[C4] announcing SMACed-up "Remix"

[Padmewan]

I have been working on a SMAC "remix" over the past few weeks and have posted the results over at CivFanatics:

Mod discussion thread

The premise of this mod is: What if human instellar colonists never made it to their destination? Thus the working title of the project is "Planet Roanoke".

Although I'm borrowing liberally from SMAC graphics and concepts, the intent is not to reproduce SMAC but rather capture a little of its "flavor" with a different (but similar) storyline, setting, and mechanics.

For example, instead of the Cybernitic Consciousness being its own faction, they have been converted into a Lifeform ("Religion" in vanilla Civ4) that spread throughout the colonies. This makes more intuitive sense to me, anyway.

A few of the game mechanics/features also explain why it takes so bloody long for these lost colonists to contact Earth. Unlike SMAC, they eventually do, which has potentially game-changing effects.

Without intending to steal anyone away from the worthy project going on here, I invite anyone who is interested to come help us with this mod. We especially need folks who are good at laying out game concepts/fun/balance as well as coders, artists and designers!

Sample screenshot:

[Padmewan]

Tech Tree

You can see I borrowed liberally from the SMAC tech tree icons, though my goal is to create all new icons eventually to replace these, as well as any techs that are too obviously "borrowed" (e.g. "Secrets of the Human Mind" could just as easily be named "Neural Mapping").

[Maniac]

Great solar tower.

[Padmewan]

Originally posted by Maniac
Great solar tower.

A lot of great stuff coming out of the modding community -- that's a building I repurposed as an improvement.

In-game it's actually a "Resonator" gathering "resonance" from the thing-that-looks-like-a-river until I figure out how to mod to be what it's supposed to be (an outreach of the fibersea, which you see in the lower-left corner).

[MMC]

The Rivers texture file is '<CivDir>\Assets\Art\Terrain\Routes\Rivers\AllRiversLarge.d ds'


Hope that helps.

[Padmewan]

Thanks, MMC. Actually the issue is less figuring out how and more figuring out "What exactly does this thing look like, or should we just get rid of "rivers" altogether?"

Interested in pitching in?

[MMC]

Sure...

To be honest, in your screenshots here, the 'fibersea' looks almost like a jumble of neurons ( braaaaaiiiiinns... sorry, zombie moment ) and as an extension of that metaphor, the 'fiber-rivers' could be like nerve fibers. In fact, that would make a great parallel to SMAC(X)'s 'Voice' that keeps appearing as a manifestation of the thoughts of the mind worms and fungus.

Suppose the planet itself was alive, or at least had a unique nervous system. Then your idea of 'Resonance' could turn out to be a form of telepathy (the colonists wouldn't realise this at first - maybe not until they discover the equivelant of 'Secrets of Alpha Centauri').

Also, in place of 'Secrets of the Human mind' you could have 'Homo Neurogenics' with its 'Secrets of Alpha Centauri' being something like 'Roa Neurogenics' (Roa being some short/native form of Roanoke - as Homo is to Human).

Just a few ideas off the top of my head. One thing I could help with, if you just want ideas, is the tech tree. What each tech is, and the fuller story behind it, etc.

[Padmewan]

Originally posted by MMC
To be honest, in your screenshots here, the 'fibersea' looks almost like a jumble of neurons ( braaaaaiiiiinns... sorry, zombie moment ) and as an extension of that metaphor, the 'fiber-rivers' could be like nerve fibers. In fact, that would make a great parallel to SMAC(X)'s 'Voice' that keeps appearing as a manifestation of the thoughts of the mind worms and fungus.

In fact the fibersea is, well, the fiber texture in Macromedia Fireworks + bubble glass coloring. I can't get the ocean tiles to work right (the game engine keeps layering blue over it), but if I did, I have a tiled zoom of a blood clot with fibers added to it. So "brains" is actually kinda accurate

Suppose the planet itself was alive, or at least had a unique nervous system. Then your idea of 'Resonance' could turn out to be a form of telepathy (the colonists wouldn't realise this at first - maybe not until they discover the equivelant of 'Secrets of Alpha Centauri').

Did you read the spoilers in the thread? You're not too far off the mark! (Then again, this plot is not exactly dissimilar from SMAC)

"Roa" -- nice. I can work with that. Makes me think of large, flightless birds, tho.

Just a few ideas off the top of my head. One thing I could help with, if you just want ideas, is the tech tree. What each tech is, and the fuller story behind it, etc.

The text of each Era I tech still needs fleshing out. I am nurturing the hope that we can mod the tech popup so that each tech, as it's discovered, tells a bit of story -- like right now the "quote" for Adaptive Biology is an Engineer's report on retrofitting the original blueprints to work in a much colder environment. We also need techs for Eras 2-5.

I've setting up a dev board here: http://www.anderkoo.com/roanoke

where I'm hoping to hash out some of the more complex issues instead of shoving it all into one thread. Don't mind the lack of any design whatsoever.

[MMC]

I actually like the current look of the 'fibersea'. It gives it a certain... 'unique-ness'. Although I could probably whip up an equivalent texture if you want something original to replace the 'borrowed' Macromedia one. Also I've managed to isolate the file(s) that control the colour overlays/underlays (such as the semi-transparent blue you find all over the interface), as well as the files for the biege buttons, etc... (correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe these have really been isolated before now)

No, I didn't read the spoilers... In fact I didn't even click the link until you mentioned the spoilers. I don't really goto CivFanatics other than to look for any and all news about when the SDK/next patch might be ready. This is not out of loyalty to 'Poly, but rather a case of I already have too many sites on my list to keep a track of, and many fall behind *very* quickly, so I have to set a limit nowadays.

You're probably thinking of the Roc, a popular bird for fables and crosswords ("Fabulous Bird, 3").

As for that site... ermmm... err... I hate to say this but I think it breaks nearly every rule for a good website, with the possible exception of getting to the point quickly. This is only my opinion, but I do think that site could do with some kind of health warning.

But seriously, it may look 'chic' and 'minimalist' (minimalist n. the 'chic' way of saying 'lazy' or 'cheap'), but it will get cluttered and unreadable very quickly. You should put in some formatting very quickly, before things get out of hand (I can do it for you, if you want. Web design is what I do*).

Wow. That turned into a rant... sorry if I offended you.

*I'd like to say 'for a living' here, but I don't get paid for it... yet.

[Padmewan]

As it turns out, I was thinking of Rhea. Anyway, if you've isolated those files -- awesome! I think you may have uncovered a Secret of the Universe. Seriously, if you can strip the blue, we can absolutely replace it.

If you're at all proficient with graphics, you'll see that I'm totally just winging it with the tiles. In particular, the lack of MIP maps for them is very poor... I suspect it's crashing my GPU, in fact. So would love any help you can lend on that front. Have you perchance tried the mod?

Finally, re: site, I've gone ahead and slapped my standard design on it. (It was ripped from the iPod ads about 2 years ago). I was rushing to get it posted this afternoon because woodelf and I realized we were putting too much into email and so it would be hard for others to jump into the fray.