Are some things in the game not for bases?

Hi all.

After my little confusion about animations and graphics effects, I was thinking about one of the standout areas in the game that recieves little love (and not because the Devs don't want to, it's more that as I think I can safely paraphrase Positron: 'It's like a house of cards that takes little to crash to the ground') in terms of bases.

The largest factor in why anything with bases is like herding cats is that the original coder for bases is long gone from the game and sorting it out would be a major headache (at least that's my understanding of things).

I'm wondering then: is this why virtually no new decorative items have gone into bases since they were launched? I personally know some amazing base builders that work wonders with the tools and resources at hand, but they and I bemoan the sometimes grinding lag using multiple objects to build say a staircase can take.

From my perspective, I see plenty of tables, chairs, pinball machines, boxes, gurneys, you name it in the game that I think 'well, it's a 3D object, it should be able to go anywhere, right?' But I don't know that for a fact and I wonder if there's some technical hurdle with that which I have no idea about.

I think with newer games featuring base options with animated features but not necessarily the same level of customisation, I'm wondering where the technological gaps are that would either require the whole base building engine to be scrapped to utilise everything, or if there's some spit and chicken-wire way to get things done.

As before, I'd appreciate any and all feedback about this one, because object/world building is something I know very little about from the technical standpoint.



S.

I'd love to know this as well. The floor and hanging cages in Pocket D would be a welcome addition to a room in our villainside base... and would make one of my SG members very... Very... VERY happy... Some of the colored spotlights would be really cool too.

Though I built her a dance cage in both our hero and villain bases, and she loves those as well, it would be nice to just have basic models to work with also.

I, personally, would like to see available Personnel added. NPC contacts (with different models, Arachnos, Nurse, Citizen, Longbow, etc) that can provide services like sell inspirations (even if it's just the same ones the autodoc and tree do) Tailors, difficulty managers (Like the Hero Corps or Fortunatas)... Basically any type of 'store' contact in the game, I'd love to see in the bases. Improving functionality and usefulness in bases is a really good thing. Plus when I'm the only one in the base, it feels really empty... just sayin'

I'd even like to see a few 'roving citizens' (in that they're just there wandering around the base like in missions, around town, in Portal Corps, etc..) NPC's that you could add to show connections to particular groups or just to have technicians and stuff roving around so, like I said before, if you're the only one in the base it doesn't feel empty. Maybe your villain group is heavy into gang activity. Maybe you'd like to have a few Hellions in your employ, or maybe some Skulls. Maybe your heroes work closely with the Midnighters, or the Legacy Chain... something for everyone! Though I could see that being a LOT more difficult, I think it would be neat. Maybe even have them be like Civillian NPC's that hand out interesting, kinda useful, information about the world and your character (or other characters in the SG instead of saying 'name of hero in current zone).

I really hope being able to add and do new things with bases is somewhere in there for the future.

I was just talking to someone about this today.

There's a lot of reasons. From what I understand there's some concern about actually adding the items to the editor. Also, some of the objects we've added to the game over the years are kind of like a theme park wild west show...a facade with incomplete surfaces that aren't player facing.

There's a lot of things we want to add to the base editor (furniture from Going Rogue, the aforementioned pinball machines, etc, etc...) and hopefully it's something we can accomplish.

Thanks Zwillinger. That makes some degree of sense (not having a lot of technical background in programming). Hopefully you guys (and gals) can accomplish it.

I also get the 'house of cards' effect. I put a lot of work into our bases, so I really respect that all of you are trying to make sure that effort isn't wasted or lost.

EDIT: Damnit... I try to be better than this, but... FPARN

At the last Player Summit, I "cornered" Dark Watcher (programming guy) and pointed out to him that the REAL problem with the Base Editor essentially amounts to a case of "Do Not Back Up, Severe Tire Damage" and that until the entire legacy base editing system gets replaced, it's never going to amount to more than it currently does (ie. 6 years old and creaky as all get out). I then pointed out to him that what would be Really Useful is a dual use "Map Editor" which would be cross-compatible with both SG Bases and Mission Architect so as to allow for more broadly defined User Created Environments.

YES ... it would be tremendous undertaking (think easily a year or two once a commitment is made to go ahead) ... but at the same time, the rewards of actually overhauling (and documenting?) the game code that makes these things possible would at the same time be an excellent opportunity to streamline and update Developer Tools for creating environments as well, not just Player Accessible Tools for doing the same thing. My point being that the Developers could "get as much out of" such an effort as the Players, and the end result would be a far more stable, and expansionable part of the game allowing User Created Content.

So if you do it *RIGHT* you achieve the all important Two Birds With One Stone aspect (or even Three, depending on how you tie everything together and code it all on the back end).

It's the end. But the moment has been prepared for ...

Yea I'm of the mind that a whole new base builder should be made and the old one relegated to maintenance mode. Let the players use the supergroup registrar to choose which system they wanna use for their base (old or new) so that way people who like the old system still have it but a whole new system (with proper documentation and understanding by the current devs) is available that can be expanded upon without the "house of cards" issue.

And honestly? The only way I can see us really getting many of the things requested for bases over the years is for a new builder to be made. So we can have exterior zones and a bunch of virtual "legos" to actually make our base to taste.

I'm for whatever it takes to add decorative items to bases - like more LIGHTING! - just whatever it takes, make it happen....

I want to be able to put candles on tables, to have windows with scenic vistas or scary eyes peering in, or fireplaces - lit or not - we need beds, we need many more kinds of lighting fixtures that we have.... the base editor is an antiquated, creaky MESS and oh gawd it needs to be addressed yesterday. Jack-o-lanterns.... I need them in the base. We need more chairs! We need more wall-art! We need rugs! What DONT we need, come to think of it. Smaller teleporters! Why does a teleporter take up 100 square feet or whatever?!!

With people buying 78 Superpacks at a time, revenue simply can't be the issue these days. Make it happen already~!

Related to this, I like the way that they've started using some base items on missions maps, like in the new Atlas content and the SSAs - I think that it's a good way to integrate the look of bases into the wider game world.

There's no way that the base editor will ever be used by enough people to justify putting in the amount of resources required to get it to where people want it.

It's a legacy system in an 8 year old free to play game with a pretty low user base. I think at this point, especially seeing the population drop that has taken place since the release of newer games, they are (and should be) focusing on adding new content that the majority of the users are going to benefit from.

IMO, the base system will pretty much stay as it is, and that's probably for the best.

Judas_Ace, I sure hope that's not the case. I understand that bases are not a priority feature and really can be a bit of a server resource drain, but I've taken the attitude to CoH lately that this is a 'cottage industry' game.

That's no offence to the professional nature of those who work on it, but we have a small but vocal and strong community. We're not a WoW, we're not a 'big name' game in the numbers sense. But what we are is the leading superhero game, and I still feel that even with two other superhero MMO's out there.

In that position, I feel we should not only lead the pack, but extend the game's unofficial mantra of playing how you want to play into all its aspects. And for many, bases are as much a sense of an identity as anything else. I feel players deserve to have the same kind of options there as they do in the very look of their own character.

If that means or leads to a new system or alternate system for bases, then I see that as a positive that the community would invest in and support rather than be a drain.


S.