Post by contributor on Apr 11, 2016 6:25:31 GMT -5
I was thinking about the dynamics of 4X and comparing it to MOO2 and trying to figure out what it was about MOO that was so great. One of the big things for me was the politics and encountering other races, feeling like you were really interacting with an "other" and trying to get the right arrangements to meet your objectives and such. Obviously the interacting with other races is replaced with inter-faction politics in ST4X. And as I thought about it, there's a lot more room to bring player satisfaction through politics in ST4X and it doesn't even require changing the backend, it just needs some more bling upfront. I have no idea if there is budget, or time for this but I see it as a huge add to the game and a way bring the universe much more to life.
Needless to say the graphics on ST4x are pretty sparse. Outside of the quadrant map we basically have a lot of text based menus with slider bars and little icons. So the first thing we need is faction representatives. Seeing someone from said faction, with their unique dress and manners would help us feel like the factions are real entities with competing agendas. Perhaps there could be different sprites for varying moods, idk. These images could either be placed in a triangle with lines between each of them representing the current political states (this would probably be a much faster and "sticky" way for players to assess the current political climate. Otherwise the characters could be placed in some sort of "assembly hall" at a negotiating table with current relationships indicated some other way.
Then once they've got representatives we should be able to "hear" from them. Clicking on a portrait should bring up the factions current feelings toward the other factions and this would be an great opportunity to educate the player about what is affecting the current climate. Instead of digging through the manual (or searching on the forum, cause its not in the manual), the representative from Javat could tell us that they are irrate about the current imbalance in the number colonies or TPs or ships etc. It a good place to put flavor text as well, just to bring things to life. Anyways take this for what it's worth. Often I feel like there are really solid dynamics built into the game it just need to be more inspiring/engaging.
Needless to say the graphics on ST4x are pretty sparse. Outside of the quadrant map we basically have a lot of text based menus with slider bars and little icons. So the first thing we need is faction representatives. Seeing someone from said faction, with their unique dress and manners would help us feel like the factions are real entities with competing agendas. Perhaps there could be different sprites for varying moods, idk. These images could either be placed in a triangle with lines between each of them representing the current political states (this would probably be a much faster and "sticky" way for players to assess the current political climate. Otherwise the characters could be placed in some sort of "assembly hall" at a negotiating table with current relationships indicated some other way.
Then once they've got representatives we should be able to "hear" from them. Clicking on a portrait should bring up the factions current feelings toward the other factions and this would be an great opportunity to educate the player about what is affecting the current climate. Instead of digging through the manual (or searching on the forum, cause its not in the manual), the representative from Javat could tell us that they are irrate about the current imbalance in the number colonies or TPs or ships etc. It a good place to put flavor text as well, just to bring things to life. Anyways take this for what it's worth. Often I feel like there are really solid dynamics built into the game it just need to be more inspiring/engaging.
