Ship Shapes

[raptor]

Hi,

Several times the topic of using different ship shapes have come up. Well... we implemented the ability to have them. Some examples:

screenshot_8.png

screenshot_9.png

HOWEVER... we have semi-decided to NOT use them.

This is because they don't really provide a functional usage. As such, the code will be disabled for now. We are open to ideas about how to use them that adds to the gameplay

[Little_Apple]

classes.

[raptor]

classes.

Like... Trigonometry? Or Tennis?

It could be applied to bots. A specific shape for specific bots, which would be a cool addition to the possible dungeon mode.

I like the idea, sure triangles are the "tried and true" but if you never try anything new, nothing new will be added.

[Skybax]

You could have different shaped ships be part of different teams. Just like team color but with shapes as well. Or you could have specific forcefields that could be set to only allow a certain shape through, requiring a team with multiple ship shapes on a dungeon map.
I'll name more later.

[Little_Apple]

classes.

Like... Trigonometry? Or Tennis?

Like tf2 classes. Bigger ones are slower but more health, smaller ones are faster with less health etc.

The customization feature of modules and weapons makes players able to become unique and have teams/groups with specialized individuals. Thus, classes aren't needed because the players are already choosing their 'classes' by choosing what modules and weapons to have. The primary purpose of classes is to have groups with specialized individuals work together as a team. We already have this.

I think this 'ship shapes' feature should be used for neutral enemies. For example (since most of the community here, plays minecraft), these 'neutral enemies' would have a similar function/purpose compare to the zombies and skeletons of minecraft. The main function is being an obstacle, just like asteroids, but more challenging and energetic.

Anyway couldn't these neutral enemies be from different galaxies?
Shouldn't we unite against these dangerous "new" beings?
Just some *hints* on what more this game could be.

The square ship shape should be the 'troll' monsters.

[bobdaduck]

I think this should be a purely aesthetic feature. I had the idea of making a ship-editor, where if you put in some restrictions like "must have area of at least x" it could be fairly abuse proof.

What if, to incite people to register for the forums, we were to enable this feature for only registered users? A person's forum badge could have what ship design they use, etc.

I think this should be a purely aesthetic feature. I had the idea of making a ship-editor, where if you put in some restrictions like "must have area of at least x" it could be fairly abuse proof.

What if, to incite people to register for the forums, we were to enable this feature for only registered users? A person's forum badge could have what ship design they use, etc.

That's a beneficial purpose, but I see a problem. If the ship-editor has restrictions like "must have area of at least x and y," then everyone would have the lowest x and y coordinates to have a smaller ship. A small ship is harder to hit than a big ship. Unless, if the ship-editor cannot increase nor decrease the 'collision-detection area,' just its appearance.

[bobdaduck]

Yeah, I think it would be fairly simple to keep the collision area the same while making the ship smaller.

Hi,

Several times the topic of using different ship shapes have come up. Well... we implemented the ability to have them. Some examples:

screenshot_8.png

screenshot_9.png

HOWEVER... we have semi-decided to NOT use them.

This is because they don't really provide a functional usage. As such, the code will be disabled for now. We are open to ideas about how to use them that adds to the gameplay

I find it interesting that you made the 2 star trek ships.

I find it interesting that you made the 2 star trek ships.

Oh...the second one is the borg. Kinda small for a borg...

Borg is OP...too OP...like a mini death star

The Borg should be a boss!!!

[Little_Apple]

the borg aren't from the original series. i like the cube from "the corbomite maneuver" with the little kid in it better.

[raptor]

I find it interesting that you made the 2 star trek ships.

That was not a coincidence... :]

And I thank BlackBird for his inspirational drawings

Yeah, I think it would be fairly simple to keep the collision area the same while making the ship smaller.

Yes. One could make the ship *any* size they want on the client, but the collision will always be the current size (24) because that's what the servers say it is for a ship and it does the math accordingly.

[raptor]

And just for my fellow trekkies, I give you a beefier cube:

screenshot_0.png

[Little_Apple]

Awesomeness.

Now you need to make the Enterprise.

I think this should be a purely aesthetic feature. I had the idea of making a ship-editor, where if you put in some restrictions like "must have area of at least x" it could be fairly abuse proof.

What if, to incite people to register for the forums, we were to enable this feature for only registered users? A person's forum badge could have what ship design they use, etc.

I don't necessarily like the idea of people making their own ships. These are fine because they are set shapes, if people make their own it will just be confusing, especially for new comers. I would like to know, if you were to make such a feature, how would you do it? Would everyone have to download everyone elses ship? That would be unwanted.

Correct me if I'm wrong, he asked if there was any functional use for them, aesthetics are hardly functional.

Why is there so much hate over aesthetics??

Why is there so much hate over aesthetics??

I'm confused, I've not read any objections to aesthetics? To clarify; I only oppose allowing people to make their own ships, not aesthetics.

[raptor]

Yes. I was looking for uses other than "hey, that looks neat!"

^^ Which is fun, but the fun tends to wear off after a short while. In which case we'd have done a lot of work implementing a ship-customizing part of the game without much reward in more fun game play.

[Skybax]

I think it would be a lot of work to make the ships customizable by each player.
I think that a better option would be a to have a preset ship for each Module combination, that your ship would change to whenever you used that combination. Ex, a Cloak/Heal or a Shield/Sensor ship would maybe look a bit more stealthy than a Boost/Armor ship.
If you wanted to get reeeeally complicated and have like a bajillion different presets, you could throw in weapon plus module combinations.
You could then also have a badge for discovering every single ship shape.

I think it would be a lot of work to make the ships customizable by each player.
I think that a better option would be a to have a preset ship for each Module combination, that your ship would change to whenever you used that combination. Ex, a Cloak/Heal or a Shield/Sensor ship would maybe look a bit more stealthy than a Boost/Armor ship.
If you wanted to get reeeeally complicated and have like a bajillion different presets, you could throw in weapon plus module combinations.
You could then also have a badge for discovering every single ship shape.

So basically the cloak module would go with the Bird of Pray?

[Little_Apple]

Bird of pray

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Yes. I was looking for uses other than "hey, that looks neat!"

^^ Which is fun, but the fun tends to wear off after a short while. In which case we'd have done a lot of work implementing a ship-customizing part of the game without much reward in more fun game play.

Basically, it looks neat and it's not dull. Right?
_________________________________________________________________

I think the feature would lead to troll-trouble. What if someone shapes the ship as something inappropriate? (I'm serious, for real. )

P.S. Not sure why my post was deleted, I guess philosophy of art is irrelevant.

Why is there so much hate over aesthetics??

Ditto

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Irrationality is superior against rationality, but humor is the king of all.

[bobdaduck]

I think it would be fairly simple to make a duplicate editor that works pretty much like the level editor. Strip it down so you have the components of a ship (health bar, body [colored part], skeleton [grey part]) and let people do that in an editor would make things easy, methinks. If that's too hard:

Tie it in to the achievements system. When you get an achievement, you unlock a ship, which you can choose to use in-game.

Troll trouble? global admins.

I think it would be fairly simple to make a duplicate editor that works pretty much like the level editor. Tie it in to the achievements system. When you get an achievement, you unlock a ship, which you can choose to use in-game.

What about bosses or neutral enemies (enemies from neither sides)?

[Skybax]

I like my idea.

Perhaps we could try Skybax's idea and see how well it plays out with everyone, then if everyone is dieing for more customization, we could go with the ship editor.

[Skybax]

I like BlackBird's idea.

I like BlackBird's idea.

[Skybax]

You totally misquoted me.

I have no idea what your talking about.

(He's being sarcastic)iThink...

I like BlackBird's idea.

Give credit to where it's due.

The customization feature of modules and weapons makes players able to become unique and have teams/groups with specialized individuals. Thus, classes aren't needed because the players are already choosing their 'classes' by choosing what modules and weapons to have. The primary purpose of classes is to have groups with specialized individuals work together as a team. We already have this.

I think this 'ship shapes' feature should be used for neutral enemies. For example (since most of the community here, plays minecraft), these 'neutral enemies' would have a similar function/purpose compare to the zombies and skeletons of minecraft. The main function is being an obstacle, just like asteroids, but more challenging and energetic.)

Agree with both points. Ship classes would be the inevitable usage for different ship shapes but they're not necessary since classes essentially already exist through the customization of modules and weapons. For example, the "Flag Runner" class can be achieved by simply choosing boost/cloak and phaser/bouncer/burst.

I also agree that hostile, creepy-looking bots would be quite awesome. In fact, it solves a problem -- if hostile bots were implemented they'd have the same shape as normal ships and players might confuse them with a standard enemy, whereas hostile bots of a different shape would be distinctive and stand out.

One idea off the top of my head is the "guard bot", which could be ordered to guard a certain area. Players who entered the area would alert the guard bot, who would stalk and swarm the players. Perhaps the reward to this risk could be a teleporter leading close to the enemy's base, or a sweet stack of flags in nexus.

[Lone Wolf]

For the inappropriate ship shapes, you could make a ship, and then wait like a day to use it for the admins to approve it as to avoid the previously said innapropriate trolls.

[Little_Apple]

I hate waiting for something to be approved.

Or you could let them be and have a "report innapropriot behavior" button which would notify an admin, and depending on how bad it is, he/she could simply have the design deleted, or have the account banned for a week or two.

I should have shut my mouth about the troll part.

[Little_Apple]

Yes you should have.