Maximius on 6/5/2005 at 14:53
It doesnt have to be a vampire, it could be whatever, like a Hammerite Sherlock Holmes who is always on Garretts tail, or important figures like a Duke or a Wizard that dont come and go like regular NPCs. The use of a recurring character with a publicly known history of interaction with Garrett will lend a lot to creating a sense of continuity in the City.
But that being said, rest assured I will make a vampire for TDS. The storyline of Thief already uses the undead, vampires were introduced in a couple of T2 FMs, and I happen to be a vampire. So there. :ebil:
str8g8 on 6/5/2005 at 15:26
Quote:
For example, I make an FM and introduce this vampire badass. It and Garrett tussle, then go their separate ways, kind of an introduction. But I also make the models and whatever else available to FM editors online. The vamp has its own page, you may download it to use with a couple of conditions:
OK, I get what you are saying now - that's a great idea! :thumb: We could also bring back some of the old characters in this way ... like Lord Bafford and so on! As you say, you just need to create a few conditions for their use that others abide by, presumably decided by their creators.
We have been discussing a web site for the city map project ... maybe this could be linked to these persistent characters and public domain maps, kind of like a repository of continuity ... (?)
cheers
str8g8
Bardic on 6/5/2005 at 16:13
Would this work as sort of a centralized download? You make an FM, tell the group in charge of the central map where you would like a portal placed, and they tell you a version number that you can include with your map.
It would probably have to be a voting system or the most well made missions can "Get the call" to be included in the Community map. But that shouldn't be too hard, there are a few missions for T1 and T2 that really stand out and everyone knows are excellent quality.
When people go to download your FM you tell them they need Stone Market version 1.7 or above, and tell them where the portal is.
And when people went to download the vanilla maps there could be a listing of what FMs the current version of each area links to. So you could download all the FMs that corrosponded with that district.
You might also want a basic loading room for each fan mission related to a district. For instance, I run into the portal for an FM I haven't downloaded yet, it loads up a basic room that tells me I can't go there. When I download the full FM, it overwrites the temp zip for that mission and now works fine.
Maximius on 6/5/2005 at 17:04
Quote Posted by str8g8
We have been discussing a web site for the city map project ... maybe this could be linked to these persistent characters and public domain maps, kind of like a repository of continuity ... (?)
Heck yes, we could carefully detail the connections between characters, provide biographies and key details to tie them in to Garrett,keep track of those who died, (and who rose again!) and what each ones current storyline is. FM editors will have to be careful to stay to the storyline AMAP, FMs that deviate too sharply with their treatment of these recurring NPCs will not get stored in the repository's history. The respository could have various "books" for the visitor to read, the History of the Royals, Pagan Lore, City Watch Rouges Gallery, City Watch Special Investigations logs, Hammerite Post reports, plus various Histories of the non-Humans. Some RNPCs will be only appear in certain districts, like a ghost or similar haunty kinda thing or an Inspector that only works the docks. Others can appear throughout the city.BTW, speaking of docks, couldnt they be used as a portal to FMs set in far off lands. Imagine going to the docks, boarding a brief shipboard FM to simulate the trip, then another full size FM that takes place far away from the city.
Krypt on 6/5/2005 at 18:12
Quote Posted by Maximius
and I happen to be a vampire. So there. :ebil:
:rolleyes:
Maximius on 6/5/2005 at 19:15
Well its true, my girlfriend calls me a bloodsucker all the time! :cheeky:
Crispy on 7/5/2005 at 08:28
This sounds like a great idea, but IMO it would require heavily centralised coordination to work.
Oh, and I disagree about FMs necessarily having to be set before TDS. Just because Garrett becomes a Keeper, that doesn't mean he necessarily has to give up thieving altogether; the Keepers are undergoing large changes. (On a mostly unrelated note, I LOVED that last cutscene. Classic.)
Though it would probably be easier to set FMs before TDS, I admit; but only because we actually know what's going on there (there's no canon source as to exactly what things are like after TDS). So the city should probably be pre-TDS.
Rantako on 7/5/2005 at 14:57
Quote Posted by Crispy
Though it would probably be easier to set FMs before TDS, I admit; but only because we actually know what's going on there
This can be easily remedied. I'm sure the community could come up with some events happening right after TDS, what Garrett goes on to do, who the new First Keeper is, etc. that FMs could use as a starting point. I think having the City before TDS would be even more limiting than having it after, because you wouldn't be able to refer to any of the TDS events or build on anything introduced in it.
Rantako on 7/5/2005 at 15:32
Inspiration!
Another idea - we wouldn't need to limit city FMs to before or after TDS - we could have both!
It would work like this:
When you release an FM, you would say how many months before or after TDS it is set. Then we would have a version of the City for each month. Portals to new FMs only get added to the City version for the month they are set in.
For example, say there's an FM set one month after TDS which starts in Black Alley in Southquarter. And another FM, set two months after TDS, which starts in the same place. When playing the City version for one month after (+1) only the FM set in that month can be accessed, because only it is in that map.
You then play the City version set in month two (+2) and the FM set then is available instead!
We would only need Fleshloader to switch between the City versions - all FMs would be installed all the time, but which ones you can play would depend on which month City was installed.
The advantages of this would be that the City sections wouldn't get too crowded with missions, FM authors would never need to fight over who gets to put their mission start where (if the place you want is taken, you set your FM in a different month), and people could make FMs both before and after TDS and they could all get put in the City!
(You can probably tell I'm excited about this by the number of !s I'm using)
To make this work, we would need a group of 'City Admins' (I know, rubbish title) who are in charge of adding FMs to the City. When you submit an FM, you would tell them where and when it is set, and they would add a starting portal to the latest version of the correct city section and month. The Admins would also handle files that all FMs need, such as Inventory.sch and Quotes.sch so that all the inventory and quotes for a particular month are in the same file (this would get over the problem of trying to switch these files ingame). FM authors would simply say what they had added to these files and the Admins would add it to that month's file. (Though it could be very problematic doing this with the gamesys...)
We'd also need an online database thing so you can quickly find which month the FM you want to play is in - could be part of Fleshloader?
Enough of my rabbiting on about it - what does everyone think?!
If anyone understands all this then I'm getting much better at explaining things
Maximius on 7/5/2005 at 18:56
I think thats an excellent idea rantako. It jives with the recurring NPC idea that Bumbleson and I have been talking about. With a city built along four dimensions, no characters developed ever really die, cause you can always make an FM that took place when they were alive.
