Oct 26

So today, a little discussion on the newly improved flight system. You're all probably getting bored of these rather tedious paragraph long blog updates by now, but hang in there!
One of the major feedbacks we received with Build 1 was that there was too much grinding. Flight was enjoyable, but some found the rattling screen just too much to handle.
The upgrades system limited players and forced them to think ahead too much, so with all that in mind, we came up with an incredibly simple system.

Blue Stabilisers

Up until now, the Blue Stabilisers on the console have remained functionless. That is to say, they allow us devs to mod and test with loads of cheaty dev code (In beta), but for players, theyre just a pretty doohicky on the console.
Going forward, Blue Stabilisers will allow you to switch between Autopilot, and Manual Flight.

Autopilot allows the TARDIS to smoothly progress from destination A to destination B without any fuss. No rattling camera, no Control response commands, just punch in the simple launch procedure, pull the handbrake, and away you go. The reward for this, is that you're free to spend that precious 60 seconds of your time aboard the TARDIS prepping for your next big adventure. Head down to the wardrobe to kit up for whatever environments beyond the doors. Stop by the workshop to knock up a couple of quick batches of Nitro-9 for those quicky getaway moments. The offset? Pilot XP. 
Leaving the Blue Stabilisers active may be all fine and dandy, but you won't learn from it. You won't gain Piloting experience simply letting the TARDIS fly herself; nor will you be able to manipulate the journey in any way, shape or form.

And that's where Deactivating the Blue Stabilisers comes in. Deactivating the stabilisers will set the TARDIS into its standard, common shaky flight. From here, you'll be able to interact with controls at random (note: the number of controls to be interacted is expected to be increased), gaining Piloting XP. You'll also be able to increase, and decrease the speed of the TARDIS, which will shorten (or lengthen) the journey time endured, respectively increasing the speed at which you must respond to control interaction.
We've also removed message based instruction and replaced the Flight reaction minigame with highlighted controls, a much more organic and immersive feeling.

So, to summarise;

Blue Stabilisers on: No Piloting Xp/Flight manipulation, freedom to wander the TARDIS during flight
Blue Stabilisers off: Gain Piloting XP from Control response and increase/decrease flight speed

There's various other facets to flight that we're reworking, too many to really name in a simple blog post, but I'd ideally like to demonstrate these real soon over at the much neglected Youtube channel.

D

16 comments:

FamusJamus said...

"We've also removed message based instruction and replaced the Flight reaction minigame with highlighted controls, a much more organic and immersive feeling."
Yay!

RottenApple said...

It would be awesome if you could set custom locations for the Tardis. Kind of like how you do with the sonic screwdriver, accept it's saved in the Tardis data banks. I don't know, would that even be possible? xD

Anonymous said...

I was going to write exactly what FamusJamus said! I feared I was the only one that found the Tardis too easy to handle! hurayy!

Cirius said...

Stabalisers? They're boringers, that's what they are, blue boring-ers!

Cirius said...

Added to that, anyone who flies their Tardis at anything less than maximum flight speed is a wuss.

Anonymous said...

What's Going To Happen With The New Console Room

Kris said...

Hahaha, quite Nick, quite ;)

@RottenApple, we'd love to reintroduce the Datastores, they're a very very simple mechanism to employ so IF I have time (thats a big IF), I'll consider it :)

New Console Room anon? There was no intention of its inclusion, so I wouldn't expect anything.

Archer said...

No worries on the paragraph long updates, I really enjoy reading them! :) I have to say, I love flight s it is and didn't think it could be improved, but the upgrades do sound really interesting. Thanks for the info.

Anonymous said...

Really exciting news!

Unknown said...

Love these regular, and length updates! The new flight system sounds amazing, have to say I'm glad the screen pop ups are gone, can't count the amount of times I've missed an action because of my Vault canteen :L

Anonymous said...

Demeggy How Is The Door To The Five Doctor's Tardis Going To Work

Unknown said...

Wondering if we could set a custom time of travel when using the blue stabilisers, so more than 60 secondes, so we can do some RP stuff like relaxing in the pool or in the living room, maybe play the scientist, things like that. And will sleep during the trip using the blue stabilisers will make the trip faster? (Since it skip one hour minimum in game)

Unknown said...

This is possibly the best mod ever created for Fallout, and you just made it much better. Thank you Demeggy, you're the man !

captcha: 47 ocalcoN

The Ultimate Noob said...

I love the lengthy updates. Keep 'em coming!

Unknown said...

I Feel This Last Part Of The Mod Is Coming Very Soon

RottenApple said...

@Kris It would add a whole new depth to the game, for the DLC's especially. For fast transport between specific locations which you've already been. If you have time, it would make my day xD Also thank you for all of the hard work you've put in to this. I've been coding for a while now and I know how difficult it is. Especially when your coding a mod. So thanks for making the best doctor who mod of all time. You are a legend! :DD