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).