Is it possible to have FO expand further than the stock engi

posted on July 13th, 2009, 2:15 am

The devs say that the only thing FO uses from A2 is the engine... when can I expect there to be a proto of a completely independent engine further expanding FO beyond its original limits? After all, I think FO deserves to eventually evolve beyond the ol' Armada 2 game engine and onto its very own. Who agrees?

posted on July 13th, 2009, 2:19 am

This isn´t a matter of agreeing, you basically propose to create a whole new game from scratch. Maybe Activision should give the FO team millions of bucks, a staff and years to develope Armada 3. 

posted on July 13th, 2009, 2:21 am

Maybe Activision should give the FO team millions of bucks, a staff and years to develope Armada 3. 

I think FO would be almost an Armada 4... Really though... FO can't rely on the engine forever.

posted on July 13th, 2009, 2:24 am

This is not the first time leet has asked this......he has no idea what it takes....

posted on July 13th, 2009, 2:26 am

Sadly there isn´t much we can do about it. Maybe game developers should starte to increase the ratio of good star trek games (1 out of 10 is not enough  :lol:).

posted on July 13th, 2009, 2:29 am

......he has no idea what it takes....

...... Well, I admit I have only a vague idea. But probably if there was a boom in the support for the project maybe it could happen? I did ask this before... just to me I think that if FO were independent than the human mind would be its only true limit... after all. Making a new engine takes time... and they have their lives beyond FO. I respect that... but if we all were to pull toogether and push are limits... FO could actually evolve far beyond ever thought before. It may take decades... but it likely could happen. Maybe we can ask the Borg to help program it.  :borg:

posted on July 13th, 2009, 2:39 am

I really really hope we all have better things to do in a few decades. 

posted on July 13th, 2009, 3:10 am

I however do know what it takes (i program some) and it's my dream to one day create a great star trek RTS. However, it would require a good engine and a lot of time, so that's out at least for several years.
In a couple decades? nah, im sure FO will still be going strong at v4! just kidding...

posted on July 13th, 2009, 3:15 am

I really appreciate the efforts the devs have put into armada...and I enjoy the fruits of there efforts and im very grateful they decided to share those fruits with us....and im glad they ask us for our imput and such.....but In no way could I or be willing to devote as much time and effort into developing armada technicaly to the levlel of producing an entire new engine....quite frankly I dont mind modding for myself and helping others out when I have the time but my life has far too much going on in it that far exceeds devoting time to armada...in fact ive spent more time on the forums in the last 2 weeks than actually playing FO...though I did spend time exploring and conceptualizing some ideas I have in mind......

[asystematicayhos]

posted on July 13th, 2009, 5:06 am

Last edited by asystematicayhos on July 13th, 2009, 5:08 am, edited 1 time in total.

I understand that an expansion ( programming of armada 2 ) violates the terms of use but if you have a copy of quake and you know how to mod on the darkplaces engine I believe that  you could have a total conversion to an  rts game running off of a modded quake engine in under a year, It would take a LOT of work but even if it takes 2 years i'm willing to help and wait......... that is if......


( quake engine and darkplaces engine are opensource )

posted on July 13th, 2009, 9:50 pm

Perhaps I'm naive to the code, but it seems to me that FO has replaced nearly everything about the original game, so it may not be utterly silly to think about a new engine.

That said, I really, really wish that Activision (EA now?) would act like the late Interplay and release the source code like the latter did for FreeSpace 2 (FSopen being an unfuckingbelievable example of a 12-year-old game being better than anything in the genre released since).

posted on July 14th, 2009, 12:36 am

I don´t know if that fits the engine vs modding issue, but i imagine the game as a house. It´s easier to paint it with a different color or throw out old furniture, but to completely build a new house is another matter. 

posted on July 14th, 2009, 5:21 am

i understand the point of your story but id change it to building a 50 story office building. Programs are difficult to program and once you start messing around with 3d objects it adds a whole new level of complexity.

posted on July 14th, 2009, 5:30 am

Aye, that's true. The best example would be the house: you can stick new paint on it, add a room or two, and redecorate the interior for maybe 10000 bucks, but it costs at least 10 times that to build another house of comparable size.

posted on July 14th, 2009, 6:23 am

Eh a new engine sure it's that complex, but what I propose is moving fleetops to a new "house" aka, the darkplaces engine... it's not that hard to get the models converted, then all you need to do is set up the scripts, and scripting is the time consuming thing...