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Points of Interest
I've been to a fair number of sectors in the new galaxy, and even though I hate to say it, they all start looking the same after a while: hundreds of small - medium sized roids randomly spattered across a vast abyss.
Before jumping to the "space is an empty place" argument, consider some of the things that made the 3.2-3.3 universe so much fun: the hidden sectors, the secret station inside the cracked roid in 10, the station-city that occupied the huge roid in sector 7, the hollowed out mining roids with glowing ore inside. The new universe seems to be notably lacking such points of interest, even the stations are all very similar whereas the 3.3 stations all had a lot of character (like the giant satellite in sector 4 or the ring-station in sector 3).
I think one of the characteristics of a successful MMORPG is to have points of interest to explore. If the universe remains largely homogenous, it may have a difficult time keeping players' interests. My apologies if the devs have already planned to implement this, but as far as I have heard the 3.5 universe will probably be the template for the final version.
I think the devs have done an awesome job on the new universe, the fact that most of it was randomly generated is amazing. I know it would be impossible to design 7000+ unique sectors, but perhaps some points of interest could be added into the new universe. Just some thoughts to consider.
Before jumping to the "space is an empty place" argument, consider some of the things that made the 3.2-3.3 universe so much fun: the hidden sectors, the secret station inside the cracked roid in 10, the station-city that occupied the huge roid in sector 7, the hollowed out mining roids with glowing ore inside. The new universe seems to be notably lacking such points of interest, even the stations are all very similar whereas the 3.3 stations all had a lot of character (like the giant satellite in sector 4 or the ring-station in sector 3).
I think one of the characteristics of a successful MMORPG is to have points of interest to explore. If the universe remains largely homogenous, it may have a difficult time keeping players' interests. My apologies if the devs have already planned to implement this, but as far as I have heard the 3.5 universe will probably be the template for the final version.
I think the devs have done an awesome job on the new universe, the fact that most of it was randomly generated is amazing. I know it would be impossible to design 7000+ unique sectors, but perhaps some points of interest could be added into the new universe. Just some thoughts to consider.
I can't see Vlad's reply... weird.
*sigh* This is ONLY the 10th post like this....apparently some people don't get the concept of randomly generated sectors.....Do you really think the devs have time to put something worthwhile in ALL 7680 sectors? No, they're a bit busy right now fixing bugs/putting in new stuff. If you would read around the universe can theoretically expand to infinite size. Leaving much room for "exploration" This is just the basics right now...I believe in the future they will add more content to some sectors.
We're not asking for much. Just some.
Heh. SOME new universe content, some better bots, some missions, some nav menu changes, some chat system updates...
If I had all the time in the world, each of the 7680 sectors would be custom-tailored. As it stands, I'll definitely be making a few unique sectors, but I have to balance time spent on the universe against time spent on everything else.
If I had all the time in the world, each of the 7680 sectors would be custom-tailored. As it stands, I'll definitely be making a few unique sectors, but I have to balance time spent on the universe against time spent on everything else.
Actually, most of us are asking for just some. Some of us are asking for lots. ^^
lots of us are asking for some, some of us are asking for lots... weird type of chiasmus, isn't it.
/me wonders if she will come upon a sector full of glowy holey roids! or cracked roids. or balls of ice-roids like the one in s14... but stuff like that can't be randomly generated, can they?
(by the way, the planets look -really- nice. are they randomly generated? most likely not...)
/me wonders if she will come upon a sector full of glowy holey roids! or cracked roids. or balls of ice-roids like the one in s14... but stuff like that can't be randomly generated, can they?
(by the way, the planets look -really- nice. are they randomly generated? most likely not...)
I heard everything in the skybox was randomly generated, not sure if that includes the planets' terrain, but very impressive nonetheless. Another cool skybox feature which I'm sure you've all noticed: the sun gets bigger as you get closer to the center of the system. Also, your ship reflects the color of the sun.
On sector content: of course I realize that 7680 unique sectors is a rediculous request, and the devs have much better things to do with their time. As a matter of fact my jaw dropped when I saw the new universe, and the fact that randomly generated sectors means a potentially infinite universe is truly a thing of beauty. I'm not sure what algorithm or program is used to generate the sectors, but I wonder if there would be any way to include a very small probability that an anomalous sector is generated, one that would make you go "woah, look what I found!"
If not, even just using some of the objects from the old universe (like some of the stations or larger roids) in a few already existing sectors would be very cool.
edit: well, I guess I just ate my own words... sitting right in Dau I-15 is none other than the old sector 9 station!
On sector content: of course I realize that 7680 unique sectors is a rediculous request, and the devs have much better things to do with their time. As a matter of fact my jaw dropped when I saw the new universe, and the fact that randomly generated sectors means a potentially infinite universe is truly a thing of beauty. I'm not sure what algorithm or program is used to generate the sectors, but I wonder if there would be any way to include a very small probability that an anomalous sector is generated, one that would make you go "woah, look what I found!"
If not, even just using some of the objects from the old universe (like some of the stations or larger roids) in a few already existing sectors would be very cool.
edit: well, I guess I just ate my own words... sitting right in Dau I-15 is none other than the old sector 9 station!
Also note the sun in each system. Look at it closely. Then tap your navigation menu key and look at the sun graphic at the center. They're the same, right? The positioning of your current sector in relation to the sun is pretty close, but not 100% accurate. Nice attention to detail.
Yup, all of the sectors are randomly generated. I tell it roughly what kind of asteroids to use, in roughly what kind of configuration, and it does the rest. The backgrounds aren't random, though. I specify the positions of all the planets and moons in the system, where the suns are, what backgrounds to use, how many stars, etc. Then, when you warp into a sector, all that data is translated to make the background look correct from your vantage point (planets in the correct positions, sun bigger and brighter when you're close to it, stars and nebulae more visible farther away... etc.)
Oh, and there IS a small probability that a given sector will contain something unexpected (5%-10% depending on the system), the only problem is that right now that just means "more asteroids". :) I'll improve that later.
Oh, and there IS a small probability that a given sector will contain something unexpected (5%-10% depending on the system), the only problem is that right now that just means "more asteroids". :) I'll improve that later.
*dazzled!*
realistic backgrounds!
/me pops back ingame to look at all the sectors in relation with one another more closely.
realistic backgrounds!
/me pops back ingame to look at all the sectors in relation with one another more closely.