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TIGSource ForumsCommunityDevLogs[Grand Strategy: Spacewar] (4X) & "Mercenaries"
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Author Topic: [Grand Strategy: Spacewar] (4X) & "Mercenaries"  (Read 14640 times)
Orymus
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« Reply #20 on: October 02, 2013, 07:29:22 PM »

Thanks farcodev. Although, I wasn't a big fan of what I saw from Spaceward Ho! (it felt a bit too 'western' for my liking).

By the way, some progress on the galaxy generator (finally a breakthrough)!


The little 'green dots' are planets orbiting stars.
I'm still fine tuning my constants so that spacing between planets and stars makes sense, but you can see that clusters are starting to take shape!

If you take out the influence lines, it looks more like this:


Its starting to take shape into a 'cluster war'.
« Last Edit: October 02, 2013, 07:34:58 PM by Orymus » Logged
Orymus
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« Reply #21 on: October 02, 2013, 08:21:36 PM »

Here comes... the Propheons


This concept represents the Propheons, a liquid lifeform that takes refuge within an armored shell, using a magnetic field propulsion system.

While frail, vulnerable, and reclusive, they're one of the most adaptable species in the galaxy.
Their ability to alter their shape at will allows them to turn everything into a tool (notice how they've formed fingers?).

It was very important for us to keep separate from humanoids in general, and a liquid lifeform seemed very interesting. Unfortunately, a 'waterball' isn't that exciting of its own accord, and quite arguably, too frail to stand a chance during combat. This is how we came with the idea of the 'spherical' vehicle which was initially based on an early underwater diving suit reference.

I haven't entirely defined the exact abilities this species will have, but I can already tell its going to be a lot of players' favorite!


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Hypnotron
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« Reply #22 on: October 02, 2013, 11:19:06 PM »

It's the aliens from The Abyss?   Wink



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Orymus
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« Reply #23 on: October 03, 2013, 07:54:39 AM »

That's a serious blast from the past!
Can't say that I had that in mind when I created their core concept, and I'm not sure the concept artist drew from this influence, but you may be just right... except their are not water-bound Smiley
Their drive is certainly curiosity though, and it could lead them to emulate humanoid shapes should they encounter some.

I personally can't wait until somebody 'rules the galaxy' with this seemingly inoffensive little critter.
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Pineapple
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« Reply #24 on: October 03, 2013, 11:44:41 AM »

What made your mind 'tick' for Stars! exactly?

The complexity and the strategy appealed to me in a unique way. The biggest factor was probably how it was one of the first 4X games I was exposed to as a kid. I enjoyed Galactic Civ II a hell of a lot, but it still lacked some of the allure for me.
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Orymus
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« Reply #25 on: October 03, 2013, 04:17:44 PM »

What made your mind 'tick' for Stars! exactly?

The complexity and the strategy appealed to me in a unique way. The biggest factor was probably how it was one of the first 4X games I was exposed to as a kid. I enjoyed Galactic Civ II a hell of a lot, but it still lacked some of the allure for me.

We sadly can't do much to emulate the nostalgia feeling here... However, we've decided to keep most of the in-game art fairly retro to emulate that.
Galciv2, to me, was too abstract. We're trying to keep everything more 'real' so to speak.
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Orymus
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« Reply #26 on: October 03, 2013, 08:56:14 PM »


So we've been hard at work trying to define what the style would be for this game and music was still an unknown. I've stumbled on a track that was previously produced for another (now defunct) game I was working on, and it felt like a perfect match.
I reached out to the composer and inquired about whether I could use it for this game (and if he'd be interested to score more in this vein) and he answered positively.

Do you like it? Does it fit the 'feel'?
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Hypnotron
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« Reply #27 on: October 03, 2013, 09:56:21 PM »

It's hard to tell when you can't hear while playing the game. Smiley

I like the first minute and half or so but then it switches into a more cyber punk sounding. It's still good but. I don't know! I'm no good at these sorts of things.

Some of my favorite 4x space game music is from Ascendancy. 

Theme 0 (matrix sounding bits but came out several years before the Matrix)




Theme 1




Theme 2 - intro movie theme
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LLaO8lHCIs

Theme 3 - sense of gravity and seriousness of the situation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ztm-pXqhaR8

Theme 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmMH9HKfBO8

As others have commented in the youtube comments of the links above, the gameplay of Ascendancy was very average, but somehow the atmosphere they created for this game is just amazing and really pulls you in and makes you want to really love the gameplay.  There's something... compelling about the atmosphere and I just can't put my finger on what it is.  The atmosphere feels vast, ancient, and timeless. Somehow they've managed to make a sound that is a mix of the past, present and future.



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Hypnotron
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« Reply #28 on: October 03, 2013, 10:02:23 PM »

best as I can tell, the music for Ascendancy was composed by the game's creator.  Damn impressive.

Nenad Vugrinec

---------
TRACKLIST
---------

01. Sixty Thousand Centuries Ago... (Intro Part 1) 1:30
02. Upheaval (Intro Part 2) 0:24
   [THE SPECIES]
03. Command Sequence Initiating... (The Minions) 0:31
04. Wooly Hunters of Unyielding Frame (The Snovemdoma) 0:24
05. Dwellers of the Lifeless Worlds (The Orfa) 0:25
06. To Feel Distant Life (The Kambuchka) 0:27
07. Telepaths of a Greater Harmony (The Hanshaks) 0:34
08. The Liquid Warriors' Deadly Dance (The Fludentri) 0:31
09. Cute Irreverence Belies Great Wisdom (The Balifids) 0:30
10. Dipolar Life Fleeing Frutmakan Fanaticism (The Swaparamans) 0:32
11. Devout Servants of Graveesha (The Frutmaka) 0:31
12. A Crystalline Entity Beyond Comprehension (The Shevar) 0:33
13. Goddesses of Gaia (The Govorom) 0:29
14. Mischievous Mental Parasites (The Ungooma) 0:34
15. Skittish Spies (The Dubtaks) 0:24
16. Peculiar Hunters of Unpredictable Form (The Capelons) 0:27
17. Macroscopic Mitosis (The Mebes) 0:28
18. Gaze into the Stars with Honor (The Oculons) 0:23
19. Of Deep Root and Ponderance (The Arbryls) 0:35
20. Reaping the Seeds of Hatred (The Marmosians) 0:30
21. Travellers of Luminous Mind (The Chronomyst) 0:32
22. Brilliance in the Face of Impending Tragedy (The Chamachies) 0:28
23. Molecules on the Wind (The Nimbuloids) 0:35
   [THE THEMES]
24. Cosmic Exploration (Theme 1) 4:55
25. The Driving Force of Progress (Theme 2) 2:12
26. Voyage Between the Stars (Theme 3) 1:36
27. Commanding a Galactic Empire (Theme 4) 2:13
28. Into the Black Mysteries of Space (Theme 5) 2:02
29. Your Species Has Achieved Ascendancy! (Victory) 0:35

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Hypnotron
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« Reply #29 on: October 03, 2013, 10:16:56 PM »

sorry for the Ascendancy spam! just bringing back fond memories.

Music of the different species




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Orymus
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« Reply #30 on: October 04, 2013, 09:51:17 AM »

Yes Ascendancy was a special game indeed.

Quote
There was something about Ascendancy that went beyond gameplay and the technical part of the graphics. I've always put gameplay above everything and I find the gameplay of Ascendancy to be only above average (again, my personal opinion) yet I cannot help but marvel at all the 'small' things which define its flavor. The music, the unique races, their themes, the way they are depicted in the games artwork. It's all very alluring.

This is a very accurate comment.
Rarely do games manage to pull-off this level of emotional attachment.
Unfortunately for me, gameplay made replayability low. Though the game experience was fun in its discovery stage, it didn't have the lasting appeal of other games.

I was particularly fond of StarCraft 1's Protoss campaign for very similar reasons, although in a completely different game.

Dune 2 also achieved a very narrow experience to utmost perfection in my honest opinion. It has thematic gameplay and lore in the right quantities.

Unfortunately, this isn't an exact science that can be taught. Its something you need to feel.
I strongly believe that achieving this level of 'balance' requires a very small dedicated team. The problem with indies however is that they're often overwhelmed by the positive feedbacks of their playerbase, and end up releasing a 'gimmick game' that feels like an overblown prototype.
I'd attribute this to the saying 'keep it simple'. Though keeping it simple is a great designer advice, its also a recipe for a game that lacks depth and mood.
Pursuing your own vision should always remain the focus, and a vision doesn't need to rely solely on gameplay mechanics.

Todd Howard, at Bethesda, explained during his dice keynote in 2011 that a The Elder Scroll game was built as a 'feeling', and after adding/removing stuff from the game, they'd play it and check if they still had the TES vibe. They didn't ask if it was good, that's not limiting enough, they asked if it was a TES game, which was their own standard for quality AND feel.

/Rant
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Orymus
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« Reply #31 on: October 06, 2013, 11:04:35 AM »

DevLog Entry # 6

Amazing work this weekend.
Yannick imported my GalaxyGenerator script (which was done in Dart) to the PHP backend effortlessly and the result is this:



We have generated galaxies!
All Planets now have their own 'personalities' (climate, resources, etc.)

To achieve the above result, Yannick modified the code so that we can zoom in/out, which was a feature we had shelved for later, but became mandatory given the size of the galaxies. There are still a few instabilities with that, but overall, it works allright.

We spent the rest of the weekend arguing over the Combat Replay System (which will soon be our next big system to implement) and have yet to come to a conclusion on that.
Planet management is also WIP.

And with that said, I figure it's about time to announce....
*Drumroll*

That we're moving to the 20% marker completion of the overall project! (and are well past the 50% marker for the prototype).

Like I said, amazing work this weekend!
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Orymus
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« Reply #32 on: October 06, 2013, 01:29:34 PM »



Fixed!!
 Screamy

From upclose:
« Last Edit: October 06, 2013, 01:40:47 PM by Orymus » Logged
Orymus
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« Reply #33 on: October 07, 2013, 09:40:17 PM »

@Hypnotron
In regards to your listed refs, we're currently looking into the "Earth and Beyond" soundtrack and see if we can cook up something in that vein. It's another good example (with a much lesser scope) of tracks tailored to a species that isn't an obvious orchestral ripoff!
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« Reply #34 on: October 09, 2013, 07:16:05 PM »

Just saw this - love 4X. My faves are MOOII, Galactic Civ, Endless Space. I also liked the concept behind Imperium Galactica (linear storyline & controlling ground & space forces).

Never played the old DOS games, but more layers sounds good. I don't enjoy the stripped down, quasi 4X games like Sins of a Solar Empire as much.

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Orymus
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« Reply #35 on: October 10, 2013, 10:58:04 AM »

@SterlingDee:
Hey there!
Just so you're not disappointed by what we're trying to achieve, I'll post my comments on the games you've mentioned. Hopefully that will help you determine whether it's still something you could be interested in:

  • MOOII is a great game, but it is on the 'abstract' side of the spectrum of 4X games. You could say we're on the OTHER end. Everything is meant to be drastically 'real' in our game: resources are stockpiled on planets, moved about by freighters which are just like any other ship you control.
  • Galciv I and II were also fairly abstract. Winning through influence had its appeal, but we conceive influence as something much more 'concrete' than a number. We want emergent strategies in the game, and would rather let player relationships operate (you can blackmail, mislead, etc).
  • Endless Space, as per most 4X games, is an example of what we're trying to avoid as far as combats are concerned. We want 'fewer' ships on screen, and insure the player has a clear understanding of what's going on. Ideally, we should be able to track each projectile, see how much damage it deals (if we want) so that its a learning process, as opposed to a 'cinematic' of your supremacy. I DID like their art style however, it was refreshing for such a modern 3D game to try to do things a bit differently.
  • I only vaguely remember Imperium Galactica (please don't throw stones at me!).
  • Sins of a Solar Empire... I'm glad you're not a fan. Sword of the Stars is another title that comes to mind. A lot of these games are so alike that I tend to confuse them, so I won't go into details, but for the most part, I think we've distanciated ourselves from these games through our methodology. We've taken parts we didn't like about modern 4X games, and removed them. The 'void' was naturally filled with other features instead. It may not be 'better' (I'd like to think we've made better decisions, but you never know). At least, it won't feel like a rehash from modern games.

There.
Hopefully that gives you hope on what's to come next!
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Orymus
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« Reply #36 on: October 10, 2013, 12:37:19 PM »

Devlog Entry # 7

Our 'dev spree' is slowly coming to an end, so I really wanted to do something special before things slow down a bit.

I've started to lay the foundations for the 'combat replay'.




It's really not a combat system, as there won't be any player input. Our intent has always been to put emphasis on strategy, not player keyboard/mouse handling skills, and this system is no exception.

Essentially, ships will spawn in an enclosed area and 'fight it out' but there will be more subtleties to it, such as how reinforcements are handled, weapon range, etc.
The 'combat replay' is meant as a strong tool for players to learn more about the inherent logic of combat rules. Our intent is to let them SEE and EXPERIENCE the result of their choices, so that they can learn from this.
Being a 'spectator' isn't necessarily fun per se, but it does insure we will have the full player's awareness.

Ship's AI is well underway:
  • They are able to acquire a target (and reacquire) as needed.
  • Ships will move towards their target until they are within firing range.
  • Ships will rotate the pitch of their helm to keep track of their target.

Todos:
  • Currently, the check on 'attack range' is made against a single variable, instead of all of the weapon components aboard the ship. (I'll need to define a behavior for that too).
  • Actual ship movement needs a bit of polish so that I can adjust ship's relative speed and avoid what could be described as lag.
  • The 'bullet' class doesn't exist, which means I'm only faking projectiles this far.
  • This is standalone code. At some point, we'll need to include that as part of the main game, and connect to the entities that are already there (rather than fake them through hard coded JSONs).
  • The pixel-art ship is a WIP.


Thoughts?


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Orymus
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« Reply #37 on: October 11, 2013, 10:58:36 AM »

So, this is the first time we open up this Devlog to suggestions.
I've listed a design problem here, which is based on a

I've put on youtube yesterday.
If anyone has any suggestion, we're all ears!
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Orymus
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« Reply #38 on: October 12, 2013, 07:40:25 PM »

Devlog Entry #7.5

Here is Yannick's progress for this DevLog:

Planetary management is well underway, we now have the interface that will handle building construction, and respective outputs.
Left todo: hooking to back-end, and updating resources accordingly.

See for yourselves



« Last Edit: October 17, 2013, 07:32:33 PM by Orymus » Logged
Orymus
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« Reply #39 on: October 18, 2013, 06:01:42 AM »

Video Log # 1!

We've taken the time to make a video about our current vision and progress.
It's much easier to watch than try to read all of our updates, so, enjoy!
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