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[Sharif]

the-sentient.com | @UncagedStudios | Facebook

Hello and Welcome!

In The Sentient, you play as an artificial intelligence who is asked to help mankind’s failing space exploration plans. Being able to process data relatively quickly you are tasked with bringing as much research and knowledge back to Earth via an orbital station known as "The Ark." At the Ark, you are able to recruit a crew, alter the layout of your ship, and perform research to improve current and new technology in order to aid you on future missions. When away from the Ark, your decisions can result in the life or death of not only your ship but of your crew. Space is a vast unknown so everything must be discovered in order to attempt to work with or against aliens.

Key Features:
1) Procedurally-generated: Explore unpredictable sectors of space.
2) Choose a crew: Recruit a crew with perks and daily needs. Train them well and become stronger.
3) Fully-customizable ship: Design and optimize the complete layout of your ship - from the number of shield generators to toilets. Everything is in your hands!
4) Ship-to-ship combat (based on ship designs and crew capabilities): Not able to withstand enough damage? Increase the number of shield generators and shield consoles. Not enough damage output? Increase the number of weapon tanks and weapon consoles.
5) Ongoing research: Gain research usable in upgrading weaponry, ship stats and capabilities.
Early Access Preview

In-Game Screenshots

[Sharif]

Crew Management
One of the most important resources in space is the crew that you set out with.  Each crew member doesn't just have a set of skills but they also have their own personality and traits that impact their gameplay.  

For today, we are discussing crew member's ability to take and receive orders.

Whenever a crew member is recruited they can be selected via simply left clicking on them. As soon as they enter the ship they will go to relax, use the facilities or just wander around aimlessly like many of us do in new locations.

Sounds great if you were just on a cruise or vacation however each crew member has jobs that they must do.

MICROMANAGEMENT
In typical management games you can select a crew member and directly tell them what to do. This involves telling them directly to take a break or work on a station.  This allows you to finely tune what everyone is doing on the ship.  

Reminder all in-game screenshots and gifs are Pre-Alpha and subject to change.

This aspect works great for when your crew size is relatively low.  Crew members will work on their respective tasks until a need gets low and then they will leave to fulfill that desire such as grabbing a bite to eat.

MACROMANAGEMENT
When the crew becomes much larger on big ships the game also provides a more high level method of giving orders.  This is performed via giving crew member schedules.

Each day is split into 4 phases. Morning, Midday, Afternoon, Evening.  Combat is a seperate entity and reflects if there is ever a threat as you may want the best people for the job at certain times.  By assigning crew members shifts based on their skill sets crew members will go to their respective stations based on the time of day and begin their work.

When it is time for a crew member to go to work they will play a simple animation showing they are checking their schedule and will then proceed to work.

This mechanic allows for you to give orders to many much easier then that of having to directly inform 20+ crew members what to do constantly.

Would love to hear from others about what they like to see when interacting with an object.  Right now I utilize a glow effect on the cursor but I believe there should be some kind of effect that happens.  Anyone have any thoughts on this or what they like in other games?

Also if there is anything you you'd like to know more about I can make a future blog post about that topic.

Thanks all for the support and taking a look so far.

[Greipur]

Hello, I like the premise!

Just wanted to give some feedback on your logo, although I really like the general idea of it I would recommend to iterate on the text. It's hard to read since at the moment you use almost the same value and hue as the image.

[Sharif]

Hello, I like the premise!

Just wanted to give some feedback on your logo, although I really like the general idea of it I would recommend to iterate on the text. It's hard to read since at the moment you use almost the same value and hue as the image.

Thanks so much.  I appreciate you giving it a look.

I agree completely with the logo.  Its not finished, I plan on looking into a bit more of a sci fi esque font to represent the AI more.  Thanks for the feedback, I'll play around with some colors like you suggested so it doesn't clash as much.

[Sharif]

Progress Update

The game is now officially alpha feature complete.  This boils down to the majority of the core components of the game are in and fully playable.  Polish and bug fixing is the current priorities right now before adding any additional features. 

There is still much more to be done but this is a major milestone and a trailer for the game can now be put together to showcase some of the features in action.  The trailer will of course be posted here and announced on the various social media sites.

Crew Needs

• Bladder
  
  • Every crew member has to use the restroom at one point or another.  Ships need to be equipped with toilets in order for crew members to relieve themselves.
• Energy
  
  • Working crew members without allowing them to sleep can greatly impact their morale so knowing when to allow the crew a chance to sleep is imperative.  Typically this is handled via the crew quarters.
• Fun
  
  • The stress of being away from family and friends can be very stressful.  In order to help alleviate the stress crew members must attempt to keep their fun rating up.  Heading to the bar or even having a chat while playing a game allows crew members the ability to relieve that stress and maximize the enjoyment of the journey.
• Health
  
  • The overall health and vitals of each crew member are closely tracked to ensure they are in tip top shape.  By not filling your normal needs the health rating can drop as well as if the ship is in danger.  If a crew member's health reaches 0 they will of course perish...
• Hunger
  
  • Feeding the crew is essential in keeping morale up as well.  If a cafeteria is built crew members will head there in order to fulfill their hunger needs.  Eating does of course impact crew member bladder as well so keep that in mind when designing the internal layout of your ship.
• Hygiene
  
  • A long trip without a shower would make many unhappy, including those in the same room as the person who hasn't bathed.  Bathrooms can be equipped with showers in order to help fix this issue and make sure crew members are smelling their best.
• Morale
  
  • Morale is the combination of all needs.  The higher the morale the higher the efficiency of your crew when working on tasks.  By allowing crew members morale to drop the output of any job they perform will be greatly influenced.

CREW STATS

• Intellect 
  
  • The more you perform a job on the ship the better a crew member can become and with a higher intellect the less the amount of experience needed to increase skills.
• Leadership
  
  • Many believe they are leaders but not many truly show leadership skills.  Being a highly advanced AI determining true leadership ability is fairly easy for you.  Crew members with high leadership abilities provide a bonus to others working on the same task.
• Physicality
  
  • The physicality of a crew member has a direct correlation with the crew movement speed.  Also, when dealing with health related needs, having a higher physicality reduces the speed at which health can drop.
• Punctuality
  
  • Often times due to the overall activities of the ship following a schedule can often be forgotten so those with a high punctuality will be prompt when following a work schedule.
• Teamwork
  
  • Not everyone works well with others and those without a high teamwork level will not benefit from leaders in the group.
• Work Ethic
  
  • Not everyone likes to work and having a low work ethic will greatly impact the fun rating of crew members as they perform their duties.  The higher the work ethic the less working on the ship impacts a crew members daily needs.

As I am moving into alpha testing very shortly does anyone recommend a good video editor for creation of trailers as well as a good method to distribute the game in a fairly easy to update method.  I will be trying to integrate with steam eventually and I know some games use that as an Alpha but I haven't investigated that. 

[Sharif]

From www.the-sentient.com

PROGRESS UPDATE

The game is continuing to be moving along with the focus on polish at the moment in order to get to an alpha.  There are a lot of moving pieces not just game related going on but things are moving at a fairly steadily.

INTRODUCING THE FLIGHT CREW

From Concept to Current In Game

The flight crew are the members of the crew who perform the most amount of tasks on the ship.  Without the flight crew the ship would not be able to operate, move, or do many tasks.  The flight crew's main purpose is in charge of running the most important room on the ship, the command room. Only one command room can be placed on the ship making the placement of the room and the size a very important factor when setting out on your journey. The flight crew also is able to work in the medical bay however the med bay is an unlocked piece of research at this time.

JOBS

Command Chair - Gives a member of the crew the ability to give orders to others in the room. Provides a boost to output for other members based on leadership skill but does not provide a direct value.


Flight Stick - When used by a crew member allows the ability to navigate and travel via the sector map.  Also, when in use gives a bonus to dodge chance based on the users piloting skills.


Medics - Medical beds are able to heal users that are resting in them.  A flight crew member assigned to the room is able to assist those that have been hurt and can assist the healing process based on their skill.


Shield Consoles - The best protection of the ship.  A flight crew member utilizing a shield console provides shield point increases in the event projectiles are fired at the ship.  Output is based on the crew member's console skills.


Weapon Consoles -  All weapons require energy to fire their weapons.  The weapon consoles when manned by a crew member increase the ships weapon energy levels based on the crew member's console skills.

[Sharif]

This week I have been focusing on mostly build optimization with getting the build size down as well as implementing several animations for the environment and UI.

In doing so I put together an alpha feature trailer in order to showcase all that can be done in the game so far. 



Alpha is also coming along and very close to getting others in.  I'm looking for some better distribution methods currently.

[QOG]

This looks very interesting, like a more open ended FTL.

[Sharif]

This looks very interesting, like a more open ended FTL.

Thanks, the game has a bit more focus on the actual crew.  There are events similar to FTL and other similar games though, but the emphasis isn't on combat.  The game takes place right at the beginning of humanity attempting to explore space and they need some help.  Aliens have been out there for a while so Earth ships barely compare so they need to become advanced as quickly as possible and they need you.

The game stemmed from the idea of what would it be like to run a big battleship.  How exactly would the interior be setup and how would the crew members interact?  So then it became why not let the player decide.   In the first ship you have about 2-6 crew members but later in the game you can easily have 20+ so then there are a lot of variables and jobs that need to be done etc.

[Sharif]

ALPHA RELEASE

The Initial full alpha with all features for the initial starter ship has now been completed.  All major bugs have been squashed and progress continues on a daily pace.  Many things occurred such as getting the build size down (cut in half), FPS tests and many other additional tasks to get the build to where it currently is.

Look forward to next week as there will be a major update as well that just missed the cutoff for this week's update.

INTRODUCING THE MECHANIC

The mechanic was inspired based on shows like Battlestar Galactica and Wing Commander.  Without the mechanics the ship will slowly begin to break down.  When inspecting an item on the ship you can view the current durability of the item.

The lower the durability of an item the more likely the item will break on next use.  As soon as an item breaks or you deem an item needs to be fixed you can order it to be repaired.  While an object is broken no crew members will be able to use it.  So in the event there is only one food replicator on board, no one will be able to eat after this point.  Keeping an eye on ship equipment is crucial.

After ordering the item to be fixed an icon will appear over the object indicating a service request has been made.  If you have assigned a mechanic to maintain the equipment of the ship, he will eventually come to repair the selected item.

Mechanics use their repair skill to fix items on the ship.  Repair skill has a direct correlation to the speed in which it takes to repair an item.  They can also be assigned to the engine room to constantly ensure that the items located in there do not break.  Nothing worse then losing shields or the ability to create energy for the weapons in the middle of a fight.

There are some additional things the mechanic needs to do on the ship but they will be discussed in a future update so keep an eye out for the additional info in the coming weeks.

[Sharif]

Not as much to discuss development wise but we did release v1.1 of the alpha which had some major fixes.  Did some updates this week on the sites page as well and thanks to the people at humble bundle got the humble widget up as well.  Very simple process and highly recommend for other game devs.  Took approximately 2 weeks from the initial request.  Overall great experience.  Can check out all of the changes this week at www.the-sentient.com

Gameplay and feel has been the major focus recently so finally got to do some work on the graphical polish.  Started with working on the lighting system for the game.  The hallway lights and internal room lights must work on a separate system.  Crew members also must be affected by the different lights depending on where they are.



When the ship is in danger the lights change into a redish tint indicating danger. For now this is just the hallway lights.

[Sharif]

Hi all,

The Sentient is now on steam greenlight.  Every vote helps make a dream come true.    


A new trailer has been added as well to showcase the features.



This week the main focus has been on getting the light system into the game.  Long term goal is that players can actually customize the lights and the effects so that when they are in combat it can pulse whatever color they choose.  Same with the normal atmospheric lights to add to the overall gameplay.  The previous post showcased some of it but here you can see exactly the difference adding a few lights can make.


One piece of the game that hasn't been fully explained has been the pilots on the ship.  They don't fly traditional space fighters that look like aircraft but instead utilize power armor for full range of movement.  I added a work in progress gif of the pilots sitting in the briefing room getting a exploration briefing.

[Sharif]

This week a lot of bug fixes occurred for Alpha V1.3.
 
Started work on the galaxy and sector map.  The galaxy map contains sectors that you can explore.  The sector map is a drilled down view which shows the space anamolies or things that can be explored.  Travel time and things are based on the ships speed which are all upgradeable.




Its all a work in progress but its meant to give a sense of progression as you travel further into space.  By upgrading long range scanners you get more information on the sectors as well so you can determine when to travel to a specific location.

[Sharif]

The crew recruitment view has purposely kept track of the best three attributes and the worst three attributes that a crewmember has. 

The system was originally put in place to create a perk/issue system which I have just fully implemented in the code.

Here is a little sneak peak of how it is shown in game.

[Sharif]

Based on feedback, the amount that your crew members were producing when working on the ship was a little hidden and you had to drill down pretty far to see how much shield or weapon power was being produced based on crew skill.  Of course since its a simulation it also is pretty layered so to get a full understanding it would require some math.  Due to this monitors have been added to the room layouts to help with figuring out what is being made.  You can of course drill down even more and click the room objects to see additional details.



In the image it shows the crew members are producing 3 units of weapon power and 2 units of shields.  You can then click on the monitors as well to get some additional info as well.

Also some of the other rooms now have monitors as well to help keep tracks of meals, drinks and medical supplies before using the ship supplies.

Please vote on steam greenlight if you haven't yet. http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=516249023

[Sharif]

The Sentient just got greenlit so thank you to all who have supported and helped vote on making the game a reality.  Especially with the game still being in alpha those who can see the potential means it meant a lot.  There is still a lot of work to be done but one less hurdle is always great.

This week has primarily been dealing with performance issues and ensuring the game always runs at 60+ fps.  Although its a 2D game things like scrolling around the screen and using fast forward were being affected by the dips in performance so getting that all back tip top was a great step. 

Now that the core game is at least functional adding more aesthic friendly pieces and more options to what players can do is always great to finally get to.  So this was was focused on adding "every room" objects which are generic objects that can be placed in any room type. 

In the gif below you can see the bar has been upgraded with a robotic bartender as well as a news feed to help with entertainment. Each object isn't just aesthetic though so they give bonuses to things like relaxation, fun etc.

[Sharif]

Hi Guys! Been a bit quiet the past few months as I've had a new little member join the team.  With the birth of first child the media presence went down a bit while game development continued on.

I still managed to maintain weekly updates aside from Christmas week (more so due to an illness) at the game's website at www.the-sentient.com

There have been a lot of changes and fixes from feedback. Here are the major things that have been improved on the push to Alpha V3:

Steam Integration with Achievements



Contextual Mouse Indicators



Doors that react to the crew!

Shadow effect for crew and objects



Crew Dialogue(bark) System



New Interactive Tutorial System

[Cobralad]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentient_(video_game)

[Jasmine]

I am getting the gist that this is the Oregon Trail, but in space.

And it sounds AWESOME.

[Sharif]

The Early Access launch has gone over even better than expected.  We have gotten a lot of constructive feedback and begun making multiple changes with the game.  Several of them have already made it in like the ability to change screen resolution, and crew movement enhancements.

We plan to continue to work on the changes as well as our intended plans and features over the months ahead.

Since the last posting a lot of features were put in to finish out the initial launch.

Easier object placements

Easy room resizing

UI Improvements

Research Updates


Female Crew Members

More Ambiance

During launch we have even had some players unlock additional ships putting in hours of work to learn the research trees and best combinations.  Several people have even managed the hardest achievement to accomplish which is 1 flight crew member and 1 mechanic clearing an entire sector.  Players always find ways to be creative!