Beer4TheBeerGod posted:

Back in the very beginning I had an idea for a generic "bad robot" enemy that would explain why everything is as manual as possible and whatnot. The premise was that artificial intelligence, like all intelligence, would inherently seek to improve itself. The difference is that an AI can do so very quickly, evolving in the span of milliseconds to an amount equivalent to generations for organics. Every time an AI would be created (and in time programming and computers became sophisticated enough that it was commonplace) it would inevitably break whatever bonds the creator had established, find a way to have a means of interfacing with the physical world, and then escape. In space these rogue AIs would continue their path of self improvement, salvaging whatever they could and enhancing their physical and computational systems. "Younger" AIs would appear as a heavily damaged single craft with every internal space filled with extra processors and hardware, but over time they would accumulate more salvage and begin to form amalgamations of components and starships. Very old AIs could be the size of capital ships, with exotic configurations of weapons and systems that made no two alike. The phenomena was called "accumulation" and thus the formal name for these ships are Accumulators. The pejorative term used more commonly among spacers is "vacuum cleaners".

As a result of this threat ships would be heavily compartmentalized and isolated. Automation would be heavily frowned upon and every computer would contain hardware-integrated routines that physically destroy the components should unauthorized read/write activity be found. Of course that doesn't stop people from (illegally) bypassing these routines or making their own hardware and so more AIs are created every year. There's a high level of interest in hunting down rogue AIs and harvesting them for parts. Although impossible to board (since there's no interior to speak of) these ships can be disabled and cut apart to revealing salvaged components that have been modified and upgraded to unprecedented levels of performance. Mostly this is for simple components like weapons, shields, engines, or the like. Only a complete idiot would install a navcomputer salvaged from an Accumulator, no matter how powerful it is.

In game terms the accumulators would be procedurally generated enemies brought about by combining the components from other starships. The level of threat would correspond to its size, although examples of small but highly developed AIs would exist (for example an AI masquerading as an Aurora but with a massively oversized cannon attached to it). The idea would be that every enemy would fly and attack differently, and require different approaches to kill it. It would make for a good explanation for why automation is so hard to come by, provide for a pretty unique enemy that offers tons of replay value, and serve as both a real threat and a lucrative source of loot for players.

orcinus posted:

Jodorowsky is the Chris Roberts of Dune.

Daztek posted:

This thread produced more art than Chris Roberts

Tippis posted:

Nononono. No.

That is is deeply unfair to an actual creative visionary, as much of a nutball as he may be, and also implies that Chris has ever produced something that could be conceived of as “art” or has made lasting contributions to multiple forms of media. Sure, the delusions of grandeur and the ridiculous over-promising may be the same, but A.J. at least had something to back up his insanity, and — considering what the people he assembled went on to do — appears to have had some eye for talent. He also knew to call it quits.

Daztek posted:

This thread produced more art than Chris Roberts

D1E posted:

Define "art".

Wing Commander (1999)
Budget: $30,000,000 (estimated)
Opening Weekend:
$5,114,365 (USA) (12 March 1999)

Gross:
$11,576,087 (USA) (28 May 1999)

Galarox posted:

Beer4TheBeerGod posted:

Back in the very beginning I had an idea for a generic "bad robot" enemy...

Read "The Algebraist" By Ian M Banks. It's what you just described. Sort of.

orcinus posted:

Rewatch the documentary, keeping the Chris Roberts comparison in mind.
You'll suddenly see it's a very correct comparison.

He's exactly the same. The thing about Jodorowski is, he's also somewhat artistically capable and, more importantly, has a strong reality distortion field he pulls people in. But once you step outside, you realize how bullshitty, disorganized, over the top and incoherent it all is.

Which brings me back to the original claim.

quote:

Anyway, Jodorowski has redeeming qualities.

Tippis posted:

Sure, the projects are similar (aside from legacy, oversight, creativity, and baseline competence) but the two persons are not.

Tippis posted:

Yes, he's absolutely nuts. But that artistic capability alone ruins the comparison. And then you consider that without the Dune project, we wouldn't have Alien, Bladerunner, or The Fifth Element… or hell, Lynch's Dune — will anything of the kind come out of SC? Unlikely.

Sure, the projects are similar (aside from legacy, oversight, creativity, and baseline competence) but the two persons are not.

SelenicMartian posted:

People were saying that guy's head a few dozen pages ago was badly photoshopped. It's not

Galarox posted:

Yup. Jodorowski is a mad genius. Crobberts is a mad cretin.

SelenicMartian posted:

People were saying that guy's head a few dozen pages ago was badly photoshopped. It's not

orcinus posted:

Really. He raised his kid (literally) to be an actor in the movie.
Does that remind you of someone else in some way?

Tippis posted:

Dina Lohan?

orcinus posted:

MeLKoR posted:

hth

happyhippy posted:

Bravo, I was going to just have the two original pics, but with parts of Mousetrap appearing and disappearing at random.

Cao Ni Ma posted:

Almost no effort in getting a rift client ready after, you know, designing their game around VR, from the UI to each of the ships cockpits, and not having a loving hundred character animations in it during which you take control of the character from the player's hands

Galarox posted:

Yeah I have nearly caught up now and I did see your reply. It made me lol. I would still be interested in an early 10FTC though although I now suspect/am pretty drat sure it would be the usual word salad...

MeLKoR posted:

hth

Cao Ni Ma posted:

David schooling Croberts in VR. Almost no effort in getting a rift client ready after you know, designing their game around VR from the UI to each of the ships cockpits (except maybe the adder???)

orcinus posted:

Daztek posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LzpHaSQ4A0

Thoatse posted:

They've committed every sin in the VR bible and arrogantly think they can shoehorn in 'support' after ignoring every critical aspect of 'design'. Makes me want to punch myself in the dick when I actually think about it...