Contribute to a large sequel mod. Fan-made DLC

[invscribe]

I am currently working on a large mod for Invisible Inc. I have many unique ideas ready to be implemented, and I need your help in completing the mod for the community. Attribution will be maintained unless anonymity is requested.

 

The major aim of this project is to be able to start a new Invisible Inc game and feel like it's new again. To not be tired of starting a new game. It is intended to be played as a sequel to the original game.

 

I have the GoG version of the game, with and without Contingency Plan. I am considering getting the steam version so I can use steam workshop (and so that maybe the http functions will work), but buying it again is annoying because I am very frugal.

 

About me:

I go by InvScribe online. I am 37 years old and I am a stay-at-home dad. I have been scripting and programming in various languages for over 19 years for personal enjoyment. I have working-knowledge of C# and have released and supported a couple of my works via invscribe dot com. No formal training, but a lot of experience. I have developed a working knowledge of the scripts involved. I know some tricks. I have 6 beta-stable mods, 1 beta mod, 1 alpha mod, 2 agents, a few unique items, a few unique augments. No new graphics, since that skill is outside of my current ability.

 

I am "new" to lua (if a long-experienced scripter could say lua is "new") and I am still learning; however, I know enough about scripting, programming, and lua that I could complete this project alone (without the graphics). I think the release will be more interesting and would come out sooner if I could get some collaboration.

 

What help I need:

Agent graphics - animations, profiles, 3D models.

Icon graphics.

Coders for lua, possibly a tiny bit of C (DLL).

Someone with more experience with AStar or enemy AI than I.

Ideas, suggestions.

 

How to apply:

If you have ideas or want to contribute in any way, please reply to this post or PM me and let me know how you want to help. Let me know who you are, what you can do, and what you have done already if any.

 

Project goals:

• To extend the endless mode of the game.
• To add depth to the game.
• To create a framework so other modders can easily make agents and items compatible with this mod.
• To maintain end-user customization by using a combination of hard and soft mods to change initial campaign settings.
• To release the project.
• To code in a way which will work with other hard-modified scripts, known and unknown, official and unofficial.
• To re-imagine the pace of the game from beginning to end to endless for people who have already played it a lot, while interfering as little as possible with the official game.

Current features of the mod:

Tools:

• hard mod and soft mod combo installer using diff and patch for safe® installation and uninstallation.

Hard mods:

• 8 Savegame Slots
• 8 Slot Stash
• 7 Incognita Slots
• Rewind Options (Undo, Rewind, Rewind 10, Rewind 99, Regenerate Level)
• Remove many popups, keeping VO - removes popups that interrupt the flow of the game. A couple of non-game-breaking bugs still.
• Never encumbered at level 5 (obsolete)
• 10 skill levels with GUI - framework only - developed for planned features

Soft mods:

• Items
• Augments
• Agents

Planned features:

• Skill tree
• Possibly classes
• Additional resource(s) (other than cr)
• New Daemons
• New Programs
• New Algorithms
• Bigger nanofab as suggested at http://forums.kleientertainment.com/topic/60954-nanofab-and-cyberlab-suggestions/  except without removing the augments, and leaving the cyberlab alone.
• A selection of agents, items, and augments developed for use with the skill tree.
• Possibly new parameters / styles for generating levels.
• Possibly new enemies and additional enemy AI's.
• Additional music, sounds, and other audio.
• Other things that I or others come up with during development.

In development:

Bigger, adaptive nanofab with UI changes.

Additional music, sounds, and other audio.

 

Thanks in advance! I look forward to working with some of you!

[cphoenix]

Well I'll just copypasta what I put in the other thread:

 

Username: "cphoenix" here and on GitHub.

Which version do I use (GoG/Steam/Humble): Steam (on OS X 10.11 or Windows 10)

In which way could I help: Code, bug squishing, balancing, testing, and maybe a little input on design, all of that time permitting (sometimes I work six days a week and what little time I do have outside work often gets gobbled-up by other things).

Experiences: Never worked on a mod with multiple people, but have dabbled with Lua before (primarily ComputerCraft from Minecraft but other stuff too), and Civ:BE's SDK. Mostly I've done Python, Java, and bash shell scripting. I'm studying programming part-time now and Java is the language of choice for those courses (so I've worked with git before, and I know the more basic programming rules like wet vs. dry and such, and at the very least you can expect lots of clear comments). I just need to get a better handle on Invisible Inc.'s mod API and how all those Lua scripts play with each other.

Other stuff I want to add: As I noted above it's all time-permitting. I may not be able to contribute a lot but I could poke my head in a git repo and look at bugs that need fixing, help implement a feature or part of one, or the like.

 

 

Biggest thing for me right now is to read through more of the code in the scripts.zip to understand how it all works together and hooks into the main game.

[invscribe]

OMG. 3rd time writing this message, and each time I'm shortening it.

 

Awesome that you are in a formal environment. I'd love to study formally.

 

First: We will release all versions of beta-stable tools we make as they are developed. I want everyone to have these tools as soon as we have them.

 

Second: The project website: http://invscribe.com/InvInc/

Please excuse the notes to the site designer. I asked a friend if he would design the initial site, and he agreed to do it for us. He's better at it than I am, and I'd like it to look nice.

 

There are two project items now listed on the site.

 

I'm thinking about doing Item 1 in C# so that it can be done right away. The immediate need is to be able to open, edit, and save text (diff context) files and run patch. If you think you can get the minimum done quickly and Item 1 done completely in a reasonable time, that would be very helpful. I'll have to rely on you to complete it if you start it because I do not know Java. The tool and it's framework will help people who are new to II modding, and will allow advanced and novice modders to jump in and edit, package, and distribute easily.

 

If you do decide you want to work on and will complete item 1, I will focus on developing the initial templates, and finding a way to generate them automatically.

 

Item 2 is thrown in there because I think it would be a nice but tool for the soft-mod portion of our project. I do not think our project requires this, but I thought it might be something you would be interested in doing and I think it is something that should be released by someone eventually.

 

Are either of these project items something you would like to do? What are your thoughts on them? Do you have any suggestions for the project? Do you have any questions?

[invscribe]

Hey, I have an idea. I'm PMing you.

 

[cphoenix]

Sorry mate but at the moment I can't commit to any large jobs like building tools. I need to know what the new year at work is going to be like first. (I know you're excited, or at least you sure sound excited; sorry I have to drop cold hard reality in here. >.< )

 

I would suggest that if it's at all possible, I'd bug the devs about tools. Maybe they'd be willing to release some of the tools they used? The only tool I know off-hand is this KWAD extractor.

[Shirsh]

I'm not into coding very much, but you write

On 10.01.2016 at 11:23 PM, invscribe said:

I have 6 beta-stable mods, 1 beta mod, 1 alpha mod, 2 agents, a few unique items, a few unique augments.

Maybe I will be able to help with art-side of those. Would be cool if you openly post what's your ideas about them, characters/descriptions (I assume you complete all code part and there's just pics needed?), so anone who interested in making graphic stuff can easily see is if it in his/her capabilities. Though I'd like to see them (agents and items) as separate mod until planned huge campaign rework is done.

[invscribe]

On 1/14/2016 at 3:21 PM, Shirsh said:

I'm not into coding very much, but you write

Maybe I will be able to help with art-side of those. Would be cool if you openly post what's your ideas about them, characters/descriptions (I assume you complete all code part and there's just pics needed?), so anone who interested in making graphic stuff can easily see is if it in his/her capabilities. Though I'd like to see them (agents and items) as separate mod until planned huge campaign rework is done.

Thanks for your consideration, Shirsh  I would be willing to release my agents if I had the graphics. I'll have to release them without hard mod items. No coding on your part would be needed.

Agent: 43 - goes by John.

John's background story: 43 was born and raised in an underground agent training facility. He doesn't have much moral stance on corporations; he just does what he's always done. For someone raised in a training facility, he is very well adjusted and has a good sense of humor; the training facility had professionals rearing their "Numbers," despite their additional brainwashing agenda. His life revolved around the agency. The Numbers always worked together on missions to help avoid outside influences. He wasn't taught a lot about the outside world, but he seems to know enough to get along.

43 escaped the training facility by modifying several of his augments after a disagreement with the agency regarding his newly conceived child. Since then he has been staying low and raising his family, under the alias John (after John Doe). But he found that his skillset isn't very useful in the outside world. After years of being on the outside, he cold-called us.

His augments were burned out in the escape, so we'll have to start from scratch. Luckily for us, John and Numbers in general, have enough implants to make that job easy for us.

 

Some strings are subject to change, but here are some relevant ones:

NAME = "John",

Spoiler

            FILE = "XXX-XXXXXXX-68325",
            YEARS_OF_SERVICE = "35",
            AGE = "35",
            HOMETOWN = "Unknown",
            RESCUED = "Let's get out of here.",
            BIO_SPOKEN = "",
            FULLNAME = '43',
            BIO = "43 was born in a government facility made to raise the best agents the world has ever known. He has more implants than anyone I have seen before.\n\n43 has 16 augment slots, built-in sensors, transceivers, processors and sub-processors. He's even a quieter runner.\n\n'John,' as he likes to be called, came to be part of the agency through a cold call. After I saw what he could do, and with his winning personality, my only choice was to hire him.",
            TOOLTIP = "Born Agent",

BANTER =

Spoiler

 

{
                START ={
                    "Takes me back to childhood.",
                    "Have you ever had a Big Kahuna Burger? That is one tasty burger.",
                    "... and that's how I learned about sleep.",
                    "I would love to stay here and talk with you... but I'm not going to.",
                    "May the Schwartz be with you.",
                    "You've got red on you.",
                    "The time-traveling is just too dangerous. Better that I devote myself to study the other great mystery of the universe...",
                },

                FINAL_WORDS =
                {
                    "Oops.",
                    "Would you kindly--",
                    "Look behind you, a Three-Headed Monkey!",
                    "Reality is broken. I can fix it.",
                    "My records will indicate that I died of dysentery.",    
                    "Oh, hi. So, how are you holding up? BECAUSE I'M A POTATO!",
                    "Finish him!!",
                    "Snake? Snake? SNAAAAAAAAKE!!!",
                    "Hadouken!",
                    "It’s super effective!",
                    "Hey, Doug! How're you doing?",
                    "Oh! Hi! I didn't see you there!",
                },

 

ITEMS =

Spoiler

STIM_GUN = "Kinetic Manipulator",
        STIM_GUN_TIP = "Wirelessly transfers energy to your kinetic systems. Gain 4 AP.",
        STIM_GUN_FLAVOR = "A small device is planted on the target. It uses the target as an energy source, and wirelessly transmits this energy. This energy is then fed through your own kinetic circuits, giving you more AP.",
        STIM_GUN_V2 = "Kinetic Manipulator v2",
        STIM_GUN_V2_TIP = "Wirelessly transfers energy to your kinetic systems. Gain 5 AP.",
        STIM_GUN_V2_FLAVOR = "A small device is planted on the target. It uses the target as an energy source, and wirelessly transmits this energy. This energy is then fed through your own kinetic circuits, giving you more AP. We have increased version 1's efficiency, with more energy transferred and a shorter cooldown.",
        STIM_GUN_V3 = "Kinetic Manipulator v3",
        STIM_GUN_V3_TIP = "Wirelessly transfers energy to your kinetic systems. Gain 6 AP. Does not use agent's attack. Uses 1 PWR.",
        STIM_GUN_V3_FLAVOR = "A small device is planted on the target. It uses the target as an energy source, and wirelessly transmits this energy. This energy is then fed through your own kinetic circuits, giving you more AP. We have improved version 2's transfer bandwidth, with more energy transferred; and not to mention, a shorter cooldown than version 1.",

 

There is also- in the works- an "auto-cloak" which turns on any time the agent is seen, has a cooldown, and cannot be used manually. It has no strings right now, and I don't think I can release it as a soft-mod.

AUGMENTS =  

Spoiler

 {
            INV43 = "Advanced Architecture",
            INV43_TIP = "Unlocks level 1 doors, Wireless Hacker",
            INV43_FLAVOR = "High level sub-processors and modular sensors make 43 a huge advantage on the field. His Wireless Hacker can hack discovered consoles from a distance. We have also dedicated a set of sub-processors to hacking level 1 security doors.",
},

 

The wireless hacker portion is based on Internationale's Wireless Scanner, but it doesn't reveal any mainframe items and you can't hack through walls.

 

As far as art direction:

Appearance: I'd like him to look pretty normal, other than a round metal port on the side of his head. I'd like him to look more neutral than the original agents, or even friendly. Other than those, you have creative freedom on him. Currently using Decker's graphics.

Kinetic Manipulator: The code is originally researched from the Tag Gun, and the graphics and model currently being used is that of the Tag Gun. I don't have any ideas for how it should look, so you have complete creative freedom.

Auto-Cloak: Up to you, as long as it looks different. Currently using Decker's cloak for graphics.

[Shirsh]

I must to apologise because started to make an other agent already (cyberneticist gal), plus I have an old idea (to understand how side-missions works and to try add some, maybe it could be more refreshing to game than more agents, maybe not, idk) that possibly can ate my time too.

But don't you think that his augment is a bit OP, I mean door hacking? Or it's not a fast Banks style but more like lock-decoder style? 

[invscribe]

I thought you might think that. These agents are for the greater difficulty level of the mod. You start with one agent, and there are caps on how many agents you can have.

[invscribe]

Also, I think the lock decoding idea is a good one. He's currently Banks style, but decoder would certainly be more ideal.