Firefly: the video game? by Haplo721

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Firefly: the video game?

POSTED BY: HAPLO721
UPDATED: Thursday, August 21, 2003 00:32
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Wednesday, March 5, 2003 6:09 PM

There's a game in development called Mace Griffin: Bounty Hunter that looks like it'd be perfect for a Firefly total conversion (means you take the game and change all the levels, characters, weapons, etc. into something else, in this case, stuff from FF.) Assuming the game code is modifiable (most first-person shooters are,) it's something that'd be worth looking into.

The website is www.huntthemdown.com and you can see from the screenshots and trailer that the game has a very "frontier sci-fi" feel to it (Mace wears a cowboy hat!) Another bonus is that you can pilot ships, though in the official game it's for the purposes of combat.

Early: You ever been raped, Kaylee?
Kaylee: You know, it's funny you should mention that... ever heard of the Fox network?

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Wednesday, March 5, 2003 7:45 PM

HOTFORKAYLEE

Hey, thanks,

Thank you for listing a link that goes to a site that takes over your computer and brings up a window that you can't close. Come on, a little warning or did you want everyone to either have to shut down or go to task manager if they have the ability?

Be warned people.

Serenity will fly again. Soon.

Quote:
"Whether it was me or my world, whether it was a total stranger or your worst enemy, you were a witness! It doesn't matter if they stopped. It doesn't matter if they'd listen. You had an obligation to speak out!"

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Wednesday, March 5, 2003 8:43 PM

HAPLO721

Te whubba who? Yes, it's fullscreen, but I have no problem closing the window. There's a set of minimize/restore/close buttons right where they should be.

Sheez, I try to share stuff and people think I'm trying to crash their hard drive. Chill.

Early: You ever been raped, Kaylee?
Kaylee: You know, it's funny you should mention that... ever heard of the Fox network?

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Wednesday, March 5, 2003 9:03 PM

GROOVYAL

hey!
i've allready proposed something like this... or better exactly this but wit the unreal warfare engine, nobody would give me an answer either.

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Thursday, August 14, 2003 9:23 PM

NEVERFEARSTEVEISHERE

i'm working on a couple of games for fun with others - one of the guys, dante, also a firefly fan is making a firefly object.

we wonder if we firefly fans accept the idea of armed ships in the firefly universe - rather like privateers might have cannons to deter pirates.

The serenity was armed - why not? why was nothing attached to it to deter aggression?

The main game we've been developping is actually a harrier game - but now we wonder about space?

And so develop in several different directions.

i would enjoy it a lot myself to see all this combined into a sort of firefly game.

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Friday, August 15, 2003 1:46 AM

ANTHONYT

Freedom is Important because People are Important

While there has been comment made on the show to the effect that Serenity is not armed, I have always wondered: "Why not?"

I can only imagine that the answer is, "Because Mr. Whedon wanted it so."

Though I can't find a good reason why she shouldn't be equipped with something. We've even seen that small arms can be useful in space. One might expect that she'd have some flavor of turret mounted squad gun or some such.

--Anthony

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Friday, August 15, 2003 4:11 AM

JUSTME

Of course that's how Joss wanted it; the whole WORLD of FF is how he wanted it. But for consistency, every decision of the writers still has to have a plausible explanation. Here's mine:

Serenity (and other private vessels) are not armed because the Alliance doesn't allow it. Why would the control freaks running the Alliance want the serfs to have ship to ship combat ability? They might get uppity again! Isn't it enough to allow them old fashioned firearms to defend their border world homes?

And if a few private vessels are attacked/destroyed by pirates, Reavers, etc, well who told them to leave their border worlds anyway? Don't they know their place?

Anyway that's my take on the situation.
JustMe

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Friday, August 15, 2003 4:16 AM

GAMBIT3

I agree with the previous poster.

I think that Firefly (or pretty much any non-Alliance ships for that matter) were NOT allowed to have guns, cuz the alliance said so.

Being the big boys on the block, they could get away with stuff like that. Consider how much caution the crew always exercised when they ran into Alliance patrols.

__________________________
Kaylee, will you marry me?

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Friday, August 15, 2003 4:22 AM

CAPTBAGGYTROUSERS

I agree. Look at how Mal and company sweat an alliance search with nothing but a couple of fugitives on board (and maybe some contraband under the deckplates). Now imagine if Serenity were armed with, presumably, difficult to conceal weapons.

Plus, shipboard weapons probably aren't cheap. And I'd speculate there would be engineering challenges in mounting them onto the utilitarian Firefly spaceframe.

(Space... western... space... western... Relax. Right.)

History repeats the old conceits

http://topshelftvshow.com
Updated! Improved! Shiny!

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Friday, August 15, 2003 7:21 AM

ANTHONYT

Freedom is Important because People are Important

I suppose I just always thought there should be some sort of light popup weapon for ship defense. Even a .50 cal squad gun in a retractable mount would have some defensive utility, and be difficult to detect on a routine search.

--Anthony

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Friday, August 15, 2003 7:56 AM

WERESPAZ

I don't think Serenity is armed for a couple of reasons.

1) It would be cost prohibitive.
2) It's a transport ship, the same reason DC-10 & 747s aren't armed.
3) Most cheaper weapons (slug-throwers) don't seem to work in space (see OMR) though I don't want to spark that debate again.

I'm guessing some of the transport class ships that frequent the outer rim probably have some kind of armaments, but something tells me Mal either didn't have the time, money or opportunity to arm Serenity, and even if he had, he strikes me as the kind of guy that doens't want to get himself in the kind of situation where you need it. They've done alright so far.

-The SpAz

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Friday, August 15, 2003 9:59 AM

ANTHONYT

Freedom is Important because People are Important

Heh. I'm sorry I missed the slugthrower debate.

Modern firearms can fire without external oxygen, but Firefly clearly established that Vera (Jayne's best gun) needs air. No arguments there.

As for other reasonings...

1) They do seem to be on a shoestring budget on Serenity. If they ever did get a few extra coins, a squad gun isn't very expensive.

2) It IS a transport ship. However, it is a transport ship that has had at least three occasions to find ship mounted weaponry useful within a few months.

3) Vera (a specific weapon) needs air to fire. It may be that all slugthrowers have ammunition built the same way as Vera's in Firefly. (That's what lets a gun shoot without oxygen, incidentally. The ammo. Not the gun. The oxygen is already in the cartridge. If cartridges were built without oxygen in them, they wouldn't fire in space.)

I think that it must be fear of the Alliance that keeps Mal honest in the mounted weapon department. Still, I'd be sorely tempted to mount something. Especially with the frequency of their Reaver close-encounters.

--Anthony

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Friday, August 15, 2003 2:03 PM

SUCCATASH

Quote:
Originally posted by Haplo721:
Te whubba who? Yes, it's fullscreen, but I have no problem closing the window. There's a set of minimize/restore/close buttons right where they should be.

Sheez, I try to share stuff and people think I'm trying to crash their hard drive. Chill.

Hey thanks for the link, that looks really cool. The window closed just fine for me, I just pushed the X in the top right corner.

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Friday, August 15, 2003 3:11 PM

BLACKSTAR

Well, first, we have no evidence that *any* ships except Alliance gunships and possibly cruisers are armed, even the Reavers seemed to have no weapons other than the magnetic grapple, at least none that appeared onscreen. Fact is, that the Alliance would strictly forbid ship weapons, because of the lack of shielding on the ships... just hull and vaccum. I mean, come on, these are the same people who get pissed if you don't have registration markings on the bow. And also, it's not as easy as one would think to mount a .50cal to a spaceship... I know that they have a genius mechanic and a weapons expert(several, actually) aboard, but if the weapon is not designed to work in vacuum then it would most likely not work... and if you tried to mount it inside the hull, firing outside, you'd need to cut new openings... not an easy or cheap modification... after all, it has to be airtight...

Oh, my GOD! Who's flying this thing! Oh, right, that would be me...

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Friday, August 15, 2003 4:18 PM

VETERAN

Don't squat with your spurs on.

Quote:
t's not as easy as one would think to mount a .50cal to a spaceship... I know that they have a genius mechanic and a weapons expert(several, actually) aboard, but if the weapon is not designed to work in vacuum then it would most likely not work... and if you tried to mount it inside the hull, firing outside, you'd need to cut new openings... not an easy or cheap modification... after all, it has to be airtight...

I'd think that Mal and Zoe would know several people who know how to add weaponery to a transport ship. They could probably rig some sort of launcher that could be run out of the front fourier (where Jayne blasted the space net from.

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Friday, August 15, 2003 9:13 PM

BLACKSTAR

True, but since such a rig would probably be illeagal, concealing it from Alliance sweeps and patrols would be difficult. And considering that an illeagal salvage will get your ship impounded, the penalty for restricted weapons would be high.
Most likely simply not worth the cost, effort and risk, IMHO, anyway.

Oh, my GOD! Who's flying this thing! Oh, right that would be me...

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Saturday, August 16, 2003 8:26 AM

VETERAN

Don't squat with your spurs on.

You're right, it's possible just not necessarily worth it. I wonder if they would have an episode where they find it necesary inspite of the risk. Say they have to go deep into Rever territory or something like that.

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Saturday, August 16, 2003 10:43 AM

BLACKSTAR

Well, you're right, I'd love to see an intense Firefly-style space combat sequence... i.e. no sound, realistic maneuvering, etc. Hmm, perhaps in the movie *hint hint*.

Oh, my GOD! Who's flying this thing! Oh, right that would be me...

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Saturday, August 16, 2003 2:34 PM

THEROGUEROOSTER

Personally, I love the fact that Serenity isn't armed with weapons. It doesn't make sense that she would be. We are, after all, talking about a civilian transport ship. Mounting a weapon on her makes as much sense as mounting a weapon on a present-day 18-wheeler. Both are used for hauling civilian goods from one point to another and both are potentially subject to piracy and theft, but we don't go sporting machine gun turrets in 18-wheelers, so why should we strap a laser cannon on a Firefly-class transport ship?

Even though the premise of Firefly has humanity reverting back to "Old West" tendencies, I don't believe that the territories are as lawless as is the time period in which they mimic. I consider the Alliance's efficiency to police itself is on par with most industrialized nations today. And most traders and business men of today do not require the use of vehicle mounted weapons to protect the delivery of their cargo. (I just got a mental image of a UPS truck with rocket pods bolted on the hood.)

I'm not exactly sure how civilian commerce in the future got so bloody in science fiction, but it certainly seems to have become a staple of the genre. However, by not equipping the Serenity with weapons Joss was able to weave a more believable (and to me, enjoyable) experience with the series, as well as provide unique challenges for the crew to overcome.

Since this thread is actually about creating a Firefly-themed computer game, I'll bring the thread back on topic with my own thoughts:

If I were to create a Firely computer game, I'd have the core gameplay revolve around keeping the Serenity and her crew flying. This means seeking out paying jobs, staying one step ahead of all the unsavory types intent on stealing the cargo (and perhaps the Feds if the cargo is illegal), and getting paid at the end of the day. The jobs could come from legitimate sources or from the black market and would range from cargo hauling to scavenging derelict ships. Pirate attacks would still be a possibility but instead of blasting the enemy ships with laser cannons, the crew would have to repel their boarding attempts through good old-fashioned gun fights from *inside* the Serenity. Avoiding the long arm of the law could also be in the best interest of the player, particularly when carrying ill-gotten Alliance-imprinted cargo. And of course, once the player has reached their destination and delivered the goods, they might find that actually getting paid is not as straightforward a captain might hope.

So the challenge would be acquiring and maintaining enough money to keep Serenity in the air with enough credits left over to pay the crew (wouldn't want to skimp on Jayne's payment, now would we?). And along the way, the player would attempt to keep Simon and River out of Alliance hands, find out who Book really is and what Inara is running from, and encounter many colorful personalities (some friendly, some not-so-much) during their travels.

Anyway, that's the kind of computer game I'd like to see. Either that, or a game with 18-wheelers sporting giant machine guns and rocket-firing UPS trucks.

-tRR

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Saturday, August 16, 2003 4:55 PM

HAPLO721

There's actually a video game like that-- It's called "Big Mutha Truckers".

Anyway, anyone here played Freelancer? Very cool space combat game that has interludes between fights where you look for your next job... there's a roleplaying aspect to it as you can build a rapport with various factions (government, pirates, etc.) and go around to bars looking for info. The FF game should be like that, but with FPS segments rather than space combat.

Early: You ever been raped, Kaylee?
Kaylee: You know, it's funny you should mention that... ever heard of the Fox network?

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Saturday, August 16, 2003 5:20 PM

FREMDFIRMA

Well, if anyone besides me remembers it, there was Origin Systems Game: Privateer, and the Righteous Fire upgrade pack.

I found it very Firefly-ish, and part of the reason FF attracted me so, was it's vague similarity to Privateer...

Never liked Privateer II tho, having endless hordes of pirates attack you at almost every nav point (and more jumping in the whole time yer chewin up the previous batches) was ludicrous, if there were really THAT much piracy, interstellar trade would grind to a halt in a week.

But if you can find a copy, try Privateer, it was way cool.

-frem
diefuxdie

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Saturday, August 16, 2003 5:51 PM

BLACKSTAR

I have played Privateer and Privateer 2, and agree the first was far better... but I prefer Freelancer in many respects... in fact, the whole reason that I bought Freelancer was because it resembled Firefly... perhaps some computer moddlers would like to think of a TC for Freelancer... I would love to help if such a project got off the ground.

Oh, my GOD! Who's flying this thing! Oh, right, that would be me...

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Sunday, August 17, 2003 5:21 AM

NEVERFEARSTEVEISHERE

It could be that the alloys are simply so strong that projectile weopons are useless?

afterall, theses things are flying round space which has a chance of little micro-metorite strike with which will have very high energies - higher than bullets one would think.

But projectile weopons should work in vacuum of space extremely effecitively.

today, our projectile weopons dont use gunpowder - which requires oxigen. The oxidiser instead is placed within the cartrige - vera seems a strange gun to require oxygen.

hmm, maybe the only way for space combat to occur is the sort of grapple and board approach.

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Sunday, August 17, 2003 11:10 AM

CANADIANJON

If Firefly was to be made into a video game, I'd like to see an RPG, similar in style to Final Fantasy 7, even made by the same people.

And while I'm dreaming, I want a pony.

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Tuesday, August 19, 2003 12:32 AM

DRAKON

"It doesn't make sense that she would be. We are, after all, talking about a civilian transport ship."

This is dependent on where and when you are transporting those civilian goods, and who else wants them. As well, as you mention, the level of police presence.

Been doing a lot of reading lately on piracy during the 17 and early 18th century, the golden age of Caribean piracy. It was not uncommon for a simple commercial transport to have a gun or 6 for dealing with those who would otherwise simply take your cargo, and kill you.

This died out only when piracy died out. And that happened because the great powers, (Primarily England, but also France and Spain) stopped fighting amongst themselves, (i.e. hiring out privateers against the other's shipping) and hunted down the pirates. After it was safe, then the commercial ships stopped carrying around the heavy cannons and shot and powder.

UPS trucks do not have rocket launchers because the risk of hijacking is not great enough to warrent the cost.

With what we have seen, regarding Reavers, and the carrion house ship strippers, as well the way Mal was treated in Out of Gas, I don't think it is more realistic for Serenity to be unarmed. It does make the available options more restricted, which means more tense plot situations are available. If you can just vaporize your enemy with the press of a button, where is the fun in that?

"my kind of stupid"

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Tuesday, August 19, 2003 6:40 AM

PHOSPHORUS

Hi all. I just wanted to chime in and remind everyone that although Serenity is unarmed, her crew is armed to the teeth. Everyone (including Inara, if you've seen Trash) has wielded a weapon at one time or another. Also, despite the fact that they have been attacked multiple times in space, Serenity has only ever been fired upon by an Alliance ship (albeit a rogue one, in The Message). Reavers and even other outlaws don't seem to find guns to be worth the risk or expense. I would tend the agree with the "Alliance's bitch" argument. They're the only ones that can afford weapons and they seem pretty dedicated to ensuring that others don't have them.

"Today I was pompous and my sister was crazy... Today we were kidnapped by hillfolk, never to be seen again. It was the best day ever." -- Jayne

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Wednesday, August 20, 2003 4:28 AM

ANTHONYT

Freedom is Important because People are Important

You know what?

Reavers are almost a myth in the Alliance. None of the regular folk will get near them (with good reason.)

Reavers must have an independant planet (or starbase) where their ships are outfitted and refueled.

They must have an entire society. A society with mothers and children and scientists and engineers and other things we don't associate with Reavers in our minds.

Perhaps a Firefly movie involving Reavers isn't remiss. There is much to learn about these nebulous cannibals who live outside Alliance control.

--Anthony

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Wednesday, August 20, 2003 7:41 AM

WHOODAHN

Quote:
Originally posted by AnthonyT:
Reavers are almost a myth in the Alliance. None of the regular folk will get near them (with good reason.)
Reavers must have an independant planet (or starbase) where their ships are outfitted and refueled.
They must have an entire society. A society with mothers and children and scientists and engineers and other things we don't associate with Reavers in our minds.

Since Firefly is a space western, it's logical that Reavers would be compared to space Indians. The indian war parties started hunting the white man after the settlers invaded their land. In reality the avenging indians were very cruel, in that aspect they are like the Reavers. The big difference is that most Indian tribes were established, peaceful, cultures. They fought against enemy invaders.

The Reavers on the other hand are just crazy. There may not be any sort of society or culture at all. It may be just independent ships where the whole crew has gone space mad, mad, MAD I tell you! (Sorry, got carried away). Each ship may react different to the space madness, that's why the stories about Reavers are thought to be myths, because each story is a little different. There is no culture that ties them together.

I don't think Reavers repair their ships, they just steal a new one. They don't have families, they just die out. New Reavers are formed when they get the space madness or their rape victims, if they live, give birth. I wonder if the space madness is hereditary? I wonder if it is contagious?

It would be interesting to find out if the space madness comes from the terraforming process or maybe it's radiation sickness from the ship drive. It could just be they were away from human contact too long.

I think the Reaver and Indian comparision breaks down. I think Reavers are Hells Angels on PCP.

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Thursday, August 21, 2003 12:32 AM

DRAKON

"Since Firefly is a space western, it's logical that Reavers would be compared to space Indians. The indian war parties started hunting the white man after the settlers invaded their land."

"The Reavers on the other hand are just crazy. There may not be any sort of society or culture at all."

We really don't know. There may be a method to their madness. The idea behind the Plains Indian cruelty was to scare the whites out of the territory. If you thought that walking into a certain neck of the woods would get you skinned, butchered, eatened, and raped, that the guys already there were complete whack jobs, you might not go there.

So do they have a culture, are are they complete nut balls? We really don't know whether their public persona is real or an effective con.

"my kind of stupid."

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