To what extent will crew interactions develop?

[Melody]

I was a huge fan of the "Knights of the Old Republic" franchise, which has a few potentially interesting parallels to TiTs in terms of how it goes about characterizing a massive, space-faring world. Not so much in terms of actual content(read: rated T), but the characterization of the people and the universe they inhabited.


One of the big holdovers from that game that I think could work really, really well in TiTs comes in the way the crew interacts. Bess/Ben is actually a great example of this, but if I recall correctly, people cite Bess/Ben as a major source of problems in development, where making such a complex character put a huge strain on everyone involved in the project.


I know these sorts of questions are genuinely extremely difficult to answer, but to what level can we expect the crew in this game to become more robust? Can we expect KOTOR levels of quality down the line with a more staggered development? Should we expect pretty much what we have right now, with most crew members just being NPCs on the ship and not really interracting with events/the player/each other as hugely? Or can we expect something in the middle?


I ask this perhaps doubly so due to the intrigue behind plans stated on the Wiki to make Syri a crew member down the line, and what all that can entail, especially considering the potential the two have to clash ideologically, which could lead to a really interesting balance depending on if you want to try and be friends with everyone.

 

[Couch]

You will get some scenes between some crew members some of the time.  You will almost certainly never see any of those scenes involve Bess.


Writing followers is a huge undertaking, trying to crossover characters between two writers is even more so.  It may happen sometimes, but if you're looking for it to be common, don't hold your breath.

 

[Krynh]

If you gave Fen a team of Programmers and writers plus a lot of money. You could have the interactions become common.

 

[Savin]

If you gave Fen a team of Programmers and writers plus a lot of money. You could have the interactions become common.

Or we could use that to, y'know, move towards building out the game first. We don't even have space shit rigged up yet.


That said, the fact that there's only three crewmembers (plus Bess/n who doesn't count because nobody will EVER touch it again) doesn't help. Not a lot of room to work there yet. But crew interactions will definitely happen, moreso as more companions are added.

 

[Krynh]

Or we could use that to, y'know, move towards building out the game first. We don't even have space shit rigged up yet.


That said, the fact that there's only three crewmembers (plus Bess/n who doesn't count because nobody will EVER touch it again) doesn't help. Not a lot of room to work there yet. But crew interactions will definitely happen, moreso as more companions are added.

It was a hypothetical situation Savin. I'm well aware of what it would be better spent on.

 

[Night]

I love the idea of two (or more) crew members fighting over who gets to bang/sleep with the the PC


On a general note i think another instance of interaction with crew members would be to actually allow who ever is on the ship to play some kind role in how the story progresses or at least are effected by the story's progression. If landed on uvento maybe rhea will often walk up and cuddle the PC because she's always cold. You tell her to turn on the heater or put on some clothes, which would open up an option to actually buy her some clothes.*sexy winter cowgirl, i called it* Or maybe the probe on uvento crash landed and the data got jacked up somehow, if the pc isn't a tech specialist they could ask Anno could she fix it. 


Or if not for the story progression, the maybe for the progression of your ship.If ship combat ever get implemented Anno could repair or after a certain amount of time offer to upgrade the shields. If she got fired from steel tech she could probably use some of her shady contacts to get us a bigger and better ship, which would mean a larger crew capacity and more storage space. If Syri is a crew member she could use some of her military connects to get us hook ups for weapon modifications for the ship. Rhea could maybe learn to cook and every now and then proc a scene where everyone eat dinner together before bed. There could be small scenes where pc sees Rhea hauling in groceries from the local market.


*cough* maybe we could get seandra as a crew member and have her be copilot and give cockpit bjs every now and then when flying from planet to planet. *cough* 

 

[Xeivous]

I love the idea of two (or more) crew members fighting over who gets to bang/sleep with the the PC


On a general note i think another instance of interaction with crew members would be to actually allow who ever is on the ship to play some kind role in how the story progresses or at least are effected by the story's progression. If landed on uvento maybe rhea will often walk up and cuddle the PC because she's always cold. You tell her to turn on the heater or put on some clothes, which would open up an option to actually buy her some clothes.*sexy winter cowgirl, i called it* Or maybe the probe on uvento crash landed and the data got jacked up somehow, if the pc isn't a tech specialist they could ask Anno could she fix it. 


Or if not for the story progression, the maybe for the progression of your ship.If ship combat ever get implemented Anno could repair or after a certain amount of time offer to upgrade the shields. If she got fired from steel tech she could probably use some of her shady contacts to get us a bigger and better ship, which would mean a larger crew capacity and more storage space. If Syri is a crew member she could use some of her military connects to get us hook ups for weapon modifications for the ship. Rhea could maybe learn to cook and every now and then proc a scene where everyone eat dinner together before bed. There could be small scenes where pc sees Rhea hauling in groceries from the local market.


*cough* maybe we could get seandra as a crew member and have her be copilot and give cockpit bjs every now and then when flying from planet to planet. *cough* 

I want an option for a cuddle-pile for all my companions to sleep with me. I mean our bed probably has enough room for us all.

 

[Ethereal Dragon]

I love the idea of two (or more) crew members fighting over who gets to bang/sleep with the the PC


On a general note i think another instance of interaction with crew members would be to actually allow who ever is on the ship to play some kind role in how the story progresses or at least are effected by the story's progression. If landed on uvento maybe rhea will often walk up and cuddle the PC because she's always cold. You tell her to turn on the heater or put on some clothes, which would open up an option to actually buy her some clothes.*sexy winter cowgirl, i called it* Or maybe the probe on uvento crash landed and the data got jacked up somehow, if the pc isn't a tech specialist they could ask Anno could she fix it. 


Or if not for the story progression, the maybe for the progression of your ship.If ship combat ever get implemented Anno could repair or after a certain amount of time offer to upgrade the shields. If she got fired from steel tech she could probably use some of her shady contacts to get us a bigger and better ship, which would mean a larger crew capacity and more storage space. If Syri is a crew member she could use some of her military connects to get us hook ups for weapon modifications for the ship. Rhea could maybe learn to cook and every now and then proc a scene where everyone eat dinner together before bed. There could be small scenes where pc sees Rhea hauling in groceries from the local market.


*cough* maybe we could get seandra as a crew member and have her be copilot and give cockpit bjs every now and then when flying from planet to planet. *cough* 

lol... two or more characters fighting over you. I can just see that turning into one giant sex romp where the PC goes full sexbeast mode and fucks em all silly.

 

[Night]

 PC goes full sexbeast mode and fucks em all silly.

That's the plan. B|

 

[Ethereal Dragon]

and screw protection, gotta stuff em all full of love batter :circlefap:

 

[Night]

and screw protection, gotta stuff em all full of love batter :circlefap:

Oh yeah everybody gets a healthy dose of baby juice  :jizz:

 

[Couch]

*cough* maybe we could get seandra as a crew member and have her be copilot and give cockpit bjs every now and then when flying from planet to planet. *cough* 

That would require Saendra to give up being independent to work for you, which is still minimum two or three bailout quests away just for her to start to realize she's actually really bad at independence.

 

[Xeivous]

That would require Saendra to give up being independent to work for you, which is still minimum two or three bailout quests away just for her to start to realize she's actually really bad at independence.

Or we could pull an Embry and just hoist the girl over our shoulder and tell her that her independance privileges are being revoked because we say so.

 

[Night]

That would require Saendra to give up being independent to work for you, which is still minimum two or three bailout quests away just for her to start to realize she's actually really bad at independence.

Hell I'd think having your ship trashed, losing an arm, having a bounty twice as much as your net worth, and being dead broke would have made anyone realize they're are bad at independence.

 

[Savin]

Hell I'd think having your ship trashed, losing an arm, having a bounty twice as much as your net worth, and being dead broke would have made anyone realize they're are bad at independence.

That's just foreplay to Saendra :V

 

[Mei97]

Or if not for the story progression, the maybe for the progression of your ship.If ship combat ever get implemented Anno could repair or after a certain amount of time offer to upgrade the shields. If she got fired from steel tech she could probably use some of her shady contacts to get us a bigger and better ship, which would mean a larger crew capacity and more storage space. If Syri is a crew member she could use some of her military connects to get us hook ups for weapon modifications for the ship. Rhea could maybe learn to cook and every now and then proc a scene where everyone eat dinner together before bed. There could be small scenes where pc sees Rhea hauling in groceries from the local market.


*cough* maybe we could get seandra as a crew member and have her be copilot and give cockpit bjs every now and then when flying from planet to planet. *cough* 

As I recall Wasn't Reaha miltary at one point? But that said I like the idea of each companion filling a role on the ship.Also when/if the AI from Tarkus get fully implemented I want her and Saendras little ai to have virtual sex rompts on board.

 

[Starstruck]

As I recall Wasn't Reaha miltary at one point? But that said I like the idea of each companion filling a role on the ship.Also when/if the AI from Tarkus get fully implemented I want her and Saendras little ai to have virtual sex rompts on board.

Yeah she was, so cured Reaha could probably act as security, or maybe join Steele Jr. as a boarding party. Anno's a scientist and Syri is an engineer, with their savvy and connections they could hook your ship up with cutting-edge shields and weaponry, and make sure its always operating at peak capacity. :3

 

[Melody]

You will get some scenes between some crew members some of the time.  You will almost certainly never see any of those scenes involve Bess.


Writing followers is a huge undertaking, trying to crossover characters between two writers is even more so.  It may happen sometimes, but if you're looking for it to be common, don't hold your breath.

Thank you for the concise answer. Though, I feel like the fact that Savin seems to kind of have reigns on the followers right now may steer things in a very KOTOR-esque direction, since Savin seems to love interconnected narratives and conflict amongst her(?) characters.


Sorry, I don't know your pronouns Savin.


I suppose the best thing for me to say is that I'm cool with whatever the writers and devs want to do, and as immersive and cool as this could be, it can also easily blow up to become overly strenuous on development, especially if division of labor becomes less clear and we have more and more people making crew members down the line. I do a bit of hobbyist game design myself, and I know only too well how easy it is to have big ideas that don't quite come together because I had a little too much ambition. I think this'd be a great feature, say if a writer feels like throwing in a cool modular design feature to the game, but it should definitely not be a bullet point to aim for and forced onto anyone who wants to write a crew member down the line.


This whole thing would ideally end in a massive crew fuckpile either way, but I think part of the reason I like having so much trouble amongst people aboard the ship as a concept is because I want to feel like I earn that fuckpile - a sensation that is a bit hard to come by in this game sometimes. When almost every encounter is sexual in nature in this game, and your character is described as always being some kind of sex-god regardless of their own level of experience or feelings, I love the idea of people being harder to get because of personal disagreements.

 

[Nik_van_Rijn]

I just want to see Emmy and Anno having a friendly(?) gun-measuring contest.

Or we could pull an Embry and just hoist the girl over our shoulder and tell her that her independance privileges are being revoked because we say so.

Nah, you have to establish a ridiculous levels of adorkableness and helplessness (maybe even submissiveness) as the core traits of a character for something like this to be endearing instead of just plain wrong and creepy.


And if anything, Kara should be the number one candidate for PC to forcibly sit down and have a Talk with.

 

[Savin]

Thank you for the concise answer. Though, I feel like the fact that Savin seems to kind of have reigns on the followers right now may steer things in a very KOTOR-esque direction, since Savin seems to love interconnected narratives and conflict amongst her(?) characters.


Sorry, I don't know your pronouns Savin.

He/him/his. I just like my cute puppy-girl avatars :3


Also yeah, given the chance to make the game Knights of the Porn Republic, I would totally go for it. 

I just want to see Emmy and Anno having a friendly(?) gun-measuring contest.


And if anything, Kara should be the number one candidate for PC to forcibly sit down and have a Talk with.

Any contest between them is pretty much doomed to end with Emmy vigorously measuring the length of her cock versus the capacity of Anno's twat.


I would vote Kara on "Character most likely to get themselves brutally murdered," yes.

 

[Magic Ted]

An inherent problem with likening things to a Bioware game is that the secret to Bioware interactivity is that they're your party members in a bit If Then sequence. You go to a trigger in the world and your two-three-whatever party mates make a quip, quip at each other if they're set up right and carry on. See; Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, KOTOR, New Vegas, Mass Effect probably the MMO KOTOR too actually. As you progress in the story line and these grand events happen the characters might talk about it when you go to speak to them at the pad, which is just a "If story progression at 5<, then" statement.


But.


We don't have parties! Steele is a lone adventurer. Characters quiping and interacting is wholly defined to the ship, or special events like various ones Anno has. You can't do field interactions, so you're stuck with story progression ones. Except there isn't much to see there, either. The biggest event is potentially fucking up the Tarkus Stellar Tether and all of Anno's reactions to that are while she still isn't on the crew.


In the perfect world characters will interact with one another in scenes on the ship. But given the nature of an allegedly changeable ship that might be difficult to write for. By all means, it's something that will happen. Savin enjoys that sort of interactivity and has the benefit of writing most of the waifus, :V , but I don't think it'll happen often. Maybe if some Other Game came along that was set up for parties and less solo-adventures with it in mind from the get go, but unfortunately it's not an easy set up for TiTs as it stands.

 

[Nonesuch]

Bioware did New Vegas

Wash your mouth out.

 

[Melody]

Y'know, I think it's true that having a ship that is eventually replaceable/modifiable will create some issues for writing down the line. It's a state that can be avoided by vagueness, but the more stipulations are added to your freedom as a writer, the worse your writing will probably wind up. That is a very real concern with this sort of suggestion, and one I honestly didn't consider.


I don't, however, see the lack of parties as a problem, personally, since I feel that the story in TiTs is robust enough to carry it. You mentioned that the biggest story event is fucking up Tarkus, but I think that's not quite the only thing that could lead to an interesting interaction. Becoming a Nyrean Royal while off-planet, choosing to help an interstellar smuggler rather than helping law enforcement, going to Poe A and coming back with the build and mindset of an Amazonian warrior.


All of these things have the potential for conflict and meaningful discourse to arise in game, without quite having the crew there in the moment. Just because a particular event lacks spectacle the likes of blowing up a planet, doesn't mean that it isn't worth going into. The idea that story events gain significance based on how massive they are alone is one which leads to incredible spectacle creep, and is something to watch for lest you want to write DBZ with more sci-fi.

 

[StarcraftJunkie]

Wash your mouth out.

Yeah, Obsidian did New Vegas and Bio ware did Fallout 3 and 4, IIRC.

 

[Starstruck]

Yeah, Obsidian did New Vegas and Bio ware did Fallout 3 and 4, IIRC.

Bioware never touched a Fallout title. New Vegas was indeed done by Obsidian but Fallouts 3 and 4 were developed by Bethesda Game Studios

 

[StarcraftJunkie]

Ah, my bad. You're right. I wonder why I was equating Bioware and Bethesda in my head.

 

[Savin]

And their games are bad?

Get out.

 

[Ethereal Dragon]

And their games are bad?

what the fuck... WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!? BLASPHEMY!

 

[Noob Salad]

Bethesda should leave the RPG making to BioWare and CD Projekt.


Woah, we've gotten way off topic. You'll really only get interactions between popular characters. Like Kiro and Emmy. Oh god...

 

[Lawleious]

And their games are bad?

Your dead to me.