Galaxy/Universe Size
Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 5:28 pm
Okay...this has been rolling around in my head for the last week or so, and I thought I'd toss it out for you all
One MAJOR problem with VS the Game (VSG), in my opinion, is the sheer size. It's huge. Too huge. As a result, it's insanely repetitive, and boring as hell. Less than twenty planet textures with no variations, and even fewer base models.
My proposed solution would be to drastically reduce the size of the playable universe. And by "drastically" I mean less than 100 systems. Probably less than 50. That gives us a very defined area to customize and make believable. I think that the main plot/campaign could benefit from having a smaller, more contained region.
That being said, there are some serious problems stemming from a hatchet-job like this. Canon, for one, implies a HUGE amount of territory occupied by humans, not to mention the several alien species. We also have a LOT of factions and in 50 systems, that's bound to get cramped. But that's not the discussion I'm starting, here (not yet, anyway....it will need to be addressed if the idea is something that everyone wants to pursue).
Now, I know there are people who like the vastness, so my extended thought would be to provide a "Universe Size" option at the beginning of the game. Just a simple drop-down or radio-button option with "Standard (50)", "Large (150)", "Extra-Large (500)", and "You'll never visit them all! (1,000)". (I don't know how many systems are currently built...these are just numbers pulled out of thin air as an example). This way, we would always have the set "internal" 50 systems, and the other size options would expand out beyond that.
The other thing that I thought about was getting rid of the obnoxious, random 20-character system names. They're hopelessly impossible to decipher or understand. I'd say stick to Earth-based alphabets and naming conventions. If they're directly related to known stars, use those names. Who cares if the Aera or Rlaan call them something else? It needs to be human-readable! Just divide the systems into areas using Greek letters (Alpha, Beta, Delta, Gamma...Zeta), give them 20 numbers (Alpha 01, 02, etc.), and you're set. Once those run out, move on to another alphabet that uses different character names like Cyrillic, Hebrew, or Katakana/Hiragana (particularly digraphs and diacritics).
One MAJOR problem with VS the Game (VSG), in my opinion, is the sheer size. It's huge. Too huge. As a result, it's insanely repetitive, and boring as hell. Less than twenty planet textures with no variations, and even fewer base models.
My proposed solution would be to drastically reduce the size of the playable universe. And by "drastically" I mean less than 100 systems. Probably less than 50. That gives us a very defined area to customize and make believable. I think that the main plot/campaign could benefit from having a smaller, more contained region.
That being said, there are some serious problems stemming from a hatchet-job like this. Canon, for one, implies a HUGE amount of territory occupied by humans, not to mention the several alien species. We also have a LOT of factions and in 50 systems, that's bound to get cramped. But that's not the discussion I'm starting, here (not yet, anyway....it will need to be addressed if the idea is something that everyone wants to pursue).
Now, I know there are people who like the vastness, so my extended thought would be to provide a "Universe Size" option at the beginning of the game. Just a simple drop-down or radio-button option with "Standard (50)", "Large (150)", "Extra-Large (500)", and "You'll never visit them all! (1,000)". (I don't know how many systems are currently built...these are just numbers pulled out of thin air as an example). This way, we would always have the set "internal" 50 systems, and the other size options would expand out beyond that.
The other thing that I thought about was getting rid of the obnoxious, random 20-character system names. They're hopelessly impossible to decipher or understand. I'd say stick to Earth-based alphabets and naming conventions. If they're directly related to known stars, use those names. Who cares if the Aera or Rlaan call them something else? It needs to be human-readable! Just divide the systems into areas using Greek letters (Alpha, Beta, Delta, Gamma...Zeta), give them 20 numbers (Alpha 01, 02, etc.), and you're set. Once those run out, move on to another alphabet that uses different character names like Cyrillic, Hebrew, or Katakana/Hiragana (particularly digraphs and diacritics).