Architect Archive

---

l33thaxx0rnam3 wrote:

...as much as I support modular architecture, I did have this thought.

Remember back in the day when our customers had NO idea what the interiors looked like..... it's worth it certainly, but those days back at the beginningwere quite painful.

"No, I wanted the other one! You know, the thing! With the THING!"

"A balcony?"

"Sure!"

---

The one thing in common to all customers is the belief that you can read their mind....

Actually, this is an excellent point. It still bugs me that there's no simple way for consumers tosee what kind of house they're buying (before they buy it)just by examining the deed.

What if it were possible to see a schematic of the (modular) floor plan by examining a deed? I'm thinking of something like the display you see when youactivate theCity Map (M orCtrl-M)in a house, onlygenerated on the fly and placed in the deed's/examinepop-up window. It wouldn't even have to be 3-D, although that would be slick -- just the infinite-distanceplan view would give customers a reasonable idea of what they'd be getting.

If we really wanted to go nuts, let's letArchitectswork with customers just like Image Designerscan now work with their clients. Both Architect and customer would be able to see the Architect's design screen, and would thus be able to collaborate on a design. You'd still have the "No, the other thing!" kinds of conversations, but at least you'd be able to directly show a customer what they could get... before theypay for something they didn't want.

Sound like fun?

--Flatfingers

---

HarleyDan wrote:

That's a great idea.... Why can't I ever think of these things.... LOL

---

Hey, I wouldn't come up with some of my whacked-out ideas if not for thecreative promptingsof other folks on these forums. It's why I can't stay away.

--Flatfingers

---

Flatfingers wrote:

---

HarleyDan wrote:

That's a great idea.... Why can't I ever think of these things.... LOL

---

Hey, I wouldn't come up with some of my whacked-out ideas if not for thecreative promptingsof other folks on these forums. It's why I can't stay away.

--Flatfingers

---

Well I guess I better keep on looking through these posts...

Funny, but I had the same idea. And never played any of these other games.

Static modules that could be placed together, even in different preset configs, even if stairways autogenerated, even with preset interior and exterior skins. Minimal network traffic to transmit on-the-fly for interior and exterior scene generation, but near unlimited options to the crafter and consumer.

There would be something for Architects to actually do.

And another thing.....

Storage pods.

Maybe you've seen some of these advertized in your area, but recently they started popping up around here in RL.

The pod is delivered to your location, like a trash bin, you fill it, and then they transport it to their storage facility. Looked like transported in regular Uhaul type trucks, but it's delivered to your location and then removed to storage when you call them.

How bout that for temp excess storage?

---

Flatfingers wrote:

---

HarleyDan wrote:

That's a great idea.... Why can't I ever think of these things.... LOL

---

Hey, I wouldn't come up with some of my whacked-out ideas if not for the creative promptings of other folks on these forums. It's why I can't stay away.

--Flatfingers

---

Let's get faction ladders so people can climb up to balconies to ambush you when you go on them to feel the cool night breeze.

I would definitely be in agreement with this entire thread. I do believe that the architect should be capable of a more wider range of building construction options, while on a limited tecnical standpoint as far as programing.

Their sould be an actual sue for you guys, as I had originally thought you had when I first joined the game almost two years ago.

I also believe that wall templates, and floor templates alike should be in the ability of an interior decorator or an architect. There is too much standard lookalike structures out there and it turns from boring to painful when you see the same Naboo interior and flooring EVERYWHERE.

If this game depends on the player base to interact, please give the architects a true power in the work that they provide for the player base. In a world with thousands of players, variety is power.

Arturun, something tells me the code for SWG isn't going to become open-source any time soon. It would be fascinating to have a look at the gears that make the machine run, though, definitely.

Go, thanks for the interesting ideas.

I'm just guessing, but I suspect that most Architects would prefer a system where they get to create a complete house, rather than one that allows users to modify their own houses after deeding them. A user-modifiable system would probably also be significantly more difficult to code.

I do think the idea of profession-specific modules is brilliant, however. Back doors and secret rooms for Smugglers, firing ranges for ranged weapon users, sparring rooms for TKAs and melee weapon users, a bank vault for Merchants (heh), and so on. Given the number of professions who'd want their own specialized room module, I'd guess that this feature might have to be part of an update release, rather than part of an initial Modular Architecture release. Just the basic modular room idea would be tough enough to code.

When and if we did get profession-specific modules, this would probably work best if Architects could work with clients in realtime the way Image Designers were able to. Otherwise we'd have to create and always stock a large number of different house plans with different specialized modules. That could get pretty expensive in terms of both crafting time and resources.

The notion of external (appearance) modules is interesting, too. It would definitely add another level of value to the basic idea of individualized houses.

I wish I knew more about the 3D geometry system that SWG uses -- that might tell us the order of magnitude of difficulty in creating a modular architecture system. If the 3D world movement system is based on having a limited number of pre-generated interior layouts, then a modular system might be too difficult to be worth doing. OTOH, if 3D movement is handled at runtime, with walls as collidable objects (however those walls happen to be placed), then a modular system might be feasible.

And of course, if there are other features that Architects would rather have, then the technical questions about modular architecture don't matter.

Still seems like a neat idea to me, though.

--Flatfingers