test content
  • Games
  • Social
  • Arc News
  • Support
  • Zen
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc
Forums > Home› The Foundry for Star Trek Online› The Foundry for Star Trek Online - Discussion & Feedback

player ship interior maps for UGC

SystemSystem Member, NoReporting Posts: 178,019 Arc User
edited January 2011 in The Foundry for Star Trek Online - Discussion & Feedback
Make it so !

Meow :p
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    The problem is that each map is different. How can you place objects for one map and ensure that they're in the correct spot for others?
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    very simple to do... there is a master list of objects and placement points for BO's and crew... each map has it's own particular locations for these objects and authors can select them... same thing is already in place on social maps in the foundry for us to use...
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    From a software engineering perspective, this is of course feasible. Simple not really, possible yes. Maybe around Q2/3 of 2011. :o
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    Napoleon_BlownApart wrote:
    very simple to do... there is a master list of objects and placement points for BO's and crew... each map has it's own particular locations for these objects and authors can select them... same thing is already in place on social maps in the foundry for us to use...

    Which means everything must be stationary. So you get an image of your bridge from your captain's chair while all BOs stand/sit at their position and talk.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    I see no reason that the bridge can't be sliced into manageable sections. You can always have them move about with wandering or the Jobs option if it ever gets turned on. Some designated floor areas and wall areas to place objects and things... if I can sit here & just come up with this stuff... you would think the Dev team would have already... but then again.. look at some of the stuff we have ended up with already...
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    I'd do the design for this sub-system, if I was being paid to do so. ;)
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    This will take some time to do.

    What I think is doable now is other ship sections, like holodeck (I know that sounds dumb but I'd like to have that black room with yellow lines), sickbay, Cargo Bay, Generic living quarters, jeffreys tubes would be sweet!
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    answer to ..how can you place objects that will match the current players internal map ?

    You do not.
    You can not.

    When I write a mission....I choose a bridge and interior set up and that is what the player uses.

    This thread is not a ....we want player ship interiors to be functional thread.

    This is a ...give me a Federation ship interior map to use in foundry thread.

    Meow
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    Fatherfungus wrote: »
    answer to ..how can you place objects that will match the current players internal map ?
    Here's how... place-holders. We all know the Foundry supports placing Markers, well, place holders can be a special kind of marker. These place holders will then be planted in the generic ship interior map templates. When a player will load into his/her own ship's map that an author utilized in a mission, STO will simply overlay the map's template and then use the place holders to put the items the author added to the map at the right place-holder the author used.

    In essence, the author will not control where items/entities are placed on the player's ship, but rather which item/entity is placed where. Not too difficult an idea to conceive, not so easy to design and implement and a full workload for Cryptic's team. However, I think it's a necessary sub-system, and not just for STO. ;)
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    LordOfPit wrote: »
    Here's how... place-holders. We all know the Foundry supports placing Markers, well, place holders can be a special kind of marker. These place holders will then be planted in the generic ship interior map templates. When a player will load into his/her own ship's map that an author utilized in a mission, STO will simply overlay the map's template and then use the place holders to put the items the author added to the map at the right place-holder the author used.

    In essence, the author will not control where items/entities are placed on the player's ship, but rather which item/entity is placed where. Not too difficult an idea to conceive, not so easy to design and implement and a full workload for Cryptic's team. However, I think it's a necessary sub-system, and not just for STO. ;)

    Yeah but it's still very limiting. And what if you want your BOs to get up or sit down? They would have to operate int he same way as the player: Teleport then play animation. Not exactly something you want to see.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    LordDave wrote: »
    And what if you want your BOs to get up or sit down?
    Baby steps are limiting by-design, but that's how stuff gets developed, you know? ;)

    First we'd get better AI-pathing, triggers, more scriptual control etc, then we'll talk about what to do if/when we reach a point where we want BO's to become actors. I mean, we don't have such fine control over them in the game itself yet.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    ok....take off the tinfoil hats

    there is ZERO chance that foundry will use player internal ship maps
    ZERO

    ---NONE---

    ---ZIP---

    ---- 0 ----

    WHY ?

    Several reasons

    1. How is a writer to know if they player has a small, medium or large layout...and what kinda
    of bridge...there are about 20 of them AND they have halls, and captain offices in different
    spots, none of them are the same.

    2. Even if they have some special set of adjusting spots to adjust to anyone's layout.....WHY
    would a writter bother wasting hours doing it? They won't.

    The idea of spending even 1 hour of developer time trying to add a writer UGC / player bridge
    matching software is...stupid,,,,,,,writers have enuff to do, we don't want added headaches for the
    singular purpose of a few players personal need for the vanity of seeing your own personal bridge
    choices in UGC.

    Just give us generic layouts.........we will do the rest
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    Well... I know how I would do it... but of course I like to properly plan things out before hand and Cryptic seems to be somewhat short-sighted in this department. Doing something properly that will work well with all the myriad bridges requires planning and forethought and is very possible... if you can't see it that way then perhaps you need to see an optometrist.

    Doing things halfway seems to be a Cryptic modus operandi and It would not surprise me if they just give up on it as some have suggested... this is the usual qutiter type of attitude I see everyday and has no place in my book... I always demand excellence from myself and the people I work with or else it simply damages my & our reputations. We see evidence of this all through the game and it is a sign of weak leadership skills and a serious lack of vision and the ability to follow through... All of which are necessary for success.

    Ok Everyone... let's strive for Mediocrity today... We were Slack yesterday so Mediocre will make us look good...
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    Fatherfungus wrote: »
    ...we don't want added headaches for the singular purpose of a few players personal need for the vanity of seeing your own personal bridge choices in UGC.
    I disagree, and since I as a software professional can see a way to accomplish this, I'm sure Cryptic does as well. Furthermore, once ship interior technologies are more evolved, Cryptic will have even better tools to allow Foundry authors to handle these challenges and make missions that do seem to take place inside the actual player's ship. Why is this important? Because it's one of the best ways to make players actually care about what they're playing and this is tantamount, in my opinion at least, to making STO an RPG rather than merely an online game!
    Fatherfungus wrote: »
    Just give us generic layouts.........we will do the rest
    Sorry, but that won't be enough as I've already played some mission that claimed the bridge of my ship was completely different than the bridge I myself chose, not to mention paid money for! :( If only for that, Cryptic should do their very best to allow Foundry authors to use the player's individual bridge and ship interior maps and setups!
    Just because you think customizing a ship bridge/interior template is a tedious process not worthy of your time, doesn't mean the rest of us do!
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    The question then becomes...

    Can all bridges have the same number of points?
    Do you limit bridge types, spawn ins, ect... to only one or three just so that the smallest bridge works?
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    I would imagine that the sections of a ship interior are sub-divided equally for all the different bridges and sizes of interiors... but that is how I would do it... what Cryptic actually does is anyone's guess.
Sign In or Register to comment.