The Stargate

From Stargate Worlds Wiki (SGW)

Gateroom Interior

The stargate is the principal travel mechanism and one of the most significant elements of the show. There is a great amount of pressure on the developers to get the stargate right. Firstly the stargate itself will be featured in many more design locations than they had the ability to do so in show. This may include different ramps and stairs, and different mounting mechanisms.^[1]

In the television series the stargate can be opened for a maximum of 38 minutes (or more in special circumstances) and when the last traveler steps through the gate always knows when to shut down. This would create problems in a game situation, particularly on heavily populated worlds.

A number of solutions to this have been discussed, including instancing the gate area.^[2] However the most likely mechanic will be that the gate functions as expected on unpopulated worlds. The user will dial the gate and watch the dialing sequence and kawoosh occur, the team then steps through and the gate cuts off. It has been largely discussed on the official forums, whether the wormhole animation will be used as a loading sequence or not, and so far it has not been confirmed. It might not be possible due to limitations on the Unreal 3 engine. Its still a matter in flux.^[3]

On populated planets when the gate is already open, players will be able to come and go as they please without having to go through the dialing sequence.^[4][5] The gates are not connected as a game programming, so the other end will not see the gate being activated, at least not the opening sequence.^[6]

Exactly how this will work, particularly with the iris and related mechanisms, and which worlds this will include has not been revealed. The gate mechanism will likely be one of the items fine-tuned during the beta phase.

Of course when the gate function is an integral part of a location or quest it should function as expected.^[7] Not all places have active stargates and you may need to get to the planet by other means.^[8]

[edit] Gate Addresses

In terms of gate addresses, we won't be given the addresses to all accessible worlds at once. Some will be given on the successful completion of a mission, others when you are given a mission, and others may come as you advance in level.^[9] Players will build up a "library" of gate addresses over time, and will be able to go to all the worlds that they have addresses for.^[10]

While manual dialing would be aesthetically nice it is unlikely to be included due to spoilers.^[11] A random dialing feature is similarly impractical due to the low odds of actually dialing an address in the game.^[12]

[edit] References

1. ↑ A post by Jim Brown — Director of New Product Development, Also Known As, Jim Brown on the Stargate Worlds forums. - 11 February 2006
2. ↑ A post by David Cook — Lead Systems Designer, Also Known As, zebcook on the Stargate Worlds forums. - 19 December 2006
3. ↑ Dev Q&A Podcast - Episode 6 - 7 Feb 2008
4. ↑ A post by Jim Brown — Director of New Product Development, Also Known As, Jim Brown on the Stargate Worlds forums. - 13 July 2006
5. ↑ A post by Jim Brown — Director of New Product Development, Also Known As, Jim Brown on the Stargate Worlds forums. - 11 February 2006
6. ↑ From the Ask Our Creative Director Ledaye forum thread with Chris Klug. - 27 Feb 2008
7. ↑ A post by Jim Brown — Director of New Product Development, Also Known As, Jim Brown on the Stargate Worlds forums. - 11 February 2006
8. ↑ A post by David Cook — Lead Systems Designer, Also Known As, zebcook on the Stargate Worlds forums. - 19 December 2006
9. ↑ A post by David Cook — Lead Systems Designer, Also Known As, zebcook on the Stargate Worlds forums. - 19 December 2006
10. ↑ Stargate Worlds Explored Interview at IGN.com – 18 January 2008
11. ↑ A post by Jim Brown — Director of New Product Development, Also Known As, Jim Brown on the Stargate Worlds forums. - 21 March 2006
12. ↑ A post discussing the odds of random dialing on the SGW community forums