New Storyline

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travists
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Re: New Storyline

Post by travists »

I don't understand the python code for missions enough to begin to do what would be needed for a new mission/campaign editor, but I see three options:
  1. Post stories and mission descriptions and hope someone has time to code it.
  2. Restart development on an editor program.
  3. Rebuild the mission scripting language to be more newbie friendly.
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Re: New Storyline

Post by klauss »

All three points are doable, and especially number 2 should be given some momentum if possible.

But 1 is the most immediate, and tools cannot be built without some scope. The item 1 will give the tools some scope, as in "you must be able to script this".

If you are afraid the stories will get lost, put them somewhere they will not. Put them in SVN (there's a history folder) for instance.

Admins and developers should make sure to steer contributions into scripting the storyline. Ie: when someone asks "how can I help?", you say: "Scripting these missions".

And, we coders, knowing the scope, can certainly work on scripting abstractions to make campaign scripting easier.
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Re: New Storyline

Post by pheonixstorm »

klauss, if you can help me setup a good format for the campaign/mission editor I can get back to work on it. I just haven't come up with a good structure (for a class, struct, map etc.) to use for the speech sections.

Code: Select all

sligorspeech1={"intro":[("Sligor","Good day, privateer. My name is Sligor, the merchant guild affiliate on Speke."),
							("Burrows","My name is Grayson Burrows. How may I be of service?"),
							("Sligor","I'm looking for privateers to help establish the Guild HQ on Speke. We've already established a capital on this base, as you might have noticed."),
							("Burrows","Yeah.  The skyline looks quite impressive. It looks like a lot of money."),
							("Sligor","Yes. We've had many investors in the past. Junction is the main traffic point for Gemini, as well as the most secure connection to Sol. We now want to show the investors that their expenditures have proven profitable."),
							("Burrows","Sounds to me like Junction isn't that safe at all."),
							("Sligor","Although we are quite removed from cat space, pirate--and especially Retro--activity is on the rise. We know virtually nothing concerning their purposes or even if we are a target.  We believe the Retro attacks are side-effects of their siege at Oxford."),
							("Burrows","And you want me to find out what's going on."),
							("Sligor","Exactly. Since we want to make Speke a major trade center, we can't afford sudden ambushes on our freighters. We know about the hidden pirate base in the Pentonville system. I want you to show the pirates that they had better not try to take a foothold in Junction. I need you to wipe out the pirates in Pentonville."),
							("Burrows","I'm not too sure if that would be so easy."),
							("Sligor","I didn't say it would be easy, but you would be doing me a favor, and we are not prepared to fight on two fronts at this time.  We can concentrate on the Retros after we slow down the pirates. I'll pay you 20000 credits for this.")],
				"reject1":[("Burrows","No thanks. I won't run into the open arms of murderers."),
							("Sligor","Your loss, mate; there are many privateers out there who will jump at such a lucrative opportunity.")],
				"reconsider":[("Burrows","I've reconsidered."),
							("Sligor","That's good. Erase Pentonville of any pirate craft. Payment is 20000 credits.")],
				"reject2":[("Burrows","Too risky.")],
				"accept":[("Burrows","This isn't the first time I've danced with the pirates. I think I can handle it."),
                            ("Sligor","Great. See you soon.")],
                "accept2":[("Sligor","Thanks. Please move out.")],
				"reminder":[("Sligor","Did you erase the pirates?"),
							("Burrows","Actually, I haven't launched yet."),
							("Sligor","Listen. I have a great deal of other business to attend to and no time to hold your hand. Please destroy the pirates as you promised."),
							("Burrows","Keep your pants on. I'll do the job.")],
				"failure":[("Sligor","Fool! The pirates have survived. Now we must deal with two factions instead of just one, and i'm sure your utter failure has angered the pirates even more, which will undoubtedly cause them to escalate their attack plans. You'll never get a job from me again!")]
			}
There is the initial speech1, speech2 etc. Inside, first interation you have intro, accept, reject, accept2, reject2, etc. Top line intro you start with Name, Text, Sound file (optional) with lines alternating between the fixer and player until a decision must be made. The def loadcampaign I already have something for, or at least soemthing I *think should work.

I've wanted to base my work more on how the privateer fixers/campaign unfolds outside of campaigns.py so that cam.py would remain code free for the most part.

On a side note, my initial thought for a sppech format was

Code: Select all

class speech {
struct type
}

struct type {
 struct dialog
}

struct dialog {
string name
 string line
 string sound
}
Never could decide if that would be good enough, plus the fact of trying to create the interface to access all of it... Does that look good enough or do you think you can come up with something better/cleaner?
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Re: New Storyline

Post by klauss »

Format: what about using a standard format, like srt?

Though srt is just text on speech, we'd need a format that can embed or link to the speech files.
Know any?
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Re: New Storyline

Post by pheonixstorm »

I'm not sure i'm following you on this. What do we need a subtitle format for? The only places we find digitized sound are for the original privateer campaigns. Unless your refering to creating a modified srt to handle our current dialog, but all i'm really looking for here is some type of storage format I can use in an app to give the current setup a nice interface the campaign/mission creator can use with out having to learn how the campaigns.py file operates.
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Re: New Storyline

Post by klauss »

The subtitle format contains text, some format, and timings. It's what you need, except for the audio references.

Perhaps there's already a format that adds those references, and we could use it, or as you say, we could modify the srt to include something of that kind.

The point: being able to use all the subtitle editors out there to edit the dialogues.

Your editor can use it rather easily (it's not a difficult to parse format), and campaign.py can be made to understand it too.

Replace SRT with any format of your choice. The point is standards and reusability.
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Re: New Storyline

Post by pheonixstorm »

In that case we could use srt to handle each stage. Intro, Accept, Accept2, Reject, Reject2 (i think there are 2 reject/accepts) as well as success/failure. Though I think it would have to read...
intro:fixer dialog
intro:player dialog this goes back n forth till the you hit the accept/reject stage
accept:fixer dialog
reject:fixer dialog

Instead of time dialog coding it would end up being name dialog... still needs work. We have to parse each mission file and extract each section into a data structure then spit out the relevant info into the GUI. I don't know.. we can finish this in the tools forum though.. I think we've hijacked this poor thread long enough :lol: ;)
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Re: New Storyline

Post by travists »

Back to campaigns and story lines/arcs...
How many missions for a particular path sounds reasonable? I'm up to about 21 assuming all wins on just one track. Also I think I could use some general impressions on my setup so far:

Answers and the Forgotten Future War

Trigger: Meeting on Atlantis regarding findings discovered during treatment form Luddite attack.

General Story Arc: D. is contacted about anomalies in genetic structure and implants discovered during treatment following the Luddite attack just prior to UTCS. Informed that tech used appears similar to scattered finds throughout the galaxy belonging to a group known as the “Ancients.” Shortly after Andolian officer approaches D. about a freelance job scouting the location suspected of being where change happened. Finds various Ancient’s instillations partly functional. Over course of several missions learns part of Ancient history and that Human/Aera war not entirely of own making.

Resolutions/Rewards:
1: New weapon for Confederation/Credits, gain to human relations
2: New FTL technology for Aera/Credits, gain to Aera relations
3: Cure for nano-plague/New technology available, gain to all relations
4:Shutdown ancient machine fostering wars/ free Ancient’s tech


Mission Layout:
Name:
Type:
Pay:
Wingmen:
Objective(s):
Encounter(s):
Briefing text:
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Re: New Storyline

Post by klauss »

Sounds interesting :)

You could leave the door open for sideplots, which would extend the campaign in an acceptable/interesting way, past the 21 basic missions.

No need to develop them all, only have them in store in case we want to develop the story further.

Also, put pauses between the missions, time for the player to play freelance instead of following the story arc. Before each pause, the player should have some new tool/mission type/area to explore/whatever to make the freelance experience new.

And please: wiki in a prominent place or commit to the history folder of SVN. We don't want to forget/lose this.
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Re: New Storyline

Post by travists »

Still working on the flow chart of the missions I have plotted, also have some basic plot points along the way. I'm guessing I have about 60 missions total, maybe more. And I have some real openings for side plots. Haven't even done all of the loosing tracks yet...


***edit: anyway I'll wiki it once I get it from paper to digital.
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Re: New Storyline

Post by travists »

Wow, second leg charted with the one second chance mission on the first leg the total is about 47... 1.5 or 2 depending on how I count to go...
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Re: New Storyline

Post by klauss »

Sound like a lot :)

But keep'em coming
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Re: New Storyline

Post by pheonixstorm »

I haven't fixed the wiki yet.. will try to get to that today though. Working on the new front page for the site atm. Trying to remember all my php :lol: Anyway, i'll reread this thread when I get a chance.
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Re: New Storyline

Post by travists »

OK, I have a couple more missions that need to be added to the chart, but here it is my master [campaign] plan.
Image

And here is the brief mission listing for path one (Confed)

Code: Select all

Se1:
Story Element
Contacted at Atlantis bar about findings during attack. Tech has fingerprint, likely intentional, of one of the groups known as the Ancients.

M1:
Mission (Scout)
Contacted by Andolian Protectorate Officer. A.P. knew of changes, but matter was classified. Given opportunity to scout area where change is believed to have happened.

C1:
Choice
While in space on M1, player receives two messages to meet on two different planets regarding further mission opportunities. One from confed support and logistics command, the other from (anti-war group)

M2:
Mission (Cargo-easy)
Choice 1 from C1. Confed officer gives player a simple cargo run to sound them out. Random encounters only.

M3:
Mission (Cargo-Moderate)
Upon returning to officer, given second assignment: fly cargo to farther destination. Scripted pirate encounter.

Sc1:
Second chance
Re-fly M3.

M4: 
Mission (Cargo-Hard)
Confed puts player on frontline supply run. Scripted Aera interceptor encounter. 

M5:
Mission (Scout)
Confed Officer reveal not really with logistics, but with intelligence instead! Given scout assignment on border.

C2:
Choice
Given choice of two missions. One is a scout mission in Aera space; the other is a Cap-ship bounty mission with a Cap-ship wingman.

M6: 
Mission (Scout –hard)
Choice 1 from C2. Sent on a recon patrol through Aera space. Random encounters only.

M7:
Mission (Bounty)
Choice 2 from C2 Sent on bounty to take out Cap-ship run by Aera and Aera sympathizers. Given a Cap-ship escort encounter Cap-ship and escort.

M8: (Scout)
Sent on deep-space recon mission into unknown territory. Patrol ends at a small station of unknown design.

Se2:
Story element
Player finds a partially functioning computer on station triggered to life by Ancient’s implants in D. Learns location is a satellite library for group known to humans as “Ancients A” and told some of history. Told more functionality can be restored if parts found.

M9:
Mission (Scout)
Scout area around library for parts needed. Random encounters only.

M10:
Mission (Cargo Retrieval)
Scout mission allows library to locate a part package needed to initiate self-repairs. Sends player off to retrieve package. Random encounters only.

C4:
Choice
Player learns more of Ancient history, specifically the A-B war from A’s perspective. 
Given choice to destroy an Ancient B library or retrieve more parts. 

M11:
Mission (Bounty *impossible*)
Choice 1 from C4. Assigned to destroy Ancients B Library along the way ambushed by drone. Informed that D. has been deemed unfit to help undo the damage caused by ancient war. Drone’s shields and weapons make it impossible to accomplish mission. **End of campaign-lose**

M12:
Mission (Cargo Retrieval)
Player congratulated on moving past primal motivations and told that it was a test to determine if D. can help to undo damage caused by A-B war. Assigned to pick up another part package to restore further functionality. Random encounters only.

U1: 
Upgrade
D. will need help to further mission, with new parts player’s ship can be upgraded to better deal with upcoming hazards. **Shields upgraded. **

M13:
Mission (Courier)
Library from A needs to share information with Library from B. Unfortunately, communication network has been down for eons, and Library B likely in similar state to Library A upon discovery. Player sent to deliver message, and return with reply. Random encounters only.

C5:
Choice
Upon reaching Library “B”, library wakes up like “A” did, but is more intact, and tells D. part of Ancients B history. Player can then choose to either stick with “A” or join “B”.

M14: 
Mission (Bounty –hard)
Library A has discovered a semi-intelligent drone from a smaller group known to scholars as “Ancients D” complicating efforts. Assigned to destroy drone. Encounter small craft of unknown design: weapons marginally better than others in UTCS, but busted shields makes encounter tough but readily winnable.

M15:
Mission (Cargo Retrieval)
Library “A” has done about all it can, and wishes to remove it’s self from local space to avoid causing new problems by introducing its information to races not ready to handle it. Sends player out to retrieve one last parts package to bring drive systems online. Random encounters only.

C6:
Choice
Before heading to parts unknown, Library tells D. of two places to check out to further the work. One is a hidden factory for “Ancients A”, the other is a much younger (but still ancient by human standards) library from a group known to humans as “Ancients C”.

Se4:
Story Element
Arrival at specified location causes factory to uncloak. After docked told that “Ancients D” helped to foster Human-Aera war by quietly shutting down jump points in the developing Aera’s space long before they had achieved civilization let alone space flight. Further, there is a still functional “D factory” producing drones that are attacking both sides making peace talks nearly impossible. Factory will give D. a weapon that confed can duplicate to force Aera into an eventual ceasefire if agrees to help it destroy “D factory”


M16:
Mission (Patrol)
As it is becoming active again, Factory wants more detailed information about the current status of its home system. Player is sent on a simple patrol. Random encounters only.

M17:
Mission (Fly-to)
Being a factory, if it to help it need resources. Player is instructed to fly to a nearby system where it has “arranged” to have a shipment of materials sent back. Random encounters only.

M18:
Mission (Cargo)
Fixer in system sent to offers to pay to have a shipment sent to an “unknown benefactor” (of course the player knows who this is, but D. keeps his mouth shut) Random encounters only.

U2:
Upgrade
“Factory A” needs a little more information, so provides D. with an upgraded sensor system. In addition to having a longer range than any other scanner, it has features that human ships can’t display. Factory will review sensor logs when player gets back from missions. (Note: with fresh supplies, factory can now repair player’s ship and sell munitions. For free!)

M19:
Mission (Patrol)
It’s now time to hunt down the target factory, so D. is sent one jump into the unknown and flies a patrol. Random encounters only.

M20: 
Mission (Patrol)
Yet more information is needed! This time it’s two jumps into the unknown. Wing of 3 Ancients D type drones encountered.

M21: 
Mission (Clean Sweep)
Bad news! The Ancients D factory is sending in a strike fleet to destroy “factory A”. D. is sent three jumps into the unknown to wipe them all out and clear the way for the final mission.

M22:
Mission (Bounty)
Fly four jumps into the unknown and kill the hostile factory.

M23:
Mission (Cargo)
The war will still rage for years, but without A.D. helping it should settle down. And D. is given a cargo full of new guns and missiles to sell to the awaiting confed officer at the closest confed research station. **End of campaign. Win, reward schedule 1: lots of money, possibly new weapon**

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Re: New Storyline

Post by klauss »

Wow. Impressive work (gotta read the mission details, but sounds a lot of work, and quite detailed).

I assume you wikied it :wink: :wink:
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Re: New Storyline

Post by travists »

Not just yet. Probably would be the easiest way to keep it updated as the other lines develop though...

And, uh, if anybody is great at dialogs, but not sure of a story to write there are clearly a lot of missions here and with four legs and several fixers different "voices" would not seem out of place at all. But, I'll keep plugging away.
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Re: New Storyline

Post by pheonixstorm »

No nano cure, there are some parts of cannon we can't touch. Also, ancient tech should be very limited. The story for our heroic smuggler may not be there but the VS universal timeline already is and the nano-plague plays a role in it much later on. Which is about when the rlaan get their collective hind quarters handed to them by their own mistake.

@klauss have you read the big holy scroll JackS left us covering the whole (yet incomplete) VS universe?
Last edited by pheonixstorm on Wed Nov 30, 2011 4:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: New Storyline

Post by travists »

Ancient tech is limited as I see it. Your biggest source is from the C group, much younger than A and B. Also, they are not as advanced. All three groups are trying to learn from their creator's fate and not interfere. Yet they want to undo the damage that has been done. So what you can get is a touch better than milspec, but within about twenty years of development.

No cure for the nano-plague? OK... I still think that there should be a solution that opens new tech to everybody and boosts your standing with all parties. (path 3) Thoughts?

Note that the facility destroyed in the confed path (path 1) is a symptom, not the cause. There is a THWON machine that is carrying on the meddling work of its creators. Turns out that Ancients D is an upstart that learned the lesson of the age’s boogeyman all to well. (path 4)

All of which is locked up in D.'s head using similar locks to those referenced in the monologue.

Basically the tangentially important, but easily filled by anyone role of D. is decided by the player's choices. Help, or hurt the human cause OR help everybody OR in it for self-intrest but end up changing events. Any path you choose it sets up the prolonged but inevitable war.
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Re: New Storyline

Post by klauss »

pheonixstorm wrote:@klauss have you read the big holy scroll JackS left us covering the whole (yet incomplete) VS universe?
Only bits and pieces, I could not find it when I wanted to read it all ;)
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Re: New Storyline

Post by Dawe »

that campaign seems massive!! great job!
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Re: New Storyline

Post by travists »

I think that the original Privateer's linear story line ran about 26 missions, so I think I'm on the right track. Thanks.
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Re: New Storyline

Post by travists »

Second leg writeups well underway. Where should I put the wiki entry?
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Re: New Storyline

Post by klauss »

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Re: New Storyline

Post by travists »

OK, it's wikified. Likely needs some clean up, and I'd like to have clicking on a mission in the flowchart link to the corresponding line in the overview but don't know how to do that. I'll start on full writeups when I have all of my mission type and overview stuff in.
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Re: New Storyline

Post by klauss »

I don't know if we have it in our wiki, but it's done with Image Maps
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