Registered: Apr 2001
Location:
Posts: 1901

As you all keep hearing, Release 2 is under construction. Some of the things that are especially important to the next installment are based in what has come before.

With Release 1, our goal was to show you and ourselves that we could do it. That it was possible.

Now we want to bring you more. We can't do everything. We can't accomodate every person and we can't bring you every detail, but we can try to expand the experience.

One of the ways that goes without saying is in terms of new ships, weapons, and graphics. Those will always consume the bulk of our teams resources and will require the most time. Count on us bringing to you what we can and what we need to.

The most contested issue was probably our demo campaign. In the next release, we plan on doing something similar. Large campaigns cannot be feasibly done for a Release and we've decided that Releases and Campaigns officially sanctioned by the team are going to be serparate. Skullar's work on the EA Civil War campaign will proceed independantly from work on Releases. But we do want to show off the new ships and weapons and most people want to see some sort of cohesive story.

I am writing a story to go along. What ships you don't see in the campaign we will bring to you in single missions AND you will bring them to yourselves in user made missions (which we hope to have an archive for soon).

So two questions go to everyone.

1) What did you like about the last campaign? Be specific and detailed.
2) What didn't you like? What do we need to do to improve?

And keep a few things in mind. A demo campaign isn't a fully fledged campaign. It cannot be huge and sprawling. Don't suggest 100 missions (thats rediculous even for a large campaign), but do tell us that 8 missions is better than 5. Tell us that the missions should be longer or shorter. More detailed or less detailed. More combat or less combat.

Thank you.

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- The Babylon Project Team

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: The Cold Northland!
Posts: 8392

As you all keep hearing, Release 2 is under construction. Some of the things that are especially important to the next installment are based in what has come before.

With Release 1, our goal was to show you and ourselves that we could do it. That it was possible.

Now we want to bring you more. We can't do everything. We can't accomodate every person and we can't bring you every detail, but we can try to expand the experience.

One of the ways that goes without saying is in terms of new ships, weapons, and graphics. Those will always consume the bulk of our teams resources and will require the most time. Count on us bringing to you what we can and what we need to.

The most contested issue was probably our demo campaign. In the next release, we plan on doing something similar. Large campaigns cannot be feasibly done for a Release and we've decided that Releases and Campaigns officially sanctioned by the team are going to be serparate. Skullar's work on the EA Civil War campaign will proceed independantly from work on Releases. But we do want to show off the new ships and weapons and most people want to see some sort of cohesive story.

I am writing a story to go along. What ships you don't see in the campaign we will bring to you in single missions AND you will bring them to yourselves in user made missions (which we hope to have an archive for soon).

So two questions go to everyone.

1) What did you like about the last campaign? Be specific and detailed.
2) What didn't you like? What do we need to do to improve?

And keep a few things in mind. A demo campaign isn't a fully fledged campaign. It cannot be huge and sprawling. Don't suggest 100 missions (thats rediculous even for a large campaign), but do tell us that 8 missions is better than 5. Tell us that the missions should be longer or shorter. More detailed or less detailed. More combat or less combat.

Thank you.

__________________
- IceFire
Volition Watch Project Manager
[url=http://www.volitionwatch.com]Volition Watch[/url], [url=http://freespace.volitionwatch.com/blackwater]BlackWater Operations[/url], [url=http://freespace.volitionwatch.com/babylon]The Babylon Project[/url], [url=http://terra.sourceforge.net]Machina Terra[/url], [url=http://www.3dap.com/hlp/hosted/ott/]Over The Top[/url]

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Registered: Nov 2001
Location: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Posts: 154

I think you need to tweak the 40mm Pulse a bit, I vaguely remember it firing slightly faster from watching the show....
Even on easy, it was rather difficult to get a kill unless you were lucky and the blasted Nial sat still for a second...
Up the rate of fire and it might be a bit easier....
Meh.. Just my 2 cents...

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Registered: Nov 2001
Location: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Posts: 154

I think you need to tweak the 40mm Pulse a bit, I vaguely remember it firing slightly faster from watching the show....
Even on easy, it was rather difficult to get a kill unless you were lucky and the blasted Nial sat still for a second...
Up the rate of fire and it might be a bit easier....
Meh.. Just my 2 cents...

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Registered: May 2001
Location: Canada
Posts: 436

woah, no spelling or gramatical mistakes Icefire..

hehe

- ok, I believe 5-8 missions for a demo campaign is ideal.
- I liked the nial's movement a lot, so I suggest keeping the current settings.
- I loved the voice-acting, it was just too good. But, I have one tiny suggestion: try to match the voices with the tiny vid that pops up. For example, when we see General Leftcourt, the person whose voice/accent sounds like his should be used. I noticed there was a guy in the mod who sounded a lot like him, but instead when we see the general's vid we hear a completely different accent. Just my 2 billion cents.
- Just maybe, a small land model, for atmospheric missions? So that people dont fly out of it, you can make it a small patch of land, enclosed by mountains and the sky can be a solid/wall () The island can contain the structure to be attacked/defended and the rest can be terrain? You can use a nebula for an atmosphere.
- maybe change the mouse/cursor to a B5 one
- did you fix the re-arm sequence thingy?

Thats all I can think off, hehe.

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"Gravity, you win again." - Zap Brannigan.
"Real men over-clock their modems!" - Vertigo.
"Death to SIERRA/TNT/XOOM/Fortunecity" - Me.

Last edited by Londo Molari on 02-10-2002 at 05:04 AM

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Registered: May 2001
Location: Canada
Posts: 436

woah, no spelling or gramatical mistakes Icefire..

hehe

- ok, I believe 5-8 missions for a demo campaign is ideal.
- I liked the nial's movement a lot, so I suggest keeping the current settings.
- I loved the voice-acting, it was just too good. But, I have one tiny suggestion: try to match the voices with the tiny vid that pops up. For example, when we see General Leftcourt, the person whose voice/accent sounds like his should be used. I noticed there was a guy in the mod who sounded a lot like him, but instead when we see the general's vid we hear a completely different accent. Just my 2 billion cents.
- Just maybe, a small land model, for atmospheric missions? So that people dont fly out of it, you can make it a small patch of land, enclosed by mountains and the sky can be a solid/wall () The island can contain the structure to be attacked/defended and the rest can be terrain? You can use a nebula for an atmosphere.
- maybe change the mouse/cursor to a B5 one
- did you fix the re-arm sequence thingy?

Thats all I can think off, hehe.

__________________
I have carefully selected the following words of wisdom for my signature:
"Gravity, you win again." - Zap Brannigan.
"Real men over-clock their modems!" - Vertigo.
"Death to SIERRA/TNT/XOOM/Fortunecity" - Me.

Last edited by Londo Molari on 02-10-2002 at 05:04 AM

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Registered: Dec 2001
Location: THE BEST DAMN ROGUE NATION ON EARTH!!!
Posts: 735

Include a training mission or two. Most people fresh from FS2 are used to wussy flying-being dependent on sheilds and missles. They need to be taught how real men fly.

I agree with Londo's comment on the voice acting, Maybe you could stick in quotes from the show, for example Sheridan's speech in Endgame.

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Registered: Dec 2001
Location: THE BEST DAMN ROGUE NATION ON EARTH!!!
Posts: 735

Include a training mission or two. Most people fresh from FS2 are used to wussy flying-being dependent on sheilds and missles. They need to be taught how real men fly.

I agree with Londo's comment on the voice acting, Maybe you could stick in quotes from the show, for example Sheridan's speech in Endgame.

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Registered: Apr 2001
Location:
Posts: 1901

quote:

---

woah, no spelling or gramatical mistakes Icefire..

---

I didn't make any mistakes? Usually I make one and quite often I seem to put the wrong word in the wrong place because of my absent mind. I took a break from essay writing for my 1st Year History course so maybe that explains it

The 40mm did get a firepower increase. Remember, you were fighting the Minbari in the demo. They are supposed to be tough.

Re-arming has been or will be fixed. I forget which.

In voice acting, you take what you can get. Some people volunteered to do more than others so we tried to match as best we could. Voice acting is BlackSheeps responsibility so I'll let him answer that one however.

Mouse cursor is an idea. Not sure what we'd change it to, but its an idea.

The landmass thing. Don't count your chickens. Someone did try something like that (not in this MOD) and it failed horribly because of two reasons:

1) The AI doesn't know where it is and crashes into it.
2) The polygons required killed the engine (fps wise). Flight sim engines do things differently (and fog and reduce at a distance) and thats why they can do it but we can't.

What did everyone feel the quality of the missions were like? Bad, decent, good, outstanding? What should be added or taken away?

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: The Cold Northland!
Posts: 8392

quote:

---

woah, no spelling or gramatical mistakes Icefire..

---

I didn't make any mistakes? Usually I make one and quite often I seem to put the wrong word in the wrong place because of my absent mind. I took a break from essay writing for my 1st Year History course so maybe that explains it

The 40mm did get a firepower increase. Remember, you were fighting the Minbari in the demo. They are supposed to be tough.

Re-arming has been or will be fixed. I forget which.

In voice acting, you take what you can get. Some people volunteered to do more than others so we tried to match as best we could. Voice acting is BlackSheeps responsibility so I'll let him answer that one however.

Mouse cursor is an idea. Not sure what we'd change it to, but its an idea.

The landmass thing. Don't count your chickens. Someone did try something like that (not in this MOD) and it failed horribly because of two reasons:

1) The AI doesn't know where it is and crashes into it.
2) The polygons required killed the engine (fps wise). Flight sim engines do things differently (and fog and reduce at a distance) and thats why they can do it but we can't.

What did everyone feel the quality of the missions were like? Bad, decent, good, outstanding? What should be added or taken away?

__________________
- IceFire
Volition Watch Project Manager
[url=http://www.volitionwatch.com]Volition Watch[/url], [url=http://freespace.volitionwatch.com/blackwater]BlackWater Operations[/url], [url=http://freespace.volitionwatch.com/babylon]The Babylon Project[/url], [url=http://terra.sourceforge.net]Machina Terra[/url], [url=http://www.3dap.com/hlp/hosted/ott/]Over The Top[/url]

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Registered: Mar 2001
Location:
Posts: 194

I wish people would make more missions, even if they are just furballs i'd love to play'em, i suck at making them, and knowing what's going to happen kinda ruins it.


Anyway this is what you do, just make another short campaign, but in the middle make a huge battle that spans 10-15 missions, not alot of speach or plot during these firefights, so you guys could throw them together super quick(i can make an assy mission in a day, with a day i'm sure one of you guys could make something great).

What races will be in the bext release?

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Boot to the Kool

Last edited by LAMBO on 02-10-2002 at 05:56 AM

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Registered: Mar 2001
Location:
Posts: 194

I wish people would make more missions, even if they are just furballs i'd love to play'em, i suck at making them, and knowing what's going to happen kinda ruins it.


Anyway this is what you do, just make another short campaign, but in the middle make a huge battle that spans 10-15 missions, not alot of speach or plot during these firefights, so you guys could throw them together super quick(i can make an assy mission in a day, with a day i'm sure one of you guys could make something great).

What races will be in the bext release?

__________________
Boot to the Kool

Last edited by LAMBO on 02-10-2002 at 05:56 AM

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Registered: Oct 2001
Location:
Posts: 66

I think the missions took a bit to much time( to play) relative to what they containted event-wise. This had the unfortunate effect of causing you to have to fly orbits around ships to often (I'm going to have to find a "dizzy" smily). Of course I do play on easy so perhaps Im just killing the Minbari becasue I'm better than the Easy level AI.
I'll have to play the campaign again before I can present anymore useful comments.

P.S. I think you should really make a replacement desktop icon for all of the TBP things (ie. the game, FRED2, ect.).

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-Cap. John Sheridan

Where ever you go there you are.

There will be an answer. Let it be.- John Lenon

Last edited by Mewgen1 on 02-10-2002 at 05:56 AM

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Registered: Oct 2001
Location: Stevensville, MT
Posts: 142

I think the missions took a bit to much time( to play) relative to what they containted event-wise. This had the unfortunate effect of causing you to have to fly orbits around ships to often (I'm going to have to find a "dizzy" smily). Of course I do play on easy so perhaps Im just killing the Minbari becasue I'm better than the Easy level AI.
I'll have to play the campaign again before I can present anymore useful comments.

P.S. I think you should really make a replacement desktop icon for all of the TBP things (ie. the game, FRED2, ect.).

__________________
Understanding is a three edged sword: your side, there side, and the truth.
-Cap. John Sheridan

Where ever you go there you are.

There will be an answer. Let it be.- John Lenon

Last edited by Mewgen1 on 02-10-2002 at 05:56 AM

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Registered: Nov 2001
Location: Command deck of EAS Janus
Posts: 1755

Just campaign was not so good, everything else is fine with me.
-Missions were good, but most of them didn't have anything suprising.
-Campaign was too short.
-Do not even start making campaign if you dont have any story in paper or in mind.
-Mission's always born from idea, don not lost that idea (just for future for everyone, in campaign could seen that those missions were born from ideas)

Everything else is fine to me.

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"Losing your temper is sign of worries or panic"
-Shogun Tokugawa

Aku. Soku. Zan.
-The wolves of Mibu, Shinsen gumi

Creator of [URL=http://www.hot.ee/miburo1]Tale of EAS Janus[/URL] campaign
Also leader of [URL=http://www.hot.ee/honorofomega/]Honor of Omega[/URL] campaign
FREDer and general errant boy of mighty [URL=http://http://www.3dactionplanet.com/hlp/hosted/mindgames/]Mind Games[/URL], which power no-one can escape. There is always a first time.

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Registered: Nov 2001
Location: Command deck of EAS Janus
Posts: 1755

Just campaign was not so good, everything else is fine with me.
-Missions were good, but most of them didn't have anything suprising.
-Campaign was too short.
-Do not even start making campaign if you dont have any story in paper or in mind.
-Mission's always born from idea, don not lost that idea (just for future for everyone, in campaign could seen that those missions were born from ideas)

Everything else is fine to me.

__________________
"Losing your temper is sign of worries or panic"
-Shogun Tokugawa

Aku. Soku. Zan.
-The wolves of Mibu, Shinsen gumi

Creator of [URL=http://www.hot.ee/miburo1]Tale of EAS Janus[/URL] campaign
Also leader of [URL=http://www.hot.ee/honorofomega/]Honor of Omega[/URL] campaign
FREDer and general errant boy of mighty [URL=http://http://www.3dactionplanet.com/hlp/hosted/mindgames/]Mind Games[/URL], which power no-one can escape. There is always a first time.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Vancouver, WA, United States
Posts: 1290

The rearm bug has been fixed for the Aurora and Zephyr (speaking from personal experience) in the fixes that come w/ the v1.1 patch. Dunno about the other player flyable ships.

To answer LAMBO's question, I don't think any new races will be presented in R2. The Earth and Minbari ships will be expanded on (the Minbari get that cool looking station Xaphod has been working on).

I didn't find anything wrong with the R1 missions. They were simplistic yet enjoyable at the same time.

For R2, it'd be nice if there was a little more depth to the story. Make the player feel like s/he's a part of the ship they're assigned to and let them know their place in the squadron/Earth Alliance/our universe.

Last edited by Slasher on 02-10-2002 at 09:34 AM

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Vancouver, WA, United States
Posts: 1290

The rearm bug has been fixed for the Aurora and Zephyr (speaking from personal experience) in the fixes that come w/ the v1.1 patch. Dunno about the other player flyable ships.

To answer LAMBO's question, I don't think any new races will be presented in R2. The Earth and Minbari ships will be expanded on (the Minbari get that cool looking station Xaphod has been working on).

I didn't find anything wrong with the R1 missions. They were simplistic yet enjoyable at the same time.

For R2, it'd be nice if there was a little more depth to the story. Make the player feel like s/he's a part of the ship they're assigned to and let them know their place in the squadron/Earth Alliance/our universe.

Last edited by Slasher on 02-10-2002 at 09:34 AM

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Registered: Oct 2001
Location: Nottingham, England
Posts: 1470

You could include slightly more dialogue during firefights (about objectives) but on the whole the dialogue was good.

A twist or two in the plot never hurt anyone - some of the outcomes of the missions were a little predictable (although having to lose in every Minbari War mission without dying didn't help)

Build up some feeling about who your wingmen are, not through simple introductions but the odd line about past events could work.

Have one large battle just to please the crowd - maybe have this as a stand alone mission but everybody wants at least one

In one of the normal missions, if possible make it so that it can be played in multiplayer either cooperatively (always fun) or in team vs. team. Multiplayer missions always work well if players know a plot behind them.

I'll have to play the mini-campaign again for more ideas...

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Registered: Oct 2001
Location: Nottingham, England
Posts: 1470

You could include slightly more dialogue during firefights (about objectives) but on the whole the dialogue was good.

A twist or two in the plot never hurt anyone - some of the outcomes of the missions were a little predictable (although having to lose in every Minbari War mission without dying didn't help)

Build up some feeling about who your wingmen are, not through simple introductions but the odd line about past events could work.

Have one large battle just to please the crowd - maybe have this as a stand alone mission but everybody wants at least one

In one of the normal missions, if possible make it so that it can be played in multiplayer either cooperatively (always fun) or in team vs. team. Multiplayer missions always work well if players know a plot behind them.

I'll have to play the mini-campaign again for more ideas...

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