Crucible V 29/12/2013

Christmas is past, so lets talk about Diplomacy in Crucible (or the art of not shooting everything). Diplomatic states (peace, war and cold war) each allow for different activites to occur. 

The default state between players is Cold War. With each turn that passes there is a greater and greater chance that either peace or war will occur between players. In practice this means that on turn 0 there may be a 1% chance that either peace or war will break out between players, but that on turn 5 there will be a 5% chance, and on turn 10, a 20% chance. The purpose of this feedback system is to allow for Cold War states between players to exist for reasonably long periods of time, and to impose different diplomatic states if cold war goes on for too long (in real life either tensions would escalate until war breaks out, or the situation would diffuse into peace).

While the previous mechanic is mostly independant of player activity, the diplomatic state that Cold War resolves into is not. Performing passive actions such as trading, peacemaking or simply doing nothing will make Cold War more likely to resolve into peace, and will also increase the chance that Cold War will resolve. Performing aggressive actions such as assassinating heroes, stealing resources, or taking sides with other players cause Cold War to resolve into War. In practice this means that (at turn 10) Cold War will have a base chance of 20% to resolve into another state, but if the player had performed lots of passive actions, there would be a 50% chance to resolve to peace- resulting in a 70% chance total that peace will occur. Note: This may sound slightly confusing- I haven't ironed out exactly how this will work, but hopefully this will give you the gist of it.

It will be possible for the player to directly initiate War or Peace states, but this feedback system will help to reflect the players impact on the universe, and hopefully make it seem as if AI players have an opinion of you.

The various abilities possessed by heroes will also have advantages in different diplomatic states...

- Adjacency bonuses from Presidents are only active for other players systems when at peace.

- Peacemaking can only occur during War and Cold War.

- Assassinations, resource Siphoning and Tech stealing can occur in every state.

- Invasions can only occur during War (or cause War to break out instantly).

Although this is a rather brief explanation of diplomacy, I hope it whets you appetite a bit. I am on holiday at the moment, but will be able to work on the game full time when I get back, and hope to be able to deliver a 'playable' demo by spring time.

Crucible IV 19/12/2013

Heroes play a unique part in Crucible. They are the only mobile aspect of the game, and are the primary way in which the player will interact with the universe (system and planet management is largely a passive activity). Heroes are found stationed within systems, but can also move freely to other systems, including enemy and uncolonised systems.

Heroes can be hired for a cost, and the available pool of heroes will be randomised (but never empty), so in theory a player could have thousands of heroes (but you wouldn't want to!). There are several different kinds of hero, and each type has mechanics that interact differently with the game world.

There are three different categories of hero, and each category reflects the three different diplomatic states of the game. There are Diplomats whose abilities favour peacetime activities, Infiltrators designed for use in Cold War scenarios, and Soldiers- just perfect for war.

Within the each category there falls (currently) three different hero sub-types, which are as follows:

Diplomat

• President- Presidents boost the SIM production of the system they are placed in, as well as adjacent systems.
• Peacemaker- When positioned in hostile systems, peacemakers will convert the system to a peaceful system over a period of turns. When placed in friendly systems peacemakers will prevent the system from becoming hostile.
• Merchant- Merchants come in pairs. Two players must each own a merchant and have them positioned in a system. The merchants can then be linked, and will provide two—way SIM bonuses to each player. Merchant connections can b changed, but will negatively affect the diplomatic state of the original player if linked to a different player.

Infiltrator (invisible to enemy)

• Recon Drone- When positioned in enemy systems, recon drones can allow the player to view all system and planetary improvements, as well as any heroes present within the system. These can be useful to look through systems when considering targets for an invasion.
• Spy- A spy will siphon off a small amount of an enemy systems SIM to the player. Enemies are able to see reduced SIM in the system inspector, but remain uninformed of the cause.
• Assassin- Assassins can kill enemy heroes. This action takes a number if turns, and if the hero is detected before the assassination can be carried out, they will escape to the nearest friendly system.

Soldier

• Warlord- Warlords have considerable offensive power and are the go-to hero for system invasions. Warlords can also raze systems to prevent further use by players.
• Strike Team- Strike teams support Vanguards and Warlords in that they are equally suited to offensive and defensive situations. This is ideal for front line skirmishes.
• Vanguard- Vanguards are used to defend players systems from enemy invasions. They are also able to raze systems.

I hope to introduce more unique mechanics to each hero type, but the basic flavour is outlined here. I am currently also considering the possibility of having each hero come with a ship. This would allow heroes and ships to be upgraded (much less micromanagement than it sounds), for example ships could be upgraded to move further (they can only move one system at a time currently), and heroes could have various pieces of technology added to them.

As I say this needs a great deal of thought given to it as I am averse to adding extra features for the sake of complexity.

Crucible III 18/12/2013

Today I thought I'd do a lore post. I have written extensive amounts of lore of Crucible because it is just the first in a series of different games set in this universe that I hope to make. Firstly the basics:

• Crucible has a campaign set between the 25th and 29th century, which chronicles three different species' ascent to the stars (hence the name).
• The three species in question are; Humans (everyone loves those guys!), Nereides (a young, super intelligent race), and Selkies (an ancient yet slow to adapt race).
• Lore is an important part of Crucible, but due to the nature of the game each players experience of the campaign can vary, and so cannot be considered absolutely canon.
• Players will have the option to read about various aspects of the universe in-game, but will not have this forced upon them- after all I am making a video game and not a history book!

My writer- Dogac- is currently creating lore for many of the planets in the game, but these pieces are not finished, and so I will share these another time. Although I have only really started detailing the universe of Crucible, I would like to share some of my favourite entries...

NEREIDES:

As the youngest of all races the Nereides have a great deal to prove to the galactic community. However their affinity for technology and quick learning ability more than makes up for their lack of initial progress. Before the uplift of the humans, the Nereides existed in a technological state somewhere between 19^th and 21^st century Earth, but thanks to the freedom of information and collaboration between other races are now beginning to exceed the technological abilities of their ‘parent’ races. Due to the long life expectancy and period of infertility after childbirth, the Nereid population is always low compared to other races. Even on their home planet their population barely exceeds one billion, whilst total Nereid numbers account for less than 5% of the entire galactic population. The Nereid race is one of a singular gender- all individuals possess both male and female reproductive capabilities, an evolutionary trait born of small community sizes and high mortality rate. Nereides have an extremely variable life expectancy due to their need for an extremely stable living environment. On hotter planets Nereides can live for as little as 40 years (although this is often extended with heavy use of a micro-environment suit) to up to 300 years on colder planets. Although the Nereid military is small it is by far the most advanced and well equipped in the galaxy, and Nereid teams are often used for low-profile military excursions. Nereid ships and shielding technologies are amongst the best, surpassed only by Die Unbemerkt and SOTHIS capitol ships.

SOL:

Although Earth is the home planet of humanity, Mars if often considered the capital of Sol. After the widespread human-caused destruction of the early 22^nd century and resulting mass migration to a heavily terraformed Mars, Earth has been considered a nature reserve. Huge quantities of money have been used to restore most of Earth to a pre-civilisation state- achieved by reducing the high CO2 quantities in the atmosphere, neutralising the oceans, and using advanced cloning techniques to reintroduce lost species to fractured ecosystems. There are still a few extremely high tech cities and research facilities on Earth, but most of the human population can be found on Mars, and most of humanity reserves a feeling of regret and fear of returning to their ill-kept home world. Mars was also the first planet to join the free-cities and currently is experiencing a period of prosperity and general happiness. The other planets in the system are heavily industrialised, and have been for some time- providing the resources to lift humanity first off of its home world, and then into other systems.

COLONISATION SHIPS:

When exploring systems with no preinstalled gate (mass relay-like object), a colonisation ship is used. It typically contains a few thousand frozen fertilised eggs, and is piloted by an AI. Since a colonisation ship is limited to the speed of light, it takes much greater amounts of time to colonise a new system than to visit an existing one. It also explains the time setting of the game (2400AD-2800AD to allow for travel to new systems). Upon reaching the target system a colonisation ship will use probes to work out the most suitable planet for habitation, then use drones and worker robots to build a small settlement and terraform the planet if necessary, all whilst allowing the embryos to grow.

By the time the embryos have developed into adults the target planet will have an outpost built on it within a safe area (protected from native species), solid infrastructure and a great deal of satellite activity on all planets in the system. The colonisation ship is also responsible for developing vaccines for the future population, for beginning mining operations for valuable resources, and for the construction of a gate in the system. Colonisation can take between 15 and 50 years to complete.

DIE UNBEMERKT:

A secularist corporation whose main contact with the rest of the galaxy is from its trade in advanced weaponry and controversial technologies. Planets owned by Die Unbemerkt (“The Unseen”) are rarely visited, and news from them is often limited and vague. Die Unbemerkt have a reputation as embodying the negative aspects of humanity- originally the company started life as a splinter group from Earth during the exodus to Mars. The company is renowned for using scorched earth tactics on colonisation attempts they deem too close to their own space.

As I have said, these are just a few little droplets of lore, and there is much more to come! Feel free to pop any questions in the comments below. Tomorrow I will discuss heroes and their mechanics.

Crucible II 17/12/2013

I will be writing many posts this week because I would like to get a fair amount of background information up quickly. This is to answer any questions I may have raised and to better explain the basics of Crucible before I go into more detail. In future I will likely only do one update every week.

Today I will talk a bit more about planets themselves- I touched upon it when discussing improvements yesterday, but planets are involved in a great many features and arguably have the greatest impact on how a match will pan out.

Planets fall into 4 different categories:-

• Hot planets have increased industry production, at the cost of reduced science production.
• Cold planets have increased science production, at the cost of reduced industry production.
• Temperate planets (also referred to as Terran) have a balanced resource output, but tend to output more total resources (Science + Industry + Money, or SIM) than other types.
• Gas Giants favour money production at the cost of reduced science and industry, with the exception of Chthonic planets.

Table showing the S/I/M output of each planet type (detail on types below)

Categories are further subdivided into 4 rarities- Substandard, Normal, Unusual, and Exotic- which indicate the total SIM output of the planet in question. Below is a table displaying the rarities of different planet types, along with their distribution:

All planets can have their SIM output increased through investment. Unlike system improvements, planetary improvements do not have system-wide effects, and improvements affect only the SIM output (as opposed to the more complex mechanics of system improvements). The improvement level of an individual planet is indicated by it's prefix. Planets in different categories have different prefixes to reflect their main resource output (i.e. Cold planets have prefixes that reflect their elevated Science production). Prefixes are listed below:

An explanation for the table is probably needed... 

If I were to colonise a Molten planet (Hot), it would have the basic level of improvement since I have not yet invested in it. This means it would take the prefix "Industrious" and its SIM output would be 50% that of its base SIM output. 

A Molten planet should output 22 SIM total (4 Science/12 Industry/6 Money), but it currently outputs 11 SIM (2 Science/6 Industry/3 Money). If I then decide to invest in the planet and raise its improvement level by one, its prefix would change to "Emerging Workforce", and it would have 100% of its base SIM output (i.e 22 SIM). Two further levels of investment would give it it's maximum improvement level- "Industrial Superpower"- and it would have 300% base SIM output (66 SIM). 

An exception to this naming system is for Gas Giants- they do not take the "Emerging/Prosperous/Superpower" titles. Instead they take the single-word titles shown in the table.

If feedback indicates that this naming system is too complicated, I will change it to a more generic naming system, but the mechanics of system improvements will remain the same.

Finally I want to speak more about the system improvement slots on planets. I mentioned this yesterday but must extrapolate on it. Since rarer planets have a higher SIM output, and so are often more powerful than less rare planets, I felt that a balance needed to be struck so that players did not feel that rarer planets were outright more valuable than others. To remedy this I have made it so that higher rarity planets have fewer improvement slots than common planets. This provides an incentive for players to colonise less rare planets, and allows me to limit the number of improvements that could be built on a system.

• Exotic planets have only 1 slot for a system improvement to be built.
• Unusual planets have 2 slots.
• Normal planets have 3...
• and Substandard planets have 4 slots.

My in-game explanation for this was that rarer planets are more likely to have high populations on them than less rare planets, and so there would be less room for large-scale constructions on these rarer planets. Substandard planets such as dead planets would be unable to produce enough food, or have the right conditions, to support a large population, and so the large areas of undeveloped space (void of vegetation) can be used to build research stations, mining facilities and the like.

N.B. Figures are placeholder values- balancing and play-testing has not yet begun.

Crucible I 16/12/2013

Conceived 6 months ago as a prequel to a much more ambitious game, 'Crucible' is a new 4X space strategy game set in a unique and vast universe. I am currently deep in development and have fleshed out much of the lore, mechanics and art style of the game, and have decided that I would like to share some of the development process and interesting aspects of the game as I go along.

Preface taken from my design document:

Crucible will be a turn based strategy game similar to 4X games such as Civilisation, Endless Space and Master of Orion. However Crucible will focus on exploration, expansion and exploitation with extermination being side-lined. Crucible will feature more complex diplomatic opportunities than are generally seen in strategy games of any kind. War will be waged as a struggle to own territory, rather than as individual skirmishes as is typical of the genre. Heroes exist to replace traditional combat, and their purpose will be more geared to espionage and diplomacy than open strategic battles. Crucible will feature a lengthy campaign to introduce the player to the mechanics of the game, and also to act as a prequel to any games that may be set in the same universe. Crucible will feature deep and complex mechanics, but will be considerably lighter in content than other 4X games."

I envisioned Crucible as a solution to some of the issues I had with 4X games- most notably Endless Space- in that they contain far too much micro management, and that this negatively impacts on the strategy of games in this genre. I am developing Crucible to alleviate these problems- the most obvious solution that I have come up with is to make many wide-impact and irreversible player decisions. An example of this is in the planetary improvement system:-

Map of galaxy. 3 colours represent the 3 playable races. Highlighted system is shown with its name (Nepthys) and number of planets (6).

• The game map is made up of many linked star systems similar to Endless Space, and start systems contain a number of planets depending on the system in question. 
• Planets produce resources (Science, Industry and Money), which is totaled up to provide a total system output. 
• Each planet has a number of improvement slots in which an improvement can be built for a cost. The number of slots available is based on the type of planet in question (Ocean/Barren/Molten etc.).
• An improvement can occupy a single slot on a planet, and the improvement benefits the entire system rather than the individual planet. This eliminates the need to build multiple copies of the same improvement in a system.
• Over time the output increases based on technological improvements. When the output reaches certain landmarks, more improvements are available to build on the planets in the system.
• The newly available improvements have more powerful, sometimes wider reaching effects that can dramatically change the performance of an individual system, but at a much greater cost.

Screen showing first tier improvements with a cost of 50. One slot on the 3rd planet it already filled with an improvement.

When an improvement has been built in an improvement slot, it is impossible to remove it. This means that players will have to make a decision between building cheaper, instantly available improvements to boost their systems early on in the game, or waiting and building immensely powerful improvements later on in the game that could potentially turn the tide of the game.

Over the coming weeks and months I will write more articles to answer any questions you may have and to show you how the game is progressing.

NB Screenshots are not representative of the final game. Most of the GUI is horrible and purely functional, but hopefully it is possible to see what I am trying to show.