Orbital Station/Social Hub

liandri

Omni Ace
Omni Ace
Jul 29, 2016
448
1,108
93
Zone of Bones, Australia
#1
With the social hub demo still in the works, I thought it could be interesting to speak about the orbital station, since we'll all be bunking together for a while. I snore a bit, might want to bring your own earplugs.

Orbital Hangar Bay
From a gameplay perspective, it would need to be easily accessible (with either fast-travel to and from, or multiple of these around). Alternatively, a menu option to dropship to the planet without physically going to the hangar bay. While it would be awesome to see a Destiny or No Man's Sky dock where ships come and go and you could see player's frames and THMPRs being loaded in, perhaps even have the opportunity to inspect, too much effort for nothing but at least some static dropships and mechs around.
Example: Firefall's Transhub, but you can go anywhere. Destiny 2 tower, but less implication you're just materializing in and out of things.

Omniframe Mechanic(s)
Mechwarrior 5 Mercenaries had a hub zone where you could walk to where your mechs were stored and see them in their full glory. You could access everything through the menus, purely for the marvel. You could also sit your crafting station in here and modify your frames and THMPR.

Clothing/Cosmetic Stores
One of the complaints I personally had for Firefall was not always knowing what cosmetics actually looked like. If I saw a player with a cool colour or pattern, there was no in-game way outside of purchasing it to check what it would look like on you. The Astrek Association website was my go to, with a close second being asking the player if I could catch them. With the prevalence of super-special skins from the Patron, cosmetics both premium and purchased with IG currency, further still the ability to chop and change, try before you buy! A cosmetic hub would facilitate purchases and trials of cosmetic items and Grummz is quoted in CC 6 May 21 that "you can also re-sequence your current pilot. There will be a “New You” where you can change your appearance."

Bars
After a long day of fighting the good fight, you need a refreshing beverage and some decent pub grub right? Right! Sit down, full that belly and try not get into a fist fight with the locals. Also space dunny, because someone will bring it up.

Other Areas
Walkways, supply stores and storage areas for civilian supplies. Corporations may have their own separate areas for R&D. The Council, accessible by taxi. Bunkhouses, cafeterias, training facilities. For our wonderful Ark Lieges, you'll have your custom NPC in the final game, and they've got to go somewhere.

Guild/Army/Outfit Houses
You need a place to store all your dudes and things! This would act as an instanced zone accessible by all outfit members. Functionally, it operates as a social zone, logistics hub, storage facility for resources and mechs, and include a hangar bay. Overall outfit leaderboards could be held outside the entrance to the zone, or within, or both. Inside, perhaps an outfit player leaderboard for those groups that love to be competitive with each other.
Example: Warframe's Clan Dojo, but for more than just special crafting and doing P2P trades.

Outer Rim
Farmlands, factories, etc. Visible only from the station. Unless Grummz wants Stardew Valley or Factorio in space, we probably won't be going out there.

Big Space Window
Every big spaceship needs a cool space window where you can see SPACE. But more importantly, see Em-8ER and a graphical overlay of which territory we control.

Outside of the space window, hangar bay and omniframe mechanic, most of this would be post-launch content (though I'm feeling that tiki-theme bar from Sunken Harbour with some waifu posters). With the Social Hub demo getting closer what would you like to walk around and see? Have other games you've played built an interesting hub you've enjoyed?
 
Aug 14, 2016
978
1,554
93
#2
One of my favorite memories of a social hub in games comes from Anarchy Online. I was waiting inside of the bar / night club for the rest of member of org (that game's version of guilds) to log on so we can do boss raid that needed about 20 to do because more than one boss spawns at the same time in that area. While I was waiting for them another friend found me setting at the bar and told me to turn on the radio and dance with them for awhile (there was player made and run radio stations in the game with real DJs) and we waited they asked the DJ to call for a dance party outside in near the club. They did and so many random people showed up to just dance and hung out by the club that we started to lag the map a bit. It was so much fun that even after my rest of my friends logged on we just stayed partied there for few hours. Party of the fun was that you cast abilities on other people and those abilities could stack if there was space for them in the person's buff list. And given how as I was playing as the Adventurer class at the time I was having fun transforming myself and other people into animals like rats, birds, wolves, tigers, and dragons. And this was all before things like Discord existed. Anyway having things people can do besides buying stuff and fighting is a good way to help social hubs in games feel more alive.

Also people messaging the DJs of different radio stations to play songs and call events was cool. Because I have lots of memories just doing something random or farming mobs then hearing on the radio station the DJ saying that a raid party need help with a world boss or that there was faction war breaking out in this area. It was also a way to meet other players because if the DJ called a random event to at least know that the other people who showed up like the same type of music as you. lol
 

Pandagnome

Kaiju Slayer
Fart Siege
Welcome Wagon
Happy Kaiju
Jul 27, 2016
7,730
10,079
113
Island of Tofu
#3
I like there to be party games because even chit chattering and doing the relaxing stuff party games are a fun way to socialize too.

Here are a few examples:

1) Kaiju headbutt
One of the fellow reapers will become a small sized kaiju with big head something like a chibi. Since they are small their head is level with the reapers butt the aim is to headbutt the butt of other reaper players!.

The reapers butt will explode if the short kaiju headbutts, then they also get turn into a small kaiju and can team up, the last one who is not a kaiju is the headbutt winner!!!

2) Tiki Surprise
One of you will start of as a tiki totem! Launch yourself into the crowd for someone to catch you.
The aim is to pass the totem to the nearest Reapers you cannot hold it for too long because the totem player can then use totem powers to make the other player dance and unable to throw or even put some psychedelic pattern on your screen so you cannot see clearly.

If it is dropped everyone becomes a totem and a trumpet sound followed by a fart sound is heard to clearly say you did a good job.

If someone last has the totem and the timer runs out the one who is a totem is back to normal and the other becomes the totem!


3) Kaiju and ladders
Ladders will randomly spawn but for a short time, also not all ladders will be the same size.
The kaiju wont be able to get you if you keep going up, however everyone has 10 lives and if you fall to the bottom you lose a life.

Reach the top to the safe platform to survive and escape the menace & be triumphant! you can have more small kaiju's to make it more challenging to slow you down.


4) Thump or dye
You all have the stylish thumpr hammer a firefall relic, your aim is to hit blocks in the right colour order to make them vanish think of it like tetris but instead of waiting for blocks to move down you need to wack them to clear space.

failing to do so means you get squirted with dye from invisible tsihu............ see who?!

Anyways you can continue on but it can get faster and if you are dyed completely you are no more and the blocks have blocked you :eek:
 
Nov 2, 2020
17
47
13
#5
Often times what makes a good social hub isn't necessarily the hub itself, but the tools players have to interact. Paired emotes, a good chat system, customizable callouts in the vein of EDF or PSO2 (these could actually be pretty useful during gameplay too), plenty of activities/minigames, useful maps and information displayed in-world rather than just on a flat UI element, etc.
 

Mahdi

Firstclaimer
Jul 26, 2016
1,079
2,330
113
44
South Carolina, US
#6
Last edited:

Pandagnome

Kaiju Slayer
Fart Siege
Welcome Wagon
Happy Kaiju
Jul 27, 2016
7,730
10,079
113
Island of Tofu
#7
I like to add another mini game with chibi's would look really good :D

Its taken from the idea of pixel sumo that have played sometime ago you can customize your chibi A.I
The chibi A.I's were created for the children living on the station but it caught on as the adults saw they were great at certain games to pass the time away from it all some were used as effective spy chibi's!

Chibi A.I's are A.I's but with more control of the A.I unlike your usual Mek A.I who have much more control of their actions.

There was such games

- Chibi Sumo
You push them off the ring simple or you wait it out and dodge letting the ring size shrink
You can even do team chibi sumo where you can assist your team mates.

SImple movement with w,a,s,d, you can do a mini charge press E but beware not to fall off!
Customize with traditional sumo outfit to warrior outfits

- Chibi Stryke
Its battleships but with chibi vehicles, meks, dropships the music can at times be very intense and the sound effects of getting a hit is very cartoony.


- Chibi Racers [BB] Big baby Division
Each chibi have a modified glider think of them as the rockeeteer jet glider in firefall. There is a small obstacle course where your aim is to get your chibi through it while racing other chibi opponents.
Watch out for the energy bar once energy bar is gone chibi fall :eek:

You can avoid this by passing Energy hoops these can replenish some energies :cool:

Customization is good here from gliders, chibi outfit to victory poses.
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You can even be in the next cover of the weekly Go Reaper magazine with your chibi!
 

liandri

Omni Ace
Omni Ace
Jul 29, 2016
448
1,108
93
Zone of Bones, Australia
#9
Tsi hu brothel included?
Drakin, while I agree wholeheartedly (and wholebonerly), the logistics of settings up a brothel with employees from a highly intelligent, aggressive species we have no method of communication with, we don't know what they eat, how they mate... They have a incredibly deadly beast mode, and biomechanical weapons grafted to their bodies... Well...
Zapp-Quote.jpg