What is Transcendence?

[george moromisato]

I've been thinking a little bit about this endeavor that we're on. What are we building? What are our goals?

Of course, it started with me trying to create a game.

But after extensions were implemented and after people started creating huge mods (like Wolfy's TX2), I think it has grown to be more than that.

What we are collectively building is a multiverse game system, like Dungeons & Dragons or the Star Wars RPG.

Like all other multiverse game systems, we have:

1. Core game mechanics (i.e., Transcendence.exe)
2. A core premise (e.g., it takes place in the future; it's in space; etc.)
3. Multiple universes
4. Individual adventures set in a specific universe.

One of the universes that we have, is the canonical Transcendence universe which I've been creating. And the storyline of the pilgrim called by Domina to reach the core is an individual adventure set in the canonical universe.

But as all these mods have demonstrated, it is quite possible to create different adventures set in the canonical universe or to create entirely new universes.

If you think about it this way, what we're trying to do is actually quite ambitious. Very few online game systems exist, mostly because it is so hard to create new adventures (compared to paper-and-pencil RPGs).

And thinking about it this way also helps us to envision where we're going as a project and what we need to do to get there.

Looking back at the list above, it strikes me that we need the most help in #4: Individual adventures in a specific universe.

For example, these are some of the adventures that I would love to play:

* A short, 1-system adventure that tells a story set in the Sol System.
* A re-telling of the Arthurian Legend, except set in Human Space during the Ares War.
* A well-balanced fleet vs. fleet battle in which you have a limited number of credits to equip a battle fleet.
* A tour of duty as a Centurion pilot on the CSC Europa.
* A version of Railroad Tycoon, except set in the Asteroid Belt.

Some of the stories above might be set in the canonical Transcendence universe. Some may be set in your own universe. Others might borrow bits and pieces from various universes.

As always, I'm interested in your thoughts.

[Aury]

Yep, I was taking an interest in #4 with my idea of making a wyvera-based TX2 spin-off. Yes, it's mostly to be a proof-of-concept tech-demo for scripting and balancing, but it's still an adventure in and of itself.

And fleet-vs-fleet... TX2 sorta does this for theatrical epic endings to a number of the major story lines (And even some during), but I'd love to try out an adventure extension dedicated to it.

I remember some brainstorming from IRC as well about doing a whole prequel sort of thing in sol, with each location of interest being a system in and of itself.

Just some of my thoughts

[alterecco]

George, I think that is a very interesting perspective, and a right one too. Transcendence as an engine has tremendous storytelling potential, and I too would love to see this part of the community grow.

When it comes to storytelling, the number one mechanism is dockscreens. They are probably also the most undocumented feature of the Transcendence engine. I think a lot of people are put of from developing larger storyline due to the challenge of building dockscreens. I think if you document this mechanism well, you will see more people jumping on the storyteller wagon. In general, more documentation equals easier developer entry. I do not want to take your focus away from work on the engine (there are still many features that I would love to see), but I really think lack of documentation is a major issue.

I remember when I started building the dockscreen framework... It literally took me weeks to wrap my head around how the screens work, and how to utilize them best (quirks, limitations). I don't recall how many times I have started Transcendence after making single line changes, just to see what happens Now, I am not much of a storyteller, and actually enjoy working out these mechanisms, but I think it is a rare storyteller who has the patience to do this.

Well, those are just my 5c. Either way I think we will see a growth in the quality mods made for Transcendence, the game engine being as fun to work with as it is

[Atarlost]

* A short, 1-system adventure that tells a story set in the Sol System.

I don't believe the first is possible. Players would not be patient enough to travel such distances. I believe you would have to split the system up into subsystems around planets and asteroid groups. Each planetary system would have an invisible edge similar to the Heretic quarantine that would take the player to a condensed solar system map that resembles Elysium in terms of mechanics. The same mechanic could be used for settings that don't use jumpgates.

* A re-telling of the Arthurian Legend, except set in Human Space during the Ares War.

No clue how Arthurian Legend would fit, but sure.

* A well-balanced fleet vs. fleet battle in which you have a limited number of credits to equip a battle fleet.

This really needs the ability of playerships to run multiple independent weapons like AI ships. If secondaryweapons on playerships autotargeted that would be adequate. I think they could then be toggled through a virtual device.

* A tour of duty as a Centurion pilot on the CSC Europa.

This one would just be an exercise in writing mission scripts. You'd need to render a 40 facing Centurion for us though. Possibly a 40 facing Britannia for the latter part.

* A version of Railroad Tycoon, except set in the Asteroid Belt.

I do not believe this is viable in the Transcendence interface. Transcendence is about ship handling and railroad tycoon is about cash flows. With full keymapping and mouse support and full abstraction of the HUD into script it would be possible. It would essentially require turning Transcendence into an RTS engine. (Railroad Tycoon is essentially an RTS without units)

Transcendence also already has everything needed for an RTS except the interface and network connectivity. And given the interface needed for asteroid tycoon all it would lack would be online multiplayer.

[Prophet]

I have attempted some adventure mods but never managed to stay focused long enough to finish one. Most of the time, I uncover a neat trick or mechanic and get sidetracked building a proof of concept mod for that one small aspect.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Some adventures I have started building and showed quite alot of promise:
- a tower defense genre game. I was focusing on Earth, after the Syrtis attack and the player had to rebuild defenses and the fleet to eventually destroy the Conclave on Mars. I got sidetracked building a 'healing-ray' weapon and then started building some modular event handlers when they came out. This project has huge potential.
- Resource management - similar to the railroad tycoon idea, I have though about this project the most, and am currently collaborating with Digdug to include some of my ideas in his Battlestar Galactica mod. My original idea was a little too ambitious, I wanted to essentially discard nearly all of the base stations, ships, items, dockscreens and some of the core mechanics and build new ones specificly for the adventure. Needless to say, I'm unsure what other roadblocks I would have eventually hit, but I am most passionate about this mod. I envisioned it to be something like Elite, freelancer, or planet's edge.
- classic action game - This idea was similar to Diablo or Gauntlet, very similar to Alterecco's Battlezone spread across multiple systems and all new enemies. I felt this idea would have been wildly popular because it changed the core game the least and instead focused on it's strengths (combat). I inevitably got sidetracked building this adventure trying to incorporate ideas from the other adventure mod ideas and got bogged down considering new dynamics than coding the original concept.


So why aren't there more adventures?
Building a new star system is very complex. There's not alot of discussion about them on the forum and very few modders have worked with them. Spending days/weeks learning the ins and outs of working with them and being able to place what you want, where you want consistantly takes practice.

Dealing with stargates is very touchy. They are directly linked to the topology and the systems and everything must work in unison to avoid major crashes. While stargates are essential to an adventure, I managed to hide them and implement a new mechanic for system to system travel that is planned to be used in the Battlestar Galactica mod.

Writing missions is extremely complex. Organizing events, ordering ships, handling data, it's alot of work to get a simple mission to work as intended. There were plans to create a mission framework that would provide tools to make building a mission much easier by providing generic events and helper funcs. The project stalled out very early with problems defining what a mission was, what was required for every mission, not to mention all the fringe cases.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To summarize, adventures are an endeavor only seriously considered by experienced modders, many of whom, lack the time to design, write, bugtest, and balance it. Organizing a collaboration effort is difficult, and a community effort has never been attempted (to my knowldege) but would require clearly defined tasks and leadership to ensure compatibility from all parts.

[Ttech]

I discuss transcendence as a game engine more then the game its self and try to get people to play it and develop mods and extrended stories for it.

[digdug]

the engine definitely has great potential.

* A short, 1-system adventure that tells a story set in the Sol System.

this would be awesome. It will give more insight on the history and universe of Transcendence.

I would love to play any of the phases of the Syrtis war, like the destruction of earth, the foundation of the Commonwealth, and the attack to Mars, even playing escaping Martians that will settle later in the outer systems (Ares)

[Song]

If single, large system areas can be done without lag, I'd love to see a mod that deliberately makes ships hard to handle, to make a Syrtis War era mod more realistic....

[Aury]

Ummm... I don't get what you mean in that last part.

[Song]

Early era spacecraft. More burn, less thrust, and relying more on chemical thrusters than a fusion drive. And Drive flames that incinerate things (like Prophet's thrusters).

Still, Can't have it TOO realistic, or battles will be REALLY boring.

[Aury]

Early era spacecraft. More burn, less thrust, and relying more on chemical thrusters than a fusion drive. And Drive flames that incinerate things (like Prophet's thrusters).

Still, Can't have it TOO realistic, or battles will be REALLY boring.

Actually, these ships were not that bad. They included things like the ronin. The Antares I was already considered old by then.

[Tamagoyaki]

And what about pen-and-paper Transcendence RPG?

[Aury]

?
You mean a table-top RPG?

[Tamagoyaki]

Exactly
I know that it may seem to be hard to do (different sort of game experience between RPG's and Transcendence) but personally I believe that it is possible to create a fine game

[Periculi]

What a great thread to jump in on after waking up again!

George, I have to say that I started viewing Transcendence as a multiverse game platform very early on. I think that is a fantastic way to describe what you have created for us to play with. I know that in my experiments with modding I found that the game engine was both agile and robust enough to take the crazy ideas I had and put them into action. It's a fantastic platform to explore and provides a huge amount of entertainment value for the game modders that seem to make up a large portion of your player base.

Keep up the great work! You will always be able to count on my vote for you in the Grand Ole Game Designers Hall of Fame, if that ever exists.