TNBT Contest

Jerald · Post by **Jerald** » Sat, 19. Feb 11, 19:16

I thought this would be fun until TNBT is announced.

I wanted to see who would come the closest in nailing exactly what TNBT is?

Give it your best shot, and when TNBT is announced, your prize will be the bragging rights to nailing it dead on.

I look forward to all your replies. Good Luck.

mrbadger · Post by **mrbadger** » Sat, 19. Feb 11, 19:37

My pitch:

TNBT is a space trade sim, because I think Egosoft will stick with what their existing customers want. The story will be entirely new, the universe, ships, trade goods and tech completelly new too. The game will be more accesible to new players, but with sufficient depth to keep old hands interested.

The engine will be vastly more capable than that of X3, with entirely new AI, multi core support, and it'll be really easy to mod.

This will then form the basis of an entirely new series of space games, at the end of which they will hopefully have enough money to go mmorpeger

xavierd · Post by **xavierd** » Sat, 19. Feb 11, 20:37

mrbadger wrote:at the end of which they will hopefully have enough money to go mmorpeger

And hopefully, the sense not to.

amtct · Post by **amtct** » Sat, 19. Feb 11, 20:43

mrbadger wrote:at the end of which they will hopefully have enough money to go mmorpeger

You mean they will buy Eve online or they will want to lose me as a client?

softweir · Post by **softweir** » Sat, 19. Feb 11, 20:53

My guess, based on tidbits from the Superbox Encyclopaedia:

Space Combat/Trade sim.
FTL Drive - possibly something the player has to earn to "unlock" interstellar space.
3D starmap - possibly "known" sectors have to be "discovered" to unlock them.
Improved graphic engine.
Improved AI engine, but still buggy, because AI in a freeform game is HARD!
Improved, but substantially similar economy. Wares may change, but the basic ideas will be similar, simply because they have spent a long time making the conomy do what they want and aren't about to throw it away!
Plot involves defeating pan-dimensional baddies who are sucking energy and matter from the universe. This will involve tracking down and reassembling bits of some daft McGuffin created by a race even older than the Ancients who built the jumpgate network.
New "incoming message" animations.
A great many random missions essentially based on existing MD code. But we can hope they will make them feel different and original!

mrbadger · Post by **mrbadger** » Sat, 19. Feb 11, 20:57

amtct wrote:You mean they will buy Eve online or they will want to lose me as a client?

Tried that, it's pants. I wanted a mmorpeger space sim before WoW and Eve turned up (thought that would be where Elite would go actually). There just hasn't been one that's got me interested. Started to write a distributed engine for one a couple of years back, realised that I was kidding myself if I thought I'd ever finish the thing, and re-used the code for something else.

If Egosoft eventually make a space mmorpeger (and please noodlyone let it not be an X game) I'll try it, but doing one and getting it right (minimal skinner box stuff, lets see something new), will be a serious peice of challenge cake.

Whatever game they make, provided it's a space type game, I'll buy anyway.

amtct · Post by **amtct** » Sat, 19. Feb 11, 20:59

softweir wrote: [*]New "incoming message" animations.

That's like "the game will come on 2 DL DVDs"

That means it will have alot of ships .

P.S.It would be alot easier if someone would PM Xenon_Slayer or CBJ and ask them what is next

X2-Eliah · Post by **X2-Eliah** » Sat, 19. Feb 11, 21:05

Hmm. Frankly.. I actually hope TNBT will be more like a modern freelancer 2 and not X4 in terms of game structure... But, we shall see.

mrbadger · Post by **mrbadger** » Sat, 19. Feb 11, 21:11

They already said it won't be another X game.

That story ark is what, ten years old now? Time for a new thing.

Post by **Terre** » Sat, 19. Feb 11, 21:17

- The old gate system is shut down, leaving only jump systems developed by other races. Hence the end of the X-Universe.
- The second Terraformer war starts.
- The Earth defensive Torus Aeternal is destroyed.
- The human race face extinction.
- The Boron policy of all organisms have a right to life, even humans, is put into action and they contact the only force they think can fend off the impending attack, #efaa agrees to their request.
- #efaa and #cafe jump in to the Earth's orbit, using their jump to co-ordinate drive, which they developed from the UFJD, and wipe out the remaining Xenon, then leave the sector without even acknowledging Earth and return to their sanctuary.
- The Earth is left isolated.
- Jump beacons need to be deployed to assist the expansion in to new areas.
- The known races are scattered, the player may meet some new ones and not all are friendly.

brucewarren · Post by **brucewarren** » Sat, 19. Feb 11, 22:01

I still like my real ships idea

Seriously though, do we even know if it's even set in space?

Lion Around · Post by **Lion Around** » Sat, 19. Feb 11, 22:12

My guess? A rehash of EVERYTHING they already made. Complete with the horrible "spaghetti plexes."

On a more realistic note... I believe egosoft is circling the drain. They'll go out of business sooner or later.

pjknibbs · Post by **pjknibbs** » Sat, 19. Feb 11, 22:55

Where do you get that idea from, Lion Around? Just curious...

As for TNBT, it will involve a mongoose player character having to fight off an invasion of green-spotted purple killer marmosets while keeping the friendly animals on his side.

Warenwolf · Post by **Warenwolf** » Sat, 19. Feb 11, 23:14

mrbadger wrote:They already said it won't be another X game.

That story ark is what, ten years old now? Time for a new thing.

And frankly while the story had great potential it was never well told. They definitely need to make something new.

But there is an bizarre idea in my head:

If they made "Barbie dress up RPG" which revolves of dressing up and going to Justin Bieber concert - which then results with this forum being invaded by horde of Justin Bieber fans and their ilk - I wonder how the existing community would react....

Imagine all the hate...

RegisterMe · Post by **RegisterMe** » Sat, 19. Feb 11, 23:16

Off Topic would be different, that's for sure.

RegisterMe · Post by **RegisterMe** » Sat, 19. Feb 11, 23:18

And a response less designed to make people laugh....

. I already know my "next best thing", it's Kerberos' Northstar. Which is somewhere between needing a publisher and vapourware. If it provides everything they're talking about it will, for me, be the perfect game.

Until, of course, Ego exceed my expectations

.

Warenwolf · Post by **Warenwolf** » Sat, 19. Feb 11, 23:31

Would never imagine the Kerberos would struggle to find a publisher but what do I know about VG industry.

Post by **euclid** » Sun, 20. Feb 11, 00:18

MMPOGs are the future, no doubt. However, I do not think the next ES game will make this leap yet.

I would expect another sandbox trade-fight-think game with both, space and ground (planets) maps, including leveled boss encounters. It might be wishful thinking but a dynamic map transition and a LAN/MP game option would be nice.

Cheers Euclid

Disclaimer: Most of the above is pure, unsubstantiated speculation.

RegisterMe · Post by **RegisterMe** » Sun, 20. Feb 11, 00:51

euclid wrote:Most

^^

Rednoahl · Post by **Rednoahl** » Sun, 20. Feb 11, 01:12

Plot:

Outsiders get the surviving Kha'ak to reprogram Sohnen and Xenon; Sohnen break the gate network, gates work now and then but only to allow huge Xenon invasion fleets out. Sohnen start constructing vast stations for the outsiders (which was the Kha'aks' job.) Kha'ak freed from their responsibilites breed wildly in preperation for retaliation.

Races destroy all ancient gates to prevent Xenon invading. The Paranid go to the ancients to find out what is going on, and are told to contact the other races - a version of #EFAA leaves the cloud to act as emisary. #EFAA has locations for ancient gate hubs under Sohnen control. The races agree their priority is claiming these hubs, however #EFAA will only release details of one hub per race. The Yaki have found a hub which is unoccupied and in bad shape, but it had a lock on a surviving gate just outside of the system where Aldrin is. The Yaki and Aldrin end up on friendly terms.

Player starts just after a collision, floating in space. Surveying the wreckage, it appears the ship that caused the crash is abandoned. Turns out it's the ship sent by the Paranid to contact the Argon, and a version of #EFAA is the only surviver. #EFAA takes betty's place as ship computer, but is totally at the player's mercy since the ship now belongs to the player. It's up to the player to inform races (or corporations/pirates - #EFAA can't tell the difference,) Paranid already have the details and are getting their hub to work already (so the universe expands over time as the hubs become operational.)

Various race specific plots e.g. either take sides or prevent a civil war within the Split race.

Gameplay:

Sectors will be a full system, similar to freelancer with accelerators to planets and bases. Only one Jump Point in a system and you have to pay to use it.
Ships will be built on a chassis, with modular bits bolted on. Certain races will specialise in specific modules, as will coprporations.
Stations are modular, no complexes. Player can't just build anywhere, and needs to buy rights first with money and reputation.
Reputation also governs where the player can fly.
Crews needed for ships and stations, and improve with time/experience adding features to gameplay.

Terre's is more likely though.

egosoft.com

egosoft.com

TNBT Contest

TNBT Contest