Happy New Year Star Control Founders!

Thanks Brad. I enjoy these occasional insights into how you approach development to make it easier to mod.

I'm curious though: how easy will it be for users without any software resources to actually make content? Will we be expected to have our own software to generate new designs for game assets or will their be some native tools made available with SCO to make it easier for players to craft new game objects? I mean, not everyone has these software suites that cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars, so a lot of casual players would be excluded from participating.

I'm no developer but I'd also imagine modded assets would have to conform to some kind of standard that not everyone may be familiar with; certain design criteria probably have to be forced in order to work properly in the game engine and casual users may not be savvy enough to adhere to these rules either if they're just coming up with models and game assets on their own. How much of the modding will be guided with proprietary tools versus third-party software?

I am glad to hear of the more open approach to modding. I hope to do a bit of it when this is released, if not before.

I plan on making a mod to strip most of the filler from the game. If interacting with aliens and following the storyline is the key part of the game, I want more of it. :p

Quoting IBNobody, reply 3

I plan on making a mod to strip most of the filler from the game. If interacting with aliens and following the storyline is the key part of the game, I want more of it.

CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL. (Sorry, it was obligatory, you know me)

I second this. I have some of this software myself, but the average joe won't know a UVW from a tri/polycount limit, etc etc.

Actually, I am surprised at that. When I say less filler, I don't intend to make the game easier. Unless you count running around fewer cloneworlds to be easier. I might hit the tech soft-cap faster (and require storyline advancements), but I don't plan on giving myself an insta-kill weapon.

^ I really don't understand your problem with "filler". It's not like you're forced to interact with it.

Many thanks for the update, it really means a lot and I know that, at least personally, I value such interactions. Wishing you and your family a happy holidays for however longer they may be.

So you admit that you want to see planet TomWasHere? Noted. Because that planet is filler.

Anyways...

The game is set up in such a way that players are penalized for not partaking in the filler. Players will miss a sidequest or some cool item.

I understand that your stance is that it gives you something to pick up on the next playthrough.

There will be no next playthrough for me. I am a one-and-done, move-on kind of guy. You know this. 

Except instead of moving on, I am going to mod the game so that future players aren't going to have to land on hundreds of clone worlds to get the quest items they need to continue. The only planets that will be around are ones that have unique goodies to loot. I am going to strip it all out, and make Andrew cry.

I can just see things 3 months after modding release...

Vaelzad: "I spent months on the Feng Shui of this planet, and Nobody comes in and removed it?!? WHY, Nobody? WHY?"

Nobody: "It was in the way. Oh... BTW: How about adding Local Multiplayer instead of more filler next time?"

I think you're putting more weight into this than is really due Though I suspect what you're trying to do will be more difficult than just removing some lines of code. You'll probably end up breaking a huuuuuuuge ton of shit in the process, just putting that out there. I'm not like...speaking from experience. Horrible, traumatic experience >_>;;

Quoting Volusianus, reply 9

I think you're putting more weight into this than is really due Though I suspect what you're trying to do will be more difficult than just removing some lines of code. You'll probably end up breaking a huuuuuuuge ton of shit in the process, just putting that out there. I'm not like...speaking from experience. Horrible, traumatic experience ;;

It may just be renaming stars/planets as "filler" and then adjusting the resource costs of items in the game. We'll see what tools we are given, and when.

Well, i love reading those!

This game is the one that will introduce me to modding (of my part)

can't wait to see what i can do with it and what people will do with it as well!

While sending off fireworks into the night sky the other night I wondered what Aliens would think looking down at our planet with all these bright colourful tiny explosions going off on entire continents at the same time.It must look spectacular from above.

We need small discoveries like this in game.The unexpected.

We need a modded race that pop off firworks into space from their ships and say Woahhh and Arhhhhhh.

Anyway thanks for your hard work in making the game easier for us to use.

It would be great if planet surface textures could be dropped in and out like that too.

I couldn't find any fireworks footage from the ISS that was worth a damn.

I don't know how visible they would be from space. Fireworks explode relatively close to the ground. (For reference, I have been on the observation deck of the Sears (Willis) Tower and was higher than most of the fireworks that were being launched. It was pretty cool to look down into them.) Plus, they would be exploding against the background of a brightly lit city, obscuring their view.

On the other hand, it does appear that lightning is visible from space.

Thanks for posting your musings, Brad.  It is always reassuring to know how personal this project is to the people working on it.  And, as a non-designer, it's always nice to have a window into what kind of work goes into a game that I normally only see as a finished product.  I think your goals for modding are fantastic.  It is true that the potential of a game's value skyrockets when you open things up to the imaginations of users, as I recently observed with the remaster of Skyrim.  I realized that I don't even want to run the new version because I can't bear to play it without my favourite mods, many of which aren't updated for the new engine.

And yet, it is still just potential.  Skyrim has a gazillion (it's true - I counted them myself!) copies in the hands of players, meaning there's a critical mass of modders out there to make a community for support and ideas, not to mention the sheer likelihood that some of them will be very talented and willing to spend their time on such mods.  Without that critical mass of sales, I imagine the likelihood of reaching the potential greatness from modding drops off rather quickly.  You might get lucky, with just the right recipe of modders, but the chances are just so much lower.

So my foremost concern remains that the game itself is amazing, and well-positioned to get into as many hands as possible.  Is there any effort and thought into reminding the gaming population at large about Star Control 2, and how it is often heralded as one of the greatest games of all time?  Maybe if people are thinking about the SC universe early enough they'll be more receptive to the initial marketing thrust for SC:O.

Just a thought.  I'm sure you've thought about it too (and probably paid people to think about it, come to think of it...).

Happy new year!

I'm glad you guys are so committed to making Star Control open and accessible. I think it would have taken some hubris to believe that only one company could make 'the best star control' when that company doesn't include the original creators - this way really is the best way. I'm excited to play the Stardock story and excited to play the remake of 2 that will come in the engine, and excited to play anything else epic people come up with. 

I was a flight attendant for 16 years and I flew out of Frankfurt just prior to midnight one New Years ever and it was pretty spectacular looking down over the fireworks below.

Anyway time to pick up the kids from Primary school.So adieu

Thanks Brad!  I enjoy your thoughts and frame of mind where specific directions come from and go towards.

I really like that you guys are going extra miles to make StarControl more accessible and moddable. 

I am, however, a little worried that the emphasis is on modding visual and story content. Different aliens graphics, different ship graphics, different particle effects, different dialogue. Same mechanics.

The thing is, I believe that static mechanics (i.e. ship abilities) will in the medium term obsolete the game. This is counter-acted by expansions that add more ships/abilities, sure, but that just increases the lease of the game from 1 year to 2 years.

Please. Give us the power to script our own things. Refer to the WarCraft 3 scripting system. Nothing fancy, but infinite possibilities.

WarCraft 3 is actually a good example: nicely moddable; people could easily create their own story campaigns. Did that happen? In the grand scale of things? Not really. Instead we got a host of different games, RPGs, puzzlers, challenge games, and so forth that were based on the basic system. Even the birth of MOBAs is a direct consequence of the mod-system of WarCraft 3.

If you want StarControl to grow in the hands of the community... I really believe that you have to look to WarCraft 3 to understand what is needed.

Happy Lunar New Year!    Can't wait to see what you guys are cooking up.   Trying to catch up on all the postings.