Modular Radio Modification?

[Ghostmachine]

Disclaimer: If I cite a mod as an example, that's just for ease of explaination. It is not to suggest any opinion by the authors of this idea, nor to suggest there is any tie between those mods and this suggestion.

 

 

Overview:

I don't know whether, from the implimentation point of view, this is possible. But, never the less, here is the idea:

Create a Radio station that modders and players can drop files into and have it play them.

I don't mean just music, although that would be part of it (including, I hope, releasing the occasional song pack, ala Radio New Vegas, The Secret Stash, as part of supporting the mod.)

Instead, I propose the ability to dynamically incorperate Ads for other mod content (that the Modder can include as an optional extra in their mod, for example an audio plug-in like "High Desert Tactical: Hard fashion for deadly times!") While also letting Modders make radio plays, and providing the obvious music drop in ability for the individual player.

 

Conceptual Apporach:

From a very basic, mechanical point of view I would be inclined to approach the problem a certain way, but I fail to be competent enough with the computer implementation with respect to New Vegas, so this area is where the community needs to figure out the "How."

 

My approach would be to weigh each type of media (I propose three: Advertisement, Music, Radio Plays) such that it matches a realistic radio model. Radio Plays 24/7 just wouldn't make sense, Music without interrupt wouldn't make for a viable radio station, and Infomercials are for the late night insomniac.

As such, I would have a randomized, but weighted, "Overseer" whose job it is to say "Alright, I have this pile of Ads, this one of music, and this one of plays. I want a rough ratio of 20 songs to 5 ads to 1 play" And it randomly picks, with that weighting, what to play. Sometimes you'll get two radio plays in a row, sometimes you'll have a minute and a half of Ultra-luxe and Followers of the Apocolypse ads, but that's how things sometimes are.

To achive this we also would need to define each such catagory on the user end of things, to allow for the easiest possible out of game UI. This would mean having folders into which the relevant files can be easily dropped.

 

Class Definitions:

As already mentioned I have suggested three prime catagories, and I would add also a "secondary" catagory which would be a more central part of the mod without the player side interacting.

 

1) Music: This is pretty self explanitory. However, as part of mod developement, I'd recommend a mixture of 1920s to 1960s music. After all, until the end of the Second World War our universes are the same, and the trickle down of small and early divergent actions would take a little while to impact music and culture in general, and some songs included by Bethseda appear to date from as late as 1965. I'd also recommend focusing on a modular approach, with themed content packs (a Jazz pack, a Blues pack, a Gershwin pack, etc...) so as to let the player tailor their experiance, but also keeping the music associated with, and supported by, the mod universe appropriate.

 

2) Radio-Plays: This is the most misleading catagory name. Radio-Plays will naturally include hopefully-short radio-plays (15-20 min max is the goal I'd say, to keep it within reasonable gaming chunks) written and recorded by the community, and made mod-ready by those same creators. But, this catagory could also include news events. These events would include reports like a cholera out-break in Freeside, or raiders attack people on the Nipton Highway. This news aspect is ambitious it would require a group of voice actors (or even better a single voice actor) willing to build some nice transitions to allow the community to make these reports too, by including the transition as part of the audio file. This catagory is intended to create a deeper narative. There could be sense in dividing this catagory clearly between the "fiction" and the "news" but will leave that to be discussed.

 

3) Ad's: These would be made just like the radio-plays: By the modders, for their mods. New vegas is tough, and caps can be hard to find. Running a radio station can't be cheap, so there needs to be a revenue stream. As such, let there be ad's. Beyond that a lot of these user created locations, such as the store from High Desert Tactical, need a way to get customers or employees or whatever, because they can't live on without those things. And radio ad's would be a quick and dirty method to get those things, since radios seem to be the most advance entertainment technology availiable they would also make a great medium for advertisment. Again, transitions ("And now a word from our sponsers!") will be important.

 

4) Transitions: As mentioned, these will be needed. We may not realize it listening to radio, but we at least subconsciously use the DJ's voice as a way to track our tracks, and tell when a song is over or beginning. Three Dog was a great example of this: He was distinctive in voice enough to break the flow of music, his transitions were interesting but not tedious or important, he delivered a humrous line here or there, and he gave GNR personality. And doing all that is the goal of this section, and an important piece of this mod. I propose a notional "AI-Disk Jockey" ( Didn't anyone else find it weird that Three Dog never slept?) to allow for a single voice to do these, and preferably a single voice from a logistics view-point. It would also be rid of the problem of listening to the announcer's voice say one thing on the radio while being in the same game space as the NPC and hearing him say nothing. This would be included through the core mod, and hopefully the mod would be able to match a transition with each audio catagory as needed.

 

Physical Location:

I feel that all things that are portrayed as existing in the game world should be shown, including radio stations other than Black mountain. There should be a physical location for the Radio Station.

I would suggest putting it in outer-Freeside, across from the Old Mormon fort. There's a something like a Pioneer Cafe or some such there.

 

Location Design

1) Keep the exterior as it is, accept for making it player accessible and giving it an obviously recetly added sign, and some hap-hazard antennas. And maybe a company flag.

 

2) Its Interior should reflect the kind of space it was. If it was a Cafe, then it should be a large room right after walking in, with walls and floors that aren't just gouge-your-eyes-out grey, but that have period colour (I'd suggest medium and light earth tones, with a black and white checker tiled floor. Again, discussion is good here!) The building is also multi story with what looks to be living space above the Cafe level, which could take the normal Fallout interior design approach for houses. It also nessecitates stairs.

 

3) From the point of view of populating the place, a small named staff, with some nice and generic responses, would be good. Nothing exciting, but simple flavor and easy depth. Even using the vanilla "Hi, I don't talk" responses, as long as they match the visual character of the NPCs, would be good. Also: They shouldn't be in Brahmin skin clothes, but instead should wear the Well-heeled Gambler Suit, or Roving Trader outfits (They are reporters in the wasteland...) or some such.

 

4) Furnishing:

-To furnish the first level I would have a coffee table and couch for people waiting. The rest of the room would have desks, filing cabinets, chairs, and terminals (For the employees.)

I'm not suggesting a massive office, maybe three desks. What I am suggesting is giving the place character, so adding posters and pictures would be cool. Naturally, there would need to be a bath room.

-To furnish the second level: A production room, with a desk, terminal, and audio equipment. If any of you modders out there has shoe-string, ad-hoc radio experiance your input would be pretty cool. Also, the terminal hooked up to the audio gear would be good, seeing as it is an AI run broadcast on the trasmission side. There would also need to be sleeping space for all the employees, because no-one would live on the mean streets when shelter is availiable (I'd use bunk-beds, with tool cabinets for lockers.) Again, there would be need for a bathroom

 

The Narrative Aspect:

The Station needs a name. Radio New Vegas is taken, as is Mojave Music Radio. Making Brand identity would be important in reality, and seeing as this is an RPG, I figure it can't hurt. My suggestion is the "Mojave Broadcasting Company" or "MBC" for short. A slogan would also be good, a nice catch all motto. I personally like "Music to your ears." Suggestions for both are welcome.

 

Talking points:

1) Is this possible to make, and if not, what is possible?

 

2a) Assuming it is possible, should the mod include audio from the get-go?

2b) If yes, then what?

 

3) What should it be made possible for users to add with ease?

 

4) What auxillery "fluff" should be included? (e.g. a series of notes explaining the station history)

 

5a) What should the main catagories of audio type be?

5b) How should we handle transitions?

5c) Where should the physical locality be?

5d) What should the design aestetic of that location be?

 

My Quick Design Philosophy:

Having read my proposal, I'd like to expound upon some of my motivations for this idea.

Firstly, I know I can't do this alone, and I suspect that no one person could be reasonably expected to be able to. I also feel that, when a group of motivated and competant people get together to work on something they all enjoy, a high quality product can be born. A product that the entirity of the Fallout: New Vegas community can enjoy greatly. Secondly, in this idea I would like to stress integration. Far too many mods seem to break the suspention of disbelief with environments that are too clean, or with complicated elements for which no obvious means of their creation is visible. And that is not a bad thing, but sometimes we want more of what we have, and it is important to create mods which feel like a part of the universe in which we build as well. To me that means being able to see the faces behind the station, and to have the world enriched in a manner which gives the player the option of exploring the world and finding something cool without punishing them for not doing so. And thirdly I believe that design should always be ambitious, be it trying to make a perk with no GECK experiance, or this monsterious concept. Ambition paves the way for pride in one's own work, and the greater the mountain to be climbed, the more satisfying the peak.

I'm pretty sure that, in the long run, this idea will get tossed around, but may not come to anything, because it will almost certainly need great teamwork and a wide variety of resources. However, I feel that it is better to let the community decide its worth, and see where it goes, than to stay silent in my thinking.

 

Now: Let's see if we can't make some gold.

Edited June 23, 2011 by Ghostmachine

[Glenstorm]

You lost me right around the middle of Conceptual Approach. Can't do dynamic approach (drop a couple of songs in the folder for the radio to play them). There are radio packs available in the nexus, with a lot of realistic ones from the 60s, mostly from the same authors as the in-game music. But beyond that, I doubt anyone would be willing to invest any serious time in this as all it does is marginally improve the already existing radio in New Vegas.

[Ghostmachine]

What's the restraining factor on the dynamic approach?

[Sunnie]

You lost me at "I propose the ability to dynamically incorperate Ads for other mod content". I don't know about most people here but I am sick to death of advertising being forced onto me at every turn.

 

As previously noted, there are other radio mods already, and one in particular lets you add any number of your own music or whatever to Radio New Vegas and works flawlessly. Granted that mod requires you to build your own version with supplied tools, but still.

[graymaybe]

I don't know much about making radio stations, so I can't really comment on that. There is something I want to know about this, though: How the hell do you think that I, as a user, would want to use anything voluntarily that will advertise mods to me in-game? Now I am a bit unclear as to what exactly you mean by that, but you make it sound like you mean any mod, as in telling me about the great new weather system mod that's out. If I want mods, I come on-line for them. I don't want to hear about it while playing, as that would defiantly break my suspension of disbelief. It makes no sense.

 

Roleplay wise, I don't get how there needs to be ads either, really. At least not like that; the only person I could see having ads put on a station is Mr. House (and at that only with someone operating out of the Strip) and then they'd only be about how great it is to gamble in the casinos. But I imagine once you get your station up and running otherwise, there wouldn't be much in the way of monthly payments, as it isn't like there's a government taxing you, nor are you paying anything like rent for the space.

[hadoumastery]

You lost me completely after a bit, your description is confusing and could use better wording (no offense).

 

Though if you want a mod for dropping songs into check out wasteland pirate radio on the nexus, and just rename whatever songs you want on the radio station to what's already in the music folder.