@loha from your newest forum member…

All about Maps, Mods & Creating them
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deeahchur
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Re: @loha from your newest forum member…

Post by deeahchur »

Your idea definitely has potential, and there are a variety of ways in which elements can be incorporated into a Team DeRez map. The item starting options are doable, as has been described earlier; that goes into the level's INFO file for what each player starts with, and I even think there is a way to randomize what Players start with. It is also easy to create Archive Bins in a starting chamber for download by the player.

Friendly AI can be included in maps, but interaction for speech and gifting of permissions or items I do not fully know. For aggressive negotiations, AI can have core dumps with downloadables.

Tron Legacy Code Ma3a should be possible as an enemy AI. The Seekers will probably have to be triggered events based on M3An1's (Mean one?) health level. For instance, when she reaches 3k HP, Seeker 1 is released. When she is at 2k HP, Seeker 2 is released. Or set them to a timer delay from the start of the map.

Depending upon the desired size of the maps, each sector could actually be its own map, and they could be provided on a server in sequential and repeatable order and have a Player limit. I would suggest offering up 8 players and having some working FOR the AI and some working AGAINST the AI. This way, you have a competitive aspect to tracking down items and still make a fun DeRez map for those who don't want to follow along with the plot.

Scoring could possibly be accomplished in a manner similar to what TronFAQ worked out for Capture the Disc. maybe derezzing Friendly AI incurs penalties, if it can be managed, but derezzing opponents scores as a positive (already included in DeRez mode).
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Cybernaught
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Re: @loha from your newest forum member…

Post by Cybernaught »

Sorry for the delay in replying. I hadn’t realized that the thread was continuing on a second page, so I failed to see that there was anything to reply to (Doh!).
Your idea definitely has potential, and there are a variety of ways in which elements can be incorporated into a Team DeRez map. The item starting options are doable, as has been described earlier; that goes into the level's INFO file for what each player starts with, and I even think there is a way to randomize what Players start with. It is also easy to create Archive Bins in a starting chamber for download by the player.
I’m not sure what use it would be to randomize starting subs in this scenario, but I’m open to hearing further ideas if they will improve the fun and the challenge for the players.
Friendly AI can be included in maps, but interaction for speech and gifting of permissions or items I do not fully know. For aggressive negotiations, AI can have core dumps with downloadables.
It has already been established that dialog trees are possible utilizing the download menu as the interface. The way I see it, friendly programs with useful info will have the “i” for ‘Info’ icon hovering above their heads, and the program’s name might be a clue as to what type of info they have to share (Ex: “ArchiveApp.exe”, or “BinKeeper.exe” could be the name of a program in charge of Archiving subroutines in the Sector, and thus would have information on where the bin containing the gold subs for that Sector is located.)
After pressing the Action Key, the Player will get a message containing the programs initial greeting (which can be generic, thus being able to take advantage of the generic sound files used for this purpose in Tron 2.0), and then the Download Menu will appear with at least one choice in it (Ex: “I need to locate the bin containing Permission 3. Do you know where it is?”) However, I’d like to see the Player’s presented with a number of choices if possible, as this will make the interaction more interesting (i.e. some choices would lead to conversational dead ends.) This is much easier to do if it is possible to loop back to earlier conversation nodes, otherwise the Player will need to reinitiate the conversation again to be able to go back and make the right dialog choices. The program's responses to the Player would just be text messages without sound file support (to keep it simple).
We don’t need to worry about the gifting of items to Players by programs unless doing so supports the scenario objectives (for instance, if it makes more sense to have Players retrieve their successive Primitives from NPC programs rather than simply finding them on the Map in order to avoid the problem I mentioned earlier about overzealous teammates depriving each other of the opportunity to acquire them, then that would be a good use of this capability I think.)
Tron Legacy Code Ma3a should be possible as an enemy AI. The Seekers will probably have to be triggered events based on M3An1's (Mean one?) health level. For instance, when she reaches 3k HP, Seeker 1 is released. When she is at 2k HP, Seeker 2 is released. Or set them to a timer delay from the start of the map.
Right On. That was exactly what I was thinking of too as the framework for this encounter. And yes, you got the meaning of the A.I.’s name correct. She is a M3An_1!
Depending upon the desired size of the maps, each sector could actually be its own map, and they could be provided on a server in sequential and repeatable order and have a Player limit. I would suggest offering up 8 players and having some working FOR the AI and some working AGAINST the AI. This way, you have a competitive aspect to tracking down items and still make a fun DeRez map for those who don't want to follow along with the plot.
I like the idea of splitting the level up into its constituent Sectors, but not having a very strong background in Game Server hosting, I have to ask the question: What happens when some of the Players move on to the next Sector, while others have yet to catch up? Can teams be split between maps like that? Can Players transition back and forth between the maps once the force field blocking passage is down? I wouldn’t want to create an experience where the first Player through the archway causes all other Players to automatically “jump” into the next Sector regardless of their whereabouts in the current one.
As for the idea of increasing the number of Players (and teams) allowed in the game session, I am worried that this could really complicate the maps playability. What I mean here is that we will need to account for a lot of additional circumstances, such as whether the game can even begin without full teams on both sides (i.e. what if you only have a group of 4 or fewer people to begin with?), and if it can, then where do the opposing Players’ rez in at? If Team A rezzes in at the start of Sector 1, where does Team B rez in at (near the force field perhaps?) And what about the System Defenders (Resource Hogs, ICP’s, ect.)? Will they know not to attack the Players on Team B? I think the question we really need to answer here is, would expanding the game’s playability to include opposing Player teams really enhance the experience enough to make it worth tackling all of these additional considerations? Right now I am of the opinion that it probably will not be that much of an improvement, so I vote we hold off on it for a while – at least until we have a working example of the original concept anyway.
Scoring could possibly be accomplished in a manner similar to what TronFAQ worked out for Capture the Disc. maybe derezzing Friendly AI incurs penalties, if it can be managed, but derezzing opponents scores as a positive (already included in DeRez mode).
I have not read TronFAQ’s Capture the Disc thread, so I can’t comment on this too much, but again I just want to stress that if scoring in this sense will enhance the fun and excitement of the maps enough to make it worth the extra effort needed to incorporate it then great, but let’s not over burden ourselves with options that will make it harder to finish the project within a reasonable timeframe.

Let’s keep our eyes on the prize!
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Re: @loha from your newest forum member…

Post by Cybernaught »

Here's another thought regarding the splitting up of the Map into individual Sector maps and stringing them together: Using this idea, could the individual Sectors be made from slightly modified versions of maps that have already been created by you folks? Doing something like this would seriously cut down on the development time this project would need before moving on to the testing phase.

So do I have a group of community volunteers who want to take ownership of this project (or parts thereof)?
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Re: @loha from your newest forum member…

Post by Cybernaught »

It's been a while since my last post, and no takers yet. I guess everyone's busy doing there own stuff? That's cool. This is a very open-ended project. If anyone decides to participate, just make a post here as to what aspect of the project you are tackling, so others will know not to duplicate your effort, and then post again when you feel you have accomplished what you set out to contribute. Any and all help will be appreciated.

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deeahchur
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Re: @loha from your newest forum member…

Post by deeahchur »

I'm definitely interested. I, too, am working on some maps, and that's when RL isn't demanding my attention. I'll assist in whatever way I can and am able. What method are you using for file sharing, including sketches, more detailed "plot drafts"/scripts, etc?

:::)

::::)
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Re: @loha from your newest forum member…

Post by Cybernaught »

Hi All,

Deeachur, I'm afraid I don't have any answers to your questions about file sharing. In truth, I've never done any file sharing before, so I'm not familliar with how to choose a particular method. Does anyone have a suggestion? The only files I can foresee myself contributing would be dialog tree files. I was somewhat under the impression that the LDSO Community had already doped such things out on previous projects. I would therefore have to recommend that contributors to this project agree to use one of the file sharing resources that LDSO members are already using.

Sorry, I wish I was more savvy on the technical end of things but I'm really a hill-billy when it comes to that stuff.
Please think of me as more of a conceptualization consultant than a project manager.

Having said that, I think it is a good idea to begin the actual map work for this project focusing on the eight Sector maps that will constitute the first part of the game. Can pre-existing maps be strung together to reduce the time and effort needed to create the outer partitions of the fCon Server, or does it make more sense to build new maps from scratch? This is the kind of question that must be answered by the map makers themselves.

Now that I think of it, I do have a .lta file that I made to help me visualize the original Server concept. If someone could step me through the process, I could upload the file to share with you guys (keep in mind it is very rudimentary).
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