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[JobLeonard]

Lithuanian ex-pats

AKA "Lithuanians" 

(for the uninitiated: Lithuania has a bit of an emigration problem. Source: ex-gf is Lithuanian)

[Kamazs]

Change your clothes to stay under the radar!

Some groups in the game have specific uniforms - faction armor if you will - and if you wear it, you are perceived as a member of that group.

P.S.

Note that this does not work with every group out there (e.g. demo) because a tight or small crew would easily recognize each other. "Faction armor" usually comes into play when there are societies with sub-groups that can be generalized as 'they' by others.

[Kamazs]

Yes, you can cut through the floor to access the level below.

[JobLeonard]

We Nethack now

[Kamazs]

Be careful where you cut through the floor. It's a vacuum out there, after all.

We Nethack now

[JobLeonard]

Oh wow, it's going to be so easy to accidentally get everyone killed in this game, isn't it?

Kinda appropriate given the setting actually, living fragile lives out in cold space

[Kamazs]

Yes, precisely. When NPC tells you that it's a nightmare living for years trapped in a tin can that can burst a deadly leak any moment - they are not kidding. And your ability to easily create a breach with just a simple power tool sort of makes it real.

Also, this touches a bit on morality. We don't really provide demonstratively Good/Evil choices/paths in this game, instead, giving players a fundamental level of freedom (e.g., being able to cut through the hull) and letting them loose. Is it evil to pierce the hull killing people below? Probably. But what if you did it to save 20-30 people? And what if the people you killed were "bad"? Though, what does even "bad" mean? What if they attack other ships to survive? After all, aren't you doing the same thing?

There isn't an answer, all we can do is give options and leave the interpretation to the player.

[JobLeonard]

What I remember from older RPGs is that killing story-critical NPCs has all kinds of consequences, varying from missing side-stories to "breaking" the game. How are you planning to handle it here?

[Kamazs]

You can complete the game without ever talking to an NPC. This was obligatory because if you create a character will low CHARM or speech, you cannot even initiate a conversation. This also means that you can complete the game even if you kill literally everyone.

The demo is a good example of how it is handled. If you manage to find a key or lock pick the door to the fuel bunker, you don't need to even talk to anyone. Same for the rest of the game - if a character has a key or any other item you need, you can pickpocket it or neutralize the character.

You don't even need a pilot because all ships have autopilot.

[nathy after dark]

I love the aesthetic of every screenshot.

[Kamazs]

Don't drink and spacewalk!

If you are intoxicated and roll a critical FOCUS failure on surface change (e.g. broken tile), you trip over and hurl through the space.

• It cannot happen outside (because you are extra cautious).
• After a fall, you get a cooldown/grace period before the next check (because the fall sobers you up for a moment).
• Yes, it can happen in combat.

I love the aesthetic of every screenshot.

Awww, you are simply too kind. Thank you!

[JobLeonard]

This is amazing

[Kamazs]

This is amazing

Thank you! Here's even more drunken shenanigans -



If you are drunk when talking to an NPC, you get an additional dialog option - an insult.

While usually, this will close any future conversations with the person, it grants you a temporary confidence boost in form of a bonus of 5 maxHP. While it may not sound much, remember, some characters start off with 9 maxHP, so it's not nothing.

Why did we add this?
1) Look what you are saying - if you are drunk, your impulse control is lower and you may accidentally piss some people off. This is essentially it.
2) Sometimes you just want to say something insulting to another person. Because it's funny, because you can or because you hate the guy - does not matter.
3) This +5 maxHP mechanic might work well with certain character builds adding to the overall diversity.

P.S.
Of course, you have to be confident and not ugly to even get to a point where you spit out your insult.

[JobLeonard]

... there's infinite save games right? 

[Kamazs]

... there's infinite save games right? 

Actually....errr, you get only 2 save slots in Space Wreck. And game is constantly auto-saved, so all your rolls are decisions are sort of permanent.

[JobLeonard]

Oh no, no screwing around with drunken nonsense without consequences then!

[Kamazs]

The game is designed so that you can complete it even if you piss off literally everyone. In fact, that might be a fun little challenge run.

[Kamazs]

There are a lot of mechanics in Space Wreck but you don't have to use or even learn about them to enjoy the game. That's why there isn't really a tutorial for that. But I still wanted to at least give a hint to players what kind of options they have.

Because our loading screen was not doing much, I added a roster of Did you know… type of hints like many other games do. However, every tip has a nice, short clip (GIF) associated - over the years I've created quite a selection. I think this is subtle enough and sort of entertains you while the game is loading.

[JobLeonard]

I love loading screen tips in games (only downside is that there are often so few of them that they repeat all the time), and adding a gif is even better

[Kamazs]

Ah, very good! Actually, I coded it so that it will not show the same tip/GIF again until the whole selection has been displayed. Currently, it's around 20 different showing before it starts to repeat.