null on 24/2/2005 at 22:15
I don't think there's a hard limit on traveling of any kind.
You could conceivably carve up a giant sprawling mission into as many pieces as you were able to create.
Hogwash on 24/2/2005 at 22:40
One good thing about load zones is that you can use them for scenarios where you are travelling to places separated by a long distance.
For example, say you start off in the inn at the docks and are approached by an NPC who tells you about some loot on a faraway island only reachable by taking the ferry. The objective would then be to buy/obtain your equipment, then make your way to the boardwalk, at which point you would then load up the next section, that is the island itself. The loading time would equate to the journey itself and the loading screen could be made interesting by having something to read on it.
I wouldn't mind loading zones being used in such a fashion as they would feel more natural than they would separating one corridor from another in a mansion.
Furthermore, I don't know if this would be popular but you could end up with having several front-ends that could be used to kick off many different missions. Let's say someone on here made a kickass steam-train station and put it up for download. FM creators could then download this and use this as a 'launchpad' for their own mission and customise it with their own readables and such. You could even do the same with apartments and pubs. If I were to, say, create a really nice inn and call it the Three Hammers, then someone could use this is as the starting point for their mission ("You're staying at the Three Hammers inn when someone slides a note under your door..."). Then, a 3rd person could use this in their own separate FM ("You're at the Three Hammers inn when someone propositions you at the bar..."). Playing that mission you would think to yourself "Oh, the Three Hammers, I've been here before" and feel a sense of familiarity.
Obviously there'd need to be a large selection of 'launchpads' so that people don't get bored of the same few ones. You could even do a Komag style contest where everyone submits a compact but detailed inn that people could use as a mission base.
Hylix Ulyx on 24/2/2005 at 22:47
That's an excellent idea. Those type of frontends would also solve the problem or how to get Garrett to purchase wares for the missions. You figure, if people know to come to the Three Hammers Inn to aquire Garretts services, he'd probably have some fences hole up at the inn for load up and load out.
Mr. Perfect on 24/2/2005 at 22:50
LostVoices' idea is where's it's at! That's what loading zones should be for. :wot: A dynamic city with the combined work of all the best level builders creating one or more campaigns through out it.
Tortus on 25/2/2005 at 04:24
I couldn't find an answer to this, sorry if it's reposting. Is it possible to open missions from the game and connect the two separate load zones, making the mission one huge level?
Vlad Midnight on 25/2/2005 at 04:59
Weve been building a Chain Project FM in Thief 2. Imagine if a bunch of us made Chain Project 2 in T3Ed :wot: The whole community could link all thier FMs into one huge campaign that would spread for miles :o Of course this would be one very strange FM :weird: But strange is good in many ways. The current Chain Project has almost 15 authors and makes no sense but is still fun to play. I would really like to see Chain Project 2 at least be tempted. There are sure to be abandoned missions that authors can donate to the Chain as well.
This is something that we simply have to try. Every zone doesnt have to be just one author if could be 4 or 5.....20 the possibilites seem endless. Of course we need time to learn the editor before we start. What do the rest of you guys think? ( :bored: / :thumb: )
fett on 25/2/2005 at 05:41
The way we handled T2X was to develop a solid 'plot team' that dealt with the overarching plot that would continue throughout all the missions. Sometimes the plot team would dictate the types of missions needed to accomodate the plot, other times, mappers would suggest locales that the plot team incorporated back into the over arching plot. The good thing about this is that the plot team can provide the *main* objectives and any campaign-wide plot documents, but the designer is free to add extra objectives and sub-plots that don't interfere with the main plot. Mappers can share characters or even carry on sub-plots at their leisure. As long as all the mappers are kept abreast of where thier mission fits into the campaign, and the plot team provides and engaging main story, it works great.
Huckeye on 25/2/2005 at 13:13
I personally don't like the train station idea as anything like that would waste resources on that in each mission or city. I like the theory, I would just make it something like a sewer grate. this would give access to everything in the city and would only have to be represented by a single tiny object in each level.
