Using & Improving the Tech Generator

TL;DR: Exciting progress is happening on the "expanded outfits" plug-ins! The upcoming "modifiers" feature will open up a lot of great options.

"Expanded Outfits" Plug-Ins

   Now that the Tech Generator is producing output that can be directly imported into ResForge or EVNEW, the process of using it to create plug-ins feels very different than the "traditional" plug-in development approach. It is a repeating process of defining what the Generator should produce, having it generate a plug-in based on those definitions, testing that plug-in, and then going back to revise the definitions for the next generation of the plug-in.

   In the time since last month's blog post, I've been working on three outfit expansion plug-ins– one each for EVC, EVO, and EVN. These plug-ins are currently on their 26th generation, with each generation incorporating new updates and improvements.

   These plug-ins have the same goals as the outfit changes I made in EVO: Expanded:

1. Add new weapons and outfits that fit into the game's balance environment, with unique tradeoffs and niches with respect to the stock game's outfits.
2. Enhance the combat experience in each game by encouraging fast-paced, complex combat.
3. Boost the viability of a greater range of ship types in each game.
   

   These plug-ins are making great progress, and increasingly achieving these goals. However, there is more work to be done before they'll be ready for public release, which I'll describe below.

EVOE's Auxiliary Shield System was created to give freighters some much-needed survivability and make them more viable as player ships. The Expanded Outfits plug-ins are also fundamentally trying to give players more options in the game.

Generator Feature Update

   Creating these plug-ins is the perfect way to test the Tech Generator– not only checking for bugs, but also getting a hands-on feel for the Generator's workflow and practical capabilities, and thereby finding ways to enhance its usefulness. Ultimately I will be using the Tech Generator to facilitate the process of creating Orion Skies, and I also want it to be as useful as possible for other plug-in authors.

    Right now, the Generator has two generative processes at work:

1. Heaviness, where the user defines a "Light" version of something, a "Heavy" version of something, and then the Generator can create any intermediate-sized version.
2. Managed Stat Randomness, where the user can specify how much random variation should be put into each stat of an item, and then the Generator will adjust the item's other stats accordingly to keep it in line with whatever balance targets the user provided.

   These two processes together can create an endless number of unique items, and gives the user a lot of control over what those items should be like. I'm confident that these are enough to finish developing these outfit expansion plug-ins to the point that they nicely enhance the experience of playing each of the EV games (at least, for people who have the same gameplay preferences as I do!).

   However, there are some limitations to these systems:

• Tech bases have to be implemented manually. If one were generating a set of Cannons for Override, right now the user would have to specify at least four separate Cannon sets: Human Cannons, Voinian Cannons, Emalgha Cannons, and Crescent Cannons– and more if you're including subfactions like the three Strands!
• Unique traits or bonuses that you want only a single item to have, have to be created manually. RPGs often use these to make their items more interesting, and Magic: the Gathering makes heavy use of them to create a richly textured, complex strategy environment with its cards; I'd like Orion Skies to use them too, and that'd be a lot of manual work!
  

   To address these needs, I'll be adding a new feature to the Generator: Modifiers. These will be user-specified stat adjustments that can be automatically applied to individual items, and should open up a lot of flexibility and power.

    In the example above, you could create a single definition for Cannons in your scenario, then create Modifiers to represent your tech bases, and then have the generator assign each Cannon to a tech base and modify its stats accordingly– e.g. the Crescent Tech modifier would boost shield damage and reduce armor damage, while the Emalgha Tech modifier would do the opposite. Additionally, you could create numerous "unique bonus" modifiers, like "+3 damage" or "also gives +50 shields", and have those assigned at random to individual items, to create an RPG-like or MtG-like item environment.

   Modifiers will take a little time to implement, but they'll be incredibly useful for Orion Skies, and they'll enable me to do a lot more with these "Expanded Outfits" plug-ins, so it's definitely worth taking the time to build the modifiers system now. I'm looking forward to getting them in place and then leveraging them to create some really interesting new outfits for EVC, EVO, and EVN. :)

An example of a bow in Diablo that has a "special bonus" modifier; I envision the Tech Generator's modifiers being somewhat similar in implementation.

 

   As always thanks for reading, and happy modding!