MMahadeen
Cadet Freshman
- Joined
- 22 Feb 2023
- Messages
- 2
- Age
- 37
Hi Everyone!
My name is Michael Mahadeen, I live in NJ, USA, and I'm glad to be a member of this community! Professionally, I'm a musician (woodwinds), but mostly working in arranging/orchestration in the NYC/Broadway/Musical Theatre circles, and I'm also a part-time music teacher in various public school districts and an adjunct professor at several universities. Also, a Trekkie from birth. My dad was a fan, I grew up watching "The One With the Whales" and some marathon of the "10 Best Episodes" of TOS recorded on VHS on repeat, and I couldn't get enough.
My current thoughts on the Trek franchise: anything Star Trek is good Star Trek, and even the worst Star Trek is better than everything else. At the risk of sounding like Orwell (and in the ST tradition of quoting classic literature for one's personal needs), all Trek is good Trek, but some Trek is better than others.
Also worth noting, for those of you who are fans of "that other 2-word franchise with 'Star' in the name," I am a member of the 501st, and would be happy to talk Star Wars as well!
I'm here because of Star Trek: Armada 1/2. I'm 36, was born in 1986. When I was a kid, on my breaks from practicing clarinet (no, I'm not Harry Kim), like many of us, I would turn to video games. Loved my Nintendo 64, but was really into Wing Commander on my PC (some of you may remember!)... so into it that one of my first composition "gigs" was writing scores for a few of the total-conversion mods for that world, such as Wing Commander: Unknown Enemy and Wing Commander Standoff. While it's a conversation for another time, I cannot tell you how helpful writing video game music was to my current work. Getting into the Wing Commander online community and learning about (fundamentally) what modding *was* led me to learning about the Star Trek modding community and learning about modding Star Trek: Armada.
I can add my favorite ships to the game?! I can create my own scenarios based on what I think this world should be?! What?!! Teenage me was on cloud 9.
Discovering this led me to STArmadaFiles, and I started modding my version of the game like crazy. I can't create visual art, but I know how to implement. I would download new pieces for the various races, try them out, modify their stats so that they were properly powered (by my considerations), and it was all in the interest of "well, this is what the Federation would have ACTUALLY been like in the late 24th Century," at least by my personal standards. The game took on a new meaning. I would create new special weapons based on what I saw in the show, redesign tech trees, rescale models, add additional parts of the mod as needed to make the integration seamless... whatever was necessary.
My personal "crowning achievement" was taking a Yeager-class model, and essentially turning it into a Federation carrier. Using the Cardassian special weapon that was basically a carrier-launch attack as a basis, I programmed a special weapon for my Yeager-class to use a Peregrine-class image as the sprite, balanced the weapon to be the equivalent of a squadron of Peregrines (which I had previously added to the game as a single fighter build), made sure the cost of deploying the weapon was the same as that of building a full squadron of Peregrines, and then made it dependent on having a Jupiter Station (which I had also added to my game.... advanced, advanced research is required for all the really special things in my world). It may not be something your head-canon agrees with, but it made me happy, and it was a PROJECT to figure out how to make that all work right and keep it balanced as a high school kid.
My own personal mods not only allowed me to better enjoy the game, but grew into a "world building" exercise. Through the process Armada II came out, and offered even more possibility for expansion. Through downloading the work of modelers, I essentially ended up developing my own version of what I thought the game would be in a "post-Nemesis" world. It's not perfect, and it very much caters to my preferences and ideas, but it made me happy.
I could never 3D model--I tried, I suck at it. I know what a "texture" is, but I have no idea about how to make one. What I did learn how to do was get into the ODFs and modify stats, or make a composite image so that I could have a wireframe-build diagram for the ship I just downloaded, or build a hero image for the endgame stats that wasn't part of the original package. I was a perfectionist, and everything had to be complete by my personal terms,, and look as though it was part of the game from the factory.
I entirely relied on the skilled artists to do the heavy-lifting. I wouldn't know where to begin to create a new model of a starship, let alone integrate it into old code. What I did learn was how to modify the work of others so that I could have a fun experience by my own standards on my end. That was my introduction to coding, and my understanding of coding has paid off tremendously in all aspects of my life, especially in integrating my electronic music gear with my software.
A decade (almost 2!) went by, life happens, I didn't play, I didn't have time, my computer couldn't run old software, then COVID. I'm now at home, nothing to do, have a PC and a good friend who's a competitive retro-gamer. In one of my COVID-induced depressive episodes I mentioned to him that I used to love playing Armada as a diversion, and he found a patch to make it current-PC compatible for me. All of a sudden, I'm playing again and feeling the happiness of a child.
Well, after that, I had to get back into my modding community! How can I create a Star Trek world that is representative of the early 25th century for my own personal enjoyment? ArmadaFiles is no more, but MSFC.... MSFC seems like the new version of that! I want to add an Odyssey-class to my game. Maybe a Vesta-class... or a California, etc. thanks to Picard Season 1 we've got a new Romulan warbird. Historically (I added a special Shipyard for legacy classes), I've got all the DSC/SNW starships to add. Whatever I can do to make my diversion more "canon accurate" by my standards so I can play out my own personal scenarios, I want to do. I didn't realize how much I missed playing this game until I started playing again, and I'm looking for ways to bring it into the Paramount+ and STO world. Hence why I'm here.
I'll be honest, I don't know how much I'll be able to contribute to this group. I've always sort of, sadly, "leeched" on others for my own personal enjoyment. I would be happy to share my thoughts, my experiences, my discourse, and opinions, but I'm in this for my own personal enjoyment, while also being incredibly thankful to the brilliant artists in the community who actually make the stuff that allows me to have fun! And, if I ever feel like my personal work is "good enough" for the general community, I would be happy to share my personal modding, with the permission of the original artists whose work I used, of course.
I'm also happy to serve as a "beta-tester." I love to play the game on my free time, especially for a round or two against the AI in various wild scenarios on a late weekend evening. I would be thrilled to try out new mods of any kind!
In reviewing the rules of this community, I should mention that my schedule is challenging. It's the hours of a freelancer--I'm either too busy to be present or overly-active because I have nothing else going on. I will contribute as much as I can, but please forgive me if I'm sometimes absent. In those moments, it's a result of work absorbing my life. I will do my best to contribute the way I can, and I'm so happy to see the energy around the Armada community still exists.
And to the brilliant, unbelievably talented, generous, and meticulous creators out there, thank you. Thank you for giving me an ability to enjoy this game beyond the scope of the developers, thank you for giving me an outlet to explore, thank you for forcing me to learn about coding, thank you for sharing your talent so that I could personally enjoy my gameplay in a manner of my own design. And most of all, thank you for sharing your work so someone like me can have the experiences I've had using it.
So happy to be here... I'll be as active as I can. Thank you!
Michael
My name is Michael Mahadeen, I live in NJ, USA, and I'm glad to be a member of this community! Professionally, I'm a musician (woodwinds), but mostly working in arranging/orchestration in the NYC/Broadway/Musical Theatre circles, and I'm also a part-time music teacher in various public school districts and an adjunct professor at several universities. Also, a Trekkie from birth. My dad was a fan, I grew up watching "The One With the Whales" and some marathon of the "10 Best Episodes" of TOS recorded on VHS on repeat, and I couldn't get enough.
My current thoughts on the Trek franchise: anything Star Trek is good Star Trek, and even the worst Star Trek is better than everything else. At the risk of sounding like Orwell (and in the ST tradition of quoting classic literature for one's personal needs), all Trek is good Trek, but some Trek is better than others.
Also worth noting, for those of you who are fans of "that other 2-word franchise with 'Star' in the name," I am a member of the 501st, and would be happy to talk Star Wars as well!
I'm here because of Star Trek: Armada 1/2. I'm 36, was born in 1986. When I was a kid, on my breaks from practicing clarinet (no, I'm not Harry Kim), like many of us, I would turn to video games. Loved my Nintendo 64, but was really into Wing Commander on my PC (some of you may remember!)... so into it that one of my first composition "gigs" was writing scores for a few of the total-conversion mods for that world, such as Wing Commander: Unknown Enemy and Wing Commander Standoff. While it's a conversation for another time, I cannot tell you how helpful writing video game music was to my current work. Getting into the Wing Commander online community and learning about (fundamentally) what modding *was* led me to learning about the Star Trek modding community and learning about modding Star Trek: Armada.
I can add my favorite ships to the game?! I can create my own scenarios based on what I think this world should be?! What?!! Teenage me was on cloud 9.
Discovering this led me to STArmadaFiles, and I started modding my version of the game like crazy. I can't create visual art, but I know how to implement. I would download new pieces for the various races, try them out, modify their stats so that they were properly powered (by my considerations), and it was all in the interest of "well, this is what the Federation would have ACTUALLY been like in the late 24th Century," at least by my personal standards. The game took on a new meaning. I would create new special weapons based on what I saw in the show, redesign tech trees, rescale models, add additional parts of the mod as needed to make the integration seamless... whatever was necessary.
My personal "crowning achievement" was taking a Yeager-class model, and essentially turning it into a Federation carrier. Using the Cardassian special weapon that was basically a carrier-launch attack as a basis, I programmed a special weapon for my Yeager-class to use a Peregrine-class image as the sprite, balanced the weapon to be the equivalent of a squadron of Peregrines (which I had previously added to the game as a single fighter build), made sure the cost of deploying the weapon was the same as that of building a full squadron of Peregrines, and then made it dependent on having a Jupiter Station (which I had also added to my game.... advanced, advanced research is required for all the really special things in my world). It may not be something your head-canon agrees with, but it made me happy, and it was a PROJECT to figure out how to make that all work right and keep it balanced as a high school kid.
My own personal mods not only allowed me to better enjoy the game, but grew into a "world building" exercise. Through the process Armada II came out, and offered even more possibility for expansion. Through downloading the work of modelers, I essentially ended up developing my own version of what I thought the game would be in a "post-Nemesis" world. It's not perfect, and it very much caters to my preferences and ideas, but it made me happy.
I could never 3D model--I tried, I suck at it. I know what a "texture" is, but I have no idea about how to make one. What I did learn how to do was get into the ODFs and modify stats, or make a composite image so that I could have a wireframe-build diagram for the ship I just downloaded, or build a hero image for the endgame stats that wasn't part of the original package. I was a perfectionist, and everything had to be complete by my personal terms,, and look as though it was part of the game from the factory.
I entirely relied on the skilled artists to do the heavy-lifting. I wouldn't know where to begin to create a new model of a starship, let alone integrate it into old code. What I did learn was how to modify the work of others so that I could have a fun experience by my own standards on my end. That was my introduction to coding, and my understanding of coding has paid off tremendously in all aspects of my life, especially in integrating my electronic music gear with my software.
A decade (almost 2!) went by, life happens, I didn't play, I didn't have time, my computer couldn't run old software, then COVID. I'm now at home, nothing to do, have a PC and a good friend who's a competitive retro-gamer. In one of my COVID-induced depressive episodes I mentioned to him that I used to love playing Armada as a diversion, and he found a patch to make it current-PC compatible for me. All of a sudden, I'm playing again and feeling the happiness of a child.
Well, after that, I had to get back into my modding community! How can I create a Star Trek world that is representative of the early 25th century for my own personal enjoyment? ArmadaFiles is no more, but MSFC.... MSFC seems like the new version of that! I want to add an Odyssey-class to my game. Maybe a Vesta-class... or a California, etc. thanks to Picard Season 1 we've got a new Romulan warbird. Historically (I added a special Shipyard for legacy classes), I've got all the DSC/SNW starships to add. Whatever I can do to make my diversion more "canon accurate" by my standards so I can play out my own personal scenarios, I want to do. I didn't realize how much I missed playing this game until I started playing again, and I'm looking for ways to bring it into the Paramount+ and STO world. Hence why I'm here.
I'll be honest, I don't know how much I'll be able to contribute to this group. I've always sort of, sadly, "leeched" on others for my own personal enjoyment. I would be happy to share my thoughts, my experiences, my discourse, and opinions, but I'm in this for my own personal enjoyment, while also being incredibly thankful to the brilliant artists in the community who actually make the stuff that allows me to have fun! And, if I ever feel like my personal work is "good enough" for the general community, I would be happy to share my personal modding, with the permission of the original artists whose work I used, of course.
I'm also happy to serve as a "beta-tester." I love to play the game on my free time, especially for a round or two against the AI in various wild scenarios on a late weekend evening. I would be thrilled to try out new mods of any kind!
In reviewing the rules of this community, I should mention that my schedule is challenging. It's the hours of a freelancer--I'm either too busy to be present or overly-active because I have nothing else going on. I will contribute as much as I can, but please forgive me if I'm sometimes absent. In those moments, it's a result of work absorbing my life. I will do my best to contribute the way I can, and I'm so happy to see the energy around the Armada community still exists.
And to the brilliant, unbelievably talented, generous, and meticulous creators out there, thank you. Thank you for giving me an ability to enjoy this game beyond the scope of the developers, thank you for giving me an outlet to explore, thank you for forcing me to learn about coding, thank you for sharing your talent so that I could personally enjoy my gameplay in a manner of my own design. And most of all, thank you for sharing your work so someone like me can have the experiences I've had using it.
So happy to be here... I'll be as active as I can. Thank you!
Michael
