Create a special instance wormhole on the test server, that when a squad enters it, pulls in data files from the players local computer and sandboxes everything to that instance.

Allow players and people in their squad to create galaxies, AI's, boss scripts, items, missions, ships, etc, and test them in this special instance, and then when they like it, they can submit their content to be included in the game. This can include anything from just simple items, to roaming mobs, to single custom galaxies, to entire instances.

Submitted content would be voted on by the players for whether or not it should be included (with the optional veto or adjustments by admins when necessary.)

Publicly expose all the documentation needed to make local files for creating content.

This would in essence "open source" the content of Star Sonata.

I am a bit sceptic to the corruption this might bring. We have already seen issues with content developers being corrupt and giving out vital script/gear information on their content to a limited amount of players only.

I would rather see players being able to create storylines, galaxy builds and visual graphics, ship graphics, missions and rough ideas, but to keep scripts, droptables and item stats to trusted content developers.

Or if they could make items, automatic updates to http://www.starsonata.com/wiki

That way, no one can NOT be left out from the item stats. And anyone trying to delete stats can be caught and banned off the wiki.


Edit: Seems trying to link anything without "www" in the first part of the url is not going to work.

I didn't vote for this because it's not a high priority to me, but this could be a really cool direction to take SS that no other (?) MMOs have done. I wouldn't worry too much about stats of items getting around, since they already do that. The only thing that's really important is to make sure content is properly tested by the dev team to avoid exploits.

Might be a good way to fill in the low/mid content levels especially, but I'd be a little skeptical on using random people's content for high level stuff.

There would be limited item access, and everything would be subject to extensive developer review, including item drops and other stuff.

The idea isn't really so much the explicit creation of ITEMS more the creation of the content that you play, and the galaxies you play it in. A player can make an amazing zone and leave the item creation to the developers if they wanted.

We can also address the concern about transparency by making the content XML that is created by a player public when they make their submission.

WHAT ASS MADE THE CALL TO NOT FEATURE THIS IDEA IN THE BASE GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The same people that don't like other games "intruding" on their game, that is to say, the bulk of the playerbase. You should see much the general population feels about stuff that was influenced or copied from World of Warcraft. They hate that stuff, don't want anything to do with it, and want it removed asap. Concussions are one of such things.

thats almost as bad as borrowing a pencil from the same box as someone else so they say you cant have it :\, but meh, people like that just cant see the possible advancement that you can get from doing stuff like that.

The problem is that no matter what game or product you produce, you simply can NOT have it be completely unique with nothing borrowed, copied, or influenced from other products of the same type. A space game like Star Sonata is not unique at all simply because it is a space game, and this is not counting any of the other thousand things that are in common with, copied from, or influenced by any other game or medium.

Most of the playerbase severely dislike anything not originating from Star Sonata, oblivious of the fact that the entire game isn't original. Star Sonata is an MMO based upon Star Control, as close as JeffL can get it to be. However, Star Control is not owned by JeffL.



One of the major issues that plague Star Sonata is the lack of raw content. Normal games the size and longevity of Star Sonata have many times more non-randomly generated content, and rarely rely on their random number generator, assuming they even have one. Star Sonata is intensely ingrained into using the random generator to produce content because it's very easy. Just start it up and poof, lots of content. The content gets pretty stale after a month or so, though.

This sounds good in practice, but do you honestly feel confident (as a team) that you can handle both the QA and balancing of player submitted content in addition to your usual quota?

If this is an "epic" project it'd be an incredible waste to implement and then ignore it.

I would assume there would be some sort of filter that checks the balance sheet and expels anything (and bans anyone after enough times) that is horribly unbalanced. I would personally strive for a collection of mature and long standing players to be invited to a "volunteer submission group" to be allowed to make use of the tools, mainly to prevent immature noobs that could spam the channels with unwanted or unbalanced submissions.

For me personally, I push for balanced concepts and ideas long because I believe that if it isn't balanced, it's going to be a waste of time balancing, which is definitely not what an admin wants to spend his or her day doing especially if such admin is also another volunteer.

This sounds epic, although id would suggest locking it to church only and letting him go all... church in it...

Or just make it not accept unbalanced stuff? No bans needed and makes it a bit easier. (If the balance sheets are included anyway)

to me, this is a great idea. I play a series called 'the elder scrolls' and am a modder in that. this sounds like it could make SS a fair bit more community driven.