- by nuclearday

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

POSTED BY: NUCLEARDAY
UPDATED: Sunday, December 9, 2007 09:52
SHORT URL:
VIEWED: 25202
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Wednesday, February 1, 2006 3:34 AM

First off, hope I'm posting this in the proper section. I tend to leap before I look and I don't have much experience with forums. It was my Firefly obsession that led me to realize that the internet was good for stuff other than looking up porn. :P

Seems I remember reading somewhere awhile back either something here or on IGN.com someone suggesting that turning Firefly into a console or PC game might help to raise awareness and boost popularity of our Big Damn Show. Wherever it came from, the idea just won't get out of my head.

I only wish I had some contacts or had some sort of power in the video-game industry (some day mayhap... but I'm certainly a long way off to realizing that dream...) so I could see something like this done, cause I think it makes alot of sense. We're talking about one of the biggest growing industries on the planet right now, and in the right hands, it could serve to introduce alot of people in just the right target audience to our shiny little 'verse.

Course it could also be a complete and total flop as well. Movie to videogame translations have a long and storied history of being fine examples of the worst things that can happen in a videogame entertainment. (Actually, pick a movie, or a show, or a comic book, and most likely you can find a really, horrendously terrible game loosely based on it.)

Still, in the right hands, Firefly could have the makings of a really good game. Plus for me, it might go a long ways to filling this gaping hole in the pit my soul that is the cancellation of Firefly. Done right, I'd give my left leg for a chance to spend another couple hours with the crew of the Serenity.

I guess first off: has anyone heard any news of something like this going on? I fancy myself as somewhat of a videogame geek, so I'd be suprised if anything was in the works and I hadn't heard of it. But such things have been known to happen, I suppose...

I'll add another post below this one to add my own thoughts on what I'd like to see in a Firefly videogame. Feel free to add your own. I just thought maybe it would be a fun exercise, something to pass some time before I can see the Serenity up and flying again.

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Wednesday, February 1, 2006 3:52 AM

SIMONF

I think they had the basis for a Serenity video game. But obviously nothing happened. Here's what Nathan Fillion had to say about it from April of last year.

http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=20034

"Holly: Is there going to be a Serenity video game? I don’t know how you could make a video game out of it . . .

Nathan: I went to E3 with some of the Firefly/Serenity people, and I was party to some meetings with some kids who developed the video game engine, wanted to talk. It was very exciting just to see the beginnings of a video game . . . I hope it’s X-Box, and I hope it’s great. (To the recorder) X-Box, if you’re listening, I need Halo 2, in advance . . . "

If anyone could track down the production company who designed the game, it would be great to see some screen shots.

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Wednesday, February 1, 2006 3:59 AM

NUCLEARDAY

So here's my thoughts:

First off, I think it would be best if this didn't try to be another free-roaming, do-anything type of game. I think I'd like to see it a bit more structured. Trying for a Grand Theft Auto in Space thing would probably be over-reaching, it's been done anyways, and would probably hurt the reviews of the game among the hard-core gamers.

Maybe a little bit of freedom as to how and where you go or something, but still a generally linear story-telling pattern would be the way to go, make it feel a bit more like a series of episodes. That's how I would see it anyway. Maybe set up like a series of hour-long episodes.

Nice thing about a game, as opposed to a movie, is that in a video-game you're allowed to take your time, so there's plenty of room for exposition, and you could have lots of those little Firefly moments that I loved about the show, but for obvious reasons missed in the movie.

I figure, you'd have to have quite a few different modes of play throughout the game, and the story would have to let you play as all nine of the crew throughout. So let's say that for the most part you've got a basic exploration/ adventure game format where you're taking on the role of one of the crew (usually Mal of course) in a third-person view. But then you'd have your gun battles, your melee combat bar-brawls, and of course at least a couple scenes where you have to pilot the ship.

With nine characters to run through, I think maybe it would a little easier and less frustrating if the switches were decided by the game, instead of allowing the player to pick through them at will.

Or maybe as dictated by the story, you'd have three or so crew you could switch between on the fly. (So in the combat sequences you could choose to play as either Mal, Zoe, or Jayne, and they'd have their own strengths and weaknesses. For game purposes, say Jayne can take the most damage, Zoe's the best shot, and Mal has his special power-up move, that always effective Right Hook of Justice :)

I really, really think this could be quite a shiny game if the right company were to get on board and run with it. I think what I envision when I think of a Firefly game is more of an investigation/ adventure game (lots of easter eggs to look for, and I'd probably have tons of fun just wandering around the Serenity for hours on end), since the show wasn't primarily an action show anyways.

If they could get maybe one of the writers to do the plot, get the original cast to do the voice-overs, and a digital Joss Whedon to walk me through the tutorial level, I'd play it over and over again.

On the off chance anyone actually makes such a game, I could also see it going seriously over to the dark side. But I'd probably still buy it and play it. (Hell, even if it was Kaylee and River's Horse Racing Dream Date, I'd still buy a couple copies I'm sure.)

So come on, Bioware, Neversoft, Ubisoft, hell Fox Interactive even, get off your gorramn asses and give me what I want!

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Wednesday, February 1, 2006 4:44 AM

JONUS

I'm a huge fan of the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic games. I'd like to see a Firefly/Serenity game similar to that. Here's something I'd like to see (but I'll leave out the little details otherwise I'd be typing all day):

You start out by creating your own character - your own Browncoat soldier. You can customize your whole appearance, gender and class.

The game starts and you're playing alongside Mal and Zoe and other Browncoats in the Battle of Serenity Valley. The battle would be intense, Alliance soldiers all around you. And eventually you get separated from Mal and Zoe, you're shot and captured by the Alliance - imprisoned for years.

Years pass and the crew of Serenity find out that you're alive and they bust you out of an Alliance prison. Wash and Book are dead. You become the new crewmember of Serenity. You take different jobs from Badger and other scumbags.

You'll also have to battle Reavers, Bounty Hunters, Alliance Soldiers and Operatives.

Mal would kick Han Solo's ass.

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Wednesday, February 1, 2006 7:48 AM

ELDERELEMENTALEVIL

I would so buy that game...
I'm a big fan of the KotOR series of games as well. I think it would be a much better option to be able to create your own browncoat rather than try to live up to being one of the crew.

Quote:
Originally posted by Jonus:
I'm a huge fan of the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic games. I'd like to see a Firefly/Serenity game similar to that. Here's something I'd like to see (but I'll leave out the little details otherwise I'd be typing all day):

You start out by creating your own character - your own Browncoat soldier. You can customize your whole appearance, gender and class.

The game starts and you're playing alongside Mal and Zoe and other Browncoats in the Battle of Serenity Valley. The battle would be intense, Alliance soldiers all around you. And eventually you get separated from Mal and Zoe, you're shot and captured by the Alliance - imprisoned for years.

Years pass and the crew of Serenity find out that you're alive and they bust you out of an Alliance prison. Wash and Book are dead. You become the new crewmember of Serenity. You take different jobs from Badger and other scumbags.

You'll also have to battle Reavers, Bounty Hunters, Alliance Soldiers and Operatives.

Mal would kick Han Solo's ass.

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Wednesday, February 1, 2006 8:04 AM

MOHRSTOUTBEARD

Quote:
Originally posted by nuclearday:
So here's my thoughts:

First off, I think it would be best if this didn't try to be another free-roaming, do-anything type of game. I think I'd like to see it a bit more structured. Trying for a Grand Theft Auto in Space thing would probably be over-reaching, it's been done anyways, and would probably hurt the reviews of the game among the hard-core gamers.

Well, personally, I've long dreamed of a Firefly game that would be a free-roaming RPG experience; something more akin to Fallout than Grand Theft Auto. Yes, it would be more difficult than a simple shooter, but that's why they call them dreams.

Structure is fine, and there could be set story missions, but I think freedom is also an important part of gameplay. Choice is nice, and allowing exploration is a good way to pull the player into the world.

EDIT: I can totally dig Jonus's idea. The character creation would allow for the RPG element that I so desperately crave, and it also would also allow us to experience the 'verse by proxy. Sort of like if we had just gotten hired by Mal ourselves, rather than taking the role of one of our Big Damn Heroes. (Although that would be fun, too.)

------------------
"Remember, there's a big difference between kneeling down and bending over."

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Wednesday, February 1, 2006 8:18 AM

MILFORD

I love the idea! I'd buy it in a heartbeat. one game I really enjoy that I think would be a good template is the X-Men-Legends series that I've played on PS2. I'm by NO means a hardcore gamer type, but I really enjoyed the team approach, and I think it would translate well to the FF verse. It's a little more action oriented, but I think it would be great. That being said, I think the RPG approach would be cool too. Creating a character and then crossing paths with Mal and the gang would be fun.

Remember, that but for one trifling exception, the entire universe is made up of others.- Oliver Wendall Holmes

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Wednesday, February 1, 2006 8:23 AM

PURPLEPEBBLE

i absolutly love the idea of a kotor type firefly game, especially if its on the x-box.

i dont know if any of you know this or if its been said else where but there is a serenity game you can buy for your mobil phone!

unfortunatly my phone isnt good enough to use it! (cry)

i believe this is a link to it. http://downloads.carphonewarehouse.com/games/260541/Serenity.htm

not sure how good it is.

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Wednesday, February 1, 2006 8:27 AM

THEMANTHEYCALLEDJAMES

Nine people... Book and Wash are dead (via Alliance and Reavers) so it would be 7 people. And Inara may or may not be going back to the training house...so maybe six. And How could you have a Serenity games without being able to play as River the most bad@ss member on the crew.

And who would want to play as a punk like Kaylee or Simon

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Wednesday, February 1, 2006 3:18 PM

GARBAGECANMUSIC

Wasn't there a videogame that came out in 2000/2001 that had very firefly overtones.....it was in space and you could be in charge of a ship that went on missions and such....there was a posting about it recently about a Firefly ship being added as a mod...

How much is that little Geisha in the window?

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Wednesday, February 1, 2006 4:21 PM

NUCLEARDAY

Quote:
Originally posted by MohrStoutbeard:
Well, personally, I've long dreamed of a Firefly game that would be a free-roaming RPG experience; something more akin to Fallout than Grand Theft Auto. Yes, it would be more difficult than a simple shooter, but...

You had me at Fallout :P I still consider that series one of my all-time favorite games. I think I'm also starting to lean towards the idea of playing a browncoat that's separate from the main crew. You somehow end up on board the Serenity, and end up pulling the crew into all sorts of trouble they'd rather not get into...

Also, there's plenty of room between the end of Season One and the events in Serenity for a videogame to take place. I think I'd rather see that than one taking place after the movie. Mostly then cause you could have all nine characters there instead of just seven.

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Wednesday, February 1, 2006 4:24 PM

NUCLEARDAY

Quote:
Originally posted by themantheycalledJames:
Nine people... Book and Wash are dead (via Alliance and Reavers) so it would be 7 people. And Inara may or may not be going back to the training house...so maybe six. And How could you have a Serenity games without being able to play as River the most bad@ss member on the crew.

And who would want to play as a punk like Kaylee or Simon

Well, I always like having a couple mini-games in my videogames, so there could always be something for some of the less combat-oriented characters to do. There could be a mini-game where Kaylee has to fix something in the ship, for example. And Simon in the infirmary could work as a save point a la Final Fantasy where he heals your HP...

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Wednesday, February 1, 2006 5:16 PM

MISBEHAVE

i think it should be a 3rd person shooter (like freedom fighters)

with the grand theft auto spaceship stuff also (cause that would be amazing. imagine playing through the "leaf on the wind" scene)

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Wednesday, February 1, 2006 5:44 PM

ASHBURNBROWNCOAT

Two words: Online MMORPG. Almost like star wars galaxies (except without the sucking part). But a 3rd person shooter would probably better. Just following Mal around with him shooting Reavers etc. gives me goosepimples.

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Thursday, February 2, 2006 1:04 AM

J6NGO1977

Quote:
Originally posted by Jonus:
I'm a huge fan of the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic games. I'd like to see a Firefly/Serenity game similar to that. Here's something I'd like to see (but I'll leave out the little details otherwise I'd be typing all day):

You start out by creating your own character - your own Browncoat soldier. You can customize your whole appearance, gender and class.

The game starts and you're playing alongside Mal and Zoe and other Browncoats in the Battle of Serenity Valley. The battle would be intense, Alliance soldiers all around you. And eventually you get separated from Mal and Zoe, you're shot and captured by the Alliance - imprisoned for years.

Years pass and the crew of Serenity find out that you're alive and they bust you out of an Alliance prison. Wash and Book are dead. You become the new crewmember of Serenity. You take different jobs from Badger and other scumbags.

You'll also have to battle Reavers, Bounty Hunters, Alliance Soldiers and Operatives.

Mal would kick Han Solo's ass.

Yeh that'd work a KOTOR template. For a start you could have 9 characters which you could build a party of 4 to take off ship. Each character is skilled in a particular area and these skills can be leveled.

You can have the freedom of travelling around the verse to different planets and spacestations picking up different jobs (Missions, quests etc), buying parts and upgrades for Serenity and you could also throw in a trading system. This could make it very open but you also have Primary story Missions. Obvious enemies are the Feds, Reavers and Niska

Yeh that'd work. Any game coders out there wanna take this on board? :)

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Thursday, February 2, 2006 2:15 AM

CAPELLA

Hi,

actually, the Fallout series was the first thing that popped to my mind when I saw the first eps on DVD. I so loved those games (and I am not much into gaming normally). It is how I sell the series to my friends, too "You have to watch it. The setting is so much like Fallout" We used to have LAN-Parties and play Fallout for ages.

As I said, I am not much into gaming any longer (no time for it and not the right bunch of people around, I guess, I only like gaming when I have others to share the experience with). Still, if there were a game on Firefly out, I would probably buy it anyway, because I am crazy enough to buy anything related to the show. I definitly would want it to be a multiplayer game, because the cooles thing about the show is the team spirit and it would be awsome to capture some of it in a game.

Keep flyin',
Capella

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Thursday, February 2, 2006 3:56 AM

CABRIDGES

Whichever way it works, you gotta have some poking-fun-at-the-genre stuff or it ain't Firefly.

I'd screw with the cheat codes. Give them consequences. Yes, you can type this in to get full weapons and unlimited ammo, but now the Alliance is after you for arms dealing. Got a code for full health? The medicine that saved you took all of the ship's cash. In Joss' 'verse, actions have consequences. All of them.

A true Firefly game should not allow you to build up points or ascend levels to become more powerful. It should be about just getting by. There should always be the chance that your experience points or whatever could be taken away by happenstance or enemies.

Which, by the way, would add an interesting element of chance to the game. Maybe you'd have to struggle to get past an easy level because you've had a run of bad luck. Maybe you'd breeze through a tough level because everythng fell your way. Who knows?

_________________
Big Red Button - Buttons, bumper stickers, and more, for the discerning browncoat
http://www.cafepress.com/bigredbutton

SerenityStuff.com - if it's made for a browncoat, I want to know about it!
http://www.serenitystuff.com

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Thursday, February 2, 2006 6:13 AM

NUCLEARDAY

Quote:
Originally posted by CABridges:
A true Firefly game should not allow you to build up points or ascend levels to become more powerful. It should be about just getting by. There should always be the chance that your experience points or whatever could be taken away by happenstance or enemies.

Which, by the way, would add an interesting element of chance to the game. Maybe you'd have to struggle to get past an easy level because you've had a run of bad luck. Maybe you'd breeze through a tough level because everythng fell your way. Who knows?

I like the struggling to get by idea, very much so. Bring in a good haul one day, and you can get the Serenity up and flying right, couple days' furlough (and some side missions) to get the crew's morale back up, etc.
Other hand, sometimes you're barely limping along, the ship's seen better days (shoulda picked up that spare catalyzer last time you were in port) you've taken just one too many gunshots that last mission and haven't had time to recuperate. ...And of course that's just when the Reavers decide to show up and make things really interesting.

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Thursday, February 2, 2006 6:19 AM

NUCLEARDAY

Quote:
Originally posted by SimonF:
I think they had the basis for a Serenity video game. But obviously nothing happened. Here's what Nathan Fillion had to say about it from April of last year.

http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=20034

"Holly: Is there going to be a Serenity video game? I don’t know how you could make a video game out of it . . .

Nathan: I went to E3 with some of the Firefly/Serenity people, and I was party to some meetings with some kids who developed the video game engine, wanted to talk. It was very exciting just to see the beginnings of a video game . . . I hope it’s X-Box, and I hope it’s great. (To the recorder) X-Box, if you’re listening, I need Halo 2, in advance . . . "

If anyone could track down the production company who designed the game, it would be great to see some screen shots.

By the by, I followed that link and, good browncoat I am, read the whole gorram interview, too. :) I'd like to find out who was supposed to be working on that. Another trouble with videogames, alot of the good ones tend to get axed pretty early on. (Sounds almost... familiar...)

Sounds like there's at least two cast members that'd be willing to lend their voice talents to the game. Possibly if the DVD sales get to something near encouraging, there might be a slim chance of getting something going again with the game.

Well, ruttin' hell... there wasn't supposed to be any Big Damn Movie either. Even if there's a snowball's chance of a game getting made, well, I think them's just the kind of odds us browncoats like. :P

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Friday, February 3, 2006 9:05 AM

DIAVO

If it's restricted to mission-to-mission play (not fairly open ala GTA), then it might as well be run by the Alliance, controlling everything.

Firefly and Mal are all about doing their own thing.

MMORPG!

--Diavo

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Friday, February 3, 2006 3:27 PM

NUCLEARDAY

Quote:
Originally posted by Diavo:
If it's restricted to mission-to-mission play (not fairly open ala GTA), then it might as well be run by the Alliance, controlling everything.

Firefly and Mal are all about doing their own thing.

MMORPG!

--Diavo

Point. Maybe a more open-ended approach would be best to stick to the main themes of the show.

I'd like to see a more traditional game, though, before I started getting into another MMORPG, personally. What I need right now is another way to get my daily Firefly fix, so I'd like to spend more time with the crew of Serenity. Still... lots of room open for an MMORPG in that 'verse.

(I'd probably have to stay far, far away from a Firefly MMORPG. This 'verse has proven to be addictive enough for me. I've just recently had to drop out of Eve Online 'cause it was sucking the life out of me. I fear that for me a Firefly MMORPG would be the death of me ;)

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Saturday, February 4, 2006 9:37 AM

FRIDAYCRIES13

I've thought about this ALOT. I'm a huge gamer, and I would have loved to see it happen.

Anyone ever play Freelancer? The concept is similar to Firefly/Serenity. (Note I only said the concept). I just ordered from Amazon. This game would have been a good starting point for a Serenity game. I would have like to see some 3rd person out-of-ship action thrown in.

"That's why I never kiss them on the mouth."
-Jayne Cobb

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Saturday, February 4, 2006 10:08 AM

CYBERSNARK

Maybe a tiered system, like Jedi Academy.

Instead of having set levels, the game offers you a choice of several missions.

-Level 1 (scripted, to set up the story)
-Level 2 (player chooses from five "easy-level" choices)
-Level 3 (four choices left)
-Level 4 (three choices left)
-Level 5 (two choices left)
-Level 6 (scripted, as the plot thickens)
-Level 7 (five "medium level" choices, including the leftover "easy level," redesigned to the higher difficulty)
-Level 8 (four choices left)
-Level 9 (three choices left)
-Level 10 (scripted, player faces an in-level choice)
-Level 11 (two scripted possibilities, predetermined by outcome of Level 10)
-Level 12 (choice of three "difficult level" missions, including one updated "medium level" mission)
-Level 13 (two choices left)
-Level 14 (last "difficult" mission)
-Level 15 (two scripted possibilities, determined by Level 11, heading for the conclusion)
-Level 16 (two scripted possibilities, determined by Level 15)

For added suspense, some of these missions might well be red herrings: mission set up is to run a cargo past an Alliance blockade, but you end up never reaching the blockade 'cause another group of scoundrels tries to rob you en route. . .

Take you a few dozen runs through the game to see everything, and by then the thriving online community has started to release fan-made levels, models, and mods.

-----
We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.

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Saturday, February 4, 2006 11:09 AM

NUCLEARDAY

Really like Cybersnarks idea above. Haven't played Jedi Academy but I think I get the concept, seen that in a few other games. Also would be easy to overlay that sort of level design into a more open-ended setup as well.

ie, the whole "world map" is always open, allowing you to go around and explore and find side missions and the like, with the choices offered for each tier marked out so you know what hotspots to go to to start each mission.

(Okay, come to think of it, that IS the way the open-ended types of games like GTA are setup...)

Still, I would think that would be the way to go. Still offers alot of choices, lets you progress at your own speed and give you a feeling that your choices are affecting the flow of the game while also allowing alot of chances for good story-telling and the like.

That would be my main worry about a Firefly game, is losing the story to a bunch of "fetch-quests" and the like. Be nice to see the game turn a couple standard game conventions on it's head. Also like the idea of the "red herring" missions for that same reason.

Too bad I don't know anything about actually making games, cause it sounds like we'd be off to a good start ;p

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Saturday, February 4, 2006 3:36 PM

MADBARONHAHA

Been playing freelancer since it came out, someone made a Mod for the ship Serenity thats been released on Lancers ( www.lancersreactor.com) i think it requires Freelancer Mod manager and its JUST the Serenity model.

Am planning on making some of the Reaver ships (been running the reavers clan since i started watching the TV series)- have a model similar to the TV series one but its very low poly and skinned in clan colours (

)

hopefully once i can get the dvd in the UK i can do some better models, hell if anyone can write HTML code a Firefly FLmod would kick ass

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Saturday, February 4, 2006 5:41 PM

ILOVEFIREFLY

it would be great if they had a sort of firefly online space sim and the cool part would be that you could find serenity in the game board it and be able to talk to them if the cast members got copys or just as npcs

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Sunday, February 5, 2006 2:47 PM

SAMWIBATT

Quote:
Originally posted by nuclearday:
... in the right hands, it could serve to introduce alot of people in just the right target audience to our shiny little 'verse.

Course it could also be a complete and total flop as well. Movie to videogame translations have a long and storied history of being fine examples of the worst things that can happen in a videogame entertainment. (Actually, pick a movie, or a show, or a comic book, and most likely you can find a really, horrendously terrible game loosely based on it.)

I quite agree. However, the company that's probably the most responsible for the overall horrible quality of licensed games - Acclaim Entertainment - went bankrupt a couple years back. That alone makes the prospect of a decent Firefly-based game slightly better.

I cast my vote for the RPG-type game, not MMORPG. Straight "canned" RPGs are insulated against the kind of spoilsport crap you get with the bad apples who come online to be jerks. IMO, the 'verse is so story- and style-driven that a game would work better without that. Sure the 'verse has punks in it, but punks written by Joss are a whole different animal from punks from real life.

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Sunday, February 5, 2006 5:59 PM

BINGKEWL

i do 3d animation useing swift 3d... if any1 wants me 2 model a ship, i wouldn't mind taking the time 2 do it,as long as they provided me with the pictures of the ship...

if they made a game, it CAN"T fallow the movie...maybe a LITTLE but none is better... i huge reason to playing a game is 2 watch the story progress...

a "grand thief firefly" i agree would b 2much...though something like it wouldn't... it should b both an air and land game...make it something like a "pirits of the carabina" game...be a smuggler and travel from planet to plant carrying out missions.. select your own jobs and when u land choice between several chars to be...or better yet alow the player to cycle from player to player, some what like Ghost recon. i'd say a cross between grand theft auto,pirits of the carabina,gost recon,spider man 2 and maybe a little RPG in it...that would b kewl...

of coure u could prob make the intire game RPG like...but that i can see getting borring fast.

"Either he’s dead, or my watch has stopped"

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Monday, February 6, 2006 7:09 AM

DIAVO

Ok, what about a Firefly modern reincarnation of Wing Commander Privateer?

Free roaming, but with a plot to follow. You play the plot at your own choosing -- you're free to do anything between plot missions. The Jedi Academy idea could be mixed in this way (I wasn't a huge fan of JA's structure but loved the game itself.)

This way you get both a preformed plot, plus the open endedness for the game. You could choose to put 100 hrs into the game long before wanting to start the plot! =)

Make it single player, on the PC (of course, for mods!) and maybe also a console or two.
ALSO have the MMORPG ability: jack into one of several big servers to play with 1000s of others. =)

And definitely space flight + walk-around on planets!

--Diavo

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Monday, February 6, 2006 7:21 AM

DIAVO

Duh! Great idea! Stick with what I just said ^above^ and...

You start the game as Mal & crew with Serenity. You play open ended as you wish, then when following the plot another ship shows up a couple of times to help or such in plot-critical areas.
After you finish the game as Mal, you are allowed to created your own personal character and start with a boring ship.
You can upgrade and such, buy new ships, do random things, take misc mission from job boards, etc. When you finally buy the certain class ship (the one from the first part of the game), you are introduced to your own plot, which will coincide with the plot of Mal...

Or vice-versa... Probably vice-versa...

Ya like? ':-)
--Diavo

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Monday, February 6, 2006 7:36 AM

BINGKEWL

i like it, i like it

"Either he’s dead, or my watch has stopped"

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Monday, February 6, 2006 7:43 AM

NUCLEARDAY

Quote:
Originally posted by Diavo:
...You start the game as Mal & crew with Serenity. You play open ended as you wish, then when following the plot another ship shows up a couple of times to help or such in plot-critical areas.
After you finish the game as Mal, you are allowed to created your own personal character and start with a boring ship...
You can upgrade and such, buy new ships, do random things, take misc mission from job boards, etc. When you finally buy the certain class ship (the one from the first part of the game), you are introduced to your own plot, which will coincide with the plot of Mal...
Ya like? ':-)
--Diavo

That's an intiguing idea... Kind of the best of both worlds. What I'd really feel the need from a videogame adaptation would be the chance to spend more time with the characters and the ship. (Plus, you know, digital likenesses of our lovely crew...) It would also be really cool to try my own hand at living life out in the black. And playing as your own character would help in that it wouldn't alienate those who haven't become irretrievably obsessed with our little 'verse... yet ;p

I'd rather like to run with that idea actually... Being able to play as both your own separate character and the original crew in the same game. Don't think that's been done before, and certainly not with an adaptation of an existing franchise. Certainly an original idea derserving of an original show.

Guess the question is exactly how to combine the two.

For my two credits, hmm... Maybe the best bet would be to find some way to interweave the two? Example: you think you're playing a straight-up game with just the crew. Pretty straight-forward linear plot with little freedom. Serenity is running from the Alliance or the Reavers, what have you, and an unidentified ship shows up and saves the day. Mal asks Wash what ship that is, and all of a sudden the game is asking you to pick a ship ;p

That sort of thing has been done before, where character creation is done during the game, and I've always been a fan of that. (See Morrowind, for example.)

You can keep that going, too. Mal tries to contact the mystery ship, but there's alot of static and interference, the picture's too fuzzy to make out the captain of said ship. You have to stabilize the image then. (ie, pick your face, etc...) Everything else can be picked out in the beginning in the same way, and your motivations would be decided by the dialogue tree.

Next part, Mal asks what brings you to this part of the 'verse... and cue flashback. Some undetermined amount of time earlier, and it's you and your crew on your own ship. You know at some point you'll meet up with Serenity. You just don't know when... Keep things real open-ended at that point, picking your missions and deciding where your loyalties lie, etc. Maybe it turns out that ship you were looking to get the bounty on is the Serenity. Maybe and old friend told you to help out an old war buddy... Maybe you were a browncoat, etc...

Anyways, enough of my rant, back to you guys... ;p

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Monday, February 6, 2006 8:47 AM

DIAVO

^Shiny. =)

I loved Morrowind. It's the ultimate single player "MMO"RPG!
I figured planets could be like Morrowind, though the amount of disk space for preformed cities/towns...!! Well, that can be determined later.

I like that character creation built right into the plot.
Perhaps your personal char starts out out solo, with a small craft. [Maybe 1st mission you are Alliance in a personal figher craft (Wing Commander style), then go rouge leaving with your ship and fighting w/ the Browncoats?].
As your personal char's game progresses and you buy a larger ship capable of multi-crew, then you hire/pick up crew members? Possible crew members could be at each locale, with scripted "personalities" and strengths (need to balance mechanics, medics, etc). A loyalty rating based on time you've kept 'em around?

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Monday, February 6, 2006 9:35 AM

ITSBROKEN

I've been brainstorming about this topic for a while. It's actually led me to taking some programming classes, and im thinking about getting certified as a vg programmer from my local community college. So that i would be able to contribute to the idea.

Anyway, here's my idea:
I like the idea of it being very free-roaming, but i do agree that i would like a story. I dont believe in playing the characters because you should be your own character in a game, the whole point of a game is to be in the story!(but thats just me, maybe we could play mal or the crew)
I know that a lot of people absolutley hate japanese anime and i've never played this game, but ragnarok seems like it wouldn't take much time or money compared to all of these 3d rendered games that everyone is talking about. Realistically, i think if a team worked on it, we would be able to enjoy it in a few years. Im not big on anime myself, but it would be a pretty fun experience.

To solve problems of jerks playing the mmorpg we could have a solo, offline campaign that you HAVE to finish in order to get online. Then the jerk's would be discouraged because they have to play for several hours before the get online. The solo campaign could include different story lines. EX:

1) Open the game as JOE SCHMOE on 'Earth that was' and you take one last look as you board the spaceship TITANIC, and the ship is so vast it serves as its own in-game world where you spend maybe 30-40 minutes walking around, maybe a small mini-storyline(blue sun!). The storyline ends with JOE SCHMOE looking out into the black and it fades out.

2) JOHN DEER wakes up as a worker on a planet in the process of terraforming and stumbles across trouble ( blue sun!). Mini storyline blah blah and then he dies.

3) Civil WAR! Choose a side, and follow the story. You see SGT malcome 'mal' reynolds. BANG BANG, KABOOM! and the alliance wins. After that, a screen appears where you can fully customize a character and go online.

Then you would be able to open shop, work as a hunter, trader, smuggler, assassin, bounty hunter, companion(not sure how that would work), etc. Live in the 'Verse and be free. Buy a ship, get a small crew together, maybe even a cook.

Also i was thinking, given the amount of server space, there could be different worlds, maybe keep adding if the game is a success. Traveling from world to world? no problem, hitch a ride with a ship that would actually take a day or two for your character to arrive at the destination. Get bored on the ship? maybe some active chat rooms while you're in your bunk or organize your items, create weapons out of raw materials, make something to trade, or read a book!(zshan yeu? sp)

Meet the crew, badger, nishka, and the mudders! if the actors liked the game they could play too! Well, tell me what you guys think, i hate long posts so sorry if you had to sit through this long post and it wasnt interesting enough. Thanks for reading!
OH YEAH LOOK AT MY SIG. LOL i've had it for a while.

-----
***someone should make a MMORPG based on the 'verse!***

Geeze i want Firefly to come back!

-----

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Monday, February 6, 2006 10:03 AM

DIAVO

^I like the idea of having to play thru a little bit of history before being able to get online with it. Not the whole game, but enough to discourage the immature and encourage the interested.

Ragnorok -- not sure without playing it what it's really like. But it seems easy as far as creating it. Something Ultima Online-like? Might work for the planetside action. Maybe use the arrow keys to move around and mouse to aim/click on things. That'll insure good fire fights.
Else Morrowind had a good interface and ability to switch 1st to 3rd person view; I like the ability to interact with any object anywhere.

Oh one thing on the 3D graphics design -- support for gfx cards that can't do pixel shaders!! (I couldn't finish KotOR b/c of this, tho Morrowind fortunately let you turn pixel shaders off).
In fact, the gfx shouldn't be over-the-top if it's going to be played online...

But single player planetside play I can definitely see as modern FPS games/gfx.

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Monday, February 6, 2006 4:22 PM

NUCLEARDAY

They're working on a Conan MMORPG at the moment that uses the idea of having to play through a bit as a single-player game before doing the online stuff, and I always thought that was an interesting idea.

Would help to stop the waves of newbs the come through every other MMORPG asking the same questions. (Anyone who's ever played EVE: Online: "How do I fly my ship???" :)

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Monday, February 6, 2006 4:29 PM

NUCLEARDAY

Quote:
Originally posted by Diavo:
...Perhaps your personal char starts out out solo, with a small craft. [Maybe 1st mission you are Alliance in a personal figher craft (Wing Commander style), then go rouge leaving with your ship and fighting w/ the Browncoats?].
As your personal char's game progresses and you buy a larger ship capable of multi-crew, then you hire/pick up crew members? Possible crew members could be at each locale, with scripted "personalities" and strengths (need to balance mechanics, medics, etc). A loyalty rating based on time you've kept 'em around?

Like the loyalty idea, there, too, and having to pick up your crew as you go. If there was a bit of a challenge in keeping your crew happy and loyal in some manner, that would definately fit in with the 'verse. ("You want to run this ship?" "Yes!" "Well... you can't...")

Be nice to setup a system maybe wherein you can have a hand-picked crew from a wide variety of options and yet they still 'interact' in various ways. Like say after some time one of your crew starts to develop a certain animosity towards another member... It'd have to be open-ended, and done in a way that suprises you. The game wouldn't know which crew you'd be recruiting and in what order, etc... Some sort of random element, maybe? Or each new member falls into a number of "personality archetypes" that determines how they'll interact with the rest of your crew. (You're off on some backwater planet for a mission. You get back to the ship to find two of your crew in the middle of a mexican standoff...)

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Tuesday, February 7, 2006 4:59 AM

JFREY

Freelancer (as mentioned before) is so closely "Firefly" that it is cool. There is a plot you CAN follow if you want (even has to do with "earth that was" and civil war between the Alliance and the Federation) but if you want, you can just take on jobs or do supply runs.

The FIREFLY mod is very cool, the ship looks amazing (tho I have yet to fly it, I need to fly a couple of missions first before I can aquire it and I just installed it last night...). The plot deals with civil war and starts with an assasination so it even feels like FIREFLY a bit.... I think it will be fun...

The mod explains that the Firefly class ship was recently updated for the trials of this universe to include some weapons (cause you gotta fight in this game...)

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Tuesday, February 7, 2006 6:14 AM

DIAVO

Quote:
Originally posted by nuclearday:
Or each new member falls into a number of "personality archetypes" that determines how they'll interact with the rest of your crew. (You're off on some backwater planet for a mission. You get back to the ship to find two of your crew in the middle of a mexican standoff...)

The game could get very complicated there, but I like it!
Personality archetypes sound good, mixed with profession archetypes. You could have a Doctor that's a tough guy (Jayne the Doc!) and a Gun Man that's a coward (oops bad choice, wish I didn't hire him, better let him go).

There could be preformed crewable chars in various cities on various worlds (so in a pinch you could check an online FAQ and see "I still need a decent mechanic, ooh there's a good one in Paradiso but crap it's on the other side of the 'verse"). Chatting with bartenders about "Rumors" or "Tips" could (among a plethora of random tips on the game/'verse) tip you that "There's a freelance Gun Man who hangs around the Eavesdown Docks, might be looking for work if you got the coin."

Each city would have these characters "randomly" generated in bars and the like, you chat up with them asking "What do you do?" [I'm thinking Morrowind chat boxes] and if s/he's got a skill that may fit as a crew you get an option to offer him to work with you.

A Holy Man could boost the morality of certain crew personalities, and lower others. Depending on who you have on-board it might be beneficial/hurtful to have a Holy Man as crew.
A Companion crew member with the right personality could also boost overall crew morale...! 8-o

Don't forget the Autopilot feature a la WC! Set a destination and push "A" and after a short flying cutscene a few seconds later you've arrived (assuming you didn't run across any hostiles en route).

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Monday, February 13, 2006 9:08 AM

TIVO25

Great ideas, I love what I'm reading.

Too bad we're not all eatin' steak.

In the mean-time, there is a Firefly mod for Neverwinter Nights. I saw it a while back, but didn't have the coding skills to put together a Persistant World, or even a one-shot.

I'll see if I can't find the link and post it. I know its at Neverwinter Vault, I'm just at work, and don't have oodles of time to go find it right away.

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Monday, February 13, 2006 9:18 AM

DIAVO

Someone also did a mod for Freelancer. The links/threads to these 2 mods are buried somewhere.

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Monday, February 13, 2006 9:22 AM

TIVO25

Quote:
Originally posted by Diavo:
Someone also did a mod for Freelancer. The links/threads to these 2 mods are buried somewhere.

Yeah, I noticed the Freelancer link in the thread, but I didn't spot a NWN one. Apologies if its already been brought up.

Quote:
Originally posted by TiVO25:
I'll see if I can't find the link and post it. I know its at Neverwinter Vault, I'm just at work, and don't have oodles of time to go find it right away.

Well, that was easier than I thought.

http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Hakpaks.Detail&id=4118

No screenies at that one, its actually a bundle of the various haks that have been created. A little digging at the site the link takes you to should turn up the original haks independently where there are screenies included.

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Monday, February 13, 2006 10:41 AM

DINKY

Quote:
Nathan: I went to E3 with some of the Firefly/Serenity people, and I was party to some meetings with some kids who developed the video game engine, wanted to talk. It was very exciting just to see the beginnings of a video game . . . I hope it’s X-Box, and I hope it’s great. (To the recorder) X-Box, if you’re listening, I need Halo 2, in advance . . . "

If anyone could track down the production company who designed the game, it would be great to see some screen shots.

Awww... I have a little less respect for Mr. Fillion. He plays Suxbox =/.

The PC is UBER!!! (if you make it that way)

My PC Specs:
AMD 64 x2 4400+
2 gig of RAM
7800 GTX (256mb version)
Twin 7200rpm Hard drives setup in SATA RAID

I had already thought about a Firefly/Serenity game. Though I thought of it more like an MMO. And the more I thought about it the harder I thought it would be to make.

Though they have made and are making some Scifi stuff that I am looking forward to.

Star Wars Galaxies WAS awesome before they tried to fix it (though it did needed fixing, they just did a bad job trying).

Star Trek is being developed, and from what I've heard of what they are trying to do with it, it sounds like it could be a great MMO. Though I know nothing about Star Trek.

I think a Firefly/Serenity game would most likely be poorly developed. Probably would wind up being ultra buggy and a short Single Player game. I would enjoy seeing some form of awesome space travel, maybe be able to take control of the ship.

And since there are so many characters and I think that being just one throughout the entire game may not be as good I thought that if they were ever to develop a Firefly game they should have it to when you came up to certain parts of the game through single player, you would play this character, then later on at another vital point in the story you played another character.

This is because in Firefly/Serenity ONE character never did anything, all 9 characters had something important to do, it wasnt ALL Mal or ALL River or Simon or Book. It was the whole group, and thats one reason the Series was so great (and again, thats just one reason, there's so many reasons this show shouldnt have been canceled).

I think if they were somehow able to pull off an MMO or Single Player game IDEA, then they could put a talented developer company at work to do it. I certainly would buy it and play it, no matter if it sucked bad or was one of the best developed games I ever played... Either way it would be one of my favorites.

"Th3re !s n0 spo0Ne." -The Matricks

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Sunday, April 9, 2006 7:38 PM

BROWNCOATSANDINISTA

My four plat -
You start off as stated earlier, Joe Schmoe ((Or Jayne Schmoe, as to not be excludin' people)) staring at the Spaceship Titanic. Single player game for a while. Fight in the war, whichever side you want, see the captain, Zoe, and maybe even the Goose Juggeler/Shadow Pupeteer himself ((If you become a POW.))

You then have a run in with the Big Damn Heroes or Badger or Atherton Wing etc. etc. through which you create your character. Then you start making a life in-game, either with other players, npcs, or both. You'd slowly build a crew, starting with an old buddy from the war or somesuch, or maybe someone you've only just met who is willing to take the chance on you.

Then you can get a ship, choosing whichever you fancy, or you can start a business, etc. etc. Afterwards, you can take jobs as you get them, give jobs, and build up your crew/workforce. The crew members would have to be either all NPCs or a mix of PCs and NPCs. The NPCs then fit the Job/Archetypes mix. If a PC is in your group but not active, they will stay in their "Bunk" whilst making occaisional trips to the galley, weights, cleaning their guns, etc. etc. as determined by what they do in game.
The NPCs would also develop and be multi-dimensional.

There would have to be ongoing plots, preferably written by Joss, in which everyone's missions are integrated. The BDMs might be able to play their characters for some in game events.

NPC conversations should be all scripted but with multiple options, and PC to PC conversations could either be micd or typed. Certain words would get translated into things like "Shiny" "Dong-Ma" and "Fei-Fei-du-Pien." NPCs would give tips and such.

The view could be 3rd Person and 1st person as determined by the player. You should have limited ability to play as your crew as well. In the game, the player can go wherever they want barring a logical reason for them not to be able to.

Combat would have to be real time, with major battles allowing some characters to act as "Commanders" a la Battlefield II. One would also be able to interact with everything in their environment.

Players as Reavers wouldn't work to well I think, but some small groups being "escapees" from the academy or other such locations could work. Factions would be split into three main ones, with everything from the Independants, Alliance, and Neutrals down to individual crews for the "guilds".

A singleplayer offline game in which you are the BDHs would be nice to have along with this, so you don't absolutely have to be online, but it could tie in, showing you things to loot, etc. etc.

If you've thoughts or something to add, I'd like to hear it.

If anyone gets nosy...Shoot em.
Shoot em sir?
Politely.

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Sunday, April 9, 2006 8:49 PM

KAZE

Lots of great ideas here. I just wish some game company with talented people would be crazy enough to put me in charge of designing a Firefly game. I seriously doubt many browncoats would be disappointed. I'm really really good at planning these kinds of things. I'd probly be a crappy leader though i'd have to have some more charismatic other person to give all the orders.

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Monday, April 10, 2006 12:02 AM

EMPXENU

There's also a FF mod being developed for Escape Velocity Nova. Haven't checked on the progress for a while though. Hope it doesn't turn into vaporware.

----
Jesus was a spineless pinko-commie pacifist

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Monday, April 10, 2006 12:58 AM

DOWIE100

hmm a Firefly game.

It would have to be done by the right people, or it would suck big time. I wouldn't let EA near it, we don't want Serenity the platform game, collect all the batteries to start the engine style games.

I would say get an RPG company to make it, Bethusada (Elder Scrolls), Bioware (Neverwinter Nights, Knights of the Old Republic). Then I would have it take place after the film, you start out as a character (browncoat of course) and have the recruit your crew, buy a ship and get a job. You complete missions but there is a story arc going on as well. Serenity would be in the game with the crew and would appear in important story missions.

Either that or a game along the lines of World of Warcraft or Eve online, a massive online RPG game with everyone playing different characters they created on different ships and sides (alliance, browncoats etc), with the crew of serenity as characters that appear only in important missions.

"You can't take the sky from me"

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Sunday, April 23, 2006 10:46 AM

GUYWHOWANTSAFIREFLYOFHISOWN

I totally agree, also could someone post a link to the thread with the freelancer mod?

One Day.
One Mission
One Army of Browncoats.

On June 23rd, We Aim To Misbehave.
www.SerenityJune23rd.com

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Saturday, May 13, 2006 6:51 PM

HOBBIE

Quote:
Originally posted by Guywhowantsafireflyofhisown:
I totally agree, also could someone post a link to the thread with the freelancer mod?

You just got damn lucky. You're getting the link from the lead coder himself!

http://fireflymod.hopto.org/

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Sunday, May 14, 2006 5:37 PM

THOLO

Quote:
Originally posted by ElderElementalEvil:
I would so buy that game...
I'm a big fan of the KotOR series of games as well. I think it would be a much better option to be able to create your own browncoat rather than try to live up to being one of the crew.

Quote:
Originally posted by Jonus:
I'm a huge fan of the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic games. I'd like to see a Firefly/Serenity game similar to that. Here's something I'd like to see (but I'll leave out the little details otherwise I'd be typing all day):

You start out by creating your own character - your own Browncoat soldier. You can customize your whole appearance, gender and class.

The game starts and you're playing alongside Mal and Zoe and other Browncoats in the Battle of Serenity Valley. The battle would be intense, Alliance soldiers all around you. And eventually you get separated from Mal and Zoe, you're shot and captured by the Alliance - imprisoned for years.

Years pass and the crew of Serenity find out that you're alive and they bust you out of an Alliance prison. Wash and Book are dead. You become the new crewmember of Serenity. You take different jobs from Badger and other scumbags.

You'll also have to battle Reavers, Bounty Hunters, Alliance Soldiers and Operatives.

Mal would kick Han Solo's ass.

i think in the style of Kotor would be a great engine. we could make our own character and we could even interact with the crew, maybe even be a memeber of the crew for a while. it would be cool.

Keep Flying!!

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