[xerout]

Hey Scorch...what sci-fi shows/movies inspire you guys the most when making Jumpgate design changes?

Sorry Jump...I just couldn't resist:

X

[xerout]

Oh man....I got nailed fast! Well done Jump.

Xerout

[Scorch]

Really this is a question for the artists when it comes to visuals but certainly lots of us our fans of the new Battlestar TV series. I'll ask them and see what they say.

[Nohbody]

Just as long as the nBSG inspiration is only about the visuals, and not the storyline...

I don't want "Jumpgate: The Soap Opera".

[dailatron]

Originally Posted by Nohbody

Just as long as the nBSG inspiration is only about the visuals, and not the storyline...

I don't want "Jumpgate: The Soap Opera".

Hell it already feels like that sometimes.

[alphabet]

Where to begin..

Since most gamers are not educated in game development, they must rely on personal experience that they attained by not only playing one game, but by their experience with playing all games. It is from this view point that I will submit my inspiration on what Jumpgate should consider when it comes to design.

Gamers are first attracted to a game by its genre. Jumpgate is a space MMO. So anyone that has a facination with space, be it real like ISS or fiction like Star Wars is going to be attracted to the game.

Next comes graphics and sound. If a game looks like it was made in the early 80s or sounds like Space Invaders or Pong. No modern gamer is going to look at it, no matter how good the gameplay might be.

Next is gameplay. The game has to play well, meaning no combersome key presses or unnecessary hurdles to clear in order to play the game on par with other players.

I think from what we have been given so far, that those three things are addressed in the new version of Jumpgate. There is, however, some things that need to be addressed before I, a vet, would come back to Jumpgate.

The game needs to have a base storyline that is not dependant on the playerbase. The storyline should be evolving and neverending. Meaning there is always something, storywise to discover. Look to any fantasy game, like WoW for instance. The story is always evolving, there is always something to learn. Most all of the intrigues, story arcs and alliances were player driven in the old Jumpgate. When the players left, so did the stories and underlying excitement. There was nothing left to do, because the game never really supported making you do something in the first place.

Lets face it, the current mission system in Jumpgate is a joke and after your first or second mission you are bored out of your wits. "Photograph anomoly in sector yadda, yadda, yadda." Boring. Instead of a mission system, look to more of a questing system, with chained quests and unique rewards or insights into the story of jumpgate. Missions need to be diverse, interesting, and fun with NPC interaction.

Bring factionalism back. EP2 with its player owned stations that could be erected anywhere, killed factionalism. A dedicated factionalist squad could never clear the pirates or enemy faction out of their space because the enemy would just run to a POS and log, then emerge a few hours later to reek havoc again. A better idea would have been to only allow PoS at faction station sectors or unreg, but thats water under the bridge.

Foster community not individualism; the faction stations is where everyone met and talked, which developed a sense of community. When people logged in/out of thier own stations, the faction stations became ghost towns and ruined a large part of the social environment.

Polycrewing. Create ships that have more than one position that can filled by a friend. Like a sol bomber that has a tailgunner position, stations that have defense turrents or a capital ship that have several gun positions that can be filled by real people. Planetside and WWIIOL have this, why cant jumpgate?

Gravitational affects of spacial bodies. Put simply, stars, quasars, roids, etc. should have a gravitational effect on your ship. Get too close and they pull you in.. Mining ships could have an antigrave to dissapate these effects. This would give another dimension to PvP engagements.

Damagable systems with both first person and second person visible effects. Example: One of my engines is hit, i should see warning lights and feel reduced power, anyone else sees my engine as disabled. This could be incorporated into any type of ship system (radar, firecontrol, power, etc., etc.).

Power management anyone? I would like to be able to adjust my power between guns/shields/engines. Almost every space game in the last 10 years has had this option, I would like it for Jumpgate too.

Sector claiming and becon tuning are redundant. Get rid of one of them and give the rewards of one to the other.

Create an ingame system for politics, not only for guilds, but for the factions as well where guild and faction political standings can be viewed by an ingame menu. Factions should be run with an elected playerbase that holds office for a few months and makes factional dicisions on the players behalf. This would allow players to decide their factions goals and stance toward other factions. Political ratings would play into not only risk, but also market prices and missions as well. Honestly, the faction meter on jossh has always been a joke. Similar to the weather panels. Let the players run the faction and make it mean something.

Thats about all I can think of off the top of my head.

Just my 0.02, but what do I know.

Alphabet
SOLRAIN Optimus
Foundation of the Trust
Saraths Rage
Order of Fenris (awarded twice)
Full Shards
Adamantine Supernova
and a Dead Fish

[alphabet]

Okay, I lied, I will probably come back without all those things listed. But it will be real hard to stay without them. Oh I also want to apologize to the community for throwing my epeen around. But I am pretty passionate about Jumpgate and I want to see it succeed.

So Scorch, any chance any of those things I mentioned will make it into the game?

[xerout]

Alphabet, we definitely think alike.

Xerout

[Ambrosius]

Time for Therapy.

[Aphelion]

I always hated alphabet because I would fly on the SN TS once in a while and nobody could seem to get "aph" and "alph" straight. For that, he is KOS forever.

I miss SN, that TS was one of the raunchiest evah!

[alphabet]

who... what... where...

[Karash]

I would love to see a "Bladerunner" sort of RP culture (not neo-noir styling).

[Nanaki]

Alphabet has suggested possibly everything I could ever want from Jumpgate.

With exception of one thing.

Gravitational Effect. I dont know about you, but gravitational effect would just be a hassle. It would make difficult to pilot ships nearly impossible to pilot, and you can forget about navigating safely through an asteroid field.

Maybe gravitational effect should exist in a system with a black hole. Gravity is interesting if you only have to deal with it every once in awile. When it becomes an every-day factor, your going to get sick of it, very quickly.

[Pyldrvr]

nice post alphy.
maybe add to that ship collision turned on and the subsequent damage taken from doing it. Maybe turn it off in the docking rings or something to avoid griefers.

It would be cool to be dueling someone, and the head on pass was a little close then watching both ships go BOOM! ;D

[Dedsquirrl]

Originally Posted by Pyldrvr

nice post alphy.
maybe add to that ship collision turned on and the subsequent damage taken from doing it. Maybe turn it off in the docking rings or something to avoid griefers.

It would be cool to be dueling someone, and the head on pass was a little close then watching both ships go BOOM! ;D

That would be SWEET as heck!

I would definately have to add "BANZAI!!!!!!" as a macro.