General Update 28/03/14

I'm going to mix it up this week (and maybe do the same in the coming weeks) by doing some posts about the general progress of the game, what I feel about the project, what features I will be doing, etc. This is due to the fact that I will be working on less visual aspects of the game in the coming weeks (AI, fixes, other things), and also because I haven't spoken much about these things before. I'll try and break up the posts with sketches and/or other bits I've done, but generally you won't be seeing many screenshots (at least for a little while).

Overall I would say I'm pretty happy with the speed of development. My number one priority is just to get the game to a state of 'completion' and not be concerned about bugs at the moment. Writing the AI is a massive task, but when I'm happy with it I do plan on releasing a playable version of sorts for people to download (SP only). It is likely to be some months before it's at that stage though. Thankfully soundtrack is coming along really well- currently I have had 7 nearly-polished tracks sent to me (out of 10). After that's done I'll probably spend some time with my team-mate to get some sweet sounding effects. If I'm honest, the art is currently on the back burner. I am having a very hard time coming up with a style that I think is suitable- I do have bits of ideas and some finished images, but as a whole it's very incomplete. For me this is a bit of a shame since the visuals really sell the game for most people, and I don't feel prepared to put the game on Kickstarter as it is (not to mention the fact that I don't have an artist on the team).

So what's coming in the future? Well in the short term I will be writing the AI (as I have already said), but there are a myriad of other features to come. I plan on adding 2 more races to the game (for a total of 5). Since each race has their own independent mechanics it is a very big job to create, write and balance them (explaining why there are so few). I really do hope that this will lead to far more distinct gameplay styles than in other strategy games, but only time will tell. I do have to get networking up and running for multiplayer to work, but it may be that I will just find someone else to do it if the task is too great (I only have so much time!). Also coming sooner rather than later- Empire Technology, improved Heroes and Hero mechanics, better battles, inter-system war, status effects, and additional diplomatic effects.

In the long term I will be looking at getting the game up on Greenlight, and I'll be needing everyone's support to get it voted up there. Really I am looking at a mid-late 2015 release date, but who knows- it could be sooner. I will be heading off to Southampton Uni (to do Computer Science) in September, but I'm pretty sure I can devote a lot of my time to this project anyway.

As always I would love to answer any questions/comments, and I'll see you next week!


Just a few rough numbers about the game to amuse you:

• Lines of code
• Without XML files:   6134
• With XML files (Includes tech data, system data etc.):   8919
• Time in development: 650 hours or 27 straight days
• Size of team: 2!
• Cost of development: ~£40 (for NGUI).

Crucible XVI 14/03/2014

Wow have I been drained this week. I'll be fresh and ready to work after I get back from my holiday next week. Saying that, I have done a fair amount of work. Currently I'm trying to pin down the UI art direction. The game should have a dark Fantasy/Sci-Fi feel to it, so I'm experimenting with various textured interfaces etc. The screenshots in this post may or may not be representative of the direction I will end up going in! I'd love to hear feedback on how it looks and how it fits in with the rest of the game. Oh, I did a video to demonstrate what I have done this week (music is 'Frozen Star' by Sam Windell, link at bottom of page). Anyway...

State of the Game (Build 0.88):

• YouTube video to go with this blog:

• So I finally implemented diplomacy properly. This is fairly complex, and not quite the same as I had originally envisioned it (explanation follows). There are 3 diplomatic states- War, Peace, and Cold War. Committing positive actions such as trading will improve your relations with the receiving player, and move you towards a more peaceful state. Negative actions such as invading have the opposite effect. Relations are on a continuous scale (rather than discrete like the diplomatic states). Your front line systems (systems adjacent to other players systems) have their resource output and defensive/offensive abilities modified by your relation with adjacent players. Resource output increases and ownership growth are greatest when relations are good, while offensive/defensive abilities are greatest when relations are poor. (I get that this is a lot to take in- hopefully I can demonstrate it in the near future).
• Cold War is the 'Default' state, if you like, with no real pros or cons. 
• War allows you to call for Cease Fires, will cause your systems to automatically attack orbiting heroes, and reduce benefits received by other players. 
• Peace allows you to move freely in enemy territory, and greatly increases the benefits received by other players.
• Made 3 status effects- Chill, Poison, and Virus. Chill slows resource production. Poison decreases ownership at an exponential rate. Virus decreases resource production at an exponential rate and can spread to other planets/systems. Currently only Poison is implemented (caused by Fission bombs).
• Randomised ambient stars. 3D collection of stars is generated at runtime. This is purely for aesthetic purposes, but helps to prevent the game from looking as flat as it did. Once again I'll say that the graphics are not representative of the final game.

Lots of randomised stars. Stars near owned systems glow with the owners racial colour.

• Systems and Planets will cause damage to invading heroes. Damage caused and received by heroes is based on unlocked technology and hero specialisation. Damage caused and received by Planets/Systems is based on the total ownership of the system, system improvements, orbiting allied heroes and empire improvements.
• Fixed camera movement- camera now moves smoothly. Update the UI (yay!).

Showing off the changes made to the UI, amongst other things.

Back in two weeks time!

https://soundcloud.com/samwindell

Crucible XV 07/03/2014

Bit of a weird week this week! Had Monday off to meet a friend who was back from uni, then spent Tuesday recording guitar and samples for the War music and sound effects. I think the soundtrack for War is going to surprise a few people- it's pretty heavy. I'll be doing that more regularly until it's finished, and then I will be back to dedicating all my time to coding. Saying all that, I've been pretty busy and managed to progress a lot this week. A lot of theory has been done and I've done a great deal of work making each race feel unique. This is a bit of a trap though since there are very few mechanics that are actually shared between the races, so it's all different. Needless to say it's very cool. I've also done a bit of work on the 4th race I hinted at before, but here is a bigger clue as to what direction I'm going in with them: 'Lovecraft'. I found myself struck by inspiration for ship designs this week, and I've included a couple of rough sketches for you to enjoy...

 The human capital ship 'Balmung', named after the sword used to slay Fafnir in Norse mythology. The ship's profile is designed to look like a blade, with the majority of it's functional components collapsing away (indicated by arrows) when not orbiting a planet.

Seed ship of the 4th race. Designed to look like a cross between a Parasitic worm and a Sperm. A single, terrifying, organism capable of travelling between stars with thoughts unknown.

State of the Game (Build 0.83):

• Infiltrator bombs are now functioning. Different types of bombs (Fission/Fusion/Antimatter) become available via research. All bombs have a cool-down timer that prevents their overuse. The more powerful the bomb, the longer the cool-down. Bombs have a catastrophic affect on both planetary defence and ownership of planets. Infiltrators are able to bypass the system defences.

Currently very simple bombing interface. 2nd planet was destroyed by Antimatter bomb in single hit.

• Changed the planetary improvement interface to be more usable. Clicking on a planet brings up the available improvements that can be built. Benefits from existing improvements are listed below. Both windows are scrollable. Tabs across the top allow you to keep an eye on which improvement tiers are available to your system, and which improvements within those tiers are available for purchase.

This layout it much closer to how the final game will look. Also see the return of the system summary!

• Implemented Nereides and Selkies system improvements. Nereides improvements are geared towards making use of stacks of Elation and improving Science related variables. Selkies improvements are geared towards increasing the production of Amber, and lessening the penalty for Amber production (detailed next). Many improvements now have effects based on which planets they are built on, for example one technology increases the Amber production on planets by 1 unless it is built on a hot planet (Molten/Desert/Rocky), in which case it increases the Amber production by 1.5.
• Selkies racial mechanic- "Amber"- is now working. Amber is generated by building an Amber refinery in systems. The refinery takes up an ordinary improvement slot. Amber is used to research ancient and powerful technology, but its' production has negative effects on the system in which it is produced. For each Amber produced, Ownership growth is decreased by 5%, and Science and Industry production is decreased by 5%. This can be extremely debilitating if other improvements are not built to lessen (but not remove) the penalty of Amber production.

Sadly (but not for me) I'm off on holiday to Prague in two weeks, so I won't be doing any practical work on the game in that time- meaning I also won't be doing an update for that week. However next week is work as usual, and hopefully I'll be getting some more cool stuff in the game at that time. See you then!