The Story in the Game |
Greetings to ye, fellow strategyplayers.
My first post after being a member for 10 minutes 
Anyway, i have been playing Space Empires V now since mars and have really enjoyed the gameplay, especially with balance mod.
However, i'm a guy who really likes a story behind everything i take an interest in. If you play a game with some sort of storyline in it it feels so much more alive and adds a depth where you feel connection to the various factions and characters introduced.
But... what happened to that in Space Empires?
Has there been any story att all in the Space Empires evolution, or has it always been focused more to gameplay?
Re: The Story in the Game
The story is written by the players. "Role Playing" so to speak. Take a look at the After Action Reports around here to see what I mean.
---Sig---
Playing Touhou games (Go to this Wiki if interested. No, nobody else is that good/insane as that replay). No rush for SE
Re: The Story in the Game
Well, you will be happy to know that it is fully within the mod capabilities for SE 5 to create a story-type game. It would take some work (and someone to DO the work), but it CAN be done. Perhaps people will start releasing those after we've pounded the AI in to shape.
"Only by being constantly at war with evil in all things, including yourself, can you truely know peace."
Download my mod here: GidMod
Re: The Story in the Game
Which, notably, is taking a very. Long. Time.
Re: The Story in the Game
We don't need some stinkin' railroading story in our space empires!
All that an official storyline does is shoe-horn the gameplay along preset lines, reducing replayability.
Re: The Story in the Game
Ah, I would, if I understood both:
a) The SEV scripting language (I'm already having to learn Torque, which is a small gulph from ActionScript and C++ already)
b) How to program an AI (I had enough trouble helping a friend taking the bloody class figure out the RGB difference between Pink and Brown, ended up having the graph all known values of "pink" and all known values of "brown" and figure out a plane between them)
Too much for me. Sorry. But I'll happily sit on the sidelines offering up comments on where I see failings and offer theoretical solutions.
I'm happy in programming Flash games where the AI can be anywhere from non-existent to simple. Hey, I did code a way-point tracking external XML level file system for my vertical scrolling shooter. Heck, sure, a lot of the work is never seen (I really should beef up the toughness of some of the tanks so they do get through a full loop before the player kills them) and I want to implement some more (circles! I want things to be able to track an arbitrary distance around an arbitrarily sized circle placed at any point! Ah, should start working on that...)
But SEV is too complicated for me, thanks but no thanks.
Re: The Story in the Game
I like playing with the Star Trek races because I know them... Now all we need is for them to behave like those races.
Having a story line just helps in anticipating what a race might do.
SEV, more than a feeling.
Re: The Story in the Game
Re: The Story in the Game
Then again, if they DON'T behave in a manner consistent with the storyline, then they all end up following the One True Strategy because inevitably whoever programs the AI gets lazy and decides to have them all do the same thing... 
That said, I like how the SE5 races have a short backstory behind each of them, yet there is no overarching backstory behind the whole game, as is the case with games such as Lost Empire. There's enough story behind the races, and yet enough that's NOT said about them, to both give the player something to get him started with roleplaying, and yet not feel "railroaded"... Now if only the different AI's for those races BEHAVED differently...
And then there's custom races... 
~~~
The power of the ancients is now yours to command. You are truly the Master... of the obvious
Re: The Story in the Game
Care to explain how a storyline would do that and not the ai programming?
Groovy Baby Yeah!
Re: The Story in the Game
Its a matter of game design... if you have an elaborate background universe (aka story), you get narrowly defined races, techs, gameplay, etc. Everything has to be set up to work within that story framework. With a more generic setup, you can add whatever you like, so long as it is balanced. Just look at Birth of the Federation (ST canon-ish story), compared to MOO2 (lite story), compared to SE (no story).
Re: The Story in the Game
This is just a case of personal preferences. Those who want a story given to them as they focus on gameplay, wouldn't mind being 'railroaded'. Restrictions can open up more freedom and open up greater insights into the story. Conversely for those who want to write the story entirely themselves by their own actions, such restrictions would get in the way and all you need are what SE V already provides.
There is no single 'Right'.
---Sig---
Playing Touhou games (Go to this Wiki if interested. No, nobody else is that good/insane as that replay). No rush for SE
Re: The Story in the Game
There is no single right, so we shouldn't make all games the same (ie: with a heavy background story).
Re: The Story in the Game
This is why we have mods. To let us make the game in to what we prefer. There is no right or wrong, just what you like.
"Only by being constantly at war with evil in all things, including yourself, can you truely know peace."
Download my mod here: GidMod
Re: The Story in the Game
Cant we have just a little story?
Groovy Baby Yeah!
Re: The Story in the Game
IMHO a story is always a plus. But remember that MM doesn't have a dedicated scenario writer to start with. It's all about available manpower.
Have a question? Search the wiki first!
Re: The Story in the Game
Welcome to the boards, even though I cropped up without warning and started making suggestions. The game code make my brain sizzle, but doesn't stop me from helping.
As for story, I think SE has traditionally been game play, even though stock components for SEV were cripplingly unbalanced.
I started in SEIII and never saw any story there either.