GalCiv3, Elemental and Modability

from GalCiv3 Forums

Elemental was a very modifiable game, extremely data driven using XML and so in theory great for modders.

 

However although the game was very modifiable, this modifiability was not very accessible to the average player. Information on the Schema of the various XML documents was hard to access although the community did start to build up a repository of this information after a while. I feel that this meant that largely Elemental hasn’t really lived up to it’s potential for modification.

 

There was also the fact that XML can be intimidating to those who are unfamiliar with it which may have put some people of, (although in fact once you get to know it XML itself is simple.

 

For GalCiv3 you are distributing on Steam and using Steam Workshop will make mods a lot more visible and easy to distribute and you are again making the game very data driven via XML files. So it should be a modders, but I think you need to address how you make modding the game more users friendly?

 

My suggestions publish the XML schema’s for all the document types you have with some explanation of how the engine will interpret them. Can I have an XSD?

 

Are you ok with the community building tools to enable some of the files to be edited via a user friendly UI? e.g. create and distribute their own editors of various aspects of the game? Will you be providing any Modding tools directly?

 

Have you considered using the part based sovereign editor used in elemental to create an Alien race editor for customising you race e.g. for diplomacy, etc. in GC3?

 

 I know the standard races use pre-rendered video which gives a better quality but one of the things I’ve always wanted is to be able to customise my race easily in a visual sense and short of sticking to a still image the only way of doing this at the moment is to create, rig animate and render in something like blender then convert to the right video format. If you plan on using custom races from one player to fill out the race rota for other players on large games wouldn’t this system be great for adding variety.

 

You could start by choosing a basic form e.g.

 

Humanoid, Quadruped, Cephalopod, insectoid.

 

Then have parts you can attach and customise for texture, size, orientation relative to the attachment points.

 

It would be a sort of cross between the ship editor and Elementals sovereign editor and I think would be a real selling point of the game.

 

These models could then be used for diplomacy animations, advisors, etc.

 

I think this would add something special to the game, and give races as much love and uniqueness as ships.

 

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Reply #1 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

I do like to use others mods and hope that empires and avatars will be modable.

The more combinations that we can make the longer the game lasts.

 

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

Schemas are already included with the game in alpha. We are perfectly fine with user-created modding tools, there were some of these for past games as well.

 

I wouldn't expect to see a dedicated editor purely for custom race appearances. That would be an awful lot of scope for something that is ultimately a pretty small part of the game (the pictures in diplomacy screens). But since you can put images and videos in there, if there is any such thing out there somewhere already, you could use it to make those.

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Reply #3 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Hi Kryo,

Thanks for that and interesting I hadn't looked in the files yet on the Alpha, haven't really even had much chance to play it yet hopefuly will this weekend.

I think Stardock have always underestimated the effect on engagement of more interaction with the race you have chosen to play and I know others have bought this up to I remember it came up in a recent interview that you didn’t see enough of your own race in game.

 

While I loved GC2 and it is still one of my favourite games I think it fell down in this area. Whenever the galactic news caster came on I always wished it was an advisor from my own race. Whenever I made a technology breakthrough I always wished there was a scientist of my race to present it to me and during planetary invasion I always wished that I had a battle suited commander on screen for the radio show and to report on the outcome.

 

I think these would be enormously beneficial to the feel of the game even though they are cosmetic and while the addition to scope of such a tool is a big initial outlay it would pay dividends down the road as it would then be easy to ad visual advisors as UI elements as needed and the effects on race customisation for players would be great.

 

Anyway I can see it is unlikely that something of this magnitude can be added to scope at this point, however maybe it should be considered for one of the expansions later on.

 

 

Reply #4 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

A race creator tool that allow stuff like the Elemental saga one would be a very nice secondary feature for the game. Not for the basic release because there are other more important stuff, one of which is the starship builder (which is the same but for ships). And as Kryo said, it'd be only for the diplo screen, unlike E/FE/LH where you get to see the results in the map at all times.

But for an expansion pack? That would be a very nice addition. Not having to depend on pic edition skills or external sites that allow 3D stuff would be best for the most common user. But not really sure how good of an idea (from a monetary point of view) would be to implement it. A whole expansion pack focused on adding more content to customize your custom civilizations (from eye candy to extra traits/skills) cannot be a (totally) bad idea?

If implemented, I'd not expect it to cover all the possible alien lifeforms that some would want but it'd be still better than nothing.

Reply #5 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

An expansion that added lots of user-friendly modding tools would be terrific. Even better would be if this was in the base game! :D

Reply #6 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Indeed so how about it stardock can we have a modding and customisation tools expansion which includes a lego kit race customisation editor and more engagement with your own race through the UI so that it really counts.....that's high on my wish list anyway.

 

As for the base game can't wait to get my hands on the ship editor it sounds great...from the little info we so far have. Ship customisation was one of my favourite activities in GC2.

 

Reply #7 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

This also has precedent; remember the modding tools in Twilight of the Arnor that let you edit maps, scenarios, tech trees, ship components and improvements? Something like that, perhaps with some more intuitive interfaces, would be ideal. 

Reply #8 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

On another note is there a free or cheap tool for converting from mp4 or AVI to Bink format? So I could create video outside the game in the meantime? Or always if they never grant my wish list for a future expansion :')

 

Reply #9 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

As a "cheap" alternative to a full blown race creator for the diplo screen with its 3D models and such, a 2D variation would work for me too. I'm not really sure if 2D is actually cheaper to produce than 3D but transparents layers of stuff overlapping sounds easier (to my ignorant mind). Something like RPGMaker character creator, or that HeroMachine app... And can be potantially used by more people to add their own stuff too (unlike 3D).

Just throwing ideas about something that at this point is a wish for some.

Reply #10 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

What's interesting is I had recently been giving some though to how to create such an animated 2d race creation tool as I was thinking of a project to create my own android 4G space game. Still considering sadly I doubt I currently have the spare time. But who knows I might get to it.

Reply #12 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Thanks kryo found that myself after I asked, should have taken my advice on another thread and Googled a bit more for it first. Initially I'd found mostly tools to convert the other way.