the Buda5 Crew Section" or who can contribute what to this mod)

I think, design (mission/overall) is a matter of taste and testing and everyone can contribute to it.
So for me the possible inputs to this could be:

• Scripting (+Veteran regarding I-War 2 Flux idiosyncrasies)
• 2D Pic Design
• German Translations
• Creating Voice Recordings (regarding the tech equipment and people, in voice editing I'm not so good)

---

~Buda5 Designer & Scripter
buda5.firstones.com

Maybe we've overlooked something or consider something self-explanatory that SC sees as not so clear?


Iwar2 Multiplayer Fan Site

Well, I didn't really see any part of this mod as clear. You guys have all apparently played lots of MP and are familiar with what's involved. The only parts of the mod that I understood were the bot-match and that it would have some sort of trading element, that's it. Everything else was a jumbled mess of confusion to me because there was no documentation on what it was supposed to do or how it worked or how I would use it.

Sorry MajorTom, but the hour you spent writing was about how to start a game; not about what the games are or how they're played. That's what I was hoping to get out of a design doc; how does the search and destroy game work, what's the final goal and why is it played in a maze of tunnels? What role does trading play? What types of space environments will there be? How big are the maps? Things like that. These are all the things that are apparently obvious to you guys, but are completely unclear to me.

Since the general concensus is that a design doc isn't necessary I'll drop the suggestion. But I would really appreciate some kind of documentation that explains the different game versions, how they work and what kind of custom resources they're going to need (models, etc.).

Like everything I do here, my suggestion for a design doc was based on what I thought the mod was supposed to be, but I think I may have a completely wrong idea of what you guys are expecting from it. So I'll try to restrain my management impulses and just watch to see what comes of it. As long as you guys know what you need, that's good enough for me.

mailto:second_chance@cox.net
The Ultimate Guide To Modding: I-War 2 - Edge Of Chaos (on hold during SW MP mod)
cartoons.sev.com.au/index.php?catid=4
.