Proposol to bring more diversity to Randomz...

[goremachine]

I worked in game development already and know it consumes a lot of assets (monetary, manpower...) to produce unique content for a game. However I think in this case it's something the community can chip in. I have no idea what TFP has on their roadmap but what I'd like to see is: - An editor for prefabs. - An online library with the prefabs. - A drag and drop XML editor for server admins. There should be a few basic derivable example prefabs to start with. The editor can easily be a stripped down version of the client in create mode, with a truckload of additional features, like creating cubic empty elements or wall segments or even the use of custom textures. Once happy with the prefab you can submit it. Server admins should have a library browser, for instance a SPA webapp, where they have an account with server presets and they can simply generate an XML of the prefabs they want in their world. The advantages are obvious: - vast community provided content - lots of diversity based on the demography of the community. - Theming. Having all European style houses, or theme it with huge cities with skyskrapers and subways. Take your pick. - less workload for TFP. so are the disadvantages: - bottom up content needs to be moderated. I just say male genital buildings and worse. The prefab catalog needs moderation. - server capacity for the library and bandwidth that has to be paid. - someone has to make the software. I already toyed with the idea to write my own editor, but I have no idea what TFP angle is on people writing tools for their baby, nor have I spent any time yet looking into the prefab format and how the Randomz pick prefabs and place them, which given Randomz are all new, is still very wonky, seeing prefabs spawn into each other, floating on water or making huuuuge craters into mountains spawning there instead of on the mountain. The limit of POIs are the communities imagination. Supermarkets, Malls, Airports, Hospitals, Pawnshop, all kinds of Factories....

[alexthemantid]

I like the idea of being able to easily access community-created buildings to add to a world or server.

[Hinado]

Very good and detailed idea. I read some time ago that TFP plans to add the possibility to add user generated prefabs to random gen. [QUOTE=goremachine;130004] - bottom up content needs to be moderated. I just say male genital buildings and worse. The prefab catalog needs moderation.[/QUOTE] I think something like a report feature would save a lot of work. I'm confident that large parts of the community would be glad to help with something like that.

[pharen]

I was just about to post pretty much the same thing. Glad I checked. I really want to make prefabs like this guy: [url]http://7daystodie.com/forums/showthread.php?14883-MoNKeYest1-s-Prefabs[/url] But I don't know how he made it work into random gen. I can build the stuff in the game but exporting it, and adding it to the random gen is a problem. Having a 3D editor, an easy way to share and add/remove prefabs to random gen, and a way to force generate the prefab (In random gen for testing), would help out heaps. It would also mean that the dev's could spend there time working on in game systems and the team simply wouldn't need to develop prefabs for the game. Lets face it, developers are good, but give the community the tools and they will eventually outdo the devs.