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[Star Ruler] Indie 4x game of greatness? Signs point to yes.

AxenAxen My avatar is Excalibur.Yes, the sword.Registered User regular
edited July 2011 in Games and Technology
Firgof, one of the Devs, has been kind enough to pop in here and answer all kinds of questions. Skim the thread and maybe yours has been answered! If not, ask away!

SRlogo.png


Star Ruler? Wow, how long it take them to come up with that name!?

Not the most original name to be sure, but my frothing demand is at unheard of levels! Let me share a little info about it.

Star Ruler is a real time 4x game. The game can be as small or as large as you want it to be. You want a game where you fight over a single solar system that is close to scale? Do you want a game where you manage a galaxy spanning empire? You want hundreds of AI factions or only one? How about thousands of ships fighting each other at once? Or maybe just small scale engagements? All this and more can be had in Star Ruler! Check out the feature list!


Vast, Procedurally Generated Galaxies
  • Choose however many systems you desire; you are limited only by the speed of your cpu
  • Rich, diverse, planets whose type, size, number of moons, and other characteristics vary
  • Full 3D too much to handle? Flatten maps for ease of interaction
  • Alter the Galaxy throughout the game with advanced technology

Intricate Ship Design and Exciting Combat
  • Massive ship battles fought in real-time with particle effects and directional damage
  • Ships whose individual components can be compromised, destroyed, disabled, repaired, and renovated
  • Ships depend on key components to keep functioning, and failures can lead to catastrophic explosions which can turn the tide of battle
  • Add components that modify the behavior of connected components, such as added health from bulkheads, or faster firing from coolant systems
  • Save and load your custom ships and settings to your profile for easy importation and exportation.
  • Fully simulated newtonian physics
Unique Research System
  • Unique Web-Like Research system with unexpected discoveries around every turn
  • Choose between a structured, static web, or a highly varied web each game
  • Develop technologies that lead to different strategies, rather than simply better tools

Easy to use interface, complex gameplay
  • Govern your planets with a simple yet powerful interface to customize the behavior of your worlds
  • Numerous easy-to-use interfaces which provide quick solutions to specific problems
  • Customize the GUI via scripting; add new windows, or change pre-existing interface behavior

Engaging AI Opponents
  • Choose from various levels of difficulty, with optional 'cheating' AIs
  • Watch for the AIs to attempt different strategies to defeat their opponents
  • Counter their new ship designs, as they adapt their designs to counter your own
  • Engage in complex diplomatic interaction with your opponents

Extensive Modding Support
  • Modify data files and scripts in any editor as simple as Notepad
  • Use developr tools to create particle effects and configure imported models
  • Smart use of AngelScript allows users to create entirely new gamemodes, gameplay, and online experiences
  • All files from the base game are readily available to learn from

Multiplayer: Co-Op, Team, and Free-for-all
  • Play with as many competitors as your server can manage, with drop-in-drop-out compatibility
  • Supports both internet and LAN play
  • Dedicated Servers
  • Standard server controls
  • Seamless transitioning: Multiplayer games can be saved and then played in Singleplayer and then brought back up in Multiplayer


Check out this interview for some more goodness!

Pretty bitch'n huh?

Check out these teasers and screenshots!

Gameplay

Sense of scale

That's no galaxy!

Screenshots all up ins!
burning_bridges.png

handoff.png

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ScreenShot0012.png

ScreenShot0013.png

ScreenShot0011.png

star_explodes.png

Buy the game from these fine retailers!
Gamersgate
[url=http://www.direct2drive.com/9749/product/Buy-Star-Ruler-Download[/url]Direct2Drive[/url]
Impulse
Steam

A Capellan's favorite sheath for any blade is your back.
Axen on
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Posts

  • SimpsonsParadoxSimpsonsParadox Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    This does not look like it's going to be on steam, which is making me sad. However, I may still go buy it somewhere else because damn does this look like an exceptional game.

    SimpsonsParadox on
  • ElvenshaeElvenshae Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    That's ...

    That's, um ... Wow.

    Elvenshae on
  • captainkcaptaink TexasRegistered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Looks interesting but it's coming out right by Elemental and Civ V. Going to have to pick it up later.

    captaink on
  • OlivawOlivaw good name, isn't it? the foot of mt fujiRegistered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Huh

    Well

    That's uh

    man

    Olivaw on
    signature-deffo.jpg
    PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
  • captainkcaptaink TexasRegistered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Customizable UI sounds good, their default looks a little skeletal.

    captaink on
  • AstnsAstns Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Will definitely be keeping an eye out for this, although it seems almost too good to be true in terms of the scale.

    Astns on
  • AxenAxen My avatar is Excalibur. Yes, the sword.Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Astns wrote: »
    Will definitely be keeping an eye out for this, although it seems almost too good to be true in terms of the scale.

    Well the scale is totally dependent on your computer. So if you have a beast then you'd probably be able to have an ungodly huge galaxy. But the game is about 12 days from release and having a big galaxy has been one of their key points. So I am sure the game will be suitably large on even a modest rig.

    Here are the requirements btw.

    Minimum (lowest tested):
    Operating System: Windows XP, Vista, 7
    CPU: 1 Core, 2.0 GHz, SSE2 Support (Pentium 4 and higher)
    System Memory: 512 MB
    Graphics Memory: 256 MB
    Graphics Driver: OpenGL 2.1 or better
    Screen Resolution: 1024x768 or Higher
    Free Hard Drive Space: 500 MB

    Recommended:
    CPU: 2 Cores, 2.5 GHz
    System Memory: 1024 MB
    Graphics Memory: 256 MB

    Recommended: (for a flawless experience):
    CPU: 4 Cores, 2.5 GHz
    System Memory: 1024 MB
    Graphics Memory: 512 MB


    edit-

    Oh also, the scale of the planets and systems depends on how large your galaxy is too. If you are playing with just one solar system, then it will be "close to scale" of an actual solar system. However if you have hundreds and hundreds of star systems then each system will be much smaller in scale.

    Though they say the game is moddable enough that if your comp can handle it then you could have multiple star systems each scaled to close to actual size. I can't even imagine that though.

    Axen on
    A Capellan's favorite sheath for any blade is your back.
  • SorensonSorenson Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    I guess the one thing I want to know is "how much scaling is there to technology?". One thing that annoys me in a lot of 4Xs is that technology and weapon components are static once you hit them and so it's always a race to hit the end-of-the-line ubertech that's basically a +5 version of the base tech. If they make all the stuff you unlock through tech discoveries more unique and just let you continually develop and refine the bits you want ala Space Empires V, that would be a game-seller for me.

    And as noted, lack of Steam support makes me sad. I've made my choice of digital distributors, and I don't like the idea of having my information floating around several of them.

    EDIT: Am I the only one who's getting giddy at that line about altering the galaxy with advanced tech? Stellar Manipulation is one of my favorite aspects of Space Empires, and if they gimmie stuff like that and some of the stuff I recall being hinted at in the Something Awful thread like turning entire planets into ballistic weapons, mwahahahahahahahaha!

    Sorenson on
  • ElvenshaeElvenshae Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Sorenson wrote: »
    I guess the one thing I want to know is "how much scaling is there to technology?". One thing that annoys me in a lot of 4Xs is that technology and weapon components are static once you hit them and so it's always a race to hit the end-of-the-line ubertech that's basically a +5 version of the base tech.

    To clarify:

    You don't like the way GalCiv does it, where Laser II is a slightly smaller Laser I and Death Ray I is like three Laser 1s banded together.

    You do like the way MoO3 does it, where you can discover Autofire, Continuous Lasers but possibly only normal Death Rays, making AF/Cnt Laser a better choice in some circumstances than Death Rays.

    If so, I agree with you - I really like the way MoO3 did this aspect of the tech race, at least.

    EDIT: Also, I went ahead and preordered this. Thanks, OP - you made me spend $20. If nothing else, I'm really interested in their "Ships' components can take damage" aspect to the combat, something that was most recently used in Gratuitous Space Battles, and before that hasn't been seen since, like, Freespace. :D

    Besides, indie devs with interesting ideas should be encouraged.

    Elvenshae on
  • TychoCelchuuuTychoCelchuuu PIGEON Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Star Ruler? Lame. St. Arruler, Patron Saint of Space Fleets? Much better. Punctuation makes all the difference in a game's name.

    TychoCelchuuu on
  • tofutofu Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    How does this stack up to Distant Worlds?

    tofu on
  • AxenAxen My avatar is Excalibur. Yes, the sword.Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Sorenson wrote: »
    I guess the one thing I want to know is "how much scaling is there to technology?". One thing that annoys me in a lot of 4Xs is that technology and weapon components are static once you hit them and so it's always a race to hit the end-of-the-line ubertech that's basically a +5 version of the base tech. If they make all the stuff you unlock through tech discoveries more unique and just let you continually develop and refine the bits you want ala Space Empires V, that would be a game-seller for me.


    From what I understand tech works one of two ways and you decided how you want it to work.

    The first is Static. With Static researching Tech A and B will always unlock Tech C.

    The second option is Varied (I think it is called that). Basically things are scattered about. So researching Tech A and Tech B may not unlock Tech C, but instead unlock Tech F.

    GS: The research tree is described as “web-like”. What does that mean? How big is the research tree? With ships that sport systems and sub-systems, I would think it would be rather expansive.

    Clayton Woodall: The research system consists of a series of scientific fields and disciplines, collectively called 'technologies'; these Technologies can be either discovered or undiscovered. Technologies link to each other through Nodes and each Technology comes with a number of them that we define in advance. To unlock Technologies, you need to find a Node that links to it from another Technology. Technologies inter-relate, and some can link and be linked to multiple times: all of this working together creates a web-like structure with Technologies linking to each other in a non-1:1 relationship.

    edit- Oh, the second half of this interview response has something neat in it. :P
    Currently, there are 23 Technologies available. All of them provide their own small benefits; decreasing the usage of fuel with thrusters if you level Propulsion Sciences, for instance. They also unlock subsystems for your ships, structures for your planets, and large-scale constructions like Dyson spheres.

    Hells yeah!

    Axen on
    A Capellan's favorite sheath for any blade is your back.
  • FirgofFirgof Blind Mind Studios - Co-lead Developer Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Howdy folks, I'm Firgof; co-lead developer of the game. Just wanted to drop by and let y'all know that if you want to ask any questions to feel free to shoot from the hip. I'll answer anything I can, starting with:
    I guess the one thing I want to know is "how much scaling is there to technology?"
    Well, Technology continues onward to some obscenely large number; it's effectively "infinite" (for those programmers wondering "how infinite is it?" it's like e+24 or something ridiculous) levels. Each level of a technology represents a 50% increase in the efficiency of stuff related to that technology. In this manner, subsystems (ship components) which you unlock through the Research system become more 'alternatives' to each other rather than "Now I have Rainbow Lasers, which totally obsolete these IR Lasers that I just had".
    If they make all the stuff you unlock through tech discoveries more unique and just let you continually develop and refine the bits you want ala Space Empires V, that would be a game-seller for me.
    Yep, that's pretty much what we're doing.

    Crudely, the randomization that we're talking about (by default) is that the Nodes get shuffled every playthrough. The Nodes are little 'sub-technologies' almost. We make a number of them when we create a technology and tell them what they're to link to. When we shuffle them, the position that the Nodes occupy moves around. Also, there can be Dead End nodes (which don't link to anything) so that makes random positioning an important decision. This is absolutely modable of course, so you can make tiered tech-trees and whatnot with a little bit of brain and finger power.
    Besides, indie devs with interesting ideas should be encouraged.
    Thanks! You just helped me pay for a new HDD and my rent; important, as my current HDD is failing, causing all sorts of trouble for us and our development schedule and my rent is already taking up more than I can afford on my own without help from pre-order sales. Oh, and some of it also was given to our contracted artist and musician of course. In short: you guys are awesome. I expected maybe 25 pre-orders before we hit release and didn't know how I'd pay for rent or food. 178 pre-orders later, y'all have taught me not to underestimate the 4X community. :p
    EDIT: Am I the only one who's getting giddy at that line about altering the galaxy with advanced tech? Stellar Manipulation is one of my favorite aspects of Space Empires, and if they gimmie stuff like that and some of the stuff I recall being hinted at in the Something Awful thread like turning entire planets into ballistic weapons, mwahahahahahahahaha!
    :crosses fingers: It isn't going to be too tough to get those in-game but given the recent spate of trouble with hardware I'm hoping we have enough time to toss them in before release. If not, they'll be in shortly thereafter in a patch.
    lack of Steam support makes me sad.
    Us too. We're on our second request to Steam to get the game on the service. Last time we requested to get the game on the service they told us there were too many titles similar to ours up there after a couple months of back and forth.

    We figured there must have been some miscommunication but we don't know as they never e-mailed us back. We're not too hopeful that it'll get up on there any time soon, they did not download any of the review builds we sent them from what our systems tell us.

    We're working on alternative avenues for y'all if you GamersGate is not one of your preferred web-stores. I can't name names at the moment but we think we'll have our bases pretty much covered by Release.

    Firgof on
    Co-Lead Developer, Blind Mind Studios
    Click here to visit our thread on Penny-Arcade
  • KhavallKhavall British ColumbiaRegistered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Elvenshae wrote: »
    Sorenson wrote: »
    I guess the one thing I want to know is "how much scaling is there to technology?". One thing that annoys me in a lot of 4Xs is that technology and weapon components are static once you hit them and so it's always a race to hit the end-of-the-line ubertech that's basically a +5 version of the base tech.

    To clarify:

    You don't like the way GalCiv does it, where Laser II is a slightly smaller Laser I and Death Ray I is like three Laser 1s banded together.

    You do like the way MoO3 does it, where you can discover Autofire, Continuous Lasers but possibly only normal Death Rays, making AF/Cnt Laser a better choice in some circumstances than Death Rays.

    If so, I agree with you - I really like the way MoO3 did this aspect of the tech race, at least.

    The way SE:V did it was pretty cool, too.

    You had different weapons technologies, eg "Energy Stream", "Energy Pulse", "Projectile", "Plasma Missile", etc. Each one is its own tech path, and while some are very similar in all but aesthetics, mostly they all have slightly different aspects, like Projectile weapons needing both Ordinance and Supplies, so you would need to take up both in your ship, or High-energy blast weapons having ridiculous damage but incredibly limited range. Or Shield Depleting weapons taking out shields and doing nothing against armor but Shield Implosion deals damage to the hull and shield, and the hull damage is a percentage of the shield damage. And some, like Energy stream v. Energy pulse, were mostly just aesthetic. Which was nice. Sometimes I would want to make a race that relied on pure projectile/missile technology, or a race that relied mostly on "Drones", which were essentially flying cruise missiles. Or a race that would make mostly missile boats.

    As you research each weapon path, the weapons just get more powerful. So a Depleted Uranium Cannon at level 20 will just flat out be better than a DUC at level 15, but a DUC at level 20 will be "equal" to a plasma pulse cannon at level 20



    Though, the MOO3 system of having refinements is really awesome, and I love the way MoO 1 did it, where when you got new weapons and further research you would get "levels of refinement" on technology which would allow cool things like Auto-fire or Continuous, so lasers still had a use 4-5 tech levels down the line. Eventually, the beginning weapons would become obsolete, which makes sense, as you'll note, for instance "Rock on a stick", no matter how refined it is into a metal spear, will still lose to "Pistol", barring some weird circumstances, but rock on a stick sure lasted a long time, even when there were alternatives.

    Some mix would be awesome.

    Khavall on
  • AxenAxen My avatar is Excalibur. Yes, the sword.Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Great, now I want giant spear shooting spaceships!

    Axen on
    A Capellan's favorite sheath for any blade is your back.
  • KhavallKhavall British ColumbiaRegistered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Firgof wrote: »
    Howdy folks, I'm Firgof; co-lead developer of the game. Just wanted to drop by and let y'all know that if you want to ask any questions to feel free to shoot from the hip. I'll answer anything I can, starting with:

    So, research is probably like, the biggest thing that matters to me. I would say that basically research and ship building are about why I play most 4xs. Unless it's something crazy like Sins where it's really only half 4x.

    How is research handled in general? Is it sort of a GalCiv "Focus all our scientists on one thing!" or the slightly more fun "Focus all our scientists on a general area of research", or is is closer to SEV/MoO3/MoO1 where you can assign percentages of research funding to specific areas or technologies, and if you want you can fund everything or spread it out?

    Or is it something even more crazy? And with the branching node thing, is it, like I assume and hope, a hidden from the user tech tree, so you get to go on a wonderful journey of discovery along with your race?

    Axen wrote: »
    Great, now I want giant spear shooting spaceships!

    Well, you can shoot crystalline shards in SEV, which is kind of close.... If you were a race that used crystal technology at least.

    Khavall on
  • FirgofFirgof Blind Mind Studios - Co-lead Developer Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    How is research handled in general? Is it sort of a GalCiv "Focus all our scientists on one thing!" or the slightly more fun "Focus all our scientists on a general area of research", or is is closer to SEV/MoO3/MoO1 where you can assign percentages of research funding to specific areas or technologies, and if you want you can fund everything or spread it out?

    Or is it something even more crazy? And with the branching node thing, is it, like I assume and hope, a hidden from the user tech tree, so you get to go on a wonderful journey of discovery along with your race?
    In the default game, research can only be dedicated to one discipline of science at any given time. You have a research queue which you can manage while you play (complete with repeating researches and so forth) so that research may continue along the paths that you'd desire while you work with other parts of your Empire.

    Of course you may override what you're researching at any time and specify another research. The amount of time you've put into a technology isn't lost by switching to other techs.

    Important to note here is that technologies don't just unlock subsystems, they affect your Empire broadly. For instance, Metallurgy unlocks things like the Repair Tool which allows you to shoot friendly ships with repair beams but also affects the amount of storage, production rate, and cost of your land-based structures. Some technologies are more focused in application than others (for instance, Shields) but on the whole they all provide benefits other than just unlocking other technologies, updating current subsystems, or unlocking new subsystems.

    All technologies are visible from the start of the game by default but the paths to get to them are not known. This is learned through exploring the Nodes and through logical inference. (For instance, one of the nodes on Ship Construction leads to the Armor technology)

    You can change all of this with a text editor such as notepad right from the moment you install the game if you wish. Mods will have access to change the most basic natures of technological development in Star Ruler; if our technological research system doesn't fit your playstyle, developing a mod that does shouldn't be too difficult with time and familiarity with how modding Star Ruler works.

    Firgof on
    Co-Lead Developer, Blind Mind Studios
    Click here to visit our thread on Penny-Arcade
  • KhavallKhavall British ColumbiaRegistered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Allright.

    So basically GalCiv-ish with the nodes thrown in as a twist. I can dig it.


    Also yay mods.

    Khavall on
  • OlivawOlivaw good name, isn't it? the foot of mt fujiRegistered User regular
    edited August 2010
    I have a question: how many lasers on screen can your game produce at one time?

    And a follow up: can I develop a superweapon that allows me to cause a star to go nova?

    Olivaw on
    signature-deffo.jpg
    PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
  • Michael HMichael H Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Very, very cool. I'm getting all flustered at the sound of it. $20 is a pretty good price point, and if there's one thing I love it's games that are obscenely large-scale.

    The Steam thing is a huge bummer, any hopes for Impulse? I hate having my games spread out but caved on Impulse for GalCiv2 and Sins.

    Michael H on
  • FirgofFirgof Blind Mind Studios - Co-lead Developer Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    I have a question: how many lasers on screen can your game produce at one time?

    And a follow up: can I develop a superweapon that allows me to cause a star to go nova?
    (1) I'm not sure. A lot. I had I think 74 Fighters blasting a planet with lasers that fired 24~ shots per second a while ago and encountered a bit of slow down but I know we can produce more than that. Engine limitation wise: It's a pretty big number I think; 50,000 or something I'd bet. Granted, you'll start experiencing slowdowns when you start spamming continuous fire lasers (I believe due to the particle effects; we're investigating it)

    (2)Yes. In fact, normal weapons can do enough damage to cause a star to nova should your technology be high enough and you devote enough time to manufacture a ship blueprint which would allow you to cause enough damage that you get over the star's damage-soak. Note: damaging the Quasar in the center of the galaxy will take significantly more firepower than a normal star to destroy. The Directed Spatial Fold Manipulator SuperWeapon comes with more than enough alpha to penetrate all the way to a star's core, for instance.
    any hopes for Impulse?
    I'm afraid I can't answer that question directly; all I can say is that we would love for Star Ruler to be on Impulse, Direct2Drive, etc.

    Firgof on
    Co-Lead Developer, Blind Mind Studios
    Click here to visit our thread on Penny-Arcade
  • Michael HMichael H Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Another question, just out of curiosity - what tools did you use to make the game? (Language... framework, etc). I always love it when devs/reps drop in to talk about their games. Thanks for coming to our forum!

    Michael H on
  • OlivawOlivaw good name, isn't it? the foot of mt fujiRegistered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Firgof wrote: »
    I have a question: how many lasers on screen can your game produce at one time?

    And a follow up: can I develop a superweapon that allows me to cause a star to go nova?
    (1) I'm not sure. A lot. I had I think 74 Fighters blasting a planet with lasers that fired 24~ shots per second a while ago and encountered a bit of slow down but I know we can produce more than that. Engine limitation wise: It's a pretty big number I think; 50,000 or something I'd bet. Granted, you'll start experiencing slowdowns when you start spamming continuous fire lasers (I believe due to the particle effects; we're investigating it)

    (2)Yes. In fact, normal weapons can do enough damage to cause a star to nova should your technology be high enough and you devote enough time to manufacture a ship blueprint which would allow you to cause enough damage that you get over the star's damage-soak. Note: damaging the Quasar in the center of the galaxy will take significantly more firepower than a normal star to destroy. The Directed Spatial Fold Manipulator SuperWeapon comes with more than enough alpha to penetrate all the way to a star's core, for instance.

    You sir

    have just sold a copy of your video game

    Congratulations

    Olivaw on
    signature-deffo.jpg
    PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
  • adytumadytum The Inevitable Rise And FallRegistered User regular
    edited August 2010
    So.. this game has piqued my interest.

    adytum on
  • vhzodvhzod Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    I was watching those videos and ... there's a lot happening there, and to be honest I can't tell whats really going on. The description sounds awesome though.

    vhzod on
  • Kris_xKKris_xK Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    God help me, I love 4X games. Please let this be good enough for me to finally stop playing SE4 Gold.

    Questions!:
    So this is realtime, I assume its variable realtime, with different time speeds (and hopefully a pause)?
    Dyson Sphere: Yay or Nay?
    Mines: Yay or Nay?

    Kris_xK on
    calvinhobbessleddingsig2.gif
  • FirgofFirgof Blind Mind Studios - Co-lead Developer Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Another question, just out of curiosity - what tools did you use to make the game? (Language... framework, etc). I always love it when devs/reps drop in to talk about their games. Thanks for coming to our forum!
    No problem, I enjoy it. I always get excited whenever I can speak directly to developers of games so I figured hey, if I enjoy being able to converse with developers, maybe other people do too. I can say a lot more than our screenshots and so forth can and I can be frank and honest with you guys so it makes sense to me to come down wherever I see the game's being talked about and offer myself up as a resource. Besides, it helps make up for my um... well, not quite 'professional' ability to make marketing materials haha.

    Anyway, as you asked: We use (a modified and customized) Irrlicht to render the game, Raknet helps out with the multiplayer basecode (getting ports to open, computers to talk to each other, etc.), and we use OpenAL for all the sound stuff in the game. Pretty much everything else is coded from the ground up.

    Speaking of code: The game is programmed in a combination of C++, AngelScript, and text-files. Everything that's in AS or in text files is readily modable by whomever wishes to. The basecode won't be exposed to modders but might go open-source in the future if/when we release Star Ruler for free.
    I was watching those videos and ... there's a lot happening there, and to be honest I can't tell whats really going on. The description sounds awesome though.
    Video editing and that sort of thing is not exactly my strong suit though I do what I can. My background is in modding, writing, and level design. Though I've done some basic video work in the past I'm not as good as the guys that put together cinematic trailers over at bigger studios. Sorry about that but thanks for the support. :)
    Questions!:
    So this is realtime, I assume its variable realtime, with different time speeds (and hopefully a pause)?
    Dyson Sphere: Yay or Nay?
    Mines: Yay or Nay?
    Realtime with a time modifier. Yep, there's pause (except in Multiplayer)

    Dyson Sphere: Yay (we think; if it isn't in Release it'll be in shortly after)
    Mines: You'll have to make them out of ships which have Ram orders and some form of explosive power generator (Fusion Gen., Antimatter Gen.) or the Shield Bomb for them to really be a menace. but yes.

    Firgof on
    Co-Lead Developer, Blind Mind Studios
    Click here to visit our thread on Penny-Arcade
  • AxenAxen My avatar is Excalibur. Yes, the sword.Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Kris_xK wrote: »
    God help me, I love 4X games. Please let this be good enough for me to finally stop playing SE4 Gold.

    Questions!:
    So this is realtime, I assume its variable realtime, with different time speeds (and hopefully a pause)?
    Dyson Sphere: Yay or Nay?
    Mines: Yay or Nay?

    I can answer 2 out of 3.

    1) You can slow the game to a crawl or speed it up to 10x normal speed. I imagine there is a pause. What game doesn't?

    2) Yay

    3) I dunno. :P

    Axen on
    A Capellan's favorite sheath for any blade is your back.
  • OlivawOlivaw good name, isn't it? the foot of mt fujiRegistered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Okay, I'm already buying your game, but I need to know: can I smash a planet into another planet?

    Because I've always had this dream, you see

    Olivaw on
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    PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
  • FirgofFirgof Blind Mind Studios - Co-lead Developer Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Okay, I'm already buying your game, but I need to know: can I smash a planet into another planet?

    Because I've always had this dream, you see
    Hahaha. Not at the moment. You'd need to give one of the planets engines and a Ram order. Ram hasn't made it into the game yet and planets can't quite yet be given engines. Both of those are planned and both of those will make it into the game, whether by Release or shortly thereafter.

    Also, if the Tractor Beam/Drive makes it into the game at some point, you can nix the engines on the Planet as long as you own that Planet and can give it a Ram order. At least, as long as Ram is a 'wait until nearby, then hit object with mass*inertia damage; also take mass * inertia damage to the Hull'.

    Granted, you could probably accomplish this through modding the game anyway even if we don't get those in on time, assuming you know how to give acceleration and orders to objects under your control. Might require a little brain and finger work to get to function but there's no limitation preventing that from occurring right now other than that Objects cannot currently 'collide' and deal damage to each other (our movement solution isn't quite perfect yet so we'd rather not penalize the player by blowing up their stuff when their ships collide with stars/planets, etc. by accident [see X3 and AI ships when docking occasionally])

    Firgof on
    Co-Lead Developer, Blind Mind Studios
    Click here to visit our thread on Penny-Arcade
  • AiserouAiserou Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    This game is so fucking boughted the moment I get some money in.

    Blowing up stars? Quasars? Dyson spheres? Ramming planets with other planets? It's like you've crawled into my most cherished dreams and made them reality.

    I think I love you.

    Aiserou on
  • Mild ConfusionMild Confusion Smash All Things Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    This....this sounds crazy!

    CRAZY AWESOME!!

    Mild Confusion on
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    Battlenet ID: MildC#11186 - If I'm in the game, send me an invite at anytime and I'll play.
  • vhzodvhzod Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Hmmm.... how long are you expecting an average game of this to run? It sounds like it a game could run on for a very long time. With your default setup for example how long does it take to max out your tech.

    vhzod on
  • Casually HardcoreCasually Hardcore Once an Asshole. Trying to be better. Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Aiserou wrote: »
    This game is so fucking boughted the moment I get some money in.

    Blowing up stars? Quasars? Dyson spheres? Ramming planets with other planets? It's like you've crawled into my most cherished dreams and made them reality.

    I think I love you.

    I didn't even read the OP. I just read this post and I'm already buying the game.

    Casually Hardcore on
  • TetraNitroCubaneTetraNitroCubane The Djinnerator At the bottom of a bottleRegistered User regular
    edited August 2010
    By Niels Bohr's beard, this game looks positively fantastic. I'm quite eager to preorder this game.

    I'm a little curious, though: I'm not familiar with GamersGate, and I'm a little hesitant to make another account somewhere associated with my CC info, if I can help it. Will there be any other venue of distribution for the game, even if preorders won't be available there?

    TetraNitroCubane on
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  • Kris_xKKris_xK Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Quick, I need someone reputable to trade my money for goods and services.

    Kris_xK on
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  • Michael HMichael H Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    That whole "there are too many other games like this on Steam" thing doesn't quite make sense to me. What do they have to lose by adding this game among the other spacey-4x games? There is no shelf space in virtual land, no inventory to get backed up. What can be hurt by giving the gamer more choices?

    Michael H on
  • FirgofFirgof Blind Mind Studios - Co-lead Developer Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Hmmm.... how long are you expecting an average game of this to run? It sounds like it a game could run on for a very long time. With your default setup for example how long does it take to max out your tech.
    Well, um. To start, it usually takes me about 2 hours to reach TL 15+ even if I control half the galaxy.

    Since each level increases the cost by I think 1.2times the previous cost and the number of maximum levels I think is something like 23,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000... times I think 19 technologies .... um... "a really long time" is what I'm going to go with.

    Most games in my experience tend to last between 30 minutes and 6-8 hours in the default 150 system galaxy with 3 AI opponents. I have no idea how long the typical Multiplayer match might be. Probably at about Hour 4 people will start blowing up planets and at Hour 5 Stars will start getting destroyed leading to a "Heat Death" race I suppose. Assuming that doesn't happen and the galaxy size is beyond 500 and there's only 4 players and... well, basically: If you set the game up the right way, you could probably run a multi-month game if you did a game a week that ran 6 or so hours one day each week and circumstances wind up certain ways.

    But we also reduce down to 1 system brawls which might last all of 10 minutes so take that as you wish I guess. :D
    Will there be any other venue of distribution for the game, even if preorders won't be available there?
    We are trying to open up other avenues but I can't name names just yet. We're working on some right now but we're under NDA and so I can't mention who, how many, or how likely.
    That whole "there are too many other games like this on Steam" thing doesn't quite make sense to me. What do they have to lose by adding this game among the other spacey-4x games? There is no shelf space in virtual land, no inventory to get backed up. What can be hurt by giving the gamer more choices?
    I'm not quite sure. We asked what other titles they believed we were most similar to (I could only think of SotS and kind-of/sort-of Gratuitous Space Battles) but they didn't e-mail us back for whatever reason. Your theory is as good as mine.

    EDIT Oh, by the way, since it hasn't been brought up yet, we're streaming the whole soundtrack over on Bandcamp if you'd like to give it a listen. :)
    You'll be able to download high-definition copies of them when we hit release and optionally pay the musician if you'd like. All profits made off the Bandcamp go directly to Artem Bank if you'd like to support his music.

    Firgof on
    Co-Lead Developer, Blind Mind Studios
    Click here to visit our thread on Penny-Arcade
  • vhzodvhzod Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Since you're still reading the thread I have another question. How are you handling component damage? Is it just running a random % chance script whenever you hit a ship or does where its hit determine what components get damaged. Or is it a command like "target engines" ?

    vhzod on
  • FirgofFirgof Blind Mind Studios - Co-lead Developer Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    At the moment, it's totally random. You do get hit from a direction and the damage does get applied to a location, but the two aren't correlated at the moment. But yes, that is our goal, and we're going to keep working toward it. With luck it will make release; we've been hit pretty hard the past week or so with vast interrupts to our development schedule so I'm not quite sure what's going to make it in now that hasn't yet.

    My hardware has been failing, Reaper got hit by a storm that knocked out 70~% of the power in his area, my hardware started to fail again, I had to reallocate a bunch of beta slots overnight as I had an oversight when looking over applications ... it's been pretty rough. We're still going though, despite the 'excitement', and we're going to keep going after release too.

    There's a lot left we want to add into this game.

    A lot more that I can't even list yet; mind-blowing stuff. Like multiple galaxies in the same game, an in-depth planetary invasion system, the possibility of a campaign, the scenario editor... oh, I appear to be listing things. Sorry. :P

    Firgof on
    Co-Lead Developer, Blind Mind Studios
    Click here to visit our thread on Penny-Arcade
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