SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY

The farthest we'll ever get with making a campaign is mods and possibly an expansion. Mostly mods.

AAARGH ! stop using this goddamn mod excuse ! i'm sick of it :evil:

to be honest, i really think that there should be some kind of solo campaign. not necessarily something as complicated and scenarized as what traditionnal RTS games have, but definetely something that show you at first how to play the game, and then increases in difficulty with each mission.

there will be a the galactic war system, right ? so here's how i see things :

- the game generates a small galaxy that it will use for the solo campaign
- the first mission explains how to build your base, handle basic economy, and blow up a really dumb opponent with only two or three basic units.
- when you're done with this mission, you attack an other solar system, you get to build more different units and buildings, your opponent is a bit smarter but still dumb.
- third mission is basically the same, but maybe the opponent in on the moon so it teaches you how to use the unit cannon and/or the rocket.

and so on, and so on...

what i mean is that you don't really need a scenario at all, just make some kind of tutorial that takes place on a galaxy, unlock technologies in dribs and drabs, and when the player has all the technologies available, just have him conquer the rest of the (small) galaxy on his own with missions of increasing difficulty (more opponent, start on a sh**ty spot or whatever)


but any way, just dropping somone in a multiplayer game with all techs available on a multiplanetary solar system with both erath-type planet, gas giants, waterworlds and asteroids is definetely NOT a good idea. maybe some players will manage to understand how it works on their own, but you will probably have some that don't understand what they will have to do and will dislike the game.

don't forget that what is clear for you isn't necessarily for someone else, and people like solo campaigns, sometimes you don't want to have to cope up with some annoying internet dudes behaving like douchebags, or you don't like the competitiveness of online matches, or whatever.

Most players are actually casual players, and they will be interested almost only in the solo campaign, i understant that it will never be nothing like the command and conquer campaigns and players expecting that will be disappointed whatever you do, so you should target intermediate customers that are more interested in multiplayer games, but not only, they will want to complete a solo campaign before trying kicking some butts on the internet.

i'd say that you cannot only rely on hardcore PA-fans that already know how everything will work six month before the game's release (because we are not that numerous), i want the game to be a succes, and what i mean is that many people will buy and enjoy the game, not only the guys like us waiting for it.

Basic tutorial missions: definitely doable as a "mod" i.e. a relatively small amount of work, whether it's Uber or the community. Capacity for saved/designed planets and UI changes (disabling of options until conditions met) are the sort of things I'd expect to be available as standard through the mod hooks / scripting interface.

Full blown, voice acted campaign with video and stuff: outside the scope for any but the most dedicated, well funded community team.

Having said that, if the PA protagonists are all AI constructs, you don't actually need (voice) actors or FMV as much as voice synth software and prerendered cutscenes, or even in-game cutscenes in that sense. Which does put it back inside the capabilities for a community project, although timescales for a decent implementation would still be in the several month range.

Uber would still be better placed to do that job, and I'd be happy to fund them to do such a job if/when they decide they they have the bandwidth to take it on.

*snap*

The thing you have to remember about the "modding excuse" is that an overwhelming proportion of the community are MODDERS! I am, I would bet a few other people in this thread are, I can name 5 more experienced modders off the top of my head, and I bet if I said in big red letters How many of you are modders here?! I would get quite a few answers.

You called?

Imma make you a tutorial myself

At least, when we has server-side scripting code infos I will. Bit pointless during the alpha when I only have client-side options to play around with

the problem is not what modders can or want to do, when i buy a game i want it to be complete, i'm not buying some crappy IKEA furniture that needs extra nails, i don't want to have to fetch for all the stuff people were too lazy to make because "modders can do it".

i basically hate mods as munch as most people hate DLCs, and i saw that i'm not the only one. i don't play with cheat codes, if something is not in the game, then it's meant to be this way. if there' no tutorial/solo campaign in the game, i will not add one. if there's no megabots i'm not going to add my own overpowered sh*t in the game.

you are modders ? you like adding new stuff in your game ? fine, but don't force people to rely on whatever stuff you tinkered, i will not even spend one single second searching for it.

i'll play through the tutorial made by uber if any, and only this one. if they don't have time to do something, i accept hearing "it will be in an expansion pack" (exept in this case it would make no sense), but i'd rather get a clear "no" than a "f*ck you and find it yourself on the internet"

because that's what mods are to me.

a good tutorial is indiscernible from a good campaign

QFT. Just look at portal and it's sequal.

I'd pay money for a campaign "expansion" after this game comes out. Mods are great and all, and I'll probably download a few, but they are not "part" of the game, and Uber has no control over them. I like to play skrimishes, but I also love campaigns because they're a lot easier than fighting a person, and I like the story.

I'd definitely be interested in an official campaign kickstarter or DLC after PA comes out.