What of the community?

[Code Crank Call]

Hello everyone, I've recently bought starshatter and felt the urge to get involved with the community here. I've been following it loosely for some time now, but was curious who's still here? And if Pheagey ever got up SSG (or some such, my resaearch on it was light.) It would also be cool to know if anyone's running multiplayer servers on a set schedule.

[wdboyd]

Salutations,

Firstly... I love Starshatter. I have loved modding it. Welcome to the Starshatter Galaxy.

Below are my recent observations: [:(]

Community activity has been very low here lately. StarShatter Central went offline a while back. There is nil activity on Starshatter.com.

The Grouper Starshatter site has also been dead the last couple of months except for my and anothers posts. There are still many quality mods to be found and downloaded from the grouper site.

There are those still active modding and playing, I'm sure. [;)]

I have continued work on my mod. Modding the game is quite enjoyable in and of itself. I'm about a week away from a major update to my Cartel mod for Starshatter.

I think some are awaiting the next iteration of Starshatter. When it is expected is actually unknown.

Out of disappointment and frustration, I began looking for more active outlets for my modding interest. I came upon a game that brought back a lot of memories. Wing Commander Privateer. Darn.... that game and the other Wing Commander games came out in the 1992 I think. I found many sites dedicated to the various versions of Wing Commander. It is amazing. Even their forums were very active.

Privateer has been updated to play on our newer computers. It has also been opened up for modding. I've been looking into it. It seems that one can create a completely new game with the available Vega Strike game engine.

I think what is lacking with Starshatter, other than a large player base, is a lack of multiplayer servers for it, along with a lack of player created missions and static campaigns.

It seems that many love building craft and deffing them but few create special missions that highlight their original ship creations. That is one reason I have included missions with my ships/mod. I'm still working on them. It does require diligent effort to create good missions.

I'm not trying to be negative or discouraging. These are just my observations lately. [:D]

[MQG]

I would agree with those points.

I myself am a modder from X-Wing Alliance. I'm a team member of the XWA Upgrade Team. To be honest the people around here are very nice but way behind the quality of work that is being done there. I am also a lead modder on an ambitious Starshatter mod. It is a Star Wars mod that we did for XWA. It contained over 150 craft and over 100 missions. I am starting to mission test some of our craft now. The count so far is 170 craft and 14 new planetary systems.

Some of the better stuff is yet to come...with a full version of magic 2.0, skins and terrain editing, things could get moving. Someone also needs to create a GUI system for adding additional craft, weapons and such.

[Code Crank Call]

speaking of modding, I've been drumming up on practice with Magic, I've been amazed how easy content development for this engine has been, I've been working for a week and came up with this. However I wasn't working on this for a week, just practicing, plus it's only in a prototype stage.
I'm realy hoping the community does take off though.
@mqg: quite the astronomical numbers, has balance been an issue, have you focused on it heavily?

[edit] Also, I'm not sure if I hould jsut continue this duscussion thread here or truck it over to the modding forum, but I'm in a bit of a gray area on how undercaridges are defined for fighters, or if they're hardcoded into the game.

[wdboyd]

No... they aren't hard coded. You will have to add them to any original craft you create.

gear: {
name: "Undercarrige",
abrv: "Gear",
loc: (0, 0, 0) // General location of the crafts gear
size: 16
hull_factor: 0.5,

gear: {
model: "GearNose.mag",
start: (-2, -12, -20),
end: (-2, -25, -20)
},

gear: {
model: "GearLeft.mag",
start: (-2, -15, -52),
end: (-2, -23, -52)
},

gear: {
model: "GearRight.mag",
start: (02, -15, -52),
end: (02, -23, -52)
},

}

As you can see... there a separate mag models for each part of the landing gear. Setting the start and end position is important because one doesn't want any of the gear showing when it is in the up position. [;)]

You can also adjust the size of your gear by adjusting the individual gear .mag models in you modeling program.

It wasn't directed towards me, but in reference to balance. That has to be a concern... especially if one intends to join a server online. It is very easy to build a Super ship with boo koo hull integrity, speed and awesome weaponry. I wouldn't want to deal with that unbeknownst.

I playtest my ships versus the games stock craft. If they prove far too overpowering... I tone them down a bit. I have found that my ships aren't all that special. What gives my ship an edge is the weaponry. But even that has to be kept in control.

I have a Capital ship cruise missile. When first created, two or three could take out almost any stock ship. [:D] Not good. [:D] I have toned the missiles power way down. They are still a definate threat but not world killers. I even broke down and allowed the bad guys in my campaign to get their greasy hands on some black market versions of them.... albeit, they don't have as many as the good guys. [:'(] Sure... keep balance in mind.

Oh, If you would like a basic set of gear .mag files to work with... email me and I will be able to send you a copy.

wdboyd@zoominternet.net [:)]

[Code Crank Call]

no worries, wdboyd, you got the point well across even if it wasn't directed at you. I think for the sake of keeping entropy at bay, i'll end up starting a stand-alone discussion in the modding forums about this sort...
Also thanks very much for explainning the undercarridge system to me, after further examination of the sample fighter ship definition file, I found the landign gear widgets, I should be able to work from there with some custom models for the gear, thanks for the offer though, I may take you up on it laer, cheers!

[godparticle]

Wel, if want an opponent, i'm in. Maybe we could agree on a day in the weekend.

I see 3 people here who want to play multi, thats a good start.

Hope to hear form you guys,

godparticle

[Kuokkanen]

ORIGINAL: godparticle

I see 3 people here who want to play multi, thats a good start.

Did you notice this thread is five months old?

[captainfred]

ORIGINAL: Matti Kuokkanen

Did you notice this thread is five months old?

I sure did [:D] So the interest isn't here to play MP games.

[Kuokkanen]

ORIGINAL: captainfred

So the interest isn't here to play MP games.

Unfortunately. I would love some MP gaming. My Starshatter version is 4.5.

[Tophat1815]

&nbsp;<Drops a pin> Anybody home?

&nbsp;Is there another Starshater site where the player-base is more active? If so could I get a link?

[Psycho0124]

Hey let us know if you have any luck. This site has been the most active one Ive seen so far. Perhaps we should do what we can to spread the word about this great game.

[Kuokkanen]

I've done that a long time ago. Not gonna go it over again and get bitched by those who remember my last time

[Zanthras]

Once upon a time there was a site called Starshatter Central with well over 500 users, with perhaps 50 active modders. It was funded privately by a player who had been&nbsp;around since&nbsp;near day one. Many of those oldtime modders have been somewhat active here, but not like on the SSC site. A couple have moved on to work for Matrix, in some capacity.
&nbsp;
They have been others before and after SSC, but for reasons unknown to me, none have attracted any interest.
&nbsp;
Then there was TurgotZ's grouper site, but grouper pulled chocks and closed up shop. It was very active just after SSC's demise, and remained so up until the announcement of TGS release a couple years ago. I think everyone held thier breath waiting for the release, perhaps some expired in the process.
&nbsp;
It seemed to me that TGS took a long time coming, maybe to others too? I have gotten the impression many had higher expectations of TGS, or at least different ideas of what to expect.
&nbsp;
The best analogy I could compare it to would be that SS, in general, suffered an ice age. As the ice melts with TGS somethings that were may never be again. Other things will be different...for better or worse. But many things are new...
new modders,
new ideas,
new options and ways to make a good game better.
&nbsp;
Players and modders will determine if TGS rises from the ashes of SS as a phoenix
or decays through disappointment.
&nbsp;
I am encouraged by the new talent and imagination of the noobies, your dilagence will pay off
&nbsp;
and also by those diehards that continue to drill down into the heart of the SS engine to bring out the true ability of what it can do.
&nbsp;
The game does have it's bugs, as does the rest of the known physical realm we live in. Critters live in everything, everywhere...it's part of life.
&nbsp;
With the right motivation, and a willingness to work around what life throws out, one can accomplish anything.
&nbsp;
&nbsp;

[Rend Tahn]

If any one is out there... Hello,


Just bought the TGS version of the game and decided to stop by and see what the community was like. I used to be a big Wing Commander fan, and generally enjoy the space combat sims. It looks to be a fun game. As a 3d artist I was excited about the modding possibilities.

Hope the community comes back to life. If there is a core group of people playing the game in the TGS incarnation I would be interested in chatting.

[:)]

[wdboyd]

Hi,
&nbsp;
If you haven't already done so... check out www.starshattermods.com
&nbsp;
&nbsp;

[Jediknght56]

Anyone still around? Looking for someone to host an online game.