Metal Renegades - GSoC Proposal Draft

[wabadump]

This is the first draft for my GSoC proposal. It has my goals, stretch goals and a timeline. I haven't added my personal information yet, but that'll follow soon. All feedback will be appreciated!

I will be focusing on implementing core gameplay features so that at the end of the project players can at least have a playable multiplayer experience. Some essential features like industrial towns, machines and upgradable characters (through attachments?) have not been considered. These features will be easier to implement once other issues with the engine and various modules are solved (like distinct terrain generation, advanced anatomy etc).

I will be working with placeholder art assets. I could create some when feasible, but it will not be a focus.

I consider Metal Renegades to be a shared world "Cowboy Fallout" experience, like a cross between Red Dead Online and Fallout. I've tried to come up with features that will take it into that direction. Please let me know if this is fine and in the spirit of the original idea.


https://docs.google.com/document/d/1n4Xx8Drcg89QVs7ORMh-jkFbE-ofXoJuyQwNo1ioA9Y/edit?usp=sharing

 

[Cervator]

Pretty good first draft! Main thing I feel is missing would be a more detailed per-goal section with objectives and technical strategies. You've got some of that in the timeline which is good, but you could probably go into more higher level detail on things like how a trade system would work, exactly what would go in cities, how travel might work (are trains crafted? Do they just exist? Run on schedules? etc)

Here you instance you talk about industrial towns and machines, but that's not really in the proposal. What would a "player hub" entail?

I don't really see any red flags, a lot of the features seem straight forward and achievable, although it is hard to say if the overall scope might be a bit high for a well-polished GSOC project. As you detail the goals further you might want to consider which should be primary and which could become stretch goals (but hopefully achieved anyway) vs more far-out stretch goals that are really more like ideas unlikely to see action.

You could also review your goals vs those posted in Andy's proposal over here: https://forum.terasology.org/threads/gsoc-proposal-metal-renegades.2234/ - there seems to be a more NPC-heavy approach over there (almost like a GooKeeper extension) along with more world focus, which could work alongside a lot of your stuff pretty well. It is fine to try to develop two compatible proposals so long as they can both stand on their own independently

 

[wabadump]

Proposal updated!

I don't plan to implement trains, but they'll be a stretch goal. Same with industrial towns and machines. Those will be relevant after factions are added.

By a "player hub" I meant a place for non-combat player interactions like quests, trades, games. This will be realised much further down the road after the project.

Stretch goals are now split in two. I have some minor goals which I can work on as soon as the MVP is completed and then I have big features which will need a decent amount of work to implement.

 

[Cervator]

More feedback provided

Proposal is looking pretty good! It does still feel a little heavy, but maybe some more poking around in code and providing a few early PRs could help reduce uncertainties like that. Appreciate the special attention to try and make the two MR proposals more "compatible" - it would be cool to be able to accept both projects together and have you help out by reviewing each other's stuff at times, maybe even keep a merged version up to date that has content from both projects.

 

[wabadump]

Updated. I've added some tests in the timeline but I don't see how I can lighten up my MVP anymore. As I mentioned in Andy's thread, I can take out the Wanted Level feature but that's it I guess.

 

[Cervator]

Re-reviewed. Looking good

You could move out the Wanted thing if you're curious to see how Andy's version comes out, could have a stretch goal to then integrate it. If that lightens your proposals to where you finish early and need a stretch goal or two that's fine

 

[wabadump]

Updated!

• Add details for Game Over screen's implementation
• Propose to create a new AdvancedRails module to store anything other than the basic Rails implementation
• Mention the possibility to use the Equipment module for player stats in stretch goals
• Add futuristic weapons to stretch goals
• Replace quest giving NPCs with "quest points"
• Add details on dropping items. Can use BlockDropGrammars.
• Add some details on solving issue #33 in the CombatSystem module
• Move Wanted Level idea to stretch goals
• Add bonding period to timeline
• Spread out the timeline to better accomodate testing and documentation

An idea that I thought of was that the quest points could be like "vending machines". These are all owned by one massive corporation which runs most of the industries in our world. They exploit people without resources and make them go on dangerous quests. The Corporation's owner forms the "face of the company" and his face is present on all machines. This is all like Handsome Jack from the Borderlands series but could be a good start for lore.

 

[Cervator]

Haha yeah I was reading that final paragraph thinking "Oh yeah there's some Borderlands coming" then yep! Not really a bad comparison either, just with more rails and maybe the bullet hails spread out a bit more

Checked the proposal again but not much to say, seems pretty solid