EG (Encyclopedia Galactica)(long post!)

Okay people..

Two points:

I think where ever is chosen to host should have Server Side Includes and CGI
access. In this way, we could hope to cut down some of the work by automating
it.

Secondly..

What we need to really kick start this thing is suggestions for MAJOR SUBJECT
HEADINGS. These would be the main headings people would read on the front page
of the EG. Some people have thrown up examples already; here are
mine (by no means an exhaustive listing) - and please bear in mind these
are coming off the top of my head:

Foreword - Hopefully by J.Tuffley <grin>
Introduction - What is EG?
The Universe As We Know It
    - Overview of the political states
    - Overview of aliens
    - Overview of technology
    - Overview of travel
    - Overview of military deployments
History
    - Timeline
    - Major events detailed (possible fiction)
The State Of Play (collected & collated from info already available)
    - Major States
    - Minor States
    - Independants/notables
    - Major, minor and notable worlds
    - Maps
Use Of Weapons (this is where it gets really detailed)
    - The Modern Infantry: weapons, armour, skills, training,
Organisations
    - The Modern Knights: (AFVs people!) as above
    - Angels in the Dark: (Ships - including pics!)
    - Tables of Organisation (fleets, armies, whatever)
    - Wars
(as someone pointed out, this shouldn't be just regurgitating what has already
been written ie stats, but should be written in the style of an encyclopedia)
Our Neighbours
    - Alien races
Hitchiker's Guide (This is where is written irreverant essays on the universe,
perhaps as fiction, perhaps from the viewpoint of a hitcher travelling through
space.) Reports
    - Fiction
References
    - Links, essentially. This I firmly believe should become the
DEFINITIVE links collection for GZG stuff. Of course that could become a lot
of link
chasing, but perhaps it could be run as a database - people add their
own data, and change it as necessary (the CGI is out there and free!). This
could end up with lots of crap, but that's what an editor is for..:)

As I said, these are off the top of my head, but I think they cover just about
everything.

Now everybody, let's take a DEEP BREATH and pause for a moment. This is a BIG
PROJECT. This is a project that could get people PISSED (mad) at each other
("Why isn't my essay included?" "Hey, my ship design isn't in there!"
"I refuse to let you people tell me what to do - I'll do my OWN!") It
could easily fall down in a heap.

Also... think about what we're getting into here. We're not just generating
stats for ships/tanks/infantry whatever. We're going well beyond the
game.
We're creating/adding to a universe. This stuff, as is, really wont help
with the game - so the old rule of "it's just a game!" may not apply.
And
it's going to be lots of ideas cobbled together - hopefully with some
consistency (once again - an editor) and it's going to be UNOFFICIAL,
which means at any point our friend Jon (nice Jon, friendly Jon) could SHUT IT
DOWN and take all the material away.

We're all fired up now, all excited... but where will we be in six months,
when we're caught up in the details.

Let me relate a story:

A group of friends and I got inspired to start designing a game. This was
going to be what we called the Ultimate Game. It was going to be playable on
the Internet. It was going to have multiple levels of interaction (strategic,
tactical, role playing). In other words, it was going to kick ass. We had the
expertise (a collection of programmers, web designers, game
players/designers) and the drive. We talked for hours about how it would
work. Then we got buried in the details - LOST in the details. We didn't
start by defining what we wanted, how we wanted it - we started
designing ships, and interfaces, and drawing icons. Eventually the project
shut down.

We knew where we wanted to go, we just didn't know how to get there, and we
took the wrong bus.

Let's not take the wrong bus on this one. Instead, let's have a team of
drivers and a group of people who hire their own damn bus and have a map
:)

Even if the project eventually dies away to just a few dedicated people
-
the material slows down, but what is there is a proud achievement.

Let's start with the line drawing, the map, the broad strokes - and
let's fill in the details a little later. Hopefully, they'll mostly take care
of themselves.