Included in Build Additional Select Storyline Customization Options

[Pieter Boelen]

See attached for some further slight adjustments of mine to the Select Storyline interface.
Just lining things out a little better and removing some interface elements when they're not needed.

Then going through the various storylines again....

Must remain unique:
Standard
WoodesRogers
Assassin
Bartolomeu
GoldBug
Hornblower
JackSparrow


Generic Free Play, must be removed or at least joined:
BraveBlackFlag
JackAubrey
JeanLafitte
Nelson

For removal, I would like all elements that makes these stories "special" in some way to be incorporated into a single storyline.
For example:
- Brave Black Flag's custom and more piratey opening scene can replace the Standard storyline opening if you select the PIRATE nationality
- Selecting "Commissioned" player type could make you skip the tutorial and place you straight into a port appropriate to your player nation
- Special officers should be added to the GivePromotionReward function that is currently in NK.c instead
Possibly put some film-specific characters in use for that if you select the "Aubrey" character model at game start.


Scripted Opening with Free Play later:
DevlinOpera
LaCroix

These are the iffy ones. Perhaps these can be thrown into the Standard storyline code somehow too?
I suppose La Croix could work as the default French game start, though of course it is a tougher start than any other storyline.
Devlin Opera is really weird, because it assumes a past of your character and is also unfinished.

 

[Levis]

Maybe have a LaCroix esque opening when chosing a higher difficulty? I mean the opening could work for all characters right?

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Why not keep the standard storyline but use the brave black flag as that one seems to have a tutorial too and all the sidequests, and work our way from there.

I am not suggesting to drop the standard storyline.
But Brave Black Flag is a near carbon-copy of the Standard storyline anyway with some names changed and the main quest disabled.
But why keep two copies of just about the same set of files? That's just messy and harder to keep up-to-date.

I never understood why the presence of the standard Main Quest is an objection to players anyway.
But I already put in a fair amount of code to disable the automation caused by it to make it less annoying for players.
Now if you choose a custom starting nation, the only thing that does still happen is that Speightstown gets taken over by France.
Nobody is forcing you to report that to the Jamaica governor. We could disable this whole "taking over" thing outside the default time period.
Then it'll be like the main quest isn't even there.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Maybe have a LaCroix esque opening when chosing a higher difficulty? I mean the opening could work for all characters right?

That's not actually a bad idea at all. Having a tutorial only on the lowest difficulty would make sense.

Only issue with La Croix is that it is technically quite linked to having a French starting character.
Plus it probably also depends on certain nation relations to make sense.
So making it more generic would require a substantial amount of recoding. Which I'd like to avoid if possible....

 

[Levis]

That's not actually a bad idea at all. Having a tutorial only on the lowest difficulty would make sense.

Only issue with La Croix is that it is technically quite linked to having a French starting character.
Plus it probably also depends on certain nation relations to make sense.
So making it more generic would require a substantial amount of recoding. Which I'd like to avoid if possible....

We could just change the dialog a bit to make it more generic right?

I agree on moving all other to the main storyline indeed if we can disable the french taking over.

 

[Levis]

Maybe we should add something to the start of the storyline or at the selection. You now have the commissioned profesion, but I think we should have something else which says if you are navy, normal or pirate from the start. Maybe we could tie the blaze storyline to you when you choose normal, or we have a special category for that?
Then you can pick to be a merchant or privateer ingame

 

[Pieter Boelen]

We could just change the dialog a bit to make it more generic right?

How about the locations, though? Those are pretty fixed.

The mission to sink the Vogelstruys can be split from the opening and made into a generally available sidequest instead, I reckon.

Maybe we should add something to the start of the storyline or at the selection. You now have the commissioned profesion, but I think we should have something else which says if you are navy, normal or pirate from the start. Maybe we could tie the blaze storyline to you when you choose normal, or we have a special category for that?
Then you can pick to be a merchant or privateer ingame

The starting profession only really explains the past of your character. How you got your skills, weapons and ship.
What you then do DURING the game is up to the player. I quite like it that way.

Only exception is the "Commissioned" player type that basically locks you to one single nation for the whole game.

 

[FlyingGhost]

My suggestion would be to only have one set of Left/Right arrows around the original date line that only allow you to change the year.
That takes up less space, so the period name can remain on the same line. Right?

I see no reason why you would want to change the starting day and month anyway.
Even if we must at some point figure out a way to have date-correct starting relations, then getting the year right should still be close enough.
How accurate would we need that?

I'd even go so far as to suggest that we only allow players to pick a period in the Free Play selection, and those periods will then mean only one specific year for each period - this means getting the historical relations right would be piece of cake.

The proper storylines have their years pre-set, so that's no problem. Of course, I'd personally also like the specific starts for the named characters to be available - maybe a starting scenario could be presented upon choosing some of the named character in the Free Play selection? I'm not sure if it's worth it. For my own part I quite like starting of with a known character (from history, films, or books etc.) in a specific instant - but then I'm more inclined to take it anywhere I like rather than play a linear story.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I'd be quite happy to have differences in game starting scenario based on all sorts of variables that you change.
Actually makes your choices *mean* something. But it would have to all be pre-programmed with could get quite complex.
How about we start first with those enhanced "navy promotion changes"? I could really use your help with that, @FlyingGhost...

 

[Levis]

I'd say start with trying to get everything in the standard storyline. Then from there we see what to do with the rest.

How about the locations, though? Those are pretty fixed.

Can't we use a random beach or select beaches for each starting nation (like with the seahawk it has different ports, we could just reuse that code right?) and change the guards/enemy to appear on a random locator (there is a function for that) instead of a fixed locator. They might take a little bit longer to reach you but thats no problem right? Haven't played this storyline much and when I did I always fled to my ship so don't know what happens after it .

The mission to sink the Vogelstruys can be split from the opening and made into a generally available sidequest instead, I reckon.

That would be good I think.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Because this talk is steering dangerously close to an insane concept I posted some time last year, I'd suggest you have a look at this post where I mentioned it:
http://www.piratesahoy.net/threads/...ty-with-storm-engine-games.23825/#post-491196
I just moved it out of the Hearts of Oak Development forum so that everybody can now see it.

I'd say start with trying to get everything in the standard storyline. Then from there we see what to do with the rest.

That would be ideal as end result.

Can't we use a random beach or select beaches for each starting nation (like with the seahawk it has different ports, we could just reuse that code right?) and change the guards/enemy to appear on a random locator (there is a function for that) instead of a fixed locator. They might take a little bit longer to reach you but thats no problem right? Haven't played this storyline much and when I did I always fled to my ship so don't know what happens after it

Beaches could be arranged. But how about the prison scene? Not even all islands and towns have prisons at all?
Not even sure if every nation has at least one prison. So making all this dynamic might get real complicated real quick.
I wouldn't object to something simple instead....

Alternatively, we could ALWAYS start you out on Cuba and have you duel the Spanish don there.
So that your starting nation there does NOT influence the starting location.
That would work better though if your nation is at war with Spain and becomes especially weird when you are Spanish yourself.

 

[Levis]

Why couldn't they transport you to the prison in cuba always? I mean let the guards get you on whichever beach you want but deliver you to cuba because they are looking for you. It would give players a false feeling of freedom when choosing the start of the story .

 

[Pieter Boelen]

LOL! True. Still doesn't solve the Spanish starting nation, though. That remains a bit... odd.

 

[KillPhil]

Why? You can also be a prisoner of you own nation^^ Oblivion e.g. starts in a prison, and you don't even know (and you can't figure out) why you are even there Skyrim starts with a ride on a carriage with your execution as destiny - and you also don't know why .. epic stories can start with this without being odd ^^

 

[Levis]

If I remember right you got a bounty on your head because of a depth right? so why can't that be with your own nation?

 

[Pieter Boelen]

My main query is: What reason would Spain have to NOT consider you hostile after escaping from jail?
Because if you select Spain as nation, obviously the player's intention is to play FOR Spain, not against them.

 

[KillPhil]

Maybe we should let a character(officer) spawn after you escape who says that Spain lets you go if you help them or something like that

 

[Levis]

My main query is: What reason would Spain have to NOT consider you hostile after escaping from jail?
Because if you select Spain as nation, obviously the player's intention is to play FOR Spain, not against them.

Well the story does take care of that right? After escaping you should return to hispaniola at one point and then the ship sinking quest kicks off. That should fix your relation again right?

 

[Pieter Boelen]

The way the story goes is: You get into trouble with Spain so you escape, go see the FRENCH governor at Port-au-Prince and the ship sinking mission is actually for France.

 

[Levis]

The way the story goes is: You get into trouble with Spain so you escape, go see the FRENCH governor at Port-au-Prince and the ship sinking mission is actually for France.

AH.... why not do this for all nations except when you pic spanish. if you pick spanish you are tasked to kill someone on a beach and then you are done ?