Forums » Suggestions
In-game newspapers
It'd be pretty neat if there were some in-game newspapers written by gamers and devs alike. Maybe geared towards the various interests in the game - for instance the combat-oriented newspaper might cover large battles and developments in whatever's going on between Itani and Serco. Maybe tactics and weapons. A trading newspaper might cover cool trading routes and warnings about pirates. Maybe writing for this newspaper would improve your standing with whichever faction "owned" the paper (ie. it's logical that a trading newspaper would be owned by NT). This all might sound a bit familiar to anyone who was looking forward to Elite III. ;-)
http://chronicle.roguelazer.com
I haven't updated for awhile because of RL, but I've got a new issue in the works.
I haven't updated for awhile because of RL, but I've got a new issue in the works.
I like your site, Roguelazer - I spent a while on it yesterday when the S4 bots were being funky. What I'm proposing is slightly different though. For instance, you could leave your home base, and travel a few sectors away on a high-paying military mission to destroy a notorious pirate bot. Then, when you got home, you could access the electronic newspaper and there'd be a short computer-generated report indicating when, where and with what weapons you'd destroyed this evildoer. There'd also be a "Read More" link in the newspaper report, which would effectively serve as a bulletin board thread for people to discuss the kill - effectively a community-driven newspaper report for other people to read.
If this sounds a little bit like sticking a bulletin board in the game, it's because it is. Imagine, for instance, if THIS bulletin board was synchronised with an in-game bulletin board you could access at any dock, or even from within space itself. Imagine if you could post on it without having to quit the game - imagine that it became *part* of the game itself. I think that'd be pretty neat. In-game chat is definitely a must-have feature and I certainly couldn't live without it, but how about sticking a whole community-driven electronic newspaper in there too?
Just an idea. :-)
If this sounds a little bit like sticking a bulletin board in the game, it's because it is. Imagine, for instance, if THIS bulletin board was synchronised with an in-game bulletin board you could access at any dock, or even from within space itself. Imagine if you could post on it without having to quit the game - imagine that it became *part* of the game itself. I think that'd be pretty neat. In-game chat is definitely a must-have feature and I certainly couldn't live without it, but how about sticking a whole community-driven electronic newspaper in there too?
Just an idea. :-)
Here you can do it without having to build an in-game browser:
-Vendetta just opens the comunity thingy in your favourite browser
-That web-site goes full-screen (use that full-screen javascript thingy, I can search for that script if you want ;).
-Vendetta minimises.
-Behold, you see the flashy comunity site.
-And look! The site has a nice "close" (once again, a javascript) button.
-Vendetta just opens the comunity thingy in your favourite browser
-That web-site goes full-screen (use that full-screen javascript thingy, I can search for that script if you want ;).
-Vendetta minimises.
-Behold, you see the flashy comunity site.
-And look! The site has a nice "close" (once again, a javascript) button.
Noooo... That wouldn't work. It would on Windows, but on Mac OS and Linux, detecting "your favourite browser", and ensuring that it has JS, is no sure thing.
If you wanted to go that route, the requirement of cross-platform compatibility would probably dictate that you'd need some limited HTML support in the game. I don't think it needs to get that complicated.
Say, for instance, you're flying through space with a cargo of heavy arms to trade, or perhaps you're holed up by a wormhole waiting for your assassination target to warp in. You want to kill a little time, so you hit, say, the 'b' key on your keyboard. A window pops up in the centre of your screen. You can select '1', '2' or '3' for the Itani, Serco or NT electronic newspapers to find out what's going on in the galaxy from your nation's perspective, '4' to look up commodity prices for whatever you're selling (for a small fee, naturally), or '5' to bring up The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Universe, which, true to the original, would be an assortment of user-maintained 'howtos' covering issues like where to buy weapons, why the planet Zog sucks, or how to find the best Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters.
The game's actual help feature would probably be somewhere separate, so as to avoid the "real world" seeping through.
So you hit '3' because you're a warlike Serco and you need some gruesome gory carnage to quench your bloodlust. You read a report about how your fellow Serco heroes valiantly defended a Serco sector from the indignance of a mere, spit, PEACEFUL trade ship passing through it. You laugh heartily at this short computer-generated report, and hit "Read More" to get to the meaty stuff; the user-contributed first hand reports and comments. This fills you with an inner glow and your cheeks blush with pride at being a part of the mighty Serco empire. You hit "Reply" to congratulate your fellow Serco teammates and throw yourselves at their feet in admiration.
Then you gasp at your watch; hit "Exit Infosystem" and blow the hell out of your assassination target who has just warped through from Sector 4 on a diplomatic mission.
...And thusly you become the next news item. ;-)
Say, for instance, you're flying through space with a cargo of heavy arms to trade, or perhaps you're holed up by a wormhole waiting for your assassination target to warp in. You want to kill a little time, so you hit, say, the 'b' key on your keyboard. A window pops up in the centre of your screen. You can select '1', '2' or '3' for the Itani, Serco or NT electronic newspapers to find out what's going on in the galaxy from your nation's perspective, '4' to look up commodity prices for whatever you're selling (for a small fee, naturally), or '5' to bring up The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Universe, which, true to the original, would be an assortment of user-maintained 'howtos' covering issues like where to buy weapons, why the planet Zog sucks, or how to find the best Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters.
The game's actual help feature would probably be somewhere separate, so as to avoid the "real world" seeping through.
So you hit '3' because you're a warlike Serco and you need some gruesome gory carnage to quench your bloodlust. You read a report about how your fellow Serco heroes valiantly defended a Serco sector from the indignance of a mere, spit, PEACEFUL trade ship passing through it. You laugh heartily at this short computer-generated report, and hit "Read More" to get to the meaty stuff; the user-contributed first hand reports and comments. This fills you with an inner glow and your cheeks blush with pride at being a part of the mighty Serco empire. You hit "Reply" to congratulate your fellow Serco teammates and throw yourselves at their feet in admiration.
Then you gasp at your watch; hit "Exit Infosystem" and blow the hell out of your assassination target who has just warped through from Sector 4 on a diplomatic mission.
...And thusly you become the next news item. ;-)
I like the idea of a new paper/news service, but I don't think it would/could ever be as complex as described above.
The service could be another tab in the station, listing the various stories/sections on one side and details on the other.
I don't think it needs to be player controlled. There would be too many issues with screening from language/spam/offtopicness etc. I believe to would work best controlled server side by a basic mission/trade bot. The bot would find the most recently completed interesting/hard/obscure mission, and fit the names and sectors involved into a small predefined paragraph.
What would be cool about this is that each faction could have its own news service. The Itani service would probably focus on anti Serco missions, weapon achievements or player rankings ("Alex Rowe achieves combat level 14!") The TGP service would focus on trade prices or achievements of the companies favoured players ("Spellcast saves station from plague with quick delivery of TGP anti-plague pills") and so on.
The nation services would be available in all neutral station/sectors, along with a range of specific services from other factions. So s9 would have Itani, NT, Serco, and TGP services etc. S4 would have Itani, NT, TGP, Axis ect, but not Serco.
I think this could add a cool roleplaying dimension to the game. Trying to make the papers etc. Plus traders could glean tips on the best trade routes and prices from the articles.
Ideas?
-ts-
The service could be another tab in the station, listing the various stories/sections on one side and details on the other.
I don't think it needs to be player controlled. There would be too many issues with screening from language/spam/offtopicness etc. I believe to would work best controlled server side by a basic mission/trade bot. The bot would find the most recently completed interesting/hard/obscure mission, and fit the names and sectors involved into a small predefined paragraph.
What would be cool about this is that each faction could have its own news service. The Itani service would probably focus on anti Serco missions, weapon achievements or player rankings ("Alex Rowe achieves combat level 14!") The TGP service would focus on trade prices or achievements of the companies favoured players ("Spellcast saves station from plague with quick delivery of TGP anti-plague pills") and so on.
The nation services would be available in all neutral station/sectors, along with a range of specific services from other factions. So s9 would have Itani, NT, Serco, and TGP services etc. S4 would have Itani, NT, TGP, Axis ect, but not Serco.
I think this could add a cool roleplaying dimension to the game. Trying to make the papers etc. Plus traders could glean tips on the best trade routes and prices from the articles.
Ideas?
-ts-