In Development: Starfarer

[avm1979]

Thanks guys

[basil]

 

[avm1979]

I've just finished up shooting some more in-game footage.  Now that I've finally gotten Fraps, it's pretty quick to do, especially if it's just raw game footage that's not particularly worried about production values 

There are sounds in this one, too.

You can check it out here, if you're so inclined!

[Matzon]

Man! - that looks totally sweet!

Combat looks like a lot of fun. What about the rest of the game ?

[avm1979]

Man! - that looks totally sweet!

Glad you like!

Combat looks like a lot of fun. What about the rest of the game ?

Ahem.  Let's just say most of the development (but not necessarily design) focus so far has been on getting the combat just right.  There's also a side to combat that hasn't been revealed yet - a "war room" style interface that lets you control your fleet - which is now almost ready for prime time. 

The alpha version that's in the works will have a set of missions that are representative of "real game" situations.  Once that's wrapped up and released, work will start in earnest on the star... faring... strategic aspect.

[avm1979]

We've got a lore piece wrapped up.  A little preview of the illustrations that go with it:



The game proper is progressing quite nicely, by the way.  Closing in on that elusive alpha release

[avm1979]

New gameplay video!  You can take a look here.

It's a full playthrough of a single mission.

[avm1979]

The alpha is finally out!

Been a bit of a whirlwind trying to get everything all tidied up

[Matzon]

Congratulations for getting an Alpha out - must have been a lot of work - and it shows from the videos you've shown so far.

Would it be impossible to ask for an (shared?) activation code for the LWJGL team?

Thanks for including license and even lwjgl logo on splash/activation screen, much appreciated.

I don't know which API's you're using, but you should be able to exclude these jars:
* lzma
* lwjgl-debug
* lwjgl_util_applet
* (lwjgl_util -often used, but not always)
* lwjgl_test
* AppleJavaExtensions

As for the lzma part, you'd need to include their license if you use it.

[avm1979]

Congratulations for getting an Alpha out - must have been a lot of work - and it shows from the videos you've shown so far.

Thank you! It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks just getting it ready for release.

Would it be impossible to ask for an (shared?) activation code for the LWJGL team?

PM'ed. Hope you guys enjoy it. Despite the liberal use of immediate mode

I don't know which API's you're using, but you should be able to exclude these jars:
* lzma
* lwjgl-debug
* lwjgl_util_applet
* (lwjgl_util -often used, but not always)
* lwjgl_test
* AppleJavaExtensions

As for the lzma part, you'd need to include their license if you use it.

Ah, thank you for pointing that out. Not using any of these except for lwjgl_util (I think - iirc that's where Vector2f lives? - will have to double check). Side effect of a copy *.jar somewhere in the build process, I'm sure.

[Matzon]

damn, that's a hard game!
getting absolutely creamed in the 2nd mission - medium. I basically cannot complete the other missions except for tutorial and easy ...
I know this is an alpha, so there is still a long way, but I think you need to work on easing the game for the players. Right now the learning curve is very high.

That said, DAMN this is nice - beautiful game and sound effects.

[avm1979]

Yeah, that seems to be the consensus - the difficulty gap between missions 1 & 2 is waaay too large. I think I'll have to add a mission to go in between those to help ease a new player into that game. It doesn't help that it's called "medium" where in reality it turned out much closer to "hard". Still, it seems like at least a few people have been able to beat it

That said, DAMN this is nice - beautiful game and sound effects.

Thank you, happy you like it!

[Matzon]

Right - so I read through the manual and tried a bit more. It got better, but still no victory. Until I modified the Missions

My general thought is that the tutorial needs to be a lot bigger and include more topics, including enabling autofire.
Furthermore there needs to be missions/tutorials focusing on dealing with torpedo runs, figthers, gun-positioning, war-room tactics etc etc.

Also, sometimes battle gets a bit too hectic - the pause function helps a lot here, however I sometimes feel the big ships are too brittle compared to the smaller ships. Sure the small ships are easy to kill, but if you're busy with "something" else and you get hit by a torpedo run, you're basically screwed.

I think its going to get a bit tricky to get all of these smaller adjustments "just right". But so far I really like what I see!

The big question is: Whats going to be wrapped around the combat system?

[avm1979]

Right - so I read through the manual and tried a bit more. It got better, but still no victory. Until I modified the Missions

Cheater! Well, that's why it's single player

My general thought is that the tutorial needs to be a lot bigger and include more topics, including enabling autofire.
Furthermore there needs to be missions/tutorials focusing on dealing with torpedo runs, figthers, gun-positioning, war-room tactics etc etc.

Autofire is actually in the tutorial. I was a little concerned about it being too long, so people would miss things. But you're right, really need to cover more of the core mechanics. Perhaps it ought to be split into sections.

Also, sometimes battle gets a bit too hectic - the pause function helps a lot here, however I sometimes feel the big ships are too brittle compared to the smaller ships. Sure the small ships are easy to kill, but if you're busy with "something" else and you get hit by a torpedo run, you're basically screwed.

Ahh, but those are core mechanics. Knowing what the big threats are (given the ship you're in), where they're coming from, and avoiding/neutralizing them in time is the heart of combat. Torpedoes/bombs/etc are what gives small ships a chance against larger ones - if not for those, large ships could pretty much ignore small ones completely.

For a real-world reference, think WW2 naval battles with torpedo bombers/boats, battleships, etc.

I think its going to get a bit tricky to get all of these smaller adjustments "just right". But so far I really like what I see!

Yeah, no question, there's a lot of work left - and the devil is in the details Thank you for your feedback!

The big question is: Whats going to be wrapped around the combat system?

Why, a character advancement system set in an open-world sandbox, of course! There's no way to misconstrue what that means, no sir.

[CodeBunny]

Are you against an open alpha? I downloaded the alpha, because I've been really very impressed with what I've seen and wanted to get a closer look, but apparently I need a key. Could I maybe receive one?

The game looks fantastic and very well designed. Incredible work, and I hope it does very well.