One second, while I was messing around with Hard mode in bounty hunter, I began to think about custom scenarios, and how they'd work... Long ago, I attempted to make a campaign based on my first faction, the Carnivores, and their origin story. Although I thought it'd work well, the end result was a mess that had to be built by the players wishing to play it...
Although I later learned you could share your saves, which would be useful for creating such a campaign, I had (and still have) no idea how to use this method, and I recently realized advanced behaviours and text would be practically impossible to accomplish, meaning the best you can create is an enemy following a cookie trail towards the player's ship. However, how would there be a solution to this?
Right now, my solution comes from a friend... An old friend, which I haven't played for a very long time.
And It was called Spore Galactic Adventures!
Wait, I can explain... Although I will not argue Spore by itself was a failure development-wise, and the fact I'm using a DLC for a half-broken game should be raising some flags, I just have to say something insane: Give Galactic a chance here. It has a system which we can take some notes from.
(Buckle up, It's an Old-Style Sombreroman idea post...)
The Level creator of Galactic adventures allowed you to make things happen when certain conditions are met, such as cutscenes, effects, or enemy spawns, but this was only the tip of the Iceberg; there was also editing of the NPCs themselves throughout all the "Acts" of a mission.
For example, one character could begin as a respawning enemy with low attack damage and HP in the first act, disappear completely in the second act, and return as a one-spawn ally with increased health and damage in the third act of a mission.
Now, most of this shouldn't go into a Cosmoteer Adventure creator, although it helps to have a little bit of background... The real reason I brought this up was because of the (SEMI-, don't get me wrong here, it was pretty good for back then) Advanced A.I. modification system.
NPCs could be set to flee when attacked, or defend themselves. Then, some were just outright agressive. The final NPC type was... They uh, didn't do anything at all; They just stood there or walked, even if they were walking into enemy fire. The reason why I referenced all of this is because it was somehow still a surprisingly simple interface; with enough time and patience, you could make something that no average person would expect to see from a forgotten 2009 DLC of an even more forgotten 2008 game.
With all that aside, some notes could be taken from the game, forgotten as it is:
You can make a reactive level, that progresses as the player does certain things, or have the AI react according to player choices.
You can make custom AI behaviours according to situations, as well as the player's progress in the level.
You can optimize the behaviour and shape of the level itself, and make It change to whim as time passes by, even if not to any extreme degrees for memory purposes.
Although it doesn't follow Walt's initial idea for an FTL-Esque story, I know there are plenty of more problems with following the example of a DLC of a controversial game. However, this raises several new, exciting possibilities; that is, following the example of both systems and combining the results. Speaking of the Roguelite gem, let's look over what FTL had to offer, that makes it so notable when it comes to storytelling in space.
FTL: Faster Than Light is an absolute classic. Created by Subset games, the Space Roguelite featured the possibility of several random effents happening every time you went to a new area. Although it doesn't have any Scenario editor or customizable play, (Outside of some requirements for optimal, AKA Blue, results, Such as having a Human onboard let you befriend a particularly strange Mantis,) The game still had a ton of variety in its random scenarios; while not randomly generated, like combat encounters and rewards, there are still so many possibilities to find when you jump to a location that you might not see the same situation twice, unless they are particularly common situations, or only average combat encounters with different starting text. (Giant Alien Spiders comes to mind...)
However, some events gave you a rare opportunity; A Special quest that lets you unlock a ship, as well as giving you a varying amount of rewards. These events usually took focus on the races that the sub-plot- and Cruiser unlocked- is based around, although some races don't have a specialized unlock. In order to succeed on these rare occurances, you may need to select proper dialogue options, have specific upgrades, or achieve specific conditions, although one factor was universal; these events always took place in one sector type only.
The following example includes Spoilers for FTL, so if you're interested in the game and you don't want to have any surprises ruined for you when you pick the game up, I recommend you skip this following section.
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The Player jumps to a beacon and comes into contact with a Rockman vessel. They hail you instead of attacking you as an outsider, introducing themselves as a Rockman warrior. After this, they give you a friendly challenge to a duel, marking a sector on the map for where the duel will take place. Although you can skip the event if you're running low on time or resources, chances are you'll at least think you are ready.
After a handful of smaller events as you jump through the beacons, you'll eventually reach the Rock vessel. They greet you again and begin the duel, but it appears there's been one small oversight: The Rockman wasn't quite aware you're not as fond of being close to Red Giant Stars. The Battle that ensues is a brutal Miniboss fight, with the sun beating your ship with fires as the enemy Rock vessel pummels you.
Once you do enough damage, the Rock Vessel will begin to jump away; a sign that they're surrendering the duel. If you choose to kill them, nothing happens, mainly because the guy who was going to award you is now floating dead in space. However, if you let them escape, another Quest Icon will appear.
Finally, when you get to this last beacon, the Rockman meets you at a station and thanks you for the Duel, giving your ship Rock Plating, a unique modifier that has a chance of blocking Hull damage, and the Rock Cruiser, which you can use on following runs... As well as a handful of Scrap, fuel, and other goodies you'll need for the last stand.
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(Spoilers End Here)
With that out of the way...
It quickly becomes apparent why Walt would love FTL's storytelling:
It's simple, and comes with Jumps to new sectors similarly to Cosmoteer
It blends story and gameplay excellently
It has several different- and interesting- possible outcomes, especially for Ship unlock quests in the case of the original; similar ends can also be created for Cosmoteer
Of course, you may be asking if this is even technically original, to which I have to say... FTL itself has many similarities to the Oregon Trail, so it isn't exactly safe itself. Well, that, and there are already plenty of other game examples that follow this trend, be it by FTL's example or sheer coincidence. Point is, it'd also be perfect for Cosmoteer, even if it can't be the exact same, for obvious reasons.
Although Walt has stated he wants Cosmoteer's story mode to be something similar to FTL, that doesn't mean the system can't also be intergrated into level design, as well as some notes from Spore, if you know where to look.
The system should let you tailor the AI, Map, and progression requirements according to your whim, allowing you to get a brilliant mix of Galactic's freedom in modification, and FTL's freedom in form.
Reasonably, a feature like this would not be added until the Main story is finished, however... Or at least completed.
However, an easier, remote system of sharing may be needed for so, leading to my other Suggestion:
Cosmoshare!(tm)
This feature would basically be an in-game, Wi-Fi based sharing program, that could store levels and ships without putting some more strain on your computer, while also making it easier to share user-generated content and give profiles more purpose in-game. Seeing how Cosmoteer is a semi-social game, it seems fair some more sociality is given a chance. Such a platform could be similar to Wargroove in some ways. (Ironic how I'm also mentioning Chucklefish, considering how they're also indie devs, along with Walt... To be fair, art is about building up on ideas.)
"Cosmoshare" could also move some of the stress of the Forum toward other areas; while it wouldn't be for RP, it could be used for finding a User's content and ships, and easily obtaining them through their profile for use and interaction across Cosmoteer's fanbase.
If you have any Feedback or ideas on this concept, please feel free to write about it!
