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I think this stuff looks really cool.

[Scut Fabulous]

I take it that's the between-missions area?

Also; sci-fi archaeology is a subject I never see tackled enough. It's a neat subject considering the possible gulf between us and any theoretical xeno civilization.

Each map will be pretty big, but nothing like an endless sprawling world, so having a kind of HQ between sorties will help tie them together in a way that feels natural.  I'm also thinking about game events which will only take place when you return to your cabin, so that it will have a distinct feeling in how the player thinks about the game mechanics.

It would be really cool to make a game that's fully about archaeology in a science fiction context.  It's the sort of thing that to do properly I think one would want to team up with a really talented writer.  I'd like to see something with the integrity of a classic 90s adventure game but with a much more action-based freeform interaction.

[Scut Fabulous]

I made a storyboard outlining how some of the 'bread and butter' elements of The Salvage might play out.  It focuses on the elements of seeking out a dig site, tracking down an artifact and extracting it from the ground.  There are a couple potential hazards illustrated, but to keep the whole storyboard from veering off of my main intent, I left out most hazards you might have seen me mock up in previous devlog posts.  Things like asteroid strikes, earthquakes, pirates, storms etc.

Please bear in mind while looking through this storyboard that nothing included is intended to be viewed as canon or set in stone.  I'm just working out visually how 'A' leads to 'B' leads to 'C'.

[Player Ʒ]

http://scutanddestroy.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/salvage-gameplay-outline-annotated-10.png

There needs to be an assistant like that. An Al+Dr. Muto relationship.

[Geti]

All of those cables running everywhere is both an exiting concept and potentially headache inducing from a development point of view. loving the idea of different fluids.

[_Tommo_]

All of those cables running everywhere is both an exiting concept and potentially headache inducing from a development point of view. loving the idea of different fluids.

If the cables are only hit by the static ground, it should be doable enough, if you make an update only when the cable is created or the ground near to some of its segments is destroyed, and then propagate the change to the other segments.

Anyway cool idea!

[14113]

My stages of reaction:
 

 

 

 

 

[HyperDuckKev]

My stages of reaction:
 

 

 

 

 

woa..thats how Ifeel when I wake up!

[robolee]

Just thinking about the technical aspect of the spike, at the surface you could send two edge detectors out left and right 25 pixels or so and get the lowest y position from them both and then send two "runners" down from both points that stream downwards with a random chance to move 1 pixel left or right but with a tendency to go inwards to meet each other and then create fractures along those lines.

red line = edge & lowest elevation detection
yellow line = fracture line (could have a series of explosions happen on this line for added awesomeness)

[fraxcell]

Gah, that storyboard looks amazing.

[AaronLee]

Each map will be pretty big, but nothing like an endless sprawling world, so having a kind of HQ between sorties will help tie them together in a way that feels natural.  I'm also thinking about game events which will only take place when you return to your cabin, so that it will have a distinct feeling in how the player thinks about the game mechanics.

It would be really cool to make a game that's fully about archaeology in a science fiction context.  It's the sort of thing that to do properly I think one would want to team up with a really talented writer.  I'd like to see something with the integrity of a classic 90s adventure game but with a much more action-based freeform interaction.

Yeah I hope you can make this game, this certainly has that kind of attitude in my opinion.

Also; the out-of-mission event trigger sort of reminds me of Strange Adventures in Infinite Space, how windows would pop up like "For some reason all of the towels in your ship have gone missing."

[peanutbuttershoes]

I just want to say, Wow. This is looking fantastic.

I really hope you finish it.

[johnnoz]

This looks like it'll be frigging amazing. I will be all over this if its ever finished :D

[Bones]

  This makes the terrain destruction of my game look like child's play.

[Scut Fabulous]

http://scutanddestroy.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/salvage-cabin-interior-progress-008.png














How about some more progress on the cabin interior?  I think we'd all enjoy that.
Mostly going through each little flange, pipe and gubbin and rendering it up.  I started roughing in backgrounds for the two large rooms.  I'm keeping them low contrast, but I want them to still indicate surrounding machines.

I've come to realize that pixel art, especially something as big as this piece, re-activates the parts of my brain that could assemble scale models and paint wargaming miniatures.  The down-side is I'm still fighting against my fear of experimenting too radically, because I might 'ruin it'. 
It's a silly notion and measures must be taken to knock it down:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxYtzRyetDA