- Mission to mars using an SLS rocket, Orion CEV and a mars transfer system
- A Mars lander from the film Last Days on Mars
- A fully loaded BSG addon with all ships from BSG TRS
- ISS deorbit senario
- Asteroid missions using SLS and the Orion CEV
- Fictional Project Redsun mars mission from the 1970's
- Mars One crewed trip using the Dragon Rider spacecraft
- Europa mission as seen in the film Europa Report
So? Compared to my ideas, its harmless. But still you lack the really important aspect: Concept.
Take for example idea 1. Can you write a short story, how the player should play this add-on? Be pretty detailed there, if you notice yourself having abstract entities already in the concept itself (Like "Something happens there"), you are doomed. Also don't include already technical aspects of the add-on (except the technology of the spacecraft you simulate) - leave that decision to a later point, when you know the big picture.
That's step one. Then you enhance your concept by adding freedom. What options could the player have aside of the usual script? Usually, I do that concept work in a plain old paper notebook with the aid of a simple pencil. (You can never have enough such notebooks in your house)
When this concept is sound, you can start talking business. You can take it as reference and start looking for technical solutions to the concept. You will know which major spacecraft you have, now you can plan how to get them into Orbiter. Is it multistaged? There are many good theoretical models for describing multi-stage rockets. Chose the one that is the best to describe your add-on.
If you have something that has many stages or states, I recommend taking a short diversion to Wikipedia to learn about
finite-state machines. Its a primordial part of computer science and as such, has also resulted in methods to optimize such state machines. Not only does such a model help you get rid of redundant states, it also helps you implementing it in C++ or Lua.
And that's just one tool to help you there. NASA also has a nice manual called the "System Engineering Handbook". While not looking like it at first glance, it is actually the best "Orbiter Add-on Making Handbook" between the lines: The methods and tools described there are also well-suited for Orbiter add-ons.
And the primary rule, that you should learn (nobody wants to learn it from me...everyone hates me for it
): Never delete something of your design work. As strange as it sounds. Even bad ideas can be useful, and even if it is just for "Nah, I had already thought about it, that's bad". And if a better idea suddenly turns out to be impossible to implement in reality, you can always return to the second or third best idea that way. Or use an idea one day later for another add-on.
And finally: better start small and simpler. Your ideas are too big for the start. Remember the rule called KISS: Keep it simple, stupid.
What about making a really simple add-on first, to learn? For example: A probe to fly past Venus, launched by an already existing launcher add-on (Like the Themis-A for example). That already gives you lots of room for your creativity to play. Maybe its just a box, some solar arrays and RCS for the start. So what? Its your first add-on. You don't want to know what my first one was - I never released my first attempts, like I also never released something later that I was unhappy with. If I wouldn't download it if somebody else made it, why should somebody else download it? Also, it is just a start. A first step. Make it, fly it, have this warm feeling of "Hey, that's maybe a stupid add-on, but I made it with my own hands"... and then improve it. What about add-on scientific payloads to the box? maybe a re-entry capsule for dropping into Venus? How about making the solar arrays produce electricity? Or play with concepts like reaction wheels? Have a high-gain antenna, that automatically tracks Earth?
Its just a simple boring box in the beginning. But as you can see: Its not the end of it. Important is just, that you make this simple boring box and finish it. Maybe only release it to some friends (Not O-H, you would get flamed, insulted and hated for it). Important is not starting the work, but finishing it.
