OLD - WIP: Masters of the Force

[razorace]

Introduction

 

I've unofficially cancelled Jedi Styles until Stellarwind shows back up. Until then, I'm starting a Mod in the same vain of trying to boost the realism of the game in general. The official title is Star Wars: Masters of the Force. I'm aiming for a two staged modification schedule. Stage One will involve reworking the game mechanics for more realism. Stage Two will involve adding a experience / leveling system to the game for a more flexible and fun game experience. Eventually, I'm aiming for a Mod capable of recreating the movie battles in a way that is as fun and realistic as possible.

 

Update 10/13/02: We've changed to a simple progressive implimentation plan. The design changes enough stuff that a multi-stage implimentation plan would require rewrites inbetween stages.

 

 

Help/Job Requirements

 

I will accept help in basically any area and experience level. The only ground rules I have are:

 

[*]I have the final say on any aspect on the project but only to keep the project on track.

[*]Documentation! Documentation! Documentation!

[*]All reasonable effort will be made to properly credit anyone who contributes.

[*]Use common sense.

[*]Be nice.

[*]Have fun.

[*]You must have enough time to work on the Mod on a regular basis AND communicate frequently with the other of the staff.

[/list=1]

 

Source Code

 

We've discussed being a Open Source Mod, and we've changed our policy on it. The game will no longer be open source. Instead, we're going with a source code "on request" system.

 

If you have an good or interesting use for the code, contact us. Depending on our opinion of the idea, we'll:

[*]Let you have the code for PERSONAL USE ONLY.

[*]Impliment your idea as the official release. With your help, of course.

[*]Reject the idea.

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After the team has gotten tired/bored/etc. of the project, we WILL open source the code to the community so others can continue our work if they wish.

 

We feel the community is currently being segmented by a continuous flow of cut-and-paste Mods. The community needs 4 different versions of JediMod like a sub needs a screen door. While most of these cut-and-paste Mods DO have their high points, they needlessly split the servers and members of the community. What we need is ONE version of each distinct Mod to keep the fragmentation down and that's what MotF is doing. In exchange for an non-open source project, we will try to be as openminded about new ideas as possible.

 

 

Final Thoughts

 

That's it. If you have any suggestions / complaints / bug reports / etc. please post them here, PM me, or email me or another member of the Mod's staff. Thank you.

 

As for the current status of ideas, work, etc. just tuned to this thread.

 

 

Copyright Note

 

Please don't rip ideas, source, etc. without my permission or until we officially release stuff as Open Source.

[razorace]

The Team Assignment / Open Positions doc is located here.

 

If you're interested in truely beta testing the Mod before public releases, you need to contact me and be added to the team.

 

UPDATE: The Team Assignment Doc is out of date. Read at your own risk.

[razorace]

A currect copy of the Design Document can be found here. This includes the actual Design Document and ideas / suggestions that people have had.

 

UPDATE: The Design Doc is out of date. We're too busy working on the mod to update it. If anyone is interested in doing some writing work to update and maintain all our documention, please contact me.

[razorace]

These

[razorace]

Should I take the lack of replies as....

 

[*]Everyone is speechless at the glory of my design Doc.

[*]Noone is here because of all the damn server trouble.

[*]Noone cares / I suck.

[*]D00d, h0w d0 I G3t t00 s@b3rs N J3Di M0D????!!!!!

[*]All of the above

[/list=A]

 

???

[reaper1576]

Sounds impresive would this work in single player sorry i cant help to bussy with the Dark Forces 2 Jedi knight TC

[razorace]

Thanks for replying.

 

As for a SP port, unless Raven releases the SP source code, I'm not even going to attempt to port it. If someone else wants to try it, I guess they could try if they asked.

[razorace]

I just updated the Design Doc posted up at the top of the thread.

[reaper1576]

Originally posted by razorace

Thanks for replying.

 

As for a SP port, unless Raven releases the SP source code, I'm not even going to attempt to port it. If someone else wants to try it, I guess they could try if they asked.

hey its cool i know what you meen about the sp sdk come on raven we want it

[razorace]

Just made another update to the Design Doc.

 

We can still use whatever help the community can provide.

[Arceri]

Sounds interesting. Alot of work too. I'd help you out if I knew anything about programming, but unfornately, I don't. I wish I did I have alot of my own ideas I'd like to see turn into a mod.

 

Let me know if you need someone to help you beta test your mod though. I'd be glad to help.

[razorace]

Great! I'll give you a PM to get the ball rolling. I could use help with design too.

[SPY_jmr1]

if you need a guy to bouce ideas off of and test things, I am your guy... I have to be one of the only ones who has heard of/likes jedi style...

 

also say the word, and in 30min EVERYBODY will know... I can get ahold of anyone, belive me:D

 

this new mod sounds WONDERFULL, and the only advice I have is:dont start too big, start on the small side.

 

also, people like previews. if they know about it, and like it, they will come back for more. think yoda model thread;)

 

hmm... A idea...

 

why not instead of powerups, you would pick your gun(if so inclined) off a point based menu, much like the current force menu?

 

also, maybe have some addons? like... I dont know.. scopes for all the guns, for maybe 1 point per gun? or a silencer atachment? that could be fun.

 

also, the sniper rifle would need some improvement, methinks... I like the RTCW sniper idea, the longer you hold still, the better the shot. also you could offer a "sniper gyro system" to take it back to what you have now, for perhaps 15 points.(if you are gonna give um a boom-stick, make it hurt.)

 

if the point system, is a no-go, perhaps just somthings like, the E-11 has a weaker scope(common, its on the flipin model, why cant we use it?) and give the primary fire the silencer...

 

anyway, thats all I have right now... I am sure I will think of more later... bye

[razorace]

Awesome, I must be moving up in the world to get the attention of one of the Mods.

if you need a guy to bouce ideas off of and test things, I am your guy... I have to be one of the only ones who has heard of/likes jedi style...

That would be great. I'll PM you if I need something that I can just discuss in this thread. (Sides, it gives the thread a good bump at the same time. We're still in the Design / Recruitment stage so it will probably be a while before we get to a Beta Testing point.

also say the word, and in 30min EVERYBODY will know... I can get ahold of anyone, belive me

Well, we could really use someone who knows how / wants to sort thru the animations and set up the modified animations we'll need. I know very little about the animation setup and it sounds rather complicated. But, fortunately, I believe we can do everything we want to do without needing to create "new" animations.

 

As for other needs, the more coders, the better. This is mainly a gameplay Mod so we don't exactly need mappers, skinners, etc. But, we could use them to recreate some of the famous movie battles to show off the improved combat system and add a little "flash" to the presentation.

this new mod sounds WONDERFULL, and the only advice I have is:dont start too big, start on the small side.

 

also, people like previews. if they know about it, and like it, they will come back for more. think yoda model thread

Very wise advise. I've been trying to keep this thread up to date with my current design docs, but that hasn't seemed to generate as much interest as I had hoped. But that's ok.

 

As for trying to start small, I've already assigned the whole leveling system to Stage Two of the project but I may have to divide it up more to generate some interest and help. Of the Stage One modifications I think the Saber Clash/Force Dodge/Fatigue is the most important but they'll also be the hardest to impliment. Maybe we should start with a small release that tweaks the Specials....

why not instead of powerups, you would pick your gun(if so inclined) off a point based menu, much like the current force menu?

That's a great idea! It would be a good way to work on the UI and game code without getting TOO deep into it. I think I'll add that to the Design Doc (if that's ok with you. )

 

The gun attactments are good ideas too. I'll also add them to the DD but I'm not sure how implementable weapon add-on are in the game. (It may require adding "new" weapons for the add-on abilities and that may not be possible yet.)

 

I agree that the Disrupter need a work over. Maybe set secondary to zoom toggle and Push/Pull to zoom in and out? And add a diminishing random "barrel float" to the sights instead of a Rainbow 6 Crosshair thingy (sorry, I don't remember how the RTCW sniper scope worked....)

 

Anyway, thanks for the great input! I'll be sure to credit you for your contribution.

[razorace]

Actually, after thinking about it. We sure could use a good mapper person as well. We need someone with knowledge of the map triggers to figure out a way to make the players "dodge" map damage. For example, after watching the movies I got the impression that Jedi seem to be able to fall at terminal speeds (Anakin/Obi-Wan on Coricent, Luke on Bespin, etc, etc.) and survive the landing. Therefore, on ns_streets and other "fall death" maps, I think you should just fall off the bottom of the map, "run back up to the level", and reappear thru a doorway or something with a slight Fatigue/Health Hit instead of a suicide match against your kills. (except, of course, for Bespin where there's no ground to safely fall onto.

[SPY_jmr1]

sure, add whatever you want to the docs, I do not mind one bit.

 

moving on...

 

when I said, give me 30min and everone will know, I ment just that"everybody" you know, 'joe 3 doors down' just so people know about this mod... jedi style floped frankly, just some bad timing, coming right after the much larger jedi mod 1.0.

 

however, I DO know some editors in the jkii world... I can think of a maper who does good work, and a 2 or 3 model/animation guys... come to think of it, the other day, one of them got a user-made .GLM file to work in mod-view... you might want to talk to him...

 

there is a ton of talent in the jediknightii.net IRC chat... and a ton of ideas...

 

like I said, I will think up some more ideas tomorow, as its not 0408 here.... GAH! night all!

 

edit: I have done enough mapping to know your idea, good as it may be, will not work at this time. there is no way to unBSP a map, and the only 2 ways to do what you would want/need is:1, remake the maps from scratch... doable, but very time consuming. OR 2, convince raven to somehow release/send us/do it for us the .MAP files of the above maps... yeah right...

 

your best shot would be to include a mappack with maps that are close in gamplay to the defaults...

 

look at this, I edited in a whole damn 2nd post... GAH! night for REAL this time:D

[razorace]

oh, ok. Ether way the more people know about the Mod the better. Well, at least until the "D00d, h0w d0 I G3t t00 s@b3rs N J3Di M0D????!!!!!"people show up.

 

sweet, go ahead and PM me their contact info so I can pump them for information.

 

I'll be sure to go check out the JK2.net IRC when I've got the time. It's bedtime for me also.

 

edit: I have done enough mapping to know your idea, good as it may be, will not work at this time. there is no way to unBSP a map, and the only 2 ways to do what you would want/need is:1, remake the maps from scratch... doable, but very time consuming. OR 2, convince raven to somehow release/send us/do it for us the .MAP files of the above maps... yeah right...

 

Well, crap. But, I figured that was the case. Would it be possible to do it from inside the game code instead of the map files? I figure the map triggers are probably filtered down into the code at some point. (since the trash compacter can't kill Duelers but the falls can.) If we found that piece of code we could probably do a custom hack for each map to simply respawn your character at a certain point instead of just kill him. I don't know how we could explain trash compacter yet...maybe force the player to force speed out the door when the compacter trigger is pressed?

 

Well, good night all! I'll be sound to answer all messages in the morning.

[acdcfanbill]

just a thought, in SBX, you could mid air jump, and that was really handy when you got blown off by a destruction, or with later mods, force push. maybe that would be a better alternative to "force dodge the ground" since it would be easier to impliment (i think) and also, then its not computer controlled, if your not paying attention, you can still me thrown off, but if you are, you should have no prob getting back to safe ground.

 

though this would cause rolling to reduce falling dmg to be useless, as you could just slow your fall with force jump as we did with SBX... but its still a worthy idea to consider.

 

also, i want to give my best wishes to this mod, as it sounds like the exact thing i have been mentally planning i just lack the skills...

 

bill

[razorace]

While a midair jump sounds like a good gameplay option, it's never been shown in the movies plus, I imagine it would require a huge burst of the Force to go from falling to jumping in midair. However, maybe at some point in the future, we could make a "extreme saber combat" toggle with additional unrealistic options(like midair DBZ style saber clashing and the like) that would be simply fun to use.

[Arceri]

I've always thought (as an idea) this game needed a new gameplay type.

 

Assuming you get most of what you want working, you could add in new gameplay types so maps and missions would be more intune with the movies. Like an example of one gameplay is a mission based gameplay sort of like CS or so.

 

Here's my idea.

 

Have one gameplay type called Insurrection (or something to that effect). Where you have one team the defense (depending on which era you like more) could have one team the Empire or Rebels (or new Republic). One team would be defending their base from attack by the opposing team. Now the objectives would vary, but they could include something like planting thermal detonating devices at the base's main computer terminal. Hacking into the files and stealing them and escaping (like Rebels stealing the first Death Star plans). Assassinating a General or other kind of leader. Or lots of other possible theories. This would not only create variety (and teamwork something JK2 certainly has a lack of), but it would also tie in your craving for realism true to the movies, with the story lines and such. Making it more movie like by actually taking part.

 

I also think having the weapon UI would be nice too. Like those who aren't Jedi or Sith pick their weapons off that. I also think that people that can use the force shouldn't be able to use any weapon other than a Lightsaber (that's me, I've always thought that). And people that can use a variety of weapons can't use the force or Lightsabers.

 

For this gameplay type you could have it where one team being whatever, Empire, Rebels, whatever you decide. Have a certain amount of Jedi/Sith to each team. The rest of the team being regular soldiers with a variety of selected weapons. Each weapon would be paired with their team's counterpart. Meaning each team only gets to select the weapons that their side actually created (or actively use). That would make diversity between the teams.

 

Anyway, that's one of my ideas. Seems like if it was done right it'd add a whole new depth to multiplayer, other than just killing people or going after a flag.

[Arceri]

Btw, about the dodge system. Wouldn't it be easier just to make it an effect to a force power?

 

Like take one of the under-used force powers, Seeing. Most people only do this to level 1. Because let's face it. It's not overally useful beyond that. Sure at level 3 you can dodge sniper fire, but.. c'mon.

 

Maybe you should make it where seeing gives you a chance to dodge automatically? Like level 1 seeing still lets you see people invisible (assuming you're still making mind trick make you go invisible, if you're not then don't bother with that). But you could make level 1 give you a 5% chance of dodging a blaster shot or lightsaber attack. Level 2 15% change. Level 3 40% chance. I dunno just a thought. Might just make it easier to make it random. Although you're idea sounds fine, I was just offering a simplier solutation, since Seeing is pretty unused for the most part (level 2 and 3 anyway).

 

Changing some of the other existing force powers to make them more movie-like might be a good idea too.

[razorace]

While it would be a cool idea and all, I don't see it as worthwhile from a work -> payoff point of view. It would require an @$$load of programming, mapping, etc. and you'd be basically getting Team Fortress with lightsabers and the Force. Maybe after we complete all the other modifications we could attempt something like that but I currently feel that's beound the scope of the Mod. Sides, I understand that the Jedi Fortress WIP is going to do that exact thing.

 

As for the experience system, I believe in a more open ended style of system. Jedi players should use Lightsabers because they are the powerful, elegent, glaceful weapon of the Jedi not because we force them to. The Lightsaber is easily the most powerful and utilitarian weapon in the Star Wars universe and this will be reflected in the game. Sure, the guns will be balances against the saber, but a Jedi with a saber is simply more powerful than the best Bounty Hunter in the Galaxy with a blaster. I'm thinking that to offset this inharent advantage will be offset by a score bias for gun wielders.

[Arceri]

Well I meant for the gameplay type to allow only Jedi to use a Lightsaber, not your whole mod. Anyway, I understand it's alot of work, it was just an idea.

 

As for the weapons. What about simply limiting the number of weapons someone can carry? Like they can have a pistol, primary weapon, secondary weapon and selected explosives? But in the UI also give the person a choice whether to use a Lightsaber or Stun rod instead? But if you pick Lightsaber, it counts as the primary weapon, so therefore you can only carry a pistol, second weapon, and selected explosives?

 

Also could make it an OPTION to have it if you go no Lightsaber you can't use the force, but you get to carry more weapons? Making it a viable option to go Bounty Hunter as opposed to normal fitted soldier or Jedi. That'd give it a little more variety? Making it customizable for all types of people, would be nice. I don't think that'd take a whole lot of skinning, programming and such.

 

Just another idea anyway.

[razorace]

I'm writting about the Force Powers at the moment but I'll get to it soon. I really liked SPY_jmr1's seperate UI menu for weapons for at least Stage One of the project. For Stage One I'm thinking of making non-force users be able to use Jetpacks and other B Hunter tricks. And you'll have at least be Force Sensitve to use the saber, but then you don't have access to the B Hunter goodies. In Stage Two you'll be able to be a Force Sensitive B Hunter but for now we need to start implimenting the gameplay goodies first.

[ninjadreams]

I have been playing this game since it came out and i have to say this mod your making does sound like its going to make things alot of fun and also more movie like. Wish i knew some programing so that i could help out with it >_<

 

Good luck!!! and hope to read about it on the main site !!

 

Yagyu Jubei