- by nuclearday

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

POSTED BY: NUCLEARDAY
UPDATED: Sunday, December 9, 2007 09:52
SHORT URL:
VIEWED: 25206
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Sunday, May 14, 2006 5:41 PM

COLONELPETERJACKSON

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Sunday, May 14, 2006 6:09 PM

MATTCOZ

The perfect fit here would be Bioware making a game similar to KOTOR or Mass Effect. Our cap'n did some voice work for Jade Empire, so there is a preexisting relationship there.

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Sunday, May 14, 2006 6:15 PM

SERENYTY

I personally think that Firefly: The Video Game could go in two different directions, both would be cool.

The first would be a more linear adventure game. You could play as the crew of Serenity, and go on jobs. This could have the makings of a good game. You could choose different jobs, different things, etc. The main characters to play would probably be Mal, Jayne or Zoe, them being the good fighters. Put in a couple of flying minigames (Wash, if this is set before the BDM), doctoring minigames (Simon), and mechanical mini-games (Kaylee), and it could be a good game. I'm still trying to figure how to put Book in there (if it's set before the BDM). Preaching mini-games?
(not even going into Inara's... thing. I'd prefer a teen rated game, instead of making it mature)

Another path would be the good ol' MMORPG. Think about it: make a character, give them a class (fighter, pilot, doctor, mechanic, other) and they could do what they please. Join a crew, be part of the Alliance.. this could have so many possibilities.

~A message from Serenyty~

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Sunday, May 14, 2006 9:16 PM

NIRWIN

Anyone play Unreal II: The Awakening?

I think a game like that, or a mod of that game would be quite cool for firefly/serenity.

The main reason is that, there was a lot of just wandering round the ship and interacting with people, lots of stuff going on you could watch or ignore.

Then you would go down onto a planet solo and inevitably be swarmed by bad guys but that could be changed, so that you go with Jane and Zoe and meet Badger etc.

Anyway I love the idea, and were I able to create models/skins/animations and get the voice talents of the crew, I would finish my game engine and make that game. However it would HAVE to be set before serenity, you need Wash to make it funny.

Keeping fingers crossed

---
Nirwin

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Saturday, May 27, 2006 2:23 AM

COLONELPETERJACKSON

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Saturday, May 27, 2006 2:36 AM

N0SKILLZ

If I had some mod experience, i'd try moding oblivion, since it has a beautiful game engine and after playing it, I like how the combats set up.

And might work out well as a full game mod. I'm sure someone could figure something out.

-------------------------------
RAF Lakenheath
Security Deputy of the Sereni-Tree
"I can't feel my Danger Zone" Jayne Muppet!
http://walkerboh.deviantart.com/

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Saturday, May 27, 2006 3:18 AM

NUCLEARDAY

Quote:
Originally posted by N0Skillz:
If I had some mod experience, i'd try moding oblivion, since it has a beautiful game engine and after playing it, I like how the combats set up.

And might work out well as a full game mod. I'm sure someone could figure something out.

Damn my eyes for never being able to remember a link when I need to! :P

IIRC there was/ is a group of 'Coats working on an Oblivion mod/ conversion for Firefly. Used to be a thread around here somewhere about it. Memory serves, there may have been some talk about trying a different engine, though. Oblivion's an excellent game (all I seem to do in my free time is play that and hang out here :), but I think they may have been running into trouble with getting firearms to work and like? Wasn't following terribly close, though, too technical for me.

Come to think, there's a couple groups working on various 'verse mods to different engines. Privateer comes to mind, and I'm sure there's a couple others as well.

Anyways, I'd add more to this discussion, but I think I've already added my two cents and more here... :)

________________________________________________
You can take my Browncoat when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers. (Or if Kaylee asks me nicely...)

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Saturday, May 27, 2006 4:12 AM

N0SKILLZ

oooh a oblvion mod! sweet, i'll have to look for it!

this might give me a reason to download the new oblvion driver fix for my ATI card. and actually start playing oblvion again.

-------------------------------
RAF Lakenheath
Security Deputy of the Sereni-Tree
"I can't feel my Danger Zone" Jayne Muppet!
http://walkerboh.deviantart.com/

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Saturday, May 27, 2006 6:24 AM

GUYWHOWANTSAFIREFLYOFHISOWN

Quote:
Originally posted by mattcoz:
The perfect fit here would be Bioware making a game similar to KOTOR or Mass Effect. Our cap'n did some voice work for Jade Empire, so there is a preexisting relationship there.

really?, I've got that game, point me in the right direction please

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/llama.php
-try it out, I dare you

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Saturday, May 27, 2006 7:59 AM

GUNRUNNER

Quote:
Originally posted by 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

Nope not vaporware just taking longer than expected. I think we are about 2/3rds done with Part 1 (of probaly 4), the 1st 2 or 3 years of Mal's life after the war. Most of the ships for the Alliance fleet are done (still got a few fighters and 3 capital ships to finish), I got a bunch of civilian ships to do, and the outfits need a lot of work (especially balancing of the weapons). The link to our forum is in my sig, we don’t really have a website yet (maybe something when part 1 is done) but you can see renders of stuff in the “Ship Rendering” thread.

We are open to anyone who wants to help.

EV Nova Firefly mod Message Board:
http://s4.invisionfree.com/GunRunner/index.php?act=idx

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Sunday, May 28, 2006 8:20 AM

MELONCOV

I think Firefly would work best as a recource/personel management game with some action/RPG elements thrown in. Normal gameplay would consist primairly of choosing how much money would be spent on repairs, fuel, food, crew ect. and balencing that against the money you can make doing shipping runs/hiests. However, various complications come up regularly. Sometimes things come up totally out of the blue (an old friend calls for help, a dead guy in a box is sent to you)while other times, taking a certain job triggers other events (you get attacked by reavers, the person your selling your goods to has a grudge with you, an alliance patrol comes by during a heist).

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Sunday, May 28, 2006 8:47 AM

AGATSU

FireFly is based on the notion of "you are there", so games with isometric view wouldn't really fit - and that's actually why I don't like them in general.
My take on it would be 1st or 3rd person, playing an additional character, not one from the crew, but flying with them later in the game.
You'd fight in the war with Mal, then sort of drift from Moon to Moon doing various legal or not so legal jobs, like helping Simon free River - yes, you were up there in that ship - with other crews, meeting characters from the show like YoSafBridge, Niska, Badger, Monty, Tracey etc...
And of course you'd visit familiar places. Then you'd have to find Mal for some reason and catch up with Serenity right during the space battle in the BDM, follow her to the surface and catch up with the BDHs right after the showdown, then join them on their whacky adventures for the rest of the game.
The game would be story-driven, but also contain very open levels to satisfy the free-roaming people.

Proud Member of the FFF.net Event Team
Department of All Things Insane

Serenity Now/Equality Now screenings / Serenity Day (unrelated):
June 23rd www.cantstoptheserenity.com www.serenityday.org
Serenity Summer Campaign:
June 23rd - Sept 30th 2006 www.FireFlyFans.net
Serenity 'Versary:
September 30th www.FireFlyFans.net
Be there or be a purple-belted poop head. (<- not the official slogan)

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Sunday, May 28, 2006 8:54 AM

MELONCOV

Quote:
Originally posted by Agatsu:
FireFly is based on the notion of "you are there", so games with isometric view wouldn't really fit - and that's actually why I don't like them in general.

Huh? When did I say you needed isometric view? It is he standard for recource management, but not a requirement.

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Sunday, May 28, 2006 9:09 AM

SIGMANUNKI

Links:

Oblivion Mod Forums:

http://41.freebb.com/theversemod/

EV Nova Mod Forums:

http://s4.invisionfree.com/GunRunner/index.php?act=idx

From a link above, Firefly Mod:

http://fireflymod.hopto.org/

The 'Verse (from scratch):

http://theverse.fireflylabs.ca/

I think there is another planned mod, but I'm not sure if it's started. I think that had to finish another thing first. And I know of another that hasn't been announced yet (at least to my knowledge), so I won't do that for him/her.

At any rate, those are all the ones in active development that I know of.

I know that The 'Verse is _not_ accepting help just now. The Oblivion Mod _is_ accepting help. The others, I don't know, you'll have to ask them.

But, for those that like MUSH's, there's always:

http://www.objectsinspace.com/

Which is availible right now

----
I am on The List. We are The Forsaken and we aim to burn!
"We don't fear the reaper"

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Sunday, May 28, 2006 9:10 AM

AGATSU

Isometric view was mentioned a few times on this thread, so I was referring to that, but managing Serenity's resources is kinda "not there", too.
I guess you mean Knights of the Old Republic-style, which has been mentioned a few times, as well, and I gotta say I didn't like it. Every time the action starts, the game freezes and goes all tactical on your ass, what's up with that?
That's about as far removed from being "there" as you can get. Try Condemned or F.E.A.R. - 1st person, you can see your own body when you look down, throw a shadow, and even most of the cut scenes are experienced from 1st person view, like you getting beat up and thrown out the window on top of a car. Very immersive.

Btw, I mean no offense, and I understand that taste differs - KotOR just isn't my cuppa.

Proud Member of the FFF.net Event Team
Department of All Things Insane

Serenity Now/Equality Now screenings / Serenity Day (unrelated):
June 23rd www.cantstoptheserenity.com www.serenityday.org
Serenity Summer Campaign:
June 23rd - Sept 30th 2006 www.FireFlyFans.net
Serenity 'Versary:
September 30th www.FireFlyFans.net
Be there or be a purple-belted poop head. (<- not the official slogan)

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Sunday, May 28, 2006 2:09 PM

ZOID

Agatsu wrote:

Quote:
...I guess you mean Knights of the Old Republic-style, which has been mentioned a few times, as well, and I gotta say I didn't like it. Every time the action starts, the game freezes and goes all tactical on your ass, what's up with that?
That's about as far removed from being "there" as you can get. Try Condemned or F.E.A.R. - 1st person, you can see your own body when you look down, throw a shadow, and even most of the cut scenes are experienced from 1st person view, like you getting beat up and thrown out the window on top of a car. Very immersive.

Btw, I mean no offense, and I understand that taste differs - KotOR just isn't my cuppa...

No offense taken by this KotOR-lover. Just fer the record, you can easily turn off the "game freezes and goes all tactical" from the game options menu. Then when you encounter enemies, you'll just go directly into battle without getting the chance to figure out which baddie needs to get killed first and with what sort of attack. Of course, that battle is at heart still a turn-based one: whether you hit or miss is determined by a roll of the dice (which you can't see, because the 'puter is rollin' 'em).

My problem with your proposed FPS for Firefly is that so little of the show was about shooting people and blowing stuff up. The show was about relationships and decision-making, beyond what kind of ammo to load. Thus it's best suited to action RPG, like KotOR, especially since KotOR revolves around picking 'landing party' members based on their strengths and weaknesses. I can see River being a staple team member for just about everybody. Psychic, good in a fight and she can dance (hunh?). Of course, you have to hope she's not gonna go la-la at a critical time, killin' folk when she shouldn't, and counting holes in the ceiling tiles while yer gettin' yer ass handed to yuz.

On the other hand, a game called "Jayne's World" would make a great FPS. Just kill everything, and think about nothing other than how much ammo you've got 'til you have to resort to The Swingin' Cod Attack...

Competitively,

zoid

P.S.
I'm currently playing Sin: Episode One, so I'm not averse to FPS by any stretch. It's just that Firefly was not a shooter and neither should its game be one. The beauty of Firefly can only be captured in RPG, preferably MMORPG, so we can all interact together in a Firefly universe (like we do here, but with a virtual purpose). We could even have a SereniTREE, et cetera, and folks could just sit around and engage in personable silliness, within the game. In your game, that'd just be one more piece of real estate to scorch, while running up the body count.
_________________________________________________

"I aim to misbehave." -Capt. Mal Reynolds, Serenity, a.k.a. 'the BDBOF'

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Sunday, May 28, 2006 3:52 PM

REAVERINA1985RIVIERA

Quote:
Originally posted by nuclearday:
Hell, even if it was Kaylee and River's Horse Racing Dream Date, I'd still buy a couple copies I'm sure.

As long as Jewel and Summer do the voice overs and FMV,ditto.

---------------------------------------------
How many Jaynes does it take to change a light bulb?

Two. One to try to put it in and another to find a bigger hammer.

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Sunday, May 28, 2006 4:32 PM

AGATSU

I wanna point out that I said First Person, not First Person SHOOTER. I think 1st person is being reduced to just being about shooting everything in sight, when it can be so much more.
I'd like to recommend a game called System Shock 2 to everyone who fancies gameplay over fancy looks. That game is quite old, but it rocks so hard... and this fall, the inofficial successor, "BioShock", is due. Happy happy joy joy. System Shock 2 is my all-time favorite, and although it is First Person and has lots of weapons, it's not really a Shooter, because when you're not shooting, you're sneaking, exploring, listening to audio logs, hacking security cameras and turrets and replicators, analysing mutant organs, operating computers, repairing equipment, running like hell, upgrading on terminals, playing around with light switches and pictures with changing images, trying to win some credits on one-armed-bandits, crawling through vents, having a brew or a smoke, getting pissed at that bitch Shodan (I named one of my computers after her) bossing you around, planting proximity mines, using all kinds of hypos and implants... see where I'm going with this?
And there's a game out called Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, and you don't even get a weapon until way into the game... you're more or less just experiencing the story and playing the game like it's an adventure. Unfortunately, once you DO get a gun, it's too much shooting for my taste (at least concerning this game). I REALLY enjoyed the adventure part in 1st person, though. And why the hell not? You can do almost ANYTHING in 1st person, the genre just gets reduced to SHOOTING most of the time.
F.E.A.R., Condemned and expecially Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay all have fantastic melee systems, and they're all First Person. So bar fights and duels to the death with operatives are a-go-go.
Quake 4 and Doom 3 make an interesting yet expandable use of computer terminals... if you're close enough and "aim" at the buttons, you push them instead of shooting... very easy and very cool, and you can type in passcodes with your mouse effortless.
1st person is also ideal for "repairing" stuff... sort of like mini-games where you have to connect circuits or put the parts where they belong or use certain tools on certain parts, or cut the right wires - but everything within your in-game 1st person view.

With all that in mind, why not have a fully interactive, "working" Serenity, to boot?
From pans in the cupboard to working light switches to the spinning engine to working space toilets to comlinks to monitors to computer consoles with history files and maps and all kinds of stuff to a working mule to a useable work-out bench to incense you can burn to lockers to alarm clocks to chairs you can sit in etc... make EVERYTHING interactive.
And everything should "work" logically, or not, on occasion, since it's Serenity, so once in a while, something malfunctions and you have to find the cause and repair it. Or you can hotwire that console to lock up the crew quarters like the operative did. If the gravity drive malfunctions, everything gets floaty. If you cut the wrong wire somewhere, the lights go out. You can even put on a suit, go out and divert the nav sats to the transmitter to make the signal go further. Whatever.

Hell, I'd pay a lot of money just to be able to have a fully interactive Serenity with multiplayer ability and a headset. Can you imagine how much fun it'd be just to virtually "hang out" with friends aboard the Serenity?
(Someone should make a Quake mod like that or something, at least.)
Serenity in space... and when you "set the course" to a destination, you can go to Haven and Mr.Universe's bunker and Whitefall and Jaynestown and Miranda and the Heart of Gold and Ariel etc, park the Serenity and explore. There wouldn't even have to be a single shoot-out involved, I'd pre-order that thing as soon as I could and probably not sleep until I got it.

Anyways, back to the other concept... you wouldn't be the invincible space marine for once, but really just Joe Schmoe trying to get by doing some work as a mechanic on a few boats, plus the occasional smuggling job and heist.
The most intense moments in games are when you're almost out of ammo and actually worried, so why not make that the satus quo for our protagonist? Being an underdog will make the occasional hero moment so much sweeter, too.
So most of the time, you'll try to stay out of trouble and use your wits... I'll try an example similar to the situation to OiS.
Mal doesn't want you on the ship for some reason after you hooked up with them on Mr.Universe's planet after the showdown on Serenity, so you stow away in a crate. You can hear the crew talking (maybe Mal and Zoe when they have their "She's tore up plenty"-conversation) and Jayne complaining when they put the crates in the cargo bay. Then you wait until they sleep so you can get something to eat, because with a full stomach, it's gonna be easier to think about a way to convince Mal that you had to sneak aboard.
First, you need to sneak to the kitchen, get some food, then to the cockpit to send a wave... and then you realize that there's someone about.
Pirates have entered the ship much like Early did in OiS. You hide in a locker in the cockpit while the pirates locking the crew in their quarters and some of them come to the bridge to explain the plan... oh yeah, and pilot the Serenity, while the rest searches the ship. You sneak out of the locker behind 2 of the pirates and take a tool and a suit with you. You use the tool to use a vent to sneak to the cargo bay, where there's some bad guys. You put on the suit, hotwire the gravity drive so that those henchmen all float around helplessly while an alarm sounds, use their confusion and unfortunate (for them) situation to run past them with your shiny suit's magnetic boots, tie yourself to something and open the airlock for a spell. Then you use the vent to get back to the bridge while some of the pirates enter the cargo bay to see what's happening.
When you get to the cockpit and take out the pilot with a well placed smack on the head with a monkeywrench from behind, you realize that Serenity has just docked at the criminals' hideout.
So you grab the pirate's gun, hotwire the crew quarter lockdown panel so they can get out of their quarters and get armed before the airlock opens and a good dozen pirates enter the cargo bay. That's where the shooting part would set in, but only as a climactic bonus.
Mal forgives you after you saved their lives, and you're allowed on board for the time being. A nice conversation scene at the kitchen table with all characters (except Wash and Book) and fun stories with ribcages in them follows.

Before you rip the story elements apart, that was just improvised to prove my point that 1st person doesn't have to be all about shooting, but is very well suited for adventure-type games, with the ADVANTAGE that you can also have great action shoot-outs.

Btw, "Mission Objectives" are communicated to the player by inner monologues, like "Gorramn Alliance Hwan duhn! Let's see if I can reroute the engine exhaust line to the life support system in his quarters and shave off his eyebrows with that electric shaver after he's out. Should be an interesting first look in the mirror after he comes to.".
I can be funnier, but I'm tired. Nevertheless, I like that inner monologue thing.

Anyway, as you can see, this isn't all about scorching shit.

Proud Member of the FFF.net Event Team
Department of All Things Insane

Serenity Now/Equality Now screenings / Serenity Day (unrelated):
June 23rd www.cantstoptheserenity.com www.serenityday.org
Serenity Summer Campaign:
June 23rd - Sept 30th 2006 www.FireFlyFans.net
Serenity 'Versary:
September 30th www.FireFlyFans.net
Be there or be a purple-belted poop head. (<- not the official slogan)

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Monday, August 28, 2006 5:07 PM

REDRIVER

oops double post 8)

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Monday, August 28, 2006 5:13 PM

REDRIVER

I can see it... Serenity 'verce 9 iconic professions:
Captain aka Smuggler
Mercenary aka Bounty Hunter
Soldier aka Commando
Doctor aka Medic
Mechanic aka Crafter
Preacher aka Spy
Campanion aka Entertainer
Pilot aka Pilot
Zombie aka Jedi

SWG victims unite!

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Friday, February 9, 2007 10:10 PM

BROWNCOATCRUSADER

Alright everyone, little story for yuh.
I was playing KOTOR 1 (I borrowed it)and was on the urban planet level. (one of the ealrier ones) I was making a deal and gettin a job and thinkin "wow, it's alot like FireFly" then the deal went south, the hunches goons whipped out swords, my wookie buddie whipped out axes, the twilik girl that was with me pulled a rifle, and my guy whipped out a pistol john wain style. Their was a 6 second Mexican standoff and then..... All FUCKIn HELL broke loose. It was like a crazy saloon barfight/gunfight that resulted in killing some guys, taking their credits, and booking it to the ship as the current authorities (the Sith soldiers) showed up. It was then I corrected myself thinking, "no I'm sorry, This IS FireFly!"

My whole point to this is that it would be really cool if they gave us a FIREFLY Kotor. It just be better if the story line was Whendon done and was looser and gave the folks more time to enjoy freedom. The dice combat system would also have to go. When in a fight, use the gun system from Red Dead Revolver and the fighting system from Def Jam. OOOOOH. and have portions when travelling between planets that incorporated the choice of Freelancer style flying around, or getting out of the Pilots seat and walking around the ship. You'd be able to have in depth conversations with the crew, influence them (ala KOTOR II), give orders, and keep supplies up (food, gas,etc.) so u don't become richer than god and still seem to be living on the edge.

One last thing. Would you guys say that Mal is a Soldier or a Scourge in the world of KOTOR.

"I don't care what you believe, just believe Something!"

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Sunday, September 23, 2007 8:58 AM

FLASHMONKEY

Just joined the board with the intention of posting about an online MMORPG i'm working on at the moment, and if there would be interest in building this around the firefly 'verse and bingo...! i find this thread.

I've been working for the last 6 months on a multiplayer online framework written in Actionscript 3 on the client side running the Red5 Java media server on the server-side. Now AS isn't generally considered powerful enough to handle this sort of thing... but trust me, we've done proof-of-concept work and the new version of the language (v3) is... and with a 3D API called papervision handling importing models in Collada, ASE and MD2 format we've already been flying Xwings around the death star/endor system (two of us in London and one in Texas) so it's definately doable - and means you don't have to download megabytes of game or buy something in the shop, you can do it directly in the web-browser.

the framework is deliberately designed to be highly configurable by the user... to the point where anyone with some reasonable knowledge of installing stuff on a web-server can create their own game server, connect to the main server and have players 'jump' to their 'verse and fly around, shoot, trade, etc. But if you don't want to go to all that trouble you can customise your ship, or your bridge, create new weapons, sell them, etc. etc. etc.

I'm a loooong way from having anything that could be called a 'game' in place, but the framework itself is being presented briefly at a conference in the UK in November, after that it's all being open-sourced to try and kick-start development... i'm working on various demos for the presentation at the moment, but i'd dearly love to make this a firefly game and allow fans not only to play, but to actively create content and get their own versions of the game up and running.

i'm happy to provide more details of what i'm doing and would really appreciate opinions/testers etc. getting in touch... I haven't read through the whole of this mammoth thread yet so i'll be doing that over the next couple of days to get a feel for what others have suggested.

an MMORPG is a HUGE amount of work (i know, i do this sort of thing for a living!) and usually involves large teams of designers and developers.. and project managers! i've done a lot of the groundwork for this game but to get it to be a working game needs a lot more man/woman power to get it up and running and stable. So if people really want a firefly game, let's get started!

T

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Sunday, September 23, 2007 9:12 AM

DARKFLY

Flashmonkey that would be seriously awesome, I'm all ups for being a game tester, I'm actually currently studying Game Design at West Cheshire College, England.
I'd love to know more about what you're doing if you've got the time please send me more info.
One of my many email addresses is...
dark_fly@hotmail.co.uk

---------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.myspace.com/darkfly7

Want pics, vids, ringtones,ect releated to Serenity and Firefly
http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=2&t=26986

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Sunday, September 23, 2007 9:14 AM

BROWNCOAT2007

Oh... My... GOD!!! I think I'm in love... lol, seriously, I know next to NOTHING on the creating of games, but I want IN for the beta/whatever your planing as the first actual gameing step!!! This sounds amazing, and I hope you manage to pull it off, sooner rather than later!!!

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Sunday, September 23, 2007 9:29 AM

FLASHMONKEY

Thanks for the responses, that was seriously quick, guys!

but i just found these links via google...

http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2006/12/72263

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2006/12/08/Firefly_to_become_MMORPG/

there are a load more - all dated around july/august 2006

which say that a company called multiverse has the licence for creating a MMORPG based on Firefly - it mentions a 2008 release date but the articles are dated middle of '06 and 2 years to create something like this - content and all - is pretty good going, but considering there's no mention of it in the list of games in development using multiverse's middleware (as listed on their website http://www.multiverse.net/games/built.jsp?cid=2&scid=1) and we're nearing the end of 2007 it doesn't sound like there's anything happening... or at the very least it's waaaay behind schedule (which is not unknown for these sorts of games) or they're just keeping it under their hat. it could well have died a death, these games are seriously expensive to produce and seeing as it looks like Fox are paying for it, who knows what's happened, the vast majority of these games that start being developed never make it to market.

but i expected to find word of it on this or one of the other Firefly/Serenity fan sites, but there doesn't seem to be any word.

The legal/licensing issues are a concern with something like this... i'm no expert on this sort of thing... i'm just a code-monkey

so it looks like we'd need to know 2 things...

1 - is this already being done? If so, is there a prospective release date? I'd prefer not to 'split the vote' on a game like this event though personally i'd prefer to see a game that fans could contribute content to and have a real hand in developing.

and

2 - if not, what are the chances of getting the licencing to be able to use the brand? I'm guessing FOX still owns this?

T

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Sunday, September 23, 2007 10:03 AM

DARKFLY

Quote:
Originally posted by flashmonkey:
Thanks for the responses, that was seriously quick, guys!

but i just found these links via google...

http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2006/12/72263

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2006/12/08/Firefly_to_become_MMORPG/

there are a load more - all dated around july/august 2006

which say that a company called multiverse has the licence for creating a MMORPG based on Firefly - it mentions a 2008 release date but the articles are dated middle of '06 and 2 years to create something like this - content and all - is pretty good going, but considering there's no mention of it in the list of games in development using multiverse's middleware (as listed on their website http://www.multiverse.net/games/built.jsp?cid=2&scid=1) and we're nearing the end of 2007 it doesn't sound like there's anything happening... or at the very least it's waaaay behind schedule (which is not unknown for these sorts of games) or they're just keeping it under their hat. it could well have died a death, these games are seriously expensive to produce and seeing as it looks like Fox are paying for it, who knows what's happened, the vast majority of these games that start being developed never make it to market.

but i expected to find word of it on this or one of the other Firefly/Serenity fan sites, but there doesn't seem to be any word.

The legal/licensing issues are a concern with something like this... i'm no expert on this sort of thing... i'm just a code-monkey

so it looks like we'd need to know 2 things...

1 - is this already being done? If so, is there a prospective release date? I'd prefer not to 'split the vote' on a game like this event though personally i'd prefer to see a game that fans could contribute content to and have a real hand in developing.

and

2 - if not, what are the chances of getting the licencing to be able to use the brand? I'm guessing FOX still owns this?

About a week ago in the following post I emailed Multiverse...
http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=2&t=30611

Here is my post...
I emailed Multiverse on the subject of the Firefly MMO and they replied back to me in just hours

Here is the reply...
]

---------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.myspace.com/darkfly7

Want pics, vids, ringtones,ect releated to Serenity and Firefly
http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=2&t=26986

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Sunday, September 23, 2007 11:15 AM

FLASHMONKEY

interesting, as someone on the other thread you posted this on says.. it could be taken either way, but the fact that they aren't giving you a catagorical 'no' suggests that something's happening here... my instinct would be that it's been delayed because it's turned out to be more complicated than they thought - though they are a middleware developer so probably not as naive as other developers have been in the past, i don't think they've actually managed a game project before, so things could well have gone a little awry and over deadline/budget...

i'll be continuing to develop my stuff anyway, cause that's getting produced whether or not it's a 'firefly' game... so either way we get something out of this... keep your finger's crossed for multiverse, though, cause if they're wrangling with Fox they're gonna need all the help they can get!

thanks, darkfly...

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Sunday, September 23, 2007 11:49 AM

FLASHMONKEY

in response to some of the other posts in this thread...

i think the point made about a firefly game retaining joss's original vision is well made. Actions should always have consequences, and experience should mean experience... just because you have 'experience points' doesn't necessarily mean you have 'experience' - you have to actually learn how to do something, rather than just clicking on a skill to learn it in a certain amount of time (a la Eve Online). you should have to either work it out for yourself - or interact with other captains/crews/npcs to find out the way to do it.

There are huge threads on game design boards about these sorts of things - one important point is the idea of 'dying' in an MMORPG... that is, spending weeks or months building up a character only to have it cruelly torn away from you and having to start from scratch... Eve does this reasonably well with the concept of clones but i'd REALLY like to hear Joss's take and ideas on this... i reckon he'd have a few good ideas about how to work it from a storytelling point of view.

Which brings me to my next point. Received wisdom in MMORPG design is to try NOT to enforce a story on players. But at the same time allow them to quickly learn HOW to play the game. So having some sort of mission scripting system that would allow a player to easily create a mission for others to take on (think: i'm playing Niska, i want this load of medicine to sell on the black market i need to hire a crew to steal it for me but i need them to know the consequences of screwing up). How can that be made easy enough for a player to create and present to a prospective crew and engaging enough that a crew would take it on, and possibly take the consequences of having a change of heart during the job?

the whole gold-farming thing should be steered away from in the engine as much as possible as well... the current, frankly ingenious ways that people are advertising in WoW show up two important elements of MMORPG architecture. Firstly, that people will always find holes in the system (which is pretty much what Firefly is about, isn't it?) but also that it can really irritate and put off players when it gets out of hand.

Money is going to be the central theme of the game if you're playing a browncoat, not only for it's own reward, but you're going to need to keep your ship in one piece and functioning, you're never going to be able to lay your hands on state of the art alliance equipment (unless you have a big score, or steal it). so you're ship will gradually become a patchwork of various parts that need modding to work together, so it'll be important that your crew includes an experienced engineer - that sort of thing can breed the strategic and tactical gameplay that makes it tough to become really powerful ingame without 'learning' how the game works and having a good knowlege of the 'verse in the first place...

like playing the guitar, it's easy to learn a few chords and knock about on it, but you really have to work at it and understand it to master it.

The idea of 'modding' your ship was something i'd had in mind for this framework from very early on, and one of the tools on the development list is a simple 3D model visualiser that would allow you to position elements on the mesh of the ship you control, so you could place guns strategically, or decide where you're most heavily shielded, that sort of thing.

Personally i'd shy away from allowing players to choose to play as Alliance for now, at least, as it not only poses technical difficulties but i also think that the majority of fans would want to play browncoats... that's the attraction of the whole thing, and it's the most challenging aspect - finding a way to outsmart the alliance and live your own life rather than have them 'meddling' with you.

As for reavers, that's another story... there's a theory that MMORPG players fall into (or between) certain catagories, one of which is a category of players that simply love to fight other players - PvP combat is a bit tricky - it relates back to the earlier point about having players able to die in game... and can end up with experienced players fragging newbies right left and centre if employed badly... again, Eve does this quite well by having PvP areas in game, so you have to physically put yourself in the line of fire... this could work well if really well-paid jobs were in PvP areas, so you have to take the higher risk for the higher rewards, and would stop some players becoming massively powerful at the expense of others, cause you're only going to face players/crews of equal strength.

one other, interesting idea, i think i saw on gamasutra.com was about employing flocking algorithms for calculating 'loyalty' in NPCs - in a game like this, where crossing and double-crossing is going to be really important - and where you're going to have to rely on certain people, some of whom may be NPCs this could work quite well, if you screw someone over, everyone in their network of contacts is going to hear about it somewhere down the line, and when they do they may decide to get one over on you... so are they agreeing to work with you genuinely or do they have something else in mind?

anyway, that's enough for now, just my 2cents.. probably more to follow.

T

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Sunday, December 9, 2007 9:52 AM

SNAKEBLOKE

I really hope they sort this out and get it started. i wish id started modelling for it so i could present my ideas to Multiverse, anyways i hope they find a suitable developer because i play EVE online and this game sounds perfect to me.

Id gladly sell my XBOX 360 for this game :P...well, maybe

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