Single Player/Story Mode - Ideas, News, Critique..

Hello,
this topic is for all the stuff about the Single Player (SP)/Story Mode, to get these things a bit sorted.

At the moment there is a little team that wants to work at the SP.
Thats means we would love to see more guys who want to help!
If you are interested and wonder how to help you should read this topic (Click me) and post something there and/or PM MANERS.

Basically those guys are needed:

• Story teller(s)
  
• Coders/Programmers
  
• Concept artists
  
• Modelers/Texturers/Riggers/Animators
  
• Music and Sound effects
  
• Community Relations A.K.A Relaytor(s)
  

If you want to know more about the requirements read the topic mentioned above.

1. News
   We will keep you, the community, informed about the progress in this topic.
   
2. Ideas
   Post your ideas, suggestions etc. in _THIS_ topic. We don't need an extra topic for every single idea. We can't wait to read your ideas and you can be sure we will discuss them.
   
3. Critique
   Critique is always welcome here, but it should be constructive and not like "WTF this sux ahahah))".
   

Cheers

Though I have this posted somewhere else, I would still like more opinions on it. Just remember that is is for the Lore, not for the plot of the story line! I will post that later. Hope you guys like it! Please, please give me feedback, tear it to shreds!

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In the near future humans have began spreading their “primitive” space nation. Countries fight over how to divide the land, nukes in hand. Also, drugs, guns, and money are being fought over between gangs. So, when aliens finally come to earth to find out what we are, America (it has to be America XD) comes up with a plan to unify the Earth under one flag and to change the focus of the world: They attack the alien(s), claiming they were shot at first, and begins a war. (The aliens are in the war because they do not want such barbaric beings in space with technology).

In the far future: the war still rages on. Aliens have superior tech and lifespan, but humans have faster reproduction and numbers. In other words, it's a standstill. The American government thus decides that they should be able to win the war in the long run, along with the alien tech. Humans have been being raised savage, caring only about joining the war and capturing alien technology and “power cores” (need a better idea here, but I was thinking they need to steal them because they have to obtain them from stars, which humans are not yet capable of reaching, physically unable to stand the heat, even with the tech) to sell to the government. The aliens see what is happening and decide they must continue the war or die.

There are many small groups who broke themselves from the fighting. Some alien, some human, some mixed. The Earth government labels these people, who live by stealing from the army and farmers of both races because of lack of choice, as dangerous and wanted and with a price on their heads. The aliens, though they do not hate the groups, the majority think there is no way to make a ceasefire with the humans. These groups trade knowledge between each other, but also fight over what they think is the right thing to do.

Both races have “super weapons” that could have been used to end the war already (think the Halo from Halo, or at least what I've heard about it), but certain high-level renegade groups know of them and destroy them as fast as possible. The majority of these groups believe that one day peace is possible, and all they need it time. So they do their best preventing the total annihilation of their race.

It is during this time that the story mode would take place.

MANERS, no offence, but it doesn't have to be America
I would rather go for some global organisation, like United Nations. But still, it should be our own name. Something like GDI from "Command and Conquer" series?

Also, no matter how advanced aliens technology is, i have serious doubts about humans "standing the heat" of stars.
But on the other hand, powerful source of energy is quite good reason to fight.

Except those two things, i like it a lot.

One more thing. About beginning of that war, maybe leave this case open, not to say who's fault it is, who fired first shot?

I agree with Kuniu. Remove the 'America' and insert some random organisations name. I also didn't quite understand the 'savage humans' fetching power cores. Do they actually go to the star? If so, Kuniu is also correct on that matter. Alternatively, is that the aliens are able to do so because of what/how they are built along with their technology (think about the radiation as well). So the savage humans would have to steal it from the aliens.

However, it should not be anything with power (as in electricity or fuel or whatever). It's very easy to harness the power emitting from suns in abundance and once the humans spread to other places it would have been even easier as bigger stars emit more power. Plus, it's rather cliche by this point. :p Stars across the universe can create some really weird stuff in them and who's to say there isn't a very rare star that because of its unrivaled heat it can create some 'WhateverCoolMaterial' in raw format (which might be the core of the aliens technology). It just so happens the aliens planet had this kind of material in it's soil, thus allowing them to utilize it.

Well, that's just one idea.

Last thing, a bit of better opening. ^_^ The 'aliens shot first' doesn't quite grip people. Make it more climactic or something.
Cheers.

@Seijiro; I have been talking about the "power core" thing with Minkovsky and it sounds like he has a better alternative. The idea wasn't to ignore solar power, but make the "core" a much more powerful energy source that, yes, the aliens can obtain from the sun (or other stars) but humans cannot because of lack of technology. I also think the power cores are a bit cliche... that's of course, why I'm asking for opinions. And, as we are going to fix things like that with elements from other stories that are posted (so if you are reading this and have an idea, post it!), we should be okay cliche wise.

@kuniu the frog: Point taken. I'm not good at the organization thing... I'll mull over it today.

Thanks to the both of you for the great feedback ^-^. I really, truly do appreciate it. I'll post again soon with my revisions!

Why America? xD

Last thing, a bit of better opening. ^_^ The 'aliens shot first' doesn't quite grip people. Make it more climactic or something.

Why do we tell that? It's up to the narrator to tell that... and maybe later that could be nice to have some reason nobody knows and a interNATIONAL war starts during the interGALACTICAL war

Please don't discount this, much effort has been put into it.

http://dev.xonotic.org/projects/xonotic/...nglomerate

much effort? o rly?
isn't that only something some user wrote?

No it isn't. It's a collection of a discussion the community had during the old Nexuiz time. I'm not discounting that at all, in fact, I'm trying to bring it out as well for the current people to see. I know how much people put into that and I respect that too much to just ignore it.
So no worries.

The Tech Conglomerate story is the best way to go. It's been discussed and developed a lot already. It isn't just a generic Aliens vs. Humans war where the aliens have extreme technological and physical advantage of the humans, but still can't win for some reason (e.g. humans have friendship/compassion/strength in numbers or some other extremely overused and irritating cliché)

Another reason why Tech Conglomerate is good is that it doesn't "invent" many implausible scientific principles as a plot device. Here's an example. Faster-than-light travel by means of wormhole manipulation is good sci-fi, hyper-advanced alien civilisations that can extract energy from stars using technology far beyond the capabilities of man is a no-no.

Finally, Tech Conglomerate takes inspiration from good novels (e.g. George Orwell's 1984), and can be seen as an allegory for the present day. Considering the power the single corporation has over the galaxy, I can't help but think of the power Microsoft has over our world!

The Tech Conglomerate story is the best way to go. It's been discussed and developed a lot already. It isn't just a generic Aliens vs. Humans war where the aliens have extreme technological and physical advantage of the humans, but still can't win for some reason (e.g. humans have friendship/compassion/strength in numbers or some other extremely overused and irritating cliché)

Another reason why Tech Conglomerate is good is that it doesn't "invent" many implausible scientific principles as a plot device. Here's an example. Faster-than-light travel by means of wormhole manipulation is good sci-fi, hyper-advanced alien civilisations that can extract energy from stars using technology far beyond the capabilities of man is a no-no.

Finally, Tech Conglomerate takes inspiration from good novels (e.g. George Orwell's 1984), and can be seen as an allegory for the present day. Considering the power the single corporation has over the galaxy, I can't help but think of the power Microsoft has over our world!

But yet I can't help but think it screams warcraft 3...

And Microsoft really doesn't have that much control...

But, either way, its elements will be heavily considered for the plot of the story mode.

much effort? o rly?
isn't that only something some user wrote?

YA RLY, and no, it's several people working together.

No it isn't. It's a collection of a discussion the community had during the old Nexuiz time. I'm not discounting that at all, in fact, I'm trying to bring it out as well for the current people to see. I know how much people put into that and I respect that too much to just ignore it.
So no worries.

Also no, this was done recently after the fork by me and MC SE7EN (though the writing was by MC SE7EN, I just did the outline). LJFHutch also pitched in a bit in the beginning.

The Tech Conglomerate story is the best way to go. It's been discussed and developed a lot already. It isn't just a generic Aliens vs. Humans war where the aliens have extreme technological and physical advantage of the humans, but still can't win for some reason (e.g. humans have friendship/compassion/strength in numbers or some other extremely overused and irritating cliché)

I have to second that second part, because I'm sick of playing games and watching movies with invincible zombies|aliens|bosses|robots|diseases etc, because it just doesn't make any sense, and really kills gameplay. You feel like you are at the mercy of the game, rather than the other way around, and this leads to ridiculously linear storylines.

Also, I'd like to put in a good word for Cuinnton's idea for storymode, which would be (relatively) simple and very fun. On top of that, it wouldn't be totally linear, and the story fairly well writes itself once you get a theme.

No it isn't. It's a collection of a discussion the community had during the old Nexuiz time. I'm not discounting that at all, in fact, I'm trying to bring it out as well for the current people to see. I know how much people put into that and I respect that too much to just ignore it.
So no worries.

Also no, this was done recently after the fork by me and MC SE7EN (though the writing was by MC SE7EN, I just did the outline). LJFHutch also pitched in a bit in the beginning.

There was a story made by Flying Steel I thought that's what the Tech story was. Where did his story go? Cause as these new writers shouldn't abandon the Tech story, we shouldn't completely ignore his either. This goes both ways.
Or was it decided to completely pull Flying Steels efforts? Cause I remember people liked much if his work.

much effort? o rly?
isn't that only something some user wrote?

YA RLY, and no, it's several people working together.

And why didn't you say this before... and why are user asked to help with the story...
and you who know that are just ignoring it?
You weren't even caring! There was a question about that and nobody answered
So please tell me why?

And Microsoft really doesn't have that much control...

Well, maybe they don't have political power, but they definitely have control over the computing industry! Around 90% of computers use a Microsoft product as an operating system - that's close to a monopoly, isn't it?

But anyway, this is just a side note that gives story a little more depth.

Now, these stories that were worked in the past, each need an individual to stand up and represnet them in our conversations. Roanoke, would you mind representing the Tech Conglomerate story? No, we aren't just going to pick one, but it would be nice to have a single person in charge of perfecting the story's ideals.

I do agree it's close to a monopoly, but you didn't say "monopoly" you said it had "control". It only has control if you let it. Now, if there was one business that owned all the trains in the world and I was at their mercy for pricing in order to get around, then yes, that's both a monopoly and they have control over me. What you asked was more or less an opinion on how much Microsoft affected my daily life. Oh well. Done arguing XD.

There was a story made by Flying Steel I thought that's what the Tech story was. Where did his story go? Cause as these new writers shouldn't abandon the Tech story, we shouldn't completely ignore his either. This goes both ways.
Or was it decided to completely pull Flying Steels efforts? Cause I remember people liked much if his work.

I don't think Flying Steel made a story (I can be wrong though). However, I did forget to mention that he helped out with this one (sorry, but there's a thread somewhere so people's involvement is all documented).

And why didn't you say this before... and why are user asked to help with the story...
and you who know that are just ignoring it?
You weren't even caring! There was a question about that and nobody answered
So please tell me why?

What?

Now, these stories that were worked in the past, each need an individual to stand up and represnet them in our conversations. Roanoke, would you mind representing the Tech Conglomerate story? No, we aren't just going to pick one, but it would be nice to have a single person in charge of perfecting the story's ideals.

Sure, it looks like MC SE7EN is AWOL so I guess I'll do that.

Dont know if anyone put it here but theres a whole bunch of stories written here:

http://forums.xonotic.org/showthread.php?tid=198

Before we start discussing the story more, do we all agree that the gameplay style should be unilinear missions?

Before we start discussing the story more, do we all agree that the gameplay style should be unilinear missions?

It looks like it.

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Dont know if anyone put it here but theres a whole bunch of stories written here:

http://forums.xonotic.org/showthread.php?tid=198

I forgot about that thread. Thanks!

Okay, I decided because of lack of posts to release the URL for the temporary external Story Mode forums. Hope the others agree.

http://xonoticstorymode.dotgamerclan.com/

Lack of posts? Maybe that's because nobody knew about it?

Anyway, registered and posted TC.

Lack of posts? Maybe that's because nobody knew about it?

Anyway, registered and posted TC.

Point taken XD

We have a few new members since the URL was released. Because of the lack of posts, I am speeding up the plans: all ideas for the story and most gameplay aspects are due Saturday October 2 (you may post them on that day). Afterwords, we will break up the ideas and vote on different aspects of the game and lore, with a focus on gameplay and background stories.

So, get writing! Post your stuff to the boards of http://xonoticstorymode.dotgamerclan.com/ !