Mission Editor

[Hamm66]

It has been suggested that this should be a topic of its own.

 

Here is what I wrote in another thread:

 

'As this is a suggestions thread I am hoping (and suggesting) that offline play will (and should) be a full and readily available option.

 

People like myself, an avid history buff, love recreating history in 3D environments for our own pleasure and education.

 

Going aboard a real ship is of course fantastic but we are highly unlikely to be able to take part in a naval sea battle or cutting out expedition in the real world.

 

For this reason I love any kind of game which allows me the option of setting up a scenario, controlling aspects of all sides, allowing the action to go on without me whilst watching from various camera angles and weighing up the odds of success and testing them in an active environment.

 

Of course sometimes I want to be the Captain or the Admiral and lead my ships into battle and test my skill against the enemy but personally I never want that enemy to be a real person nor do I want to play alongside anyone else in a co-op situation. Call me unsocial if you like but my real world is full of enough cooperation and competition and when I play I want to play alone.

 

I have not seen up till now weather this is to be primarily online or if the offline options will exist but here is my vote for a fully functional offline player experience.'

 

Thanks to Baggywrinkle for suggesting this be a topic.

[Ned Loe]

How about offline story mode? like bf4...other than that it is an online game...

[Rudi Starnberg]

I have to say that my vote is for anything but the most barebones singleplayer to be put aside untill the multiplayer aspects are working and polished. Any singleplayer game, no matter how good will get old when the (inevitable) flaws and predictability of the AI rob the game of any excitement.

[Partizan]

+1 Hamm66

[Thomas Blackwell]

I have to agree with what Rudi is saying. This game is being built from the ground up to be a multiplayer game. Once multiplayer is working, then developers could look towards making an offline story mode, though if this game turns out to be free-to-play I don't think it is in their best interests. If this game is a monthly subscription, or even a one-time fee, then making an offline demo for people to try before purchasing would in a way be at least beneficial for Game-Labs.

[Hamm66]

You make a good point Mr Blackwell but I would point out that a full basic offline version with a Mission Builder would sell and if they made it available through an online agency where login is required for even offline play they would still reap the benefits of the advertising income.

 

I am comparing in my mind with the way Il2 Cliffs of Dover is marketed (I know a failed game initially but that was a programming fault not a marketing failure).

 

It is only available through Steam, you need to BUY the initial game, it is primarily for online play, BUT it contains a full mission building capacity and is very offline friendly.

 

This is what I hope to see with this new game.

 

Not a locked in level one to twenty and then you are done with it kind of game with 30  extra static scenarios that you can play.

 

I can see how that kind of game would have a very limited shelf life.

[Hamm66]

I have just notice the Topic 'Single Player??' in the General Discussion which bears closely on this Topic.

 

I would put a link but for some reason I am not able to do so.

 

I would point anyone interested in Offline Play and Single Player action to read that thread as well.

 

(To my mind it makes quite disappointing reading.)

[Thomas Blackwell]

You make a good point Mr Blackwell but I would point out that a full basic offline version with a Mission Builder would sell and if they made it available through an online agency where login is required for even offline play they would still reap the benefits of the advertising income.

 

I am comparing in my mind with the way Il2 Cliffs of Dover is marketed (I know a failed game initially but that was a programming fault not a marketing failure).

 

It is only available through Steam, you need to BUY the initial game, it is primarily for online play, BUT it contains a full mission building capacity and is very offline friendly.

 

This is what I hope to see with this new game.

 

Not a locked in level one to twenty and then you are done with it kind of game with 30  extra static scenarios that you can play.

 

I can see how that kind of game would have a very limited shelf life.

 

Ahh I get you now. A single player where captains can go and create community missions and content to submit to Game-Labs for implementation into the online game? I believe there are quite a few games that have something similar. You are quite right. If Game-Labs decide to sell Naval Action through Steam, than an initial purchase of the online game should be required before you can use the 'offline' one. Am I roughly in the ball-park?

[Hamm66]

That is very much what I am thinking and I have high hopes that some such game is what we will see on offer.

[admin]

we start with the multiplayer for 2 reasons

1) players can make stories for others and they are 10x times smarter than any AI on average

2) we cant afford great writers and Skyrim like single player content yet. And current level of competition tells us that crappy single player games don't work well

 

Once multiplayer is profitable and covers costs we can expand into single player development.

But we will see. We thought we were going to have open map prototyping much later this year. But look at us now, early prototype is going to be shown to testers this month. 

[Thomas Blackwell]

That is very much what I am thinking and I have high hopes that some such game is what we will see on offer.

 

If you read my previous comment before I managed to realize my mistake and edit it, I apologize. It was in no way intended for you.

 

I really like what you are suggesting here. Am I right in thinking that having the community focus on creating mission content would free up the Developers to focus on other aspects of the game?

[Hamm66]

Thanks for the comments Admin, I understand your reasoning.

 

Mr Blackwell:

 

No offence taken and none intended, I know that these forums can occasionally get 'spicy' but I like a hot curry and lager so I'm fine with it.

 

Re: mission development, what you are suggesting is precisely what I would like to see, a growing developing 'world'.

 

What I dread is the kind of scenario I have witnessed to often before (not just in the video game world) where an elite group hijacks the game and makes it un-enjoyable for all newcomers just to satisfy their personal egos.

[maturin]

2) we cant afford great writers and Skyrim like single player content yet.

I know I'd work for peanuts and cred

 

Better storytelling than Skyrim is actually not that difficult to accomplish. Bethesda tends to shed their best writers.

 

But MP still needs well-written gameworld dialog, written orders, tutorials etc. I want to be a writer and historical consultant for your team, and I'm probably not alone. That would be much better than beta testing. Here's a writing sample, depicting the sort of thing I'd love to re-create in the game.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-TmCbH-99MIla_-kbRexf6heJwQnmkO3Tf6O5XGEc7c/pub

[Rudi Starnberg]

If you read my previous comment before I managed to realize my mistake and edit it, I apologize. It was in no way intended for you.

 

I really like what you are suggesting here. Am I right in thinking that having the community focus on creating mission content would free up the Developers to focus on other aspects of the game?

 

Community content tends to open a whole can of worms with reagrds to quality control and copywrite ownership. It can be done but it can also prove a net drag for the developers rather than a positive help.

[Baggywrinkle]

Interesting stuff all round, thanks all. I like Hamm's desire to use an offline platform to add content to the game, that's pretty cool, but I currently share Rudi's concerns. Is there some official info somewhere about how missions and like things might actually work in-game? Without knowing a bit about that it's a bit tricky to see how easy quality control etc would/n't be.

I like the idea of offline and community available devkit cos it means mods...which could mean a slightly more hardcore naval sim than maybe the wider market would tolerate...

Baggy

[admin]

I know I'd work for peanuts and cred

 

Better storytelling than Skyrim is actually not that difficult to accomplish. Bethesda tends to shed their best writers.

 

But MP still needs well-written gameworld dialog, written orders, tutorials etc. I want to be a writer and historical consultant for your team, and I'm probably not alone. That would be much better than beta testing. Here's a writing sample, depicting the sort of thing I'd love to re-create in the game.

 

Doc file deleted  sorry for that.

Please provide your text as a webpage or a google docs document

[BrutishVulgarian]

Star Trek Online, has a lot of user generated stories, that are essentially single player games in a multi player world.   Players rate the scenarios with stars, and that is a very good indicator of which ones are good.  I think user generated content would be a very wise idea.

 

Perhaps, if they were good enough, players or guilds could even sell their better scenarios for game currency.    

[Jack Lowe]

Have to agree with britishvulgarian on that one. It might be a good idea and indeed more cost effective to look to the players for content. Encourage and use the popular story lines they create and weave it into the MP experience. It might not be good for that to be the only source however the ones that become most popular over time might well help flesh out a eventual single player game. It would follow that if a large portion of players enjoy the content in MP that it will at least loosely translate to an enjoyable single player game.

 

I would love to have an offline capability, getting more on topic. I would have to admit that the dev's response has very sound reasoning why single player would need to be put on the back burner for now. Haven't seen the game in action yet however going from what's written here and the community that seems to be gathering around this game. I would have to say that if the above mentioned thought were put in practice at an appropriate time, perhaps as a forum thread of it's own. I wouldn't hesitate to put my money down for said mythical single player title.

[Thomas Blackwell]

I know I'd work for peanuts and cred

 

Better storytelling than Skyrim is actually not that difficult to accomplish. Bethesda tends to shed their best writers.

 

But MP still needs well-written gameworld dialog, written orders, tutorials etc. I want to be a writer and historical consultant for your team, and I'm probably not alone. That would be much better than beta testing. Here's a writing sample, depicting the sort of thing I'd love to re-create in the game.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-TmCbH-99MIla_-kbRexf6heJwQnmkO3Tf6O5XGEc7c/pub

Fantastic! Absolutely fantastic! God how I wish I possessed your talent at creating and describing such a realistic scenario. Also your knowledge of tall ships and their many parts, that piece could have been copy-pasted from Master and Commander for all the difference it makes! As a fellow writer, I salute you sir with a full broadside!

[racketyjack]

Would love to be able to roll my own...

[D. Federico de Gravina y N]

me too

[Comandante Gómez]

+10000

 

The future of up-to-dated games is on the freedom of edition features, like 'map editors'.

[racketyjack]

Im fairly new here so not sure on certain aspects of the game. If it is simply open ended, a mission editor might not be useful. But imagine making scenarios like the Constitution and HMS Guerriere. I know we dont have that ship...yet...but a standin would work for starters. Or battling Black Beard along the Carolina coast. The what ifs are unlimited.

[Mirones]

an mission editor ala IL-2 would be fine basicly giving the bots a pretermited route and recreat events liek trafalgar in coop with a handfull of friends

[Ligatorswe]

Great idea.