The Mission 2015

[SickAlice]

This is my mission statement for this year. Anyone with me say ay! I'm establishing the thread as a place to trade ideas for how to get this done with.

1.) Provide everyone with both the tools and the knowhow to able to create any kind of content for the game. Basically I want everyone to be able to skin, everyone to be able to model, everyone to be able to script missions. I feel for too long we've been in this vacuum where a user may have an idea but not be able to make it themselves and really folks we've been at this for a very long time now, I mean actually went from youth to adulthood during the course of it, and I think there's no reason that were at the level were at in modding and not have this as a standard. I'm going to personally tackle the modelling end since I have good experience getting that done cheaply. I was adding new parts to models with just Milkshape and the grey background Nifskope well before Blender plug-ins had been introduced so I have a wealth of notes and resources on my hard drive. I'm also going to try and compile and put up detailed rundowns on what all of the features in Nifskope do on my site by the end of this. That of course means schooling myself a little too as I don't know what every function does or at least " why " it does what it does.

2.) Make sure everyone has a home.  What it says on the tin. Make sure everyone has a place to upload and share their creations and not some incest riddled Yahoo groups either. Those were okay back in the day when we were all on uncertain ground and Yahoo didn't flood everyone with spam but the simple days of the internet have clearly passed us. I've seen much happen since winter of last year to getting this goal done. Keep up the good.

3.) Better networking. It's not flawed as it is but I would like to see a stronger push for collaborations. Any professional game or media for that out there has a list of credits. It has a team working behind out, not an individual. So we could call this the " no man an island " declaration? Anyways the idea is to make a stronger push to have teams working on projects and more to have projects for teams to work on. The way daglob makes bimonthly contests is a really good start to this as far I'm concerned and a good foundation for going about it. Announcing an idea and inviting anyone from the community to pitch in what they can. Seems straight forward to me.

Anything to add?

[Cyber Burn]

1.) I don't know if everyone here will have the time to learn everything, but for those who do want to learn how to create content for the Games, I will be glad to share any resources and knowledge that I have. This is such a great Community, and I can't even begin to name ALL the people who have helped me out over the years, but I will gladly do what I can to help anyone that needs/wants it.

2.) While Yahoo can be...difficult...at times, it has allowed for the preservation of a lot of content that is no longer hosted elsewhere. I have to ask, if content hosting was made more easily available, would more Members be willing to share their work?  (Unfortunately, I don't think there are any Community Tutorials that detail how to find/create Websites.)

3.) There are a lot of great collaborations that have resulted in some fantastic Game Content, I think pretty much everything I have on the Force of Paradox site has been the result of collaborations, so if anyone needs someone to collaborate with, I can't promise a timeframe, but I am always willing to try and help out. I agree with SickAlice, if anyone has an idea that they want to see implemented, please feel free to ask for help, brainstorming can really allow us to create some fantastic results.

[SickAlice]

I thought a lot about the time management thing actually, and I really mean I pinched my forehead a bit there because that's the base hurdle when you get down to brass tacks. I can't speak for every area but I'm thinking confined methods. Like the bit I'm building are a mesh or three that have per-attached bits, preset 3d models that are already lined up where they need to be and will include a walk through in the directory itself. Basically the phonics version of a 3d importation tutorial or poor mans character modeller whatever way you want to slice it. The basic Green Lanterns were actually the testing stage for all that. My idea here is that persons with no knowledge can pretty much download whatever free or pay 3d program, import the preset, replace it whatever else they like, export it and import it to the nif via Nifskope. In the quick process of course they would be instantly learning the layout of a 3d program and opening themselves to the other options available. I can say I learned anything by doing it the same way and unknowing I was at first. Originally I had no intention on getting to know 3d programs at all, I just wanted to put hats on nifs. The rest just happened. Anyway it should take me sometime but not to long to get that set-up.

Otherwise the Nifskope will just be the cliff notes/user friendly cheat sheet for the program. Anyone, I know you have CB, who has read the codex for that...well to quote Beetlejuice on The Handbook For The Recently Deceased " reads like stereo instructions. ". But it's all basic math when you know what it is and the lengthy strings aren't really needed for the user rather a person trying to compile their own Netimmerse program. So I'll see about setting that down. Making everything basic and quick is the way to go here, I agree. Get the baby steps on the board first then leave the advanced ends open for those who have the time and need to go there.

I'm wondering the same about others sharing their work as well. I see screencaps of things users here are working on at times but never see the hosting anywhere. Likewise and another in the neg column for groups hosting more often someone has some kind of work out there but I've never been aware of it. Rightly as how can one know of what isn't displayed. Added of course the screwing around that can come with just trying to find Yahoo links. And note I don't mean to knock the company nor it's employ. I hardly blame the guy that cleans the grocery store aisles for the muddy footprints the customers leave on the floor either. But personally I would love to see it phased out of the Freedom Force community if for no other reason than the mass porn spamming that happens there. It's well enough for ones personal things in life, no more than an expanded email inbox at any rate but I'd like to see better for the people here. And again this appears to be a good year for that.

[Amazo Version 2.2]

i hope it's ok to post here. i like the idea of getting more people involved, that includes me too. i've never really thought of what i've made to be good enough that anyone would want it, but i've been trying to get into making fx. but i was wondering what the best way to display or preview them would be. and then if anyone actually wants them, then i would worry about that afterwards.

[SickAlice]

Always okay to post here, that's the idea. No need to ask on any of the threads I've been making for any of you. Just come in and drop off anything you have. The more the merrier. As for the question and sorry you didn't get a response and lack of mine here I to date can't take in game screenshots. However I'm sure any of our FXers can help you out.

I wanted to bump this to give some props where due:

Thank you to Alex's Freedom Force, Freedomforceforever, and Force Of Paradox for getting so many people hosted in this year and out of the groups circuit. You people have done great in pulling this together and keeping the game alive. Everyone make sure to thank the management of these sites properly. My personal thanks to catwhowalksbyhimself for hosting me all these years.

Thanks to spydermann93 for the Comprehensive List of Freedom Force Content Sites and to Cyber Burn for his contributions to that. A nice index is going to save a lot of people time and confusion in the long run. The accessibility you two brought here is invaluable. Thank you for taking time out of your schedules to do this.

Thanks to everyone who pitches in and helps others understand how to create content and everyone who answers requests and/or makes content and shares it, past and present. Thanks to everyone who gives permission for others to use and abridge their work. That's an honest to gosh standard of teamwork and something that will help this world be a better place.

Thank you to the hardworking people of Freedomreborn for providing us with a place to meet up and network and all the time you all put into keeping this site alive.

[SickAlice]

Request

Looking for tutorials and more importantly the authors permission to host them on my site. They will be hosted on the workbench with their own pages. I have a keyframe and blender tutorial over there now so the more diverse the better. Specifically though anything very detailed like WB and RD's are and something that has images to guide the student. Thanks for whatever anyone brings to the table.