::Forum - So... Combat? - Star Wars Combine::

Year 10 Day 236 14:51	So... Combat?
Mobyus Mune	Hey all, I just signed up for SWC yesterday, so please forgive my ignorance. I'm just a little confused... I see in the top-left corner that we are currently at Year 10, Day 236. Is this how long the game has been running? With the amount of content such as planets/vehicles/items/etc., I have been assuming so. So... where is the combat? I keep reading "...when combat is implemented." If the game has been going for over 10.5 years... shouldn't we have something by now?

Year 10 Day 236 15:12	So... Combat?
Tuural Snist	Ok, let me see if I can explain this... usually when a game is being made, it is made to make a profit. This allows: 8 hour work shifts million dollar budgets all developers working together at a single location a fairly accurate timetable high quality equipment Excellent programmers (depending on the budget) blah blah Star Wars Combine has: people working in their spare time donations for money developers scattered around the globe varying quality equipment blah blah To implement combat, almost ALL other features have to be finished. npc's droid's medical items armor repairing ships, vehicles items blah blah Amazingly in ten years, the Star Wars Combine team have acomplished quite a bit. Developing, and coding a game like this is hard work. We are however fairly close to combat (in my opinion) I think we will soon have PVE (PVE meaning VS creatures. maybe febuary next year? I can dream), and maybe in another two or three years and we will have pvp. This is merely my hope... from what I have seen though, it is the Target.

Year 10 Day 236 15:20	So... Combat?
Mobyus Mune	It seems to me, then, that the development team for SWC either: A) Over-scoped what they expected they could do or B) Had combat lower on their priority list than it should have been. I understand everything you're saying, Tuural, but it only takes 1 person 1 day to program a basic combat game... especially since there's no animations. I am a game designer, so I totally understand that volunteer works such as this take time... but not 10.5 years... especially if it's Star Wars. I highly doubt the devs, when they decided to make this game, sat down at their first meeting and were like "Okay, we're going to make a browser-based RPG in the Star Wars universe that's going to have hundreds of planets, thousands of players, millions of grid units to explore, and NO COMBAT." So... where is it? There has to be a prototype or SOMETHING (alpha? beta?). If you're telling me that they have completely set combat aside until EVERYTHING else is fully implemented, I think someone needs to have a talk with them about how to set up what's called priorities. In other words... while I understand what you're saying, I disagree with your latter statements: NPC's, Droids, Items/Medical Items, and Armor don't need to be FINISHED. And did you really say Repairing Ships/Vehicles? If there's no combat, how are ships/vehicles even damaged to need repairs? Sorry... but after 10 years, there should be something. Edited By: Mobyus Mune on Year 10 Day 236 15:23

Year 10 Day 236 15:35	So... Combat?
Mobyus Mune	Hey! Even better! Just pulled up the Community Menu and saw a nice link called "Current Projects!" I went in there to see if (hopefully) the Combat System would be listed there, and I could gather some positive information on my own. Guess what? We have "Custom User Skins", "Inventory 2.0", "Inventory Merge", "Medical Items", "Repair", "Rules Page Redesign, Restructure and Renewal", and, I kid you not, "Shields"! To make it even better, each entry has a tag called "Type". Such types that are listed are "Secondary Feature" and "Additional Feature". I understand why the rules and possibly the inventory need updates... but SHIELDS?! Why are you concerning yourself with SHIELDS when there's not even COMBAT?! lol... Really....?

Year 10 Day 236 15:42	So... Combat?
Tuural Snist	so your saying if our ships get damaged, we need to just let them stay that way? you realise our armies are npc's right? and the heroes are the players? you realise that this is a MULTIPLAYER game, and that makes everything that much more difficult to develop? you realise that you only get one life, and that armor would help to save that life right? do you understand that in the development of a game like this, things are different? tis not some flash game someone took 8 hours to whip together, this is a complex massively multiplayer game. And reduction in the complexity of graphics, does not mean reduction in complexity of programming. think about this: in a regular game, no one plays it before it is finished except testers. in a multiplayer game like this, where the Dev team is made up of players, it NEEDS to be released before it is finished. what does it matter if it took ten years to get this far? The only people inconvineinced are the Devs. and it sets it apart from every other game out there. to conclude, I ask you this: if combat were released RIGHT NOW, how would you repair your ship after I shot at you? what would you do after you were attacked? dump the ship? its worthless after that... EDIT: [qoute] but SHIELDS?! Why are you concerning yourself with SHIELDS when there's not even COMBAT?! lol... Really....? [/quote] you don't understand what it means by shields. by sheilds, it means PLANETARY sheilds, so that when combat is done, you can actually, oh I dunno. DEFEND YOUR PLANET? repair, npc's, droids, shields... Those are all part of combat, you fool! they must be finished to allow combat to work properly. Edited By: Tuural Snist on Year 10 Day 236 15:46

Year 10 Day 236 15:45	So... Combat?
Syn	If you aren't patient, you really shouldn't waste your time on this. The Current Projects page is fairly outdated and not currently being maintained, but combat is not currently in progress because economy balance needs to be dealt with long before the mechanics of combat can be considered, much less implemented. Shields were completed several months ago, and naturally must be capable of functioning prior to combat in order to ensure that defenses can be put into place before the cities and planets factions have worked very hard to build up can be destroyed. SWC is not a complete game yet, and since it is entirely staffed by volunteers in their free time who have full-time jobs or schoolwork offline to deal with, this will not be finished quickly. If you think you'd enjoy building up your character so you'll have some advantage by the time combat is implemented, or simply want to roleplay or participate in a community of players who probably share many of your own interests, stick around. If you just want to blow things up, I would recommend a finished product. I'm sure you can find a decent FPS, RPG, or MMO to suit your particular needs. ____________

Year 10 Day 236 15:47	So... Combat?
Mobyus Mune	Think about this: Someone who created a character when they were still in elementary school is now able to go to a bar and drink... but they still can't shoot someone in this game. The fact that once you die once you're dead kind of kills the game. They might as well never implement combat then, because no one will want to fight. Instead of being killed forever, why not just have the player stuck in a medical center for a week or something? I can see how they thought it would be innovative and original... but there's a reason no other MMO uses perma-death... Tell me something... What can you even do in the game right now other than walk/fly around aimlessly?

Year 10 Day 236 15:48
Tuural Snist	Deleted by Syn. Reason: Be helpful or be gone.

Year 10 Day 236 15:52	So... Combat?
Mobyus Mune	So if you can make another character after you die, doesn't that invalidate your previous point? Syn, I appreciate your quick response. I was really hoping this would be an awesome game when I made my character... because the concept and design is extremely well-done. Little did I know that all you could do is walk around and pick up rocks. This isn't Star Wars... it's the Sims.

Year 10 Day 236 15:52	So... Combat?
Syn	What you can do? Mine raw materials, produce ships/vehicles/weapons/items/droids, build cities and facilities, recycle to break assets down into materials, brawl with NPCs, use medical items, space/ground travel, create factions, arrest/execute players (this is restricted to a number of faction types and is not real combat), and level your character to improve your skills, among a number of other features I've probably overlooked. Edit: I should probably add something about the random chance to acquire Force sensitivity and train Force skills, since apparently all the kids are into that sort of thing these days. :p Edited By: Syn on Year 10 Day 236 15:54 ____________

Year 10 Day 236 15:55	So... Combat?
Mobyus Mune	/sigh Oh well... I'll be back in 15 years to see if things got started or not. Thanks for the help. Edit: Just because I have a strongly-voiced opinion does not mean I'm a kid. Edited By: Mobyus Mune on Year 10 Day 236 15:55

Year 10 Day 236 15:57	So... Combat?
Syn	No problem. I wasn't calling you a kid; I was making a facetious generalization about the popularity of the commonly-asked question by newcomers, "Can I be a Jedi?!" To my knowledge you did not ask that. ____________

Year 10 Day 236 16:00	So... Combat?
Mobyus Mune	Let's take this in a different direction... Do you guys need help programming the combat systems? I'd like to volunteer my services if needed. I have skills in C/C++, AS2/3, Java, and ADA95 as far as programming skills go... And like I said earlier (in case you didn't read it), I'm a game designer. Currently teaching Game Design for Carnegie Mellon University's summer program NHSGA 2009. Would love to help! =]

Year 10 Day 236 16:02	So... Combat?
Syn	If you're interested in helping out, check out the Contact Us link at the top of the page and send a mail to the dev team. However, MySQL and PHP experience is generally required. ____________

Year 10 Day 236 16:20	Final moderator post
Syn	Locking this to prevent flaming later--please open a new thread if you have any further questions.

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