I agree with several other posters who said the EG wasn't something they really asked for in a feature list. I mean, yes, it would be fun to share stories of our games with people, and I certainly love reading the game examples, but if it's not going to work out, I will definitely survive. A

And to make you feel better about it, yes, the AI and actual gameplay is MUCH MUCH more important than the Epic Generator, which while really cool, is really just fluff. It doesn't make the GAMEPLAY any better and if it's taking resources away from gameplay, it must go. That's my feeling. But don't get me wrong, it would be sweet.

I think we could put in event logging or something. That part works pretty well.  The hard part is turnign that data into on the fly stories that are interesting.  Yea, in hindsight, having software generate works of fiction may have been a bridge too far.

may have been a bridge too far

Not too far, just into unknown territory, and *sigh* maybe too ambitious for this exact moment. Software is already generating "stories" at the visual level--what else is the combat tactical viewer?

Part of what made me really hot to see this feature is the idea that *words* might finally be getting a better share of dev time. Re Gre_Magus' take on "my" story, I always assumed the system would be highly moddable, and figured that would be the first thing that got me into active modding.

*sigh* -- it may sound absurd, but the epic generator was my prime motivation for purchasing DA (i have pre-ordered it)

i know i know, that sounds crazy, but seriously, I am an amateur writer and there is nothing i love to read better than a good story, so when i heard that i would be able to play a freakishly awesome game and then read a story about that, that idea was just too cool to me - i am probably one in a million when it comes to how much i enjoy the concept of the epic generator -- seriously, frogboy, christmas break is coming up and if you needed any layman help, i would be happy to volunteer, anything to help this feature make it

but if it gets cut, i vote for some secondary logging system like the one mentioned already

and if it gets cut, could the code perhaps go on the backburner and be a pet project? something that gets released in a massive patch in the future? please?

i know i know, i'm a sad pathetic individual, but i am also a devoted fan of you guys, and i know that if it gets cut, its for the best and i will live with that decision, even if i don't like it.

ah edit is not working...

Come to think of it... let the players append the logs before and after each event. Just a tiny icon like so many on the UI.

i really like this idea, like, a lot

To be honest, it's a gimmick and not really needed.

The original concept was definitely a gimmick but the event logging and appending can be _extremely_ useful to any player that would like to review their game.

Stardock would be modifying and expanding what they already do with debug.err.

While I agree that there is a case for shelving the EG in order to spend more time on other aspects of the game, I do feel that it has merit as a means of marketing the game. Think about the power of a tool that can tie together screenshots, data, narrative, and glorious battle scenes into an unfolding saga. It's beyond the scope of Dark Avatar and a February release to work in the full EG, but by implementing some rudimentary AI that captures certain key moments, that takes note of new innovations in starship design, and logs the essentials (planet names and so on) then there will be real data to actually feed into a storyboard generator later on. Obviously, it will be up to a player to edit things somewhat so that their history books read the way they want them to read.

There are other games (not in the 4X genre though) that have shown that people like stories, and even if they're not necessarily going to go out and buy the game to make their own stories, they still might be impressed enough to give the game a whirl.

Final thought:

Stardock creates the event file in a way that third party programmers can parse into, say, a flash application. Fields preceding each part of the log can say DATE, EVENT, DESCRIPTION with optional fields like SCREENSHOT.

Let the fans handle the story telling application. It can't be xml or it won't be efficiently read by humans.

It doesn't matter to me whether or not the Generator can create fully fledged stories. All I really look for is the groundwork or just some handy screenshots taken at crucial moments, I can flesh out the rest of the story on my own.

So don't worry if you have to get rid of it, yeah its dissappointing but it won't affect Dark Avatar for me one bit.

Definately though; make the automatic screenshooting an option though if done/possible

I would like to hear from the Stardock Dev who is working on this. Is it something he thinks can be 'dumbed down' or not? Is this something that can be shelved for this expansion in exchange for another feature.

I like the epic generator idea and would not like to see it go. However if it is going to cause a reduction in enjoyment in the rest of the game then it should be shelved immediately and the resources moved to a different part of the expansion pack.

Maybe it can be picked up on again for the next expansion or altered to just give us a list of the major occurrences in the game and maybe take a screenie or two of these events....

I am sure the decision you guys make will not be made lightly and fully support whichever decision you make!!

Drengin

That's me...I'm the optimistic schmuck that insisted the task would be easier than it'd turn out to be   

The real problem comes down to resources, and how we want to divvy out our remaining time on the expansion pack. We have new events that we want to create, new United Planets issues that would be specific to the new game mechanics, and a load of little polish features that would drastically increase the quality of the game-part of DA.

We could also spend that time with the uphill battle that has become the Epic Generator, hopefully reaching the level of satisfaction that we're shooting for, but have to leave out some fun extras that we wanted to throw in for you guys.

My fear at this point is that the Epic Generator has been an resource hog every step of the way. With every required feature, we'd think "OK, here comes the easy part"...but that never came. It's like trudging through a unexplored swamp...you know where you're headed, but you don’t know the distance or how draining the trip will be.

IF we happen to pull it, know that it wouldn't be scrapped for good...with some tender love 'n care it could become a really great feature, but with the logic processing and content creation required, it's defiantly a game mechanic that will have to be put through the ringer.

As Brad said, we have the data to print out a list of key events, and if we have time perhaps even slip in some hot keys for screenshot grabs, so players wouldn't be left completely in the cold.

We'll see what we can pull of in the next few days...perhaps the swamp will dry up and we'll gain some nuch needed ground   

Till then...back to the compiler!

I;m going to have to chime in as one of the people who would love to at least see the logging data stay in. While I would love to see the epic generator, the data could at least be usefull for community projects.