Before I begin, I'd like to say that I'm on the fence on this whole issue. I think I understand why people want Shields and why people don't. I also appreciate that Shields cannot realistically be added in isolation, and their inclusion potentially changes all aspects of gameplay and balance. Now, as far as we know, PA probably - and I stress probably - won't have shields in the same sense as SupCom. I gather this is because of the developers' vision of the game overall. I'm fine with that. Honestly if they want to go that way, I'm all for it and I do believe that you either need to include them or not. With that said, my solution is this. Design the base game without shields but lay the groundwork from a modding point of view for including them. By this I mean, make a basic grey block model and the support systems for a shield bubble without actually programming them into the game. I know that it sounds a little bit like a cop-out but people will happily create whole mods around this issue as long as it's possible to do it. That way the people who want shields can go ahead and create mods for the game to allow it. You might be asking why make this suggestion at all, as after all mods are already a stated part of the game. The reason is that because while unit modding, skins, models and so on are relatively simple to mod, game concepts like shields are far trickier. My understanding is that you can't generally just insert things like this into a game through modding, at least not without a fully developed tool kit and an extensive knowledge of how the game engine functions. If the groundwork for this stuff is already laid and it's understood that people will be able to mod shields into the game, the alpha and beta can concentrate on what really matters - that is, the core gameplay. To counter a few things people might say, I know that this doesn't solve the core issue of shields vs not shields. It just provides a way to compromise on the issue. After all, if you follow this idea, you're at least allowing people the option of having the game they way they want it.
We'll be able to add our own textures and models into the game. That shouldn't be a problem at all. I think the hardest part (on a technical level) will be having an object that selectively blocks/permits objects from passing. This was pretty trivial to do in SupCom, so I'm guessing it's not going to be much harder in PA.
BM is right to an extent. The SupCom shielding system was more or less (at least code wise) an offshoot of the standard game's collision scripts for dealing with weapon vs unit interaction. The hard parts that I can see possibly needing an existing framework is the ability to overlay transparency based mesh shaders to an object or shape easily... Thats the thing that snagged alot of the shield modders in SupCom up because there was no easy way to do anything beyond Sphere, Box, or Unit overlay shapes. And adding new shaders to the game was a non-mod manager compatible mod. All the rest is just proper scripting manipulation of a collision box. Its actually one of the first things i plan to look into though not for SupCom style shield reasons.
i like the sentiment in the OP, shields aren't a broken concept so make it easy for modders to come up with a solution.
As always it comes down to; "Is it worth the Devs precious time and resources to do this?" And then it devolves into personal preference... again.
Nanolathe: I don't want to take your remark out of context but I don't think what you said helps the issue at all. I'm not suggesting that the devs spend the time and effort required to completely program shields. I'm just suggesting that they frame the modding in such a way as to make it possible for other people to build what they want. As I understand it, this isn't a massive commitment of time. Rather, I'm suggesting it so that it doesn't become something that is overlooked during development and makes peoples lives harder later. What you said is just bringing the argument here when this thread wasn't intended to be about arguing. Remember, I'm trying to be constructive and suggest solutions rather than repeat problems. I certainly don't mind comments but please keep that spirit in mind when replying.
I think people need to keep something very important in mind. It seems like a lot of the discussions about modding revolve around what engine features we have. This is not the past, we aren't going to release the game and then stop evolving the engine. We'll be working with you guys to support your mod needs and actively add stuff to the engine to make it better and more feature rich.
Even though it's perhaps the second or third time you've said words to this effect, it's always nice to hear them again. Do stick to your vision Neutrino. I want to see "Jon Mavor and Uber Entertainment present: Planetary Annihilation". You're the Experts that can make that happen, and your vision should lead the way.
I don't think that's a problem, mod features are so we as modders can present X: A modification for Planettary Annihilation with the vision we have (within some reason).
