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lingg
Member Posts: 0 Arc User
One of my favorite things to do in game is just hang out in and around the planets.
I'm an out of work former programmer, with expertise in C/C++/C#, system architecture and design, code optimization, and network coding, and would gladly help you - FREE of charge so i can add content and (ONLY) non combat oriented features for you. I can't promise speed, I take my time to do things right, but I can promise it will be bulletproof.
Yes, I enjoy the potential of this game THAT much and wish there was more for people who love the genre and Star Trek Universe.
I'd like to add the following 'planetary feature requests' to your queue.
- Higher resolution textures on the planet rotating globes themselves.
- The ability to be able to both orbit and land on a planet's surface without this 'beam to' junk (more realistic modeling)
- Additional planets modeled after the series, such as Bynar, Ferrengi, etc and information obtained from Memory Alpha and Memory Beta.
- Expanding the terrain and scenery on the planet...
- Allowing and supporting custom client side user mods - and providing a framework and documentation to support the community. I'd analogize this to in real life - Google goggles allows you to create 'content' detached from 'real life', that you HAVE to have Google goggles to see. This creates a dynamic community which has those goggle installed, and allows you to learn from the content being provided to ascertain what and where you can monetize things.
And a longer term wish list:
- More expansive terrain and interactivity with NPCs on all the planetary surfaces (Bajor/Starfleet, etc)
- More dynamicism to the NPC's and AI (I'm in Hollywood, and we have a bunch of nuts here, it would be interesting to see the same level of spontaneous nuttery in-game)
- A revamp of the pre loaded object and ray tracing system and the artificial limitations on objects - to make the game more responsive (look at mobile cellular networks for a cue on how to operate here).
Anyways, Ill check back here, these are merely suggestions, but I would gladly assist in adding NON Combat oriented content - especially missions and assignments - for free. if you'd like.
What's in it for me? I enjoy the game. To see more people play it and more ideas contributed to this that revolve around a dynamic, peaceful - spacefaring civilization gets me all... excited! makes me believe my own planet has a future should this evolve to where I think it already has. In a wibbledy wobbledy kind of way.
I'm an out of work former programmer, with expertise in C/C++/C#, system architecture and design, code optimization, and network coding, and would gladly help you - FREE of charge so i can add content and (ONLY) non combat oriented features for you. I can't promise speed, I take my time to do things right, but I can promise it will be bulletproof.
Yes, I enjoy the potential of this game THAT much and wish there was more for people who love the genre and Star Trek Universe.
I'd like to add the following 'planetary feature requests' to your queue.
- Higher resolution textures on the planet rotating globes themselves.
- The ability to be able to both orbit and land on a planet's surface without this 'beam to' junk (more realistic modeling)
- Additional planets modeled after the series, such as Bynar, Ferrengi, etc and information obtained from Memory Alpha and Memory Beta.
- Expanding the terrain and scenery on the planet...
- Allowing and supporting custom client side user mods - and providing a framework and documentation to support the community. I'd analogize this to in real life - Google goggles allows you to create 'content' detached from 'real life', that you HAVE to have Google goggles to see. This creates a dynamic community which has those goggle installed, and allows you to learn from the content being provided to ascertain what and where you can monetize things.
And a longer term wish list:
- More expansive terrain and interactivity with NPCs on all the planetary surfaces (Bajor/Starfleet, etc)
- More dynamicism to the NPC's and AI (I'm in Hollywood, and we have a bunch of nuts here, it would be interesting to see the same level of spontaneous nuttery in-game)
- A revamp of the pre loaded object and ray tracing system and the artificial limitations on objects - to make the game more responsive (look at mobile cellular networks for a cue on how to operate here).
Anyways, Ill check back here, these are merely suggestions, but I would gladly assist in adding NON Combat oriented content - especially missions and assignments - for free. if you'd like.
What's in it for me? I enjoy the game. To see more people play it and more ideas contributed to this that revolve around a dynamic, peaceful - spacefaring civilization gets me all... excited! makes me believe my own planet has a future should this evolve to where I think it already has. In a wibbledy wobbledy kind of way.
:cool: Check out Q - The FIRST Timelord's BLOG, here: https://universalbri.wordpress.com/
..... And check out my Open Source Work, here: https://sourceforge.net/u/universalbri/profile/
..... And check out my Open Source Work, here: https://sourceforge.net/u/universalbri/profile/
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Careers at Cryptic! (Note that the Seattle openings are almost certainly to work on Champions Online, so you might spend more time with four-color heroes than starships if you go there...)
I enjoy the game.
The caveat would be I'd put my time and energy into non combat oriented gameplay content - the stuff I enjoy - all for the idea of shaping the game to be a model for a more dynamic, peaceful - spacefaring civilization.. it kinda gets me all... excited!
That, and coming from the corporate world working for the likes of Microsoft, Intel, and Wells Fargp (I'm 44 - have been in development since I was 11), to get into game development would be a well needed breathe of fresh air.
..... And check out my Open Source Work, here: https://sourceforge.net/u/universalbri/profile/
I'm decent with what I do, there's definitely better than me.
Why free? Like I said, I enjoy the game.
If you're a representative, then send me an email directly, you should have access to it from this web site.
..... And check out my Open Source Work, here: https://sourceforge.net/u/universalbri/profile/
Come work for us. We have donuts.
Obligatory
mmmm, donuts
Joined January 2009
That is an offer one cannot refuse..
Donuts you say?
I can't. It's difficult to explain why, it would take a detailed conversation of Quantum Mechanics and a theory I am forming regarding alternate realities and their influences on internet communications to explain the funky things I am observing. Clearly a convoluted and partially sanity-questioning conversation, but the net result is always the same.
Either you consider me as a non paid part of your team. Or not at all. It's entirely up to you.
It's weird, I know. But it's me.
I'll even move up to Seattle and pop a tent in the nearest park to live 'closer' to the 'role' :-)
And yes, I am serious. I would like to get into game development that much, and in particular, i do enjoy the Star Trek Universe,,,
A brief overview of my qualifications:
I started programming at 11 in Basic. Got into white hat (ethical) hacking, then at 18, I helped Orbital - a rocket based firm based out of Chandler, Arizona secure their systems and started working with rocket telemetry and guidance systems in embedded system design.
At about 23, I switched to application development, I enjoyed working with 'real' customers more, and subsequently did UHaul's Payroll system, Blue Cross/Blue Shield's Claims Management system, Mirage Hotel's Hotel management system (contracted through Microsoft), Intel's Worldwide Warehouse Management System, Universal Technical Institute's Education System, and finally for reworking (fixing) Wells Fargo's broken a$$ foreign exchange system.
Most of it using Microsoft technologies - C/C++/C#/Visual Basic/VB.Net tons of SQL Server (with extensive optimization) and databases in general, network optimization (TCP/IP, focused mostly on HTTP/HTTPS protocol), and quite a bit of use with web based technologies (DHTML/Javascript). Also - an extensive background with Paintshop Pro (my personal favorite) and some Blender. Just playing with Cryengine now. I know you use Unreal technologies. It's gotten to be a slow and convoluted engine IMHO, but for this, I would gladly learn it.
The ball is in your court.
*swoosh*
..... And check out my Open Source Work, here: https://sourceforge.net/u/universalbri/profile/
..... And check out my Open Source Work, here: https://sourceforge.net/u/universalbri/profile/
I've actually tried. Numerous times in fact. Now if a company is basing it's decision to hire based on compensation, then I figured I would omit that factor by trying this way. I suspect the company itself may be 'being manipulated' without it's awareness, as many companies are.
Accordingly, I suspect there's other things at work. I have great interest in alternate reality/time travel/quantum and temporal mechanics, and suspect it's less about me and more about the calculated nature of reality breaking down.
I'm fringe with my perspective of reality, but 30 years in and around information technology, rocket scientists, government types, and finance geeks will do that to a man.
In any case, I replied to Taco - and explained myself a bit more.
..... And check out my Open Source Work, here: https://sourceforge.net/u/universalbri/profile/
But Tacofangs wasn't kidding. You work for them, or you don't work on the game. Too many legalities involved that nobody wants to mess with otherwise. If I were a developer for any closed-source software, I'd steer clear of contributed code too. One need only take a casual glance at the lawsuits that bombard successful tech companies to see why.
There are undoubtedly indie game developers out there who would jump at the chance to enlist you for their project. You might have better luck with that. Or go be an open-source rockstar where free code is appreciated and the licenses are built around the kind of cooperative effort you're talking about.
Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
Never... EVER...
Wait... what?
Now I didn't say anything about it being contributed code nor of free agency. Quite the contrary in fact, my efforts, which I'd sign a contract in support of this, would be free of charge, and I would actually prefer to be 'on premises' 'mingling' with 'the crew'. The solitary difference between me and others there would be - I'd be working without compensation, and the 'balance' for this - the yin and yang you could say - would be I'd support the aspects of the game that make ME want to play it more. The areas 'the crew' are largely not paying any attention to as it stands. In particular - Non-combat oriented content, which is arguably and sadly largely unsupported in this game.
In any case. if you don't want my contributed effort, then you don't. It's that simple. There are always ways around and within the legal issues, so don't use that as an excuse.
..... And check out my Open Source Work, here: https://sourceforge.net/u/universalbri/profile/
If you were living in a holographic universe, a game world, how would you know?
Simple: Exceedingly strong pressure to conform to the collective and highly structured mechanisms of reality, and manipulation through the form of guilt/resentment/disdain when you don't.
IE: YOU MUST get paid. There WILL be consequences if you don't.
Question Reality. Why is a space-faring game about exploration so heavily focused on warfare?
Circular logic flaw: Because that's what the community demands!
IE: Maybe the community doesn't KNOW there's something else to be offered, and thus demands only that which is supplied.
I'm merely offering a different perspective, free of charge.
..... And check out my Open Source Work, here: https://sourceforge.net/u/universalbri/profile/
But where would the limits on planetary modeling be? are we talking about planets that are the same detail as Microsoft Flight Simulator (maybe with not as many cities) and with the ability to fly straight up into space to another planet that also has the same scale and detail?
If you go to ESD and fly right into Earth it's a simple sphere with a texture map of earth and a buffer zone that is probably half the length of my scimitar (i'm above Hawaii poke-poke-poking them right now). You mentioned that you didnt like the 'beam to junk' so does that mean you are proposing the ability to fly directly from space to the planet on ships that can do that? If so that's a huuuuge scale you are talking about, even if you put invisible walls around certain sections of the planet it's still pretty big. One doesnt need to be a programmer to know that this would be a ton of work.
Well, first thing's first, and the way I look at it is: i would get to know 'the system', right? Get to understand character interactions, and what's been artificially imposed within the design of the actual framework versus what I have seen within Foundry.
Then I would probably target assignments first, and create enhancements to 'tie them in' with the NPCs, modeled after real life interactions. For instance, I get an assignment from my boss to do 'x' with person 'y and z', well then, i would then work to create ties between assignments and physical interactions with the NPCs. And simply work on the enhancement to the framework to achieve that.
Then I would likely target the Commendations, and provide more 'meat' to the progression - in particular - the unfinished progression of these chains. For instance, First contact missions have all but been removed from diplomacy, and were really lame to begin with. FDC voting rights is non existent. And that's just a start - the 'meat' stopped there, with nothing 'specific' to the higher levels of Science, Engineering, and so on. So first off - making the providing more meat to these areas, tying it in with the skills and new materials being provided, and allowing for a more dynamic reason to focus on key areas.
maybe even add specialization in later.
Finally, Missions. There's EITHER storyline OR combat (sometimes) with storyline. But there's no dynamicness to the environmental interactions with missions. So that would probably be a key area I would focus on too - is - after a careful analysis of the limitations of the engine starting to add in key features like interaction with objects on the model itself, all the way to NPCs 'remembering' your interactions with them after you completed certain missions, and (my favorite) secret missions - aka Easter Eggs - things you discover ONLY after you've done certain things and maybe your character has certain commendations....
The list can go on, clearly, but the whole key is - maybe enhancing the experience to allow for a character to develop on their own - as a character - within the Star Trek Universe - and maybe key areas are 'uncovered' or key characters / events are only 'seen' or available after you've done certain things. The mission chain already supports this, but requires you to follow a succession that demands combat.
I stopped combat at level 11, just to see how the game played. And for me, it's actually.. Kind of boring, but has given me a myriad of ideas on how to enhance the experience for guys like me who don't like getting our butt kicked both in game and in real life. Sometimes it's necessary, right, but to me, Star Trek can be SO much more.
That and I swear to you Seven of Nine is my soul mate ;-) lol!
You know.. altogether... add in an air of... intellectual fun without the fight!
..... And check out my Open Source Work, here: https://sourceforge.net/u/universalbri/profile/
And to really answer your question:
YES, in eventuality, wouldn't you think it would be cool to land on a planet's surface like Voyager did in the series? Microsoft Flight Simulator is actually LESS detailed than I would HOPE to see it - once you got up close. So is Google Earth.. I figure it would be fun to make this a fully featured universe, a 100% realistic one where maybe one of these days if I happened to be shoved into an alternate reality by an evil twin brother that this would seem like a fun place to be, a place I could even live if it were made dynamic and interestingly fun enough.
The engine and graphics for this game are clearly outdated, and run very slow in contrast to games like World of Worecroft which has had some fantastic artist contributing to it and has an amazing community in part because of the non combat oriented skills.
But why follow their combat oriented lead when that ground has been tread by so many it's ridiculous? It's an ailing model. So why not leverage the explorational model instead and develop core pieces which invite artists and .. capitalists and more to contribute in their own ways?"
Admittedly a lot of work. But for me, I wouldn't look at my role and work on this as short term.
For me, I look at something like this as something I could be involved in for a very long time...
A home to hang my hat in, you could say.
..... And check out my Open Source Work, here: https://sourceforge.net/u/universalbri/profile/
Yes it would be nice...but you arent just doing this for one planet. I'm leveling a fresh toon in Iota Pavonis and it has 21 systems. I just went next door into Alpha Centauri and it also has 21 systems. So you figure on average 20 systems per sector block, total of 15 sector blocks. which is roughly 300 planets. And i say roughly since not all systems have a planet. And since there will be no beaming in stuff i assume this means that with the current game engine it would have to be non-instanced? so that you can flying from planet to space to planet to space to planet with no loading screens and no 'beam to'.
EDIT: ohh and forgot to mention too is the way the STO engine works is that it is all instances of course. But your body type changes depending on whether you are in a space instance or a ground instance. When you are in space your human body is changed into a ship and when you are on ground you are a person. Sometimes this bugs out and you will see people running around ESD in their spaceship form. And some missions also intentionally have people like Q in their human form in a space map.
OK now lets talk about each individual planet size. Since these planets are going to have landable ships you cant cheat the way WoW did. How long does it take to run (not ground or flying mount) from the far southern tip of Stranglethorn to the far northern tip of Eversong Woods? Probably an hour? maybe no more then two? if you started at the southern tip of South America or Africa and started running north, how far will you have gotten if you run for the same amount of time as the folks that made the Azeroth trip? The biggest map in STO right now is probably New Romulus. If the whole map of New Romulus equals 1 tile, how many tiles of the same length and width would it take to cover the same surface area as the earth? For the sake of this next argument lets say 250 tiles, the quantity isnt important we just know that it will be a lot. So what kind of capacity does new romulus take right now? server storage, bandwidth, player PC resources, whatever. Ok now how much resources and capacity is it going to need if it takes up 250 tiles? or however many tiles it actually takes to fill up a whole planet? ok now multiple that by the number of total planets in STO.
And i'm not even going to go into the business aspect of it because i'm sure you know about it already. By this i mean putting forth a suggestion that increases operating costs or resources. A suggestion that does the same thing but doesnt increase costs or even reduces it is more likely to get accepted. But if there will be an increase in costs or resources you have to be able to justify the increase.
Now I am suspecting the game's been a one man (or woman) job so far. An inventive, naw, an incredibly creative and amazing person at that.
That much is irrelevant if it is a one man (or woman) show.
My background is extensive in corporate development. Sometimes on teams. Sometimes prototyping so other teams can step up and take care of business. But almost all of it has been done with about 70% of the time spent on any project - with the exception of prototypes - has been spent on up front research, analysis and design.
To say I have the answers to your questions - I have an idea how I would approach them. Much like what mobile phone companies do with cell towers, you have servers and/or processes devoted to handing off traffic. With this hand off, you may have different rendering engines based on whether you're flying over a planet where speed optimization and realism may be of utmost importance and physics may not be, versus when you get close and detail and physics becomes much more important, and accordingly, the client itself can transition over to different engines based on this. Now keep in mind, these are only initial thoughts, the implementation and commitment to this is clearly a long term planned effort, my personal focus would be realism of the interactions between objects.
There's already a need to consider an enchancement/review of the engine as it is - for instance - one thing I would shy away from is preloading objects and get into dynamic loading. i see already there's some of this going on, as a post process, but with it being handled 'unevenly' and the way the network traffic is handled - there's many many hiccups on the client which 'pull' you back when there's blips in the network traffic, which is especially evident when there's objects being loaded. Optimizing based on a richer featured graphics engine that's working with the network makes simple, logical sense. And long term, at least in my opinion for the longevity of this, I would envision this as a necessity anyways considering your competition's spectacular handling of networking with graphics at fast speeds.
Not to say I know anything about anything with game development. I've just worked my butt off helping international companies with business operations abroad operate more effectively given the time and materials I've had to work with.
In this case here, I look at it like this as: I'm offering my services free for a project - a game - and a brand which promotes a way of life I believe in for this planet's future.
I'm not going into this blind. I have a cheap laptop with limitations on it. And if this is all I have to work with to enhance your product. Then so be it. It's the opportunity I anticipate.
The compensation is seeing the community itself embrace it and want to participate.
to think ANY of this could be accomplished or considered without careful consideration, planning and discussion.
is insanity! :-)
I'm not THAT crazy! ;-)
And I dont have the answers. I figure the answers will present themselves on the course maintained.
Keep in mind. No revenue needed for this guy. So the 'financial end' of this collaboration is .. non existent. Business and strategic wise, clearly, I'd have to be sandboxed to begin with. I'd expect that.
..... And check out my Open Source Work, here: https://sourceforge.net/u/universalbri/profile/
I applaud you for wanting to live life your own way, but in the end, it's not what they give you as compensation, only what you keep.
Damnit! I wanted cookies!! I thought the dark side was supposed to be cool, man!
What I find comical is this weird obsessive insistence that I take payment. Reminds me of drug dealers selling a drug I don't want to buy anymore.
This doesn't invalidate you or make you wrong for choosing otherwise, guys and gals.
Don't go perceiving this as a threat.
And the final answer is no. I'm not looking to get paid. Period end of story.
Now if this excludes me from being able to work with STO. Then so be it.
Defies simple logic, Since a for profit corporation can clearly benefit from a no cost resource.
But we're not exactly dealing with logic here, are we?
..... And check out my Open Source Work, here: https://sourceforge.net/u/universalbri/profile/
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=1135041&highlight=odyssey+fiasco
If you really did just start playing STO on Jul of this year and this isnt a new account, do a search for Odyssey Fiasco. That may be part of the reason why the devs dont take any fan made content, no matter how good it is (unless it was made on the Foundry).
The combination of the big scope you are aiming for, and some of the things i've experienced in the on and off 2 years i've been playing the game just makes me think that the engine cant handle it or it would take a LOT of work. Stuff like my beams not showing in the play field when there is a lot of clutter, but when i declutter my playfield and look away from everyone my beams show back up. I mean, obviously there's an issue there with the graphics load and i'm pretty sure it isnt a problem with my PC rig. And there are a lot of other minor issues too. I'd expect those from a game that uses an outsourced game engine like the way SWTOR did with the Hero Engine. But afaik Cryptic uses the Cryptic Engine which was created in house and not by someone else and licensed or modified for use. You can search and read up on the Cryptic Game Engine, and while you are at it try to find info on the Cryptic Studios design philosophy regarding development of their games that use the Cryptic Engine. Like do choices made in the design of one game affect another simply because they are using the same engine.
I've had my account since the game's beginning, I only signed up for the forums in July.
And again. I'm trying to figure out if you speak English because there's clearly a translational issue here. But I am not proposing anything less than being a full time on premises employee. No fan stuff, Foundry's both limited and a pain in the rear to work with. This is working directly with their engines.
I'm not looking for an argument. In the end this will provide you better energy management and resource controls, I know you know what I am referring to. You need help, that's clear.
And while I am well aware that you may not have a current facility here, at least perched in this... reality... that will be rectified if I am invited to work with you. Does this explain my insistence on lack of payment anymore? I can explain why and how this occurs once you've witnessed it in action.
Do you want to continue playing dumb and dismissing this and me leveraging your current overly predictable modus operandi, or is what I am saying out of range of your own current capabilities?
..... And check out my Open Source Work, here: https://sourceforge.net/u/universalbri/profile/
Uhh, yah i think that you might be mistaking me for one of the other posters. I'm the one thats been talking with you about if it's possible with the current game engine, and how detailed the worlds would be and whatnot posts #19 and #22. In none of my posts have i said that you should/shouldnt take payment or a job, that's the other posters in the thread. But in my last post i did include some information about the Odyssey Fiasco in case you've only been here on the forums for 2 months. That information could be why the other posters and a dev and a community manager keep telling you to take payment or a job with that. And the rest of that post i go back to what i was talking about before, which is my concern about whether the game engine can handle the changes you were talking about of having much more detailed planets.
so yah...
That's rather interesting. I watched some youtube videos from people talking about artificial reality and how blinded we are.
I guess it's all in the quantum foam, isn't it?
Really, I am not mocking you here. I consider this topic intriguing.