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[GaldorPunk]

Empyrean Frontier is a space RTS set in the lawless fringes of the galaxy, where warring factions fight over the vast resources of space. Construct a space station, colonize planets, and command massive fleets to achieve victory.

Empyrean Frontier is a singleplayer RTS developed for PC. The game is still in development, but I hope to release an alpha relatively soon.

Features:
-directly control massive fleets of diverse units
-customizable ships
-base building
-resource collection
-engage in trade or piracy
-2 different factions *(currently only one is ready)
-skirmish and campaign game modes

Links:
http://www.indiedb.com/games/empyrean-frontier
http://www.youtube.com/user/GaldorStudios/videos?flow=grid&view=0

Latest Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xbgq3bL8TL8

Screenshots:

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[_Madk]

Awesome!

[gears]

Looks good. The hex base layout reminds me of another space strategy game I saw recently that I can't recall.

How do ship control and orders compare to Gratuitous Space Battles? How much of the gameplay will be city building versus battle?

Interesting lighting effect with the ship corona/silhouette. Is that so you can focus more on gameplay and less on texturing or just because space tends to be dark ? I noticed a jittering of motion in the video.. is that a feature?

Hope to see more!

[GaldorPunk]

The game has the standard RTS unit control in real time (select units and give them move or attack orders whenever you want) right now player controlled units don’t move or rotate to attack new targets automatically, which is something I’m going to be adding, specifically different unit stances to tell them how aggressive to be. (In the videos a lot of the time I’m just selecting units and pressing a hotkey for “attack nearest enemy.”)

Base building and battles aren’t really separated, the game plays very much like C&C or Starcraft; you build a base, collect resources, and create shipyards to produce units throughout the game. Also, the combat clips as shown in the video are mainly just demonstrations, I do plan on adding a secondary game mode where it’s just a tactical fleet vs. fleet battle, but the main focus is definitely on base building to create ships and then do battle with them.

The silhouettes are mainly to make the ships stand out in the darkness, (I just say they’re energy shields so it makes sense) I wanted at least this faction’s ships to be dark, but I also wanted the background to be dark, so this seemed like the solution. The jittering is a bit of a bug with the movement and collision detection methods, I’m working on a fix, hopefully without having to make really drastic changes to the code.

[GaldorPunk]

Progress Update:
I've been doing more work on planets and moons as strategic resources: these large bodies in space have a number of upgrade nodes (depending on its size) which can be upgraded with resource structures, weapons, or improvements. The idea is for these moons or planets to be extremely desirable points to fight over, thus making map control and especially the control of strategic locations important in a game where there is no "terrain" in the traditional sense.

These screenshots show the visible effects of atmosphere factories, which also boost production from mines and reduce the damage taken from incoming projectiles. Not too impressive perhaps, but I've been working a lot on other features such as saving/loading, movement fixes, and an improved minimap.

(Now give these people air!)


see also:
http://www.indiedb.com/games/empyrean-frontier/news/colonizing-planets
http://youtu.be/0p4Fw9A122c

[galacticdeath]

Screenshots and gameplay look awesome. Keep it up!

[GaldorPunk]

New update: Super Weapons

Added the first few super weapons and other similar support powers. Several tech buildings in the game will grant the player the ability to cast various game-changing abilities. These tech buildings require a large investment (especially for the "main" super weapon) and the abilities are placed on a significant countdown timer. So far, I've implemented 2 examples of what could be called super weapons, and I expect each of the two planned factions to end up with one main super weapon and 2 or 3 lesser support powers.






Check out the update on indieDB or youtube to see more of it in action:
http://www.indiedb.com/games/empyrean-frontier/news/super-weapons
http://youtu.be/JChmOm4DhpI

Super Laser: (ultimate super weapon)-the super laser has 2 different firing modes, each sharing a cooldown timer-the first mode fires 10 bursts at random enemies in the target area, causing heavy area of effect damage-the second mode fires a single high powered burst, ideally into the core of a planet or moon, instantly destroying it
 
Microwave Overcharge: (support power)-normally used to transmit power to expansions and outposts, the microwave transmitter can be overloaded to temporarily disable all ships in the target area
 
Other planned support powers include a wormhole generator for instant cross-map travel, temporary reinforcements, and eventually an EMP and nuclear missile for the second faction.
 

[dbest]

Looking good. I usually don't enjoy space based games, but this one looks interesting.

[GaldorPunk]

This week I added 2 new frigate units, the artillery frigate and the bomb frigate. The artillery frigate fills the long range support role, and the bomb frigate, an area of effect suicide unit, replaces the old ramming frigate and its close range, high damage role. Much like the old design, the bomb frigates are meant to be strong against clumped up armies and countered by long range anti-frigate ships or tractor beams, which can push them away preventing them from getting close enough to do damage.



Also, as the game gets closer to a fully playable state (and alpha release) I've been working on completing various standard features of an RTS, including control groups, unit stances, and generally better unit AI.

Control groups work much the same as in most RTS games; Ctrl plus any number key 0-9 will assign a control group, and pressing the number key on its own selects these units. Units can also be in more than one control group at the same time.

There are also new unit stances, (similar to those in Age of Empires 2, but with a few differences) to allow the player to automate basic behaviors. The stances available are as follows:
Aggressive Stance: units will move to attack any enemy unit within sight range
Defensive Stance: units will rotate to attack any enemy unit within weapons range
Hold Position Stance: units will hold their position and rotation, but still fire at anything within range
Hold Fire Stance: units will not attack or move unless specifically told to do so

 Additionally, I've changed unit AI to allow for better focus firing and fixed a few graphical movement related bugs. (the jittering movement has been fixed now)

See also:
http://www.indiedb.com/games/empyrean-frontier/news/new-units-and-rts-stuff
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e61GN2gJpyo

[Graham.]

Really hard to see the units. Space is cool though.

[GaldorPunk]

Really hard to see the units. Space is cool though.

Yeah, that's one of the ongoing challenges I've had. When you're more zoomed in or have things selected it's generally easier to see, but I think I really need to add some more color to the units and make it easier to differentiate between some of the different types.

Looking good. I usually don't enjoy space based games, but this one looks interesting.

I actually don't play many space based games either. For me, I think it's because a lot of space RTS tend to behave more like 4X, with the slower empire building and management, (which can also be good, but it's harder to get into) the RTS games that most influenced my design have really all been ground based.

[GaldorPunk]

New Updates: Wormholes and more to come

Wormholes are essentially portals between two points on a skirmish map, which allow for instantaneous travel between the two locations. They function in a similar manner to a sneak attack tunnel network as in C&C Generals or nydus worms in Starcraft 2, however wormholes last very briefly and only provide one-way travel. The spawn wormhole ability is activated by the Wormhole Generator module (tier 4 building) and like other support powers, it will have a long cooldown.



I've also been busy creating tutorials and campaign missions, plus a lot of new features associated with the campaign, none of which is done yet, which is why this update is smaller than usual. I try to keep a semi-regular update schedule and in the next week or two, the campaign mode should be in a state to show off. Right now this is all I can show, but I'm in the middle of adding a similar warp mechanic for traveling between different playfields, opening up the possibility for multi-system maps and a more 4X-like game mode integrated with the RTS-style campaign.

http://www.indiedb.com/games/empyrean-frontier/news/wormholes1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-0gOg8Vfoc

[GaldorPunk]

New Update: Solar System game mode

It's been a while since I've posted something new, but in this update I'm introducing a new game mode to Empyrean Frontier in addition to the single map skirmishes already in the game. Essentially, the idea of this game mode is to be somewhere between a normal skirmish and a full story campaign. The focus of the game at the solar system level is on taking and holding territories. You focus on the grand strategy in the solar system view, and play out the battles as skirmishes in order to settle the result. The idea of this game mode is similar to the galactic conquest mode in Star Wars Empire at War, or the strategic mode in the Total War series, but with some big differences. Empyrean Frontier's solar system view is a more purely strategy focused game mode than the standard skirmishes, but still uses the same basic mechanics of real time strategy and a standard map.


early screenshot of the battle interface in the solar system game mode

I've spent most of my time recently just working on game design and making sure that this new game mode makes sense in the context of the rest of the game, and most importantly that it's fun.

The main idea is something that I've actually planned on and had some framework for since the beginning of development. The reason for this game mode is that I wanted to give the player the feeling of building up an empire and conquering multiple planetary systems kind of like a 4X game, but still primarily using traditional RTS game mechanics.

The two main concepts in this game mode are territory and battles. In a lot of scifi (Star Trek especially) there is often a discussion of territorial wars between different factions, where each side fights to control specific territory, for the trade routes and resources within those sectors or quadrants. This game mode is my attempt to simulate that kind of prolonged conflict between two or more space empires. The solar system is split up into a grid of sectors (currently a grid of 64x64) each of which, when controlled by a nearby planet or battle event, will give that player a small amount of income. Each battle event pauses the main system and takes place as a tactical RTS skirmish, granting the winner control of new territory back in the solar system view.



In the above screenshot, the yellow player and the cyan player both control a single planet, granting them control over the surrounding territory. In between these planets, a battle between two of their fleets has just started, (note the battle countdown, which gives other nearby fleets the opportunity to join in the battle) which will give the winning player control of the sectors within the smaller radius around that battle marker.

The mechanics aren't completely finished; I'm still finishing up how exactly planet upgrades will work, how the player will create new fleets, and how resource collection will work in the solar system view, but for the most part I feel the game is working the way it should.

http://www.indiedb.com/games/empyrean-frontier/news/fleets-and-solar-systems
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TEgT-qn-b0