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[James Edward Smith]

Possibly you'd have a little dropship/walker that hovers permanently above the surface, and as long as you have sightline to the sky you can be extracted along with your little suit, pulled into a little docking bay and let out to breathe for a moment while techs upgrade or fix up your suit.

Yeah, I like the idea of a sort of two character game. Your main character who walks around in the suit and then your mechanic guy who maintains the ship and fixes your suit for you and stuff while you're doing stuff like saving your game at a little terminal or examining your finds on a scifi lab table scanner thing.

A sort of Spike and Jet from Cowboy Bebop relationship vibe.

He could be an old gray bearded guy, a guy who retired from what you do an has been a sort of mentor or something.

[AaronG]

Having an "inside the player ship" area is a great idea if for only one reason:

Creating a safe haven where the player feels warm and cozy and safe beyond any threat just makes the unforgiving, hostile alien world outside that much more harsh and frightening.  It's a sort of tension reliever so that the mounting pressure of a deep, underground dig can start afresh.

[Scut Fabulous]

Have y'all played Koronis Rift?

[Hangedman]

No, but I guess I should.

[smokingspoon]

Very nice !

But at the first image on your article I thought your game would be in this isometric incredible camera angle . That would've been crazy!

Imagine a game with this angle  



But side 2D are always magnificent!! Keep up the good work.


Ps : I think you may be interested by this Snes game, named : Gun Hazard
(easily one of the best snes game ( only released in japan))

[Scut Fabulous]

http://scutanddestroy.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/salvage-artifacts-02.jpg

More artifact mega-roughs!  




http://scutanddestroy.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/salvage-sectional-ideation-002.jpg



http://scutanddestroy.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/salvage-sectional-ideation-001.jpg

I'm working on a full scale level mockup, to help figure out how to go about randomly generating new maps.  Above are a couple small sketches I was using to just work through some basic ideas on terrain outlines, cave patterns, and bulk layers of material.  There's most likely going to be successive layers of rock that have different properties, and are likely to yield certain types of features where they exist.

[Izzimach]

I remember a key component of Koronis Rift is that you could sell off a particular artifact for money, or you could "install" it into your rover as an equipment upgrade.  There were things like radar modules, better shields, etc.   I remember finding some nice weapons and/or shields, but they drew so much power I could barely move.  And of course I had sold off my old equipment 

[ANtY]

I love ur graphics, you are very talented visual artist. 

[Scut Fabulous]

I remember a key component of Koronis Rift is that you could sell off a particular artifact for money, or you could "install" it into your rover as an equipment upgrade.  There were things like radar modules, better shields, etc.   I remember finding some nice weapons and/or shields, but they drew so much power I could barely move.  And of course I had sold off my old equipment  

It was a brilliant game, but like most C64 games it had a brutal learning curve.  Another neat trick it employed was colour-coding each module.  So like, a red shield protected best against red saucer attacks etc.

That intro with the epic music and your readout screens flickering to life is one of the best in the gaming world for immediately conveying a real feeling that you were about to embark on an exciting adventure.

Also, how awesome was this cover art?

[Scut Fabulous]

http://scutanddestroy.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/salvage-deep-stone-001.jpg



http://scutanddestroy.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/salvage-deep-stone-002.jpg

The full-scale map mockups are going to need new types of stone in their deeper areas, and we're going to relate features and anomalies to types of stone.  Anyway, I've sketched up a few ideas for alternate stone types, mostly trying to make them look tougher than the sedimentary layers you've already seen common in the upper strata.

[Ben_Hurr]

This has got to be the most amazing game I have ever seen under development. 

Vaguely reminds me of my days with Solar Jetman.

[Scut Fabulous]

http://scutanddestroy.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/salvage-space-cabin-001.jpg

Sketch of an idea I had regarding the salvager's 'cabin'.  I don't know if it needs to be shown in-game, but my idea was that you have a small craft in orbit that's stuck together from an assortment of found and cheaply acquired components.  You could never afford a real starship, so you get this jalopy towed into orbit by freighters and tugs.

[James Edward Smith]

I think it might be more realistic to have a more uniform outter haul with lots of internal systems seemingly mismatched and from different sources/eras. Sort of like you managed to buy a slightly functional older ship and then have made it less deralict with less obsolete smaller components added.

[Scut Fabulous]

http://scutanddestroy.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/salvage-deaths-0011.jpg

 

[Scut Fabulous]

http://scutanddestroy.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/salvage-deaths-002.jpg
 

[Landshark RAWR]

tradgidorable, i hope to find those underground a bunches.

[Scut Fabulous]

http://scutanddestroy.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/salvage-deaths-003.jpg

 

[Ben_Hurr]

Whoa

those are some pretty slick death concepts
and yet not a drop of pilot blood to be found. 

[Xion]

I feel so bad for the crushed one

[Scut Fabulous]

http://scutanddestroy.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/salvage-mega-mockup-001.png

Okay, been busy with other job stuff, getting-a-cold stuff, family stuff...

So I've been working on a full-scale mockup of a game map, for the purpose of developing our procedural terrain generation system.  What you see pictured above is incomplete, and yes it currently looks like ass, but it will pan out, trust.
The main idea is to generate the level in phases, starting with very simple outlines of each stone layer, followed by placement of simple cave system outlines.  Those outlines are then 'stamped' with pre-drawn chunks to provide a map that looks good and offers tons of random nooks and crannies.