Space Pirates And Zombies!

AnubisNL

Have you guys seen this PC game, coming out soon? I had a chance to play what they called an Alpha and what I'd call damn-ready-for-release.

It's a lot like StarScape, a top down asteroids like game, but with RPG aspects like experice, levelling up, researching new technology. You get a random galaxy every time you play.

http://www.spacepiratesandzombies.com

There are a couple of YouTube vids here:
Part1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=IxJTul3AEAE
Part2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=B_U1bQ7HfEo

I don't work for the company, but I will be buying this day 1!



Cheers,
AnubisNL

Big Classy

Your first post here happens to endorse a new unknown indie game abs you explicitly mention you're not working for the company....... Sure thing

Either way the game looks snazzy

AnubisNL

Big Isy wrote: »

Your first post here happens to endorse a new unknown indie game abs you explicitly mention you're not working for the company....... Sure thing

Either way the game looks snazzy

Well I DID say I got to be in the alpha. Offical bug hunter even. Well not offical.

I guess saying you don't work for the company is a CATCH-22? If I don't say it, you'll assume I do... and if I don't say it... you'll assume I do. OH well. ;-) I'm only trying to spread the word!

Archonex

They sold me when the video mentioned you could give orders and build other active ships other then yourself. That was my biggest complaint about Starscape. For all the crazy doom lasers and other shit I could mount on my ship, and the station, I always wondered why the hell we weren't building more ships to take out the enemy.


This sort of looks like a top down X3, with RTS elements (The tactics panel seems to indicate that, in the first video.), with more of a roguelike random world generation aspect. Which is pretty awesome.


Apparently there's a downloadable version of the game on their forums too. If it's legal, i'll look at putting a link up on here later on, once I find it, if it's still up.

AnubisNL

There was an alpha playtest version (the one I got to try out), pretty much the same as the youtube videos, but no official demo is available yet.

It's coming out for PC and they would like to do a MAC and xbox release.

There's a FAQ located here: http://www.spacepiratesandzombies.com/faq.html

DarkMecha

This game.

We should be talking about it and playing it. So cool! I just picked up the beta access / preorder thingy from Impulse after spending hours with the demo. It's been really great so far.

AnubisNL

Hey all there's a demo available at http://www.spacepiratesandzombies.com/ and you can get BETA access at 25% off the cost when it comes out of Beta!

There's a new video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpW1PGLVdnE&feature=player_embedded

RoyceSraphim

#1 Found out about this due to this guy

#2 Put a NSF56K in your title due to the large pictures

#3 Try to scale your pictures or put them in spoilers so they don't force people to scroll horizontally

#4 MMOOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRRR~!!!!!!

Hensler

Windows 7, 64 Bit here - and my Steam demo no workey.

Magic Pink

Yeah, this looks pretty great. Like a working version of Armada.

no worries

I won this game on a Shacknews giveaway. Finally downloaded it from Impulse last night.

Holy shit this is fun! It's a top down, physics based shooter with a simplified 4X layout.

You build up your small fleet, controlling any one real time, and complete missions as you snake your way towards the center of the galaxy. You can build ships, research tech, gather resources, and tactically control your fleet; all from a very intuitive UI.

I guess its a two-man dev team, they're selling the "beta" on impulse for like $13 right now.

Magic Pink

FInally bought the beta from the company itself. It looks extra snazzy. I can't wait to try it when I get home.

Forar

This looks pretty tempting, will probably snag it on Steam around release. I really enjoyed Starscape, and the building of ships and research trees rpg'ish elements appeal to me greatly.

Morkath

Hopefully there is less "asteroid miner simulator 2132" and more "Shoot people in the face with lasers simulator 2464" than starscape, and I'm sold.

Magic Pink

Morkath wrote:

Hopefully there is less "asteroid miner simulator 2132" and more "Shoot people in the face with lasers simulator 2464" than starscape, and I'm sold.

There is some mining but you can completely automate it.

Morkath

You know, this looks really familiar.

Do you get blue prints for ships by killing them, and after you get like 3 you can build them? Or am I just confusing this game for starscape?

Huh, yeah I totally played this a few months ago, I remember th level up/ship building screens.

Ragnar Dragonfyre

I thought this was going to be either a game based around the Firefly universe or a Deadspace thread...

Game looks nifty. I'd buy it on my iPhone... but probably not on my computer.

Magic Pink

Holy balls, this game is great fun. Switching out ships in your little fleet really mixes up your startegies. The missions are a little repetitive but it's still a amazingly fun version of Space Diablo.

I got the Array ship last night and it looks pretty awesome. Sadly, it only has one forward laser port so it's not all that fab, but it does have 2 missle ports and missle ports are where the awesome is.

Also, writing is hilarious.

Lanrutcon

I couldn't get into this. Problem is, I play these games to explore, build new shit and equip them in awesome ways. Exploration is hampered by dramatically increased difficulty between systems (and penalties for dying) making it a chore to get anywhere after a few systems. New ship designs can't be bought and weapon designs are scattered far too thin. The first universe I spawned had utter crap for sale between my starting area and a really really unpleasant barricade, meaning by the time I had to get through that to advance I had the same weapons I started out with. I found it stupid that you maybe see one or two things for sale in a handful of systems. Maybe games like Privateer have spoiled me (or maybe I just expect some common sense in games) but a system shouldn't only have 2 things for sale. If I can't put cool pew pew bits on mah craft then I lose interest in the space game.

And then there's the faction rep grinding system that repeats every system. That's just not fun.

Magic Pink

I am not having any of the problems you are having. Maybe they patched it up good since you played but. Also, if they just sold ship designs you wouldn't need to explore.

Drake

This game is really awesome. So glad I picked up the beta.

I find that there is always something fun to do. And that's blowing people up. Blowing them up real good.

Demiurge

Tried out the demo. This is definately a top class indie game. So boughted.

Dracil

Played the demo. It was so fun that I just bought it without waiting for Steam. I've heard missiles can be rather overpowered because of the lack of power requirements, but I'm gonna try the cannon/beam build some people have mentioned as being pretty good on the forums. It's hilarious that when you eject captured crew that refuse to join, your AI ships will target them. It might be bad in battle though, or possible inadvertent friendly fire on allied ships.

If you want more things between systems for sale and less faction grinding, I would suggest making a smaller universe. That compacts everything together. It does however also make the level differences between systems higher too. I've not found faction grinding actually that bad though. Either blow up the UTA, or just make them happy then bribe them, which is only like a few missions. Some systems also start out with them liking you so that makes things easier. I think part of the reason parts are so scattered is there aren't *that* many equipments to be had, so if every system had like almost everything for sale you'd quickly end up everything quickly. Part of the customization is from what skills you pick during level ups too.

In related news while I was reading up on the game, it apparently has a similar timeline as another space game called Starfarer. That game is still more of an alpha right now (only combat missions right now) but also worth a look IMO when it gets finished. So far that game is more tactical. Bigger fleets, a little more power management (venting your flux before your systems are overloaded from too much energy damage on your shield/use of energy-heavy systems which disables your ship), have to switch between weapons in-fight for the right situations (beam weapons to overload their shields, then physical weapons/missiles when it's down, flak cannons for fighters/missiles, etc.). Subsystems/weapons can actually be damaged/destroyed in-battle too I think, but don't think you can specifically target them.

Magic Pink

Missles are way overpowered but they are planning to nerf them in a big way. So spam 'em while you got 'em.

Wulf

Fun game, but the small ship slot basically becomes a money sink when you get into late-game. I can understand only giving you one Huge slot, but it really should upgrade the 2nd and 3rd to Large and Medium, IMO.

Jelloblimp

RoyceSraphim wrote:

#1 Found out about this due to this guy

#2 Put a NSF56K in your title due to the large pictures

#3 Try to scale your pictures or put them in spoilers so they don't force people to scroll horizontally

#4 MMOOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRRR~!!!!!!

Also OP:

8 ) Do not make threads that consist only of links.
If you make a thread in G&T, it should contain some discussion of the material you're linking to, and not just "Hey people look at this."

Been playing SPAZ a bit and balance is off, missiles are good but torpedos are completely useless. Cannons waste too much energy and beams seem to be the way to go. Mid/endgame-spoiler:

Once you start killing zombies they have way too much life-regen and whats more a ton of hp. Once you kill one, it can create a smaller ship, this continues several times over for a single enemy.
Also at the same time "eggs" are made and can hatch into new ships, AND whats even more your ships can be made into zombies. This results into way too tedious battles against zombies. On the up-side up until then is pretty good and fixing zombies cant be too hard (just number-crunching needed from what I can tell).

Lanrutcon wrote:

(...) but a system shouldn't only have 2 things for sale. If I can't put cool pew pew bits on mah craft then I lose interest in the space game.

And then there's the faction rep grinding system that repeats every system. That's just not fun.

I have had a rare system with six or so things for sale, once you complete a item it no longer is sold/removed which makes systems seem a bit empty. Faction grind does really suck, having several systems sharing the same faction-rating can't be too bad or hard to implement.

Edit for below: awesome. I have tried loading the official forum for up-coming stuff but it keeps timing out on me.

Dracil

My understanding was cannons + leech = win?

Supposedly cannon alpha strikes are very powerful. Or at least the post that I read that said to go this route claimed that.

Magic Pink

Jelloblimp wrote:

RoyceSraphim wrote:

#1 Found out about this due to this guy

#2 Put a NSF56K in your title due to the large pictures

#3 Try to scale your pictures or put them in spoilers so they don't force people to scroll horizontally

#4 MMOOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRRR~!!!!!!

Also OP:

8 ) Do not make threads that consist only of links.
If you make a thread in G&T, it should contain some discussion of the material you're linking to, and not just "Hey people look at this."

Been playing SPAQZ a bit and balance is off, missiles are good but torpedos are completely useless. Cannons waste too much energy and beams seem to be the way to go. Mid/endgame-spoiler:

Once you start killing zombies they have way too much life-regen and whats more a ton of hp. Once you kill one, it can create a smaller ship, this continues several times over for a single enemy.
Also at the same time "eggs" are made and can hatch into new ships, AND whats even more your ships can be made into zombies. This results into way too tedious battles against zombies. On the up-side up until then is pretty good and fixing zombies cant be too hard (just number-crunching needed from what I can tell).

A: It's not only links

B: The developers are changing pretty much everything you just listed (except for the zombies, I've been avoiding info on that). But yeah, game still beta, massive changes still in-coming.

Elvenshae

Hey, so, I downloaded this.

I start the game, and it tells me to "press spacebar to build a ship." Unfortunately, pressing the spacebar doesn't do anything.

Anyone else run into a similar bug? Any thoughts on fixing it? I can press "1" and it tells me that there's no design in the hangar, but that's the only keypress it'll recognize.

FAKE EDIT:

Ah - as it turns out, this is a problem that crops up if you install to a non-default directory. Hrmph.

Drake

New Dev post on the official forums has some exciting info. Standard stuff like selectable difficulties at campaign start and Respec are coming in 1.0, but what really sounds nice is Specialists!

Here's the poast, check it out.

Dracil

1.0 is out, list of changes: http://spacepiratesandzombies.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1611

All those who bought directly from them (and some other places) can transfer your keys to Steam as well. Mine just worked, but not everyone's keys has been transferred yet.

Drake

Yeah, mine isn't working yet.

That's ok, my GamersGate copy just finished downloading. But the experience of downloading an entire game for an update off of servers with super sporadic bandwidth has really reinforced how much I want this game on my Steam account.

But hey, I have it. I'm about to install. Looking forward to seeing the new stuff. Gonna start a new game for it.

Dracil

Oh yeah you have to start a new game for side missions anyway.

Forar

Is the Steam version up to date with the new patch yet? This has been on my radar and I'm tempted to pick it up. I know there's a demo, but... meh, Serving the Newell and whatnot, as they like to say in the Steam thread.

Dracil

Yeah it should be 1.0. Haven't tried since I'm at work but that's what I've read

Drake

Yep Forar. The Steam release is the latest version of the game.

tbloxham

I just picked it up tonight, the first hour is very promising and the explosions are indeed beautiful. Feels really deep and interesting.

Lanrutcon

It's not that deep, tbh. Still fun, just not deep.

This game made me reinstall Space Rangers 2.

Aegeri

Looks like great fun, shame I don't have a computer that could run it anymore

tbloxham

Lanrutcon wrote:

It's not that deep, tbh. Still fun, just not deep.

This game made me reinstall Space Rangers 2.

It seems to have a vast array of upgrade options and ships alongside a completely random galaxy which the code people have promised will be ever expanding in scope, much like AI war.

Magic Pink

tbloxham wrote:

Lanrutcon wrote:

It's not that deep, tbh. Still fun, just not deep.

This game made me reinstall Space Rangers 2.

It seems to have a vast array of upgrade options and ships alongside a completely random galaxy which the code people have promised will be ever expanding in scope, much like AI war.

The problem as is is that missles are better then anything and there's no reason whatsoever to ever use ion cannons. But that will change drastically soon; word is that they'll change missles to not affect shields at all..