Xonotic Single Player Mode: Requesting More Information

I would like to help with the single player story mode of Xonotic. As a writer, I need more information on the following (they are numbered to make it easier on the answerer):

1 What tools would I be given to tell the story? My assumption is only text dialogue is possible with the engine, but are cut scenes (a la FF7) be possible? What about interacting with NPCs? This doesn't effect the overall story, but it would be nice to know when writing the actual story.

2 Can there be different parts/books? For example, my current story is a futuristic "We come in peace" *gets shot in face* starts a war plot. Now, I know that sounds silly, but hear me out: the governments and people of both societies make a big impact on the story and its meanings (don't be quick to judge, and think for your self will probably be most prominent). With that being said, there will be various characters that you play as as you go about learning about the real reasons behind the war. Can I do a Warcraft 3 like story that has the option to pick which story line/character you want to play? In the same vein, can we add more "episodes" and bugfix old ones in the future?

3 Would I have to reuse current player characters/races or would I be able to work with a character designer? (though either way they will definitely be based upon current ones)

4 What are the limits of the engine map-wise? Are only floating maps possible, or would we be able to do a few that take place on a planet/surface (like Tribes)? What about water (swimming, looking at it/ fighting in it)? Would creating a very large spaceships or buildings be possible(I haven't played many "very large" Nexuiz maps, so I don't know if the tech can handle it)? Again, not going to change the story, and I can improvise, but it would be nice to know.

I will add more questions to this thread in the future if I have them. If you do not understand what I'm asking please just say so. I look forward to working with everyone, even if my campaign is not selected.

1 What tools would I be given to tell the story? My assumption is only text dialogue is possible with the engine, but are cut scenes (a la FF7) be possible? What about interacting with NPCs? This doesn't effect the overall story, but it would be nice to know when writing the actual story.

At the moment there's only code for the same campaign mode that was in Nexuiz. Adding text dialogues and cut scenes should of course be possible, but you need someone who knows QuakeC for that. Not sure about NPCs, maybe eventual new bot code could allow for that.

2 Can there be different parts/books? For example, my current story is a futuristic "We come in peace" *gets shot in face* starts a war plot. Now, I know that sounds silly, but hear me out: the governments and people of both societies make a big impact on the story and its meanings (don't be quick to judge, and think for your self will probably be most prominent). With that being said, there will be various characters that you play as as you go about learning about the real reasons behind the war. Can I do a Warcraft 3 like story that has the option to pick which story line/character you want to play? In the same vein, can we add more "episodes" and bugfix old ones in the future?

Right now you can't, but nothing prevents someone from coding that.

3 Would I have to reuse current player characters/races or would I be able to work with a character designer? (though either way they will definitely be based upon current ones)

Reusing is likely a good idea, unless you find someone to put lots of their free time into modeling them (nobody gets paid for this ). Of course if the models turn out good they can be used in multiplayer too.

4 What are the limits of the engine map-wise? Are only floating maps possible, or would we be able to do a few that take place on a planet/surface (like Tribes)? What about water (swimming, looking at it/ fighting in it)? Would creating a very large spaceships or buildings be possible(I haven't played many "very large" Nexuiz maps, so I don't know if the tech can handle it)? Again, not going to change the story, and I can improvise, but it would be nice to know.

Swimming works fine, but very large maps usually come with performance problems. I think the engine needs better (automatic) LOD capabilities or such to make them run faster.

You will likely want to start out with what code we currently have in the campaign, get someone to map fitting maps for you (arena maps aren't too well suited for story modes ), and just tell the story in the campaign level descriptions (boring way, but easy to change later). Later on code can be added to make it more linear, e.g. jumping from map to map, adding enemy spawns, save points etc.

If you search the forum, there are a whole multitude of threads on singleplayer mode with many suggestions and possible plots etc.

Its something I'd like to see developed but its difficult to do. Oh you also might want to checkout the art style thread or whatever its called so you can get a feel for the style and what not.

If you search the forum, there are a whole multitude of threads on singleplayer mode with many suggestions and possible plots etc.

Its something I'd like to see developed but its difficult to do. Oh you also might want to checkout the art style thread or whatever its called so you can get a feel for the style and what not.

I can't seem to locate the thread on the art style. Mind linking me if you can find it? It would help a lot.

You will likely want to start out with what code we currently have in the campaign, get someone to map fitting maps for you (arena maps aren't too well suited for story modes ), and just tell the story in the campaign level descriptions (boring way, but easy to change later). Later on code can be added to make it more linear, e.g. jumping from map to map, adding enemy spawns, save points etc.

Hm... this certainly makes things easy... certainly will make "creating" a universe easier, since I would have few tools to start with and (hopefully) a multitude in the future. Thanks for your reply.

Now, to add to my question list (I know this is getting pretty silly, but bare with me):

5. Are "find and retrieve" missions possible?

6. Is "kill this object/person to win" objectives possible? If so, are multiple objectives in one level possible?

7. Is it possible to make text temporarily appear on the screen when an objective is complete? (As in: you just destroyed "A", now destroy "B")

8. A minimap with objectives? Otherwise levels will have to be pretty liner to keep the player on track

9. NPCs that say things, as seen in the Vore mod version of Nexuiz?

5. Are "find and retrieve" missions possible?

6. Is "kill this object/person to win" objectives possible? If so, are multiple objectives in one level possible?

With additional game code, almost anything is possible!

7. Is it possible to make text temporarily appear on the screen when an objective is complete? (As in: you just destroyed "A", now destroy "B")

Centerprints exist already, so adding gamecode for such is easy. In fact the assault game mode already does this iirc, it's very simple anyway.

8. A minimap with objectives? Otherwise levels will have to be pretty liner to keep the player on track

Radar code exists too, so that should be no problem.

9. NPCs that say things, as seen in the Vore mod version of Nexuiz?

With code that sends some centerprints when you walk close to the NPC it should again be no problem. Maybe Taoki is willing to share his code

Thank you so much for answering all my questions ^-^! I must sound really stupid by now, so thanks for dealing with me. So, in a nutshell, everything that would be needed to do a singleplayer campaign is not in the game, but could be added... This project is certainly going to be interesting...

Well, thanks again. I'll start brainstorming ideas on my part. It'll probably be a while before I start submitting my ideas to the community, since I am currently working on another writing project at the moment and want to give my ideas for Xonotic's lore as much as my attention as possible before they are read through by you guys. I think what I'm going to do is make very linear, action-y level ideas in the first (simple) campaign with little explanation on why you are doing things, then go in the other campaigns and show exactly why you did what you did in the first one and how it affected the universe. That would actually reinforce the themes...