SS1 Mod SS-TauCeti

[673f8fa62173c3RDplayer]

Hi everyone, I make this topic to gather ideas and suggestions and help regarding a sequel to ReWired. The overall design idea and plot is already set but not in stone. There is still many features that need change (and I don't know how) or features that are undefined yet as well as features that aren't a necessity but cool to have. For now I am just working on a blockout for the levels. Is all I can do at this point until feature changes and implementations are possible.

ReWired used only small bits of game content changed, the sequel can go beyond. So far I do that by using trap messages for story-telling and talking character as well as custom textures. Feel free to brainstorm!

REWIRED 2  - DESIGN DOCS
ReWired 2 will be a direct sequel to the events of ReWired many years later (before the Von Braun Incident). If ReWired had custom cutscenes, then ending would have been: Patient destroys SHODAN, destroys all means to change the ships course (which is set for TauCeti) and UNN Bismarck would be a lost vessel.

Scenario
You play as UNN Soldier named JCD. Last known course destination of UNN Bismarck was Tau Ceti. UNN search party is looking for UNN Bismarck there. They crash land on TauCeti5 and start searching. JCD wakes up many hours later in his dropship. He leaves the dropship to find his comrades. He will then slowly uncover what happened to the ship, his comrades (through audio logs) and what’s happening on the planet.

JCD will have radio contact with UNN-Command responsible for the operation and is given Objectives for the first half of the campaign. At one point he will be knocked out and a parasite will infest his body. JCD will then have telepathic radio contact with an unknown extra terrestrian Hive-Mind, trying to convince JCD to join their collective. In the second half of the campaign, JCD journeys to the biomass in which the Hive Mind resides.

Depending on JCD’s decision: He will either join the Hive or destroy the biomass and kill the Hive.

Locations
- Outdoor Surface of Tau Ceti 5
- Caves and tunnels of Tau Ceti 5
- The wreck of the UNN Bismarck
- Bridge Deck (upside down)
- Research Deck
- Unseen part of the Mainframe Deck
- Domain of the Hive Mind (biomass)

Features
- Talking character (trap messages) - how to have big chunks of trap message text for the player to read?
- Radio Transmissions with Command (trap messages) - ^
- Voices in player characters head by the hive mind (trap messages) -^
- Audio Logs of comrade crewmembers (audiologs)
- Custom textures - possible
- Custom bitmaps - possible
- Custom HUD texture (UNN military themed) - possible, dont know yet how


Features that might be tricky or impossible to implement:
- new placement for various HUD elements
- Different endings
- Player gets knocked out and all his equipment stolen
- Would require a cutscene that doesn't end the game somewhere at the halfway point
- Would require a trap and trigger that empties players inventory

Features that would be cool but aren't required:
- Player can walk up slopes that are 0 or 0.500 tiles high
- Play will always slide down and cannot walk on slopes that are 0.625 tiles or higher
- Slopes on ceiling and floor can go into independent directions
- Slopes on ceiling and floor can have different slope heights

[673f8fa6218e8JosiahJack]

Sounds like an interesting mix of Half-Life, Minerva mod for HL2, and SS2.  Good luck!

Also I could have sworn the slopes were different in both direction and degree in that one room on level 9 with all the Sec2 Bot closets.

[673f8fa621c513RDplayer]

Sounds like an interesting mix of Half-Life, Minerva mod for HL2, and SS2.  Good luck!

Also I could have sworn the slopes were different in both direction and degree in that one room on level 9 with all the Sec2 Bot closets.

Thank you. No they are not different. With a clever use of tiles you can make it seem way, but its guarateed always on a neighboring tile.

Outdoor areas do look like you'd expect from Tomb Raider 1, which I take as prime example and inspiration for how the areas will look and hopefully feel.
Having slope tiles use different heights and direction would elevate the design as well as having the player not be able to walk up steep slopes will further create a more realistic feel to such areas. But my current attempts work well by sticking to the engines limitations and clever use of bridges.

[673f8fa621fa2unn_atropos]

Hm, as far as I understand this you are kind of going for a System Shock 2 prequel?
Personally I would be a bit concerned to shoehorn it in like this. Does your story have room to breath?

The outside terrain looks great!

[673f8fa6222ab3RDplayer]

Hm, as far as I understand this you are kind of going for a System Shock 2 prequel?
Personally I would be a bit concerned to shoehorn it in like this. Does your story have room to breath?

Connecting ReWired's story to the main universe was just a last minute decision. I added a log that hints at that the Patient you play in ReWired brought SHODAN to the ship, probably Hacker or somebody else sold a datachip with parts of her self to the black market or something. In an afterthought it might be better to remove that connection and go with an alternative timeline universe entierly. Saves me the trouble to connect the universes and allows me to keep the story breathing as its own thing.

This merely is the result of me trying to retcon a reason into why shodan is on the Bismarck. But yeah, I drop the idea and let it flow on its own.

I also still look for a name of the UNN command ship that sends the soldiers to the planet to look for the wreck. I might stick with UNN Perios to go full circle with saber rider and the star sherrifs. By the way, at one point you need to tell me about UNN Atropos

[673f8fa622397JosiahJack]

UNN Hannover

[673f8fa62257fvoodoo47]

Antigua is mentioned as an old rust bucket when going the SS2 marine career path, if you want something that already exists in the main universe (and was around for a long time, one can assume).

also, I still think the less Shodan you have in a SS FM, the better.

[673f8fa62289b3RDplayer]

also, I still think the less Shodan you have in a SS FM, the better.

I also think that. That's why the sequel won't have her. She will be there, but just as unspoken fragments and the main antagonist is going to be the Hivemind (of which we all know what it is right? ).

I also won't have forced cyberspace sections, because unbelievable so: there is dozens of people that hate cyberspace so much that they even deleted and unistalled rewired because it forces you into overly complex and gigantic cyberspace sections. Cyberspace except for the final one can be avoided by taking the path that bypasses all terminals. But I bet 90% of players won't even find that even tho its almost mentioned by every existing audiolog of the mod.

So I take all the feedback I got from ReWired into account for this.

[673f8fa6229c6JosiahJack]

What???  There was a way around the cyberspace gauntlet?  That would have been nice to know.  I think your FM was the first time I died because of cyberspace, or I at least had almost no health.

[673f8fa622c923RDplayer]

What???  There was a way around the cyberspace gauntlet?  That would have been nice to know.

the secret elevator
i am at the secret elevator
wish they went to the secret elevator
should have gon to the secret elevator
healing suites, in healing suites, she got the healing suits cards, healing suites, healing suites

the most used words of the mod and nobody found it. 

Anway. I modded in first textures and will post some screenshots when it looks right.

[673f8fa622ee23RDplayer]

I made new sprites for the SS2 themed fanmission. Right now its just the patches that became hypos or boosters how I will call them.
https://twitter.com/the_3RDplayer/status/1041449464823726080

Since its my first attempt at designing sprites, I still think they look ugly but they look at least descent in the game. Surely they can be better. Not asking for one of you guys to take your own spin on the idea of the sprites. But be my guest improving or remaking them.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1T6f6SvX_d0c5PKPf6lQWjVQu5PmChMzy


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[673f8fa622ffavoodoo47]

more of a pop-tart on a toothpick vibe, if you ask me. have you tried to simply use the SS2 icons?

[673f8fa6233633RDplayer]

more of a pop-tart on a toothpick vibe, if you ask me. have you tried to simply use the SS2 icons?

Yes, I tried the icons from SS2 and the result was not very good. I don't want items that stand tall when looking at them or that look odd when looking at them from different angles.  So I decided to take advantage of the 2 possible images for item pickups in SS1:

1. The first image is a higher quality version the player sees in crates OR when holding the item in the hand (mouse cursor icon).
2. The second image is a 3 dimensional image that makes it seem as if the items lay sideways when looking at them in the game world. It gives the environments more depth.

It's expected that many people will find new sprites odd or strange. But its intentional, just like the original designs. The more abstrackt something looks, the more does a players brain try to fill in the blanks. If you look at them and see a pop-tart (which are eatibles) then thats good because your brain associated food = good = if I eat that I feel better = I get a boost. I see oversized klistiers when I look at them... and thats medicine and medicine = good and makes you feel better. Someone else also said they look like drink puches used in spacetravels. That's why I think that the sprites I made look good and fulfill their purpose.

[673f8fa62348fvoodoo47]

I'd argue that unless the goal is to create a mission completely unrelated to the SS1 universe, there is no need to change how the consumables look.

[673f8fa6235aaJosiahJack]

I thought they looked like credit cards at first.  The look like poptarts now though lol.  I think you should leave it as it was.

[673f8fa6236afvoodoo47]

I associate almost everything with food, even vurt's upgraded goo, so I would not consider my reaction as something you should base your decisions on in this particular situation.

[673f8fa6238533RDplayer]

Thank you for your input guys. I much apprechiate it. But I will keep the custom sprites, because I want to go all out with the next mod. Going beyond what ReWired did. Here is a fresh bunch of screenshots. Its a combination of new and modified SS2 textures. As well as a comparison between before and after the place got wrecked. It will also serve as a tutorial / startup area the player wont be able to go back to. Once he leaves, something will happen that keeps him from returning.

For years did we import SS1 textures into SS2 or other engines, but never the other way around. Crazy times!

https://twitter.com/the_3RDplayer/status/1041912045963227137

[673f8fa623a993RDplayer]

Okay, Its been a while since I talked about this. But the fanmission is coming along nicely. Two levels are already finished and I just started planning out he making of custom weapons. Since it's a SS2 themed mod, most weapons will be early versions of the SS2 ones. Like the Talon M2A3 (in the fanmissions ase it's the "SS-2 Talon M2A1". I also made a few joke weapons like the Auto-Bomb Launcher.

I can also make weapons shoot enemy projectiles, which basically confirms that Annelid or in this case Hivemind weapons will be a thing.

Auto-Bomb Launcher (will become a minelayer) https://twitter.com/the_3RDplayer/status/1060626828480729088

I also modelled real 3D models for the weapons in Blender already so that the sprites I will have some sort of perspective:
https://twitter.com/the_3RDplayer/status/1060948108098576384

I attached the images for the new Pistol as attachments.

I will make another reply once the fully set of new weapons is done.


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