Arrakis q's & Greetings!

[Deus IX]

Hi all!

Few days ago i dl:ed the bene gesserit and i'm kind of impressed. I grew up playing Dune ][ (and starcon2) and i'd like to join the project.

1st - few basic suggestions.

a) try to make it easy for people to add custom content into the game (new tilesets and vehicles & everything between). I tried to play with the .dat's but with no success.

support for custom tilesets would allow other planets to be designed.

b) don't limit anything. this would allow the game-base to be relatively small, but if players wan't to enhance it they could. like dynamic lighting and other effects.

2nd - how big will this get?

I see two options. will this be (sorry... :| ) just another c&c clone or something truly epic?

If you wan't to make this big, then you'll get all my support and more. I once designed a dune game very inspired by the original Dune ][, but it never got out of the paper. :'(

I'd always wanted my own house. And in the 'Duniverse' there are known to be around 100.000-1.000.000 minor houses so... ^_^ - it could be possible.

Think of it, you'd start from some distant rock in the far distance of the known universe and compete/cooperate with your neighbours expanding & growing bigger and more influental. ultimately gaining major house status and thus gaining spicemining rights on arrakis... aaah... how cool would this be.

and a mousewheel-zoom!! ^__^ -yeah!

i'm very retro-spirited and dune-addicted so i'd be quite good addition to the team (i think), i'll just need the tools to work with.

ok... i could keep on talking till the end of time. so now i'll stop.

Later mates.

[Mech]

If you read the other threads you will see how much is considered to be done at the time and that stefan is pretty much open for suggestions, but I will leave that for him to answer... meight.

[MrFlibble]

Could you tell more about the Dune-inspired game you designed? This will surely be interesting ;)

And about getting into the team, this is what Stefan says:

It is actually very simple to get in the 'team'. The only requirements are:

- you're an addition to the team.

More people doing the same job is handy to a limited number. Its not handy to have 20 people doing gfx for example.

- you can handle feedback, positive and negative. Negative feedback mostly is formed in 'perhaps its an idea to do it like this..' . Multiple ways should be known before one can select the best path right? Also, do never forget that everybody (including me!) is spending their time on this project for a hobby, for fun, for dune. It is NOT the intention to scare people away

- you keep in touch

people who suddendly dissapear are not handy to work for in a team. In the end, whenever a version will be released, at that moment the list of credits will be made. Credits is always due where it is due, but people sending me one example of a unit and then leave have a lower chance of getting anything done here.

- you understand that this progress goes 'slow', since its all on a basis of 'free will'.

Do note, i do like to keep people informed, via this forum.

- A 'pre' is when you are able to be reached through MSN, which i use for D2TM development. I found it very handy to chat with Vidiware/Nema about stuff, showing pictures. Ie, Nema sent some tileset to me, i sent back a picture how it looked in the new version, based uppon that he decided to redo the tileset and that version is now in and looks like a charm!

mostly of all:

- you are inspired, enthousiastic, willing to spend time on it!!

If you don't want to work in the team, but still want to help us out... well, dont hasitate! Post, bring comments! etc etc.

[Deus IX]

to Mech> I have read all the most recent threads in this sub-forum (arrakis), and some of the others too. and although the project seems to be open for all. I can't just jump in w/o letting people to know that "i'm here".

to MrFlibble> Well thank you for being intrested in my lil' project. although it's too large (a full A4 folder) to completely reveal the project. Basically the game would have 3 diffirent main sections (diplomacy,management,warfare). only thing that halted the project was the lack of the warfare section. a good solid 2d engine like D2/C&C.

The ideal warfare-engine would be similar with C&C/RA, but with some nice improvements like diffirences in altitide and some nice effects like dynamic light. I would so much like to see troops battling during nighttime w/ weapons creating some nice 'mood' light. ^_^

The other sections are much easier. I created (functional) alpha versions of diplomacy and management sections with php. Shouldn't be too hard to learn the C++ variations.

[stefanhendriks]

Currently the time i have to work on the project is a bit slow. I'm heading to Austria in a short period of time ;) (14th july)...

Also i have to tidy up  alot of stuff here, finish up my school work , get prepared for next years. It sucks!

Its nice to have people helping with the project. Honestly i would be interested in some coding assistence, though i won't be rewriting the engine all over again, so that person should be familiar with the libs i use. Its an idea here though, but i think it will get more speed/pace into the project. (like Dune Legacy, which has made some nice improvements this way)...

To answer your questions/comments:

1a:

- my experience is to make it work first, then you can dismantle stuff from hard-coded to 'soft coded' (user / mod friendly). Since i have spent months to convert my engine and then end up with a half-way working engine... i consider this as an option. Though not at this point.

1b:

- I can't see how a game, for such a 'duniverse' can be 'small'. If you want to have everything user based, nothing hard coded, it will be very , very tough to realize. For light effects, its not even an option to let a user 'code' it. Unless i udnrstand this comment not correctly ofcourse. Lightning effects are cool, and perhaps be built in.

2:

It depends on how far we get, how big it will get. I've been working on Dune related projects for quite some time. I have had my breaks. I am now in mid-way. I visit the forums, i have the project on my HD and sometimes i still work a BIT on it. Though i simply cant be dedicated enough at this point of time. So think we need reinforcements to the team in order to keep the train running.

Different houses, see my reaction on 1A. For me, it would be great if the game would work as i have it in mind. Being able to conquer area's. And while you play, the world lives on and thing shappen. Areas get attacked, etc. Its a big idea. Its not launched yet. Though a few fundamentals are in. The current version is quite'bug free'. I don't get much errors or bug reports (if any)...

If you want to be an addition to the team, you are welcome, if you mail me with what you can/will be able to help we can discuss the position in the team and get things going.