Post by Justin on Mar 20, 2013 11:28:57 GMT -5
Hey there, I want to thank those of you who emailed me with support, after viewing the awfully recorded combat demo. I have a few friends in the space sim community, some of whom are developing similar games, (mostly in 3d), and they always say to me there are so embarrassed to show off ‘dev’ builds with place holder art. I admit it is not ideal, but for those of you who like seeing how a game evolves over time or are interested in such a process, I am happy to show you the early ‘ugly’ stuff. If someone wants to judge a test build with place holder art, that is a matter for them I am not trying to win a popularity reward. But so far within the community that I have informed of this game’s development, it has all been words of encouragement.
Quick update on the combat front, I have implemented a hard point system, which now only awaits some new original ship designs. Once they are received I will ‘hardpoint’ them. Since I do not know exactly what the finished ship products will be, I cannot begin to ‘apply’ the hard points now, but have made that task easy when I do receive some ships. In the mean time I cam continuing balancing efforts. Lots of logical errors can be found when you are working with so many variables for such a ‘dynamic’ system, since you can customize quite a bit when it comes to your ship’s systems. Therefore depending on your ship type, the component fit, what mods you have fit, etc, all needs to change depending. Happy to say the process is smooth, but does require a lot of micro testing to catch these errors. My screen is full of lovely debug feed back as I make changes to my ship’s systems and customization.
Some notes on the interface, I have implemented it like this: Each gadget will be held in a panel. That way if I want to move an entire part of the interface elsewhere I merely have to shift the panel itself, and it will carry all of its child-gadgets with it, instead of manually having to re-order each gadget. Now if I wanted to change the layout, I merely have to work within the specified panel of the system layout I wish to change, and if need be make the panel wider or longer, if I need more room. So initially I outline what the player needs to be able to do with this window, then I sketch out a look for it, where the information outputs will be, the buttons, the pictures etc, then I code it. Now if a panel has 20 gadgets, it doesn’t matter if the final look will be changed or tweaked endlessly, because once I have all the gadgets I need for that ‘system’ to function, I can position them and change the layout as I like to make the appearance more pleasing or orderly or unified, instead of a jumbled mess. I said this to say that when you do see the interface, you can make various suggestions on what you would like to see changed, or what you think would be better, or what could be shoved or pulled around to make its appearance more tidy. So it’s very robust in how I will be able to adjust it based on your feedback. For example the engineering interface needs repair buttons, information outputs for system status etc, so these are all within the engineering panel and can be re-organized. Last but not least, the interface will be customizable to the aspect that you can shove things around yourself.
You might get scared when I call it ‘not pretty’ but ‘functional’, ‘easy to learn’ and intuitive, but don’t think it won’t be accommodating. My friends I do not believe in the interface taking up valuable screen real estate indefinitely, hence you can move the interface windows around, re-size them to your liking or even turn them off (hide them) from view until needed. At the very least you will always be able to see your ships current status, where you are, etc, but the major systems interface like…engineering, crew management, cargo, station interaction, alien interaction are all central to one main system and can be turned off when not in use, such as if you are in combat, or exploring or taking screen shots . I think this makes for a very user-friendly interface.
Lastly, if you wish to help me test out the project and provide me with your valuable feedback, leave a comment, I am seeking some dedicated testers, who I can trust not to upload the game for the public. If you are the admin of spacegamejunkie or space sector and you wish to be a ‘tester’ this is fine also, since being a tester at this stage will just require your thoughts, feed back etc.
There are elements and features that I have begun working on that I have functioning but still do not wish to mention yet. Once they are completed and ‘show ready’, and I decide to widen the net of people who I wish to show the ‘demo’ to, then I will speak more on them. Hence why no feature list, or touting stuff yet, even though I have frameworks in for them and functioning, and know they will be in game, because I am still expanding them.
Thanks for reading. Leave a comment if you wish or sign up in the forums or invite me to your forums to discuss the game. I do not anticipate much activity on my own forums for quite some time, so if you have questions and wish to discuss them publicly, I am more than happy to register on your forum and discuss them.
Quick update on the combat front, I have implemented a hard point system, which now only awaits some new original ship designs. Once they are received I will ‘hardpoint’ them. Since I do not know exactly what the finished ship products will be, I cannot begin to ‘apply’ the hard points now, but have made that task easy when I do receive some ships. In the mean time I cam continuing balancing efforts. Lots of logical errors can be found when you are working with so many variables for such a ‘dynamic’ system, since you can customize quite a bit when it comes to your ship’s systems. Therefore depending on your ship type, the component fit, what mods you have fit, etc, all needs to change depending. Happy to say the process is smooth, but does require a lot of micro testing to catch these errors. My screen is full of lovely debug feed back as I make changes to my ship’s systems and customization.
Some notes on the interface, I have implemented it like this: Each gadget will be held in a panel. That way if I want to move an entire part of the interface elsewhere I merely have to shift the panel itself, and it will carry all of its child-gadgets with it, instead of manually having to re-order each gadget. Now if I wanted to change the layout, I merely have to work within the specified panel of the system layout I wish to change, and if need be make the panel wider or longer, if I need more room. So initially I outline what the player needs to be able to do with this window, then I sketch out a look for it, where the information outputs will be, the buttons, the pictures etc, then I code it. Now if a panel has 20 gadgets, it doesn’t matter if the final look will be changed or tweaked endlessly, because once I have all the gadgets I need for that ‘system’ to function, I can position them and change the layout as I like to make the appearance more pleasing or orderly or unified, instead of a jumbled mess. I said this to say that when you do see the interface, you can make various suggestions on what you would like to see changed, or what you think would be better, or what could be shoved or pulled around to make its appearance more tidy. So it’s very robust in how I will be able to adjust it based on your feedback. For example the engineering interface needs repair buttons, information outputs for system status etc, so these are all within the engineering panel and can be re-organized. Last but not least, the interface will be customizable to the aspect that you can shove things around yourself.
You might get scared when I call it ‘not pretty’ but ‘functional’, ‘easy to learn’ and intuitive, but don’t think it won’t be accommodating. My friends I do not believe in the interface taking up valuable screen real estate indefinitely, hence you can move the interface windows around, re-size them to your liking or even turn them off (hide them) from view until needed. At the very least you will always be able to see your ships current status, where you are, etc, but the major systems interface like…engineering, crew management, cargo, station interaction, alien interaction are all central to one main system and can be turned off when not in use, such as if you are in combat, or exploring or taking screen shots . I think this makes for a very user-friendly interface.
Lastly, if you wish to help me test out the project and provide me with your valuable feedback, leave a comment, I am seeking some dedicated testers, who I can trust not to upload the game for the public. If you are the admin of spacegamejunkie or space sector and you wish to be a ‘tester’ this is fine also, since being a tester at this stage will just require your thoughts, feed back etc.
There are elements and features that I have begun working on that I have functioning but still do not wish to mention yet. Once they are completed and ‘show ready’, and I decide to widen the net of people who I wish to show the ‘demo’ to, then I will speak more on them. Hence why no feature list, or touting stuff yet, even though I have frameworks in for them and functioning, and know they will be in game, because I am still expanding them.
Thanks for reading. Leave a comment if you wish or sign up in the forums or invite me to your forums to discuss the game. I do not anticipate much activity on my own forums for quite some time, so if you have questions and wish to discuss them publicly, I am more than happy to register on your forum and discuss them.