SpaceSimCentral

Wow! Maybe I'll spend some time figuring out how to improve the skyboxes. Color banding, for one thing, and maybe versions where the galactic disk isn't perfectly aligned on the x axis.

DraQ, those really are some fantastic screenshots. I was just playing the other day and was amazed how nice the game is looking. The ships, the cities, the planet rendering, everything.

<r>While I really enjoy Pioneer, the combat has never really worked for me. The projectiles are much too slow and it's very difficult to score a hit. I always die, so I almost never take any of the dangerous courier/taxi/hit missions. I sorely miss the beam weapons of Frontier/First Encounters. Beam ...

<t> ...I have one criticism to make: the skybox looks terrible. I hope I'm not wrong about what I call skybox, though. I'm talking about the stars on the background with the milky way. I'll keep using that word here but please correct me if I'm wrong. I did some research and found out how to make ...

<t><br/>
Brianetta wrote:<br/>
We like the idea of crew. (-:<br/>
I also like the idea of having to hire crew, especially if they are of variable quality and have some personality.I am amused that the Pioneer page now has the subheading "A game of lonely space adventure", which is very true. I felt ...

<r>Please take the following as my own thinking out loud, and not as criticism of any sort. Pioneer has come lightyears since I learned of it last year, and I think it's an awesome team effort, and a labor of shared love. With that said, here goes:Try as I might, I can't really get comfy with combat ...

<t>Some more mission notions:Traitor: I don't think Pioneer currently models faction standings yet, but it would be exciting if you accept a sensitive courier mission, and face a difficult choice at your destination: deliver the message to its intended recipient, or sell the contents of the message ...

<t>The mission ideas floated so far sound great, and they got me thinking. Understanding some of these might require tech that isn't present currently, or might never be practical, here are some scenarios that struck me:Tailing: Following a ship across multiple jumps to see where it docks/lands ...

Whatever issues the current autopilot has, it's infinitely more robust than the one in Frontier. 'Save early and often' was the rule with that monster.

I poked around and found three effects textures, and tried modifying the ECM texture. It became evident there's no rotation or anything on individual particles/quads, so my test looked less random than I'd like. I'll post a request for some particle functionality, in the appropriate place.

<t>Related to survey missions, what about reconnaissance missions? I recall there were a fair number of those in Frontier/FFE. "Fly to system X and reconnoiter facilty Y" sort of thing, usually a heavily defended military base. But I'm proposing something less adversarial, such as, "fly to system X ...

And I use the word 'actually' far too many times in the preceding post. Sorry!

<t>Please don't misunderstand me, Sub. I mentioned that I actually like the facegen results, from a nostalgia standpoint. Actually they've been improving as you do them. Also, I wasn't suggesting a 3D implementation of Daz3D faces, but rather using Daz3D as a basis for the same sort of facegen ...

<t>I've been meaning to suggest a more 'zoned' approach to city generation, so that the spaceport isn't smack dab in the middle of a high population density area. We rarely put airports in the middle of big cities, because of the potential for disaster. I imagine starports would be built some ...

<t>I should mention that even if you can't code a way for Pioneer to talk to TimelineFX, I can still author and bake out flipbooks in TLFX. Then it would simply be a matter of allowing for animated sprites by reading a flipbook texture in a prescribed order of sub-images (usually top left to bottom ...

<r>I'm interested in learning how visual effects are implemented in the game, to learn how I might contribute. At a minimum I could create some pretty sprites, but perhaps I could author more ambitious things like particle explosions with multiple components and animated textures. Is there a wiki on ...

<t>I must agree. Pioneer has come a long way since I bumped into it a few months ago. Just today I was tinkering with Alpha 15 and flew up to Gates Starport, and was thrilled to see a bulk cruiser parked outside the station. The developers have really managed to stay true to the original spirit of ...

I do want to add I kinda like the facegen stuff that's already been done. It's quirky, but reminds me of how I felt looking at the facegen that was in place for Frontier and FFE. For what it's worth, Sub.

<t>You know, I wonder why I didn't think of this before. Why not use Daz 3D to generate oodles of individual face components, using a locked camera and lighting rig? That way you can ensure the pieces will fit together more reliably? Daz 3D is basically a free analog of Poser. It offers a lot of ...

Thanks, Robn! That's precisely where I saw it. I think the idea of messaging is great.