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XCOMUFO & Xenocide

CTD-Extra Texts For The X-net


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[color="red"]This first part is done, check out further down about the extra stories part...[/color]


Hey everybody,
There's been a call put out to get the interface for the X-Net finished for the next beta release. We currently have a PSD file for the interface, it just needs some tweaks to get it matching the design discussed in [url="http://www.xcomufo.com/forums//index.php?showtopic=1680"]this[/url] thread. Red Knight needs the parts sent to him in PNG format after the changes in the thread are made.


Please contact me or Red Knight via PM if you are interested, I don't think it will take very long for someone who knows PS to make these changes, unfortunately I have no PS clue, and those who were working on it are not available right now.

Please let us know ASAP, the PSD file can be found [url="http://www.projectxenocide.com/artassets/xnet.zip"]here[/url]. Edited by Breunor
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Update, we have 2 people who have started on this, so unless there's another update here we now have it covered.
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  • 9 months later...
We're moving into another stage regarding this. The art department is beginning the construction of the UI using the Ogre engine. One of the things being made is the X-Net interface. Anyone who has the spare time, we need to go through and proof read everything in this forum for grammar and spelling. I will try to do so at work as time permits, but the more the merrier! We need to have at least a draft for every entry, so anyone working on something, just post what you have in the next week and let us know it's a WIP.

On another note, you can check out [url="http://www.ogre3d.com"]http://www.ogre3d.com[/url] to see what we're going to use to build the game in, the main page has a link to download some samples showing different 3d effects. It's really cool stuff, especially the swimming ogre head (trust me!).

Finally, one of the additional items we had talked about regarding the X-Net was including "additional information" on each entry. The idea was to make it more like a search engine layout, so the player gets the feel they're searching a database for each entry. So this extra part would be beyond the typically entries we've been doing. Some suggestions of ideas: news story from the local newspaper after a terror ship attack, for the related alien research entry. Or the psychological profile of a soldier after combat who was mind controlled. Perhaps civilian abduction stories from their point of view. That kind of thing. Anything goes here, so long as it passes the PC-13 rating to start off. Just save the "rated R pack" stuff until we've released the game, and people can add that in.

Something we'll need to work out is a naming system to make this easier to manage. I suggest you use something like <main entry name>_<additional-info>_<your initials><unique number>. An example: plasmarifle_additional-info_met1.txt. This will allow us to dump entries into a single folder, with no chance of duplicate names. You can also write more than 1 story per entry if you like that way.
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Whats the situation with the changes? I know PS can I be of help at all?
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Sorry I forgot to edit the title to reflect this portion, we're pretty well set on the X-Net interface for the most part, this portion of the X-Net is making it into something greater than the ufopedia was. The first part is the basic info we're all used to researching. This new part is additional stories/reports/documents related to the research entry. This is where the fluff text can really shine, and people can flex their fiction skills. :D

Since many of the main texts are inked out at this point, this is a way for the CTD members to continue contributing to the project. MagicAndy, yeah we will need some additional PS work done eventually, making the interface for this extra text. It would need to look similar to the UIs, maybe a list of menu buttons down one side with scroll controls available, and the other side is the textbox, also having scroll controls. It would pretty much be a smaller xnet screen, with the 3d model gone and the text area filling the rest of that side. If you'd like some more PS tasks, PM me as we have a few available.
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  • 2 weeks later...
Does anyone else feel as if this additional information idea could solve the problems regarding X-net entries that really need to refer to other entries? I've been working in the plasma weapons area, and want to let players know (especially if they didn't play the original, or if we forget to have manufacturing messages) that they must research both the weapon and the clip...but the English language doesn't really allow for a tense that can be used for past present and future simulataneously.

However, a short blurb could be tacked onto, say, the weapon entry, mentioning that with the added research done on the clip, agents can now reload in the field as well as both items becoming manufacturable. Said entry could be unlocked by the researching of the clip, provided that our interface wouldn't explode and cause errors if additional information was unlocked (but still invisible since the main entry hadn't been opened yet).
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regarding the proff reading, is someone distributing tasks to ensure no duplicate workload?
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[quote name='MagicAndy' date='Jun 8 2004, 11:48 PM']regarding the proff reading, is someone distributing tasks to ensure no duplicate workload?[/quote]
[url="http://www.xcomufo.com/forums/index.php?showforum=231"]http://www.xcomufo.com/forums/index.php?showforum=231[/url]
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After the team is ready I will tell who the coordinator is. In that way the coordinator will be the one that will distribute (under request) the texts to proofread.

Magic Andy did you apply for the task???

Greetings
Red Knight
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  • 4 months later...
I was reading this post, and a nagging thought I have been having resurfaced, and I think it is finally ready for articulation.

It would be much easier I think if someone could provide a web-based example of this x-net that you are working on, perhaps use php/css or just html, and put it on a site somewhere. Searching these forums is a bit exhaustive as well as daunting, and I feel that at some level, there are vital elements being neglected.

A web-based interface would not be too difficult, but we could visually search through the x-net and accomplish two things at once.

First, it would increase all the writers' knowledge of the total compendium, and additionally we could easily see what needed to be cropped for content, fluffed for substance, or what areas were totally missing altogether.

Provide your indexing system at the bottom of each entry for referral purposes, and we can immediately know which file to grab and manipulate instead of the collective 'in/out box' methodology the forum provides.

-kwirl
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  • 4 weeks later...
[quote name='kwirl' date='Oct 22 2004, 01:48 PM']I was reading this post, and a nagging thought I have been having resurfaced, and I think it is finally ready for articulation.

It would be much easier I think if someone could provide a web-based example of this x-net that you are working on, perhaps use php/css or just html, and put it on a site somewhere.  Searching these forums is a bit exhaustive as well as daunting, and I feel that at some level, there are vital elements being neglected.

A web-based interface would not be too difficult, but we could visually search through the x-net and accomplish two things at once.

First, it would increase all the writers' knowledge of the total compendium, and additionally we could easily see what needed to be cropped for content, fluffed for substance, or what areas were totally missing altogether.

Provide your indexing system at the bottom of each entry for referral purposes, and we can immediately know which file to grab and manipulate instead of the collective 'in/out box' methodology the forum provides.

-kwirl
[right][post="98533"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post][/right][/quote]

Hey, I'm learning new stuff with Macromedia Flash MX now, so maybe I can try presenting the Asset List in Flash format..? It'll just have a simple interface but I can try to make it easier to sort through and review. How's that sound?
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[quote name='jim0n' date='Nov 19 2004, 06:29 AM'][quote name='kwirl' date='Oct 22 2004, 01:48 PM']I was reading this post, and a nagging thought I have been having resurfaced, and I think it is finally ready for articulation.

It would be much easier I think if someone could provide a web-based example of this x-net that you are working on, perhaps use php/css or just html, and put it on a site somewhere.  Searching these forums is a bit exhaustive as well as daunting, and I feel that at some level, there are vital elements being neglected.

A web-based interface would not be too difficult, but we could visually search through the x-net and accomplish two things at once.

First, it would increase all the writers' knowledge of the total compendium, and additionally we could easily see what needed to be cropped for content, fluffed for substance, or what areas were totally missing altogether.

Provide your indexing system at the bottom of each entry for referral purposes, and we can immediately know which file to grab and manipulate instead of the collective 'in/out box' methodology the forum provides.

-kwirl
[right][post="98533"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post][/right][/quote]

Hey, I'm learning new stuff with Macromedia Flash MX now, so maybe I can try presenting the Asset List in Flash format..? It'll just have a simple interface but I can try to make it easier to sort through and review. How's that sound?
[right][post="100241"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post][/right]
[/quote]

The Asset List?, IMO we should keep that in html format, keep it simple, it's just for organisation after all, and updating html is simple enough.
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