Exilian
Game Design and Project Resources: The Workshops Quarter => Computer Game Development - The Indie Alley => Topic started by: PartyWithAliens on March 10, 2015, 12:40:35 AM
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Hey guys,
Were a two man dev team, and we've just announced our first game which we though you might be interested in. Its called Big Space, inspired by the works of Gollop, 40k and other table top war games and their digital counterpart.
A small clip of game play can be seen here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GILnlyqyGFs, were hoping to get an alpha up as soon as possible for those interested to try, but were waiting to complete one of the factions unit lists first.. because its no fun without tanks, right?
Anyway, your support in our en devour would be most appreciated, and we hope we can give you a good game in return :arwen: .
Elliott
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Will there be an offline/singleplayer mode?
And what sort of diversity of factions is likely? Will it look quite similar to 40K or do you have some more interesting/unusual alien races in the mix? :)
EDIT: Also, welcome to Exilian! And also, to let you know, you can embed YT videos with the bbcode youtube tag.
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I'll definitely be up for this. I play the hell out of these type of games.
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Hey guys!
Thanks for the warm welcome.
We'd love to get single player in there, and hopefully we shall. Not too sure on how complex the AI will be. There's going to be a few different game types, so it'll be clearer once those are in.
Obviously we realise its a semi-crucial feature when the game is small scale, because otherwise finding a match becomes an effort in itself!
Factions wise, its hard not to do something GW have done, they have all bases covered! This initial faction were going to launch the alpha with is the Space Army (not yet named) but i wanted to avoid space marine cliche, so the aesthetic for them is a bit more steam punk, space pulp - glass helmets and lazer pistols. Bipedal Walkers too!
Planned factions so far are a sort of cultist, sadist, fast melee focused faction - maybe bordering on the psychic, with powerful units in sedan chairs replacing tanks. The other is either a cyborg sort of thing, or space pirates with alien mercs. Will probably eventually get to a race of 'magic', and the classic 'Nid horde too. But I want each army to feel distinct, so not tied to too many ideas yet. Be great to get some feedback on what people want after we put an alpha out (which should hopefully be a few weeks!) ;D
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I think GW cover all the bases in terms of playstyle fairly well, but their coverage of aesthetic bases is pretty poor IMO. But then I'm someone who generally likes to have more "odd stuff" and fewer standard bipedal hominids in my sci-fi.
I definitely like the sound of a slightly steampunky/cyberpunky space empire faction, that sounds great :D
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Oh dont you worry! In terms of the aesthetics, its not going to be as 'serious' as GW. I want a much soft, lightly humours and distinctive style. A bit Team Fortress 2! Lots more character in the characters. We were working on a fantasy card game/board game cross (and still are, but this has taken priority) and you can see the sort of style i go for (apologies, its quite large and the fact this was the human faction, so still bidepal ;) )
(https://scontent-fra.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/1384259_684771258199537_922660564_n.jpg?oh=48b7ba690e1dab80c7d761559a689aaa&oe=5572AFCD)
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Looks like my kind of game! I'd like to see it take the shape of Warmachine over 40k, as I think those mechanics tend to work a bit better. I'm excited to see how the art pans out and would love to participate in any alpha/beta you have available. :)
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Fantastic art matey. Very fashionable among indies at the moment.
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Cheers for all the feedback so far guys. I just finished up the last of the temporary models for the space pulp empire faction. We've decided to call them the Tomorrowmen, ironically, based on the fact they look like the workers at Disneys Tomorrowland during its early days.
(https://40.media.tumblr.com/58ecc09dde4bff76c379b63c42153c32/tumblr_nl7g70oWpo1qfqstao1_540.png)
from left to right we have: The assault troop - jetpack, hammer (optional shotgun or short range rocket). The Medic - big needle shaped healing gun and a pistol as standard. Heavy Troop - comes with an rapid fire lazer, but can switch out for a rocket launcher. The Commander - a unique lazer pistol called the 'Piecemaker', and a sword. Standard Infantry, as standard. Ranger - this ones set up as a sniper, but can take a closer range quicker firing weapon if desired, but stats of a glass cannon. Rocketeer - Hullbuster launcher as standard, but can switch out for a shrapnel cannon if you want a troop killing heavy, pistols cost extra. And at the back is the Flamingo..
More videos in a day or so! 8)
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Eee! I like them a lot. I feel like they should have some kind of motto, perhaps on the lines of "For Tomorrow Another World" (with the dual meaning of "tomorrow we'll visit somewhere else" and "we'll conquer it for Tomorrow"). :)
In fact, since I can't sleep, have a slightly sloppily written vignette of them:
"Medic! We need a medic!"
"Baldwin that.1 Stand by, team four. For Tomorrow."
The jungles of Trazan IV2 were proving especially troublesome for Major Theoderic Tancred and his exploration patrol force. The region had a number of useful features, and could well prove strategically vital in building the Trazan Northern Colony's defences up against invaders. On the other hand, there were some rather concerning developments - troopers who strayed from the group kept disappearing and being found only later, often badly wounded. Something was afoot.
Another line on the communications channel.
"Team three report, sir. Urgent. Corporal Ostron down, hostiles, I repeat, hostiles."
"Who, what is it?"
"Enemies. Not planetary natives; some sort of lightly armed humanoids. Solid projectiles and one attempt at an assault on our position."
"Hold where you are, Three. For Tomorrow."
"Received and understood. For Tomorrow."
The Tomorrowmen had bonded humankind together by striving for for rationality,and for the future. Major Tancred, forty-second Imperial Progress Corps, was a hard-worn example of the sort of person the Empire of the Tomorrowmen sought to have on their payroll. A scientist before joining the corps, his clever and flexible sense of duty had won him a number of battles without a single laser being fired - though he kept a sharp, cool mind even when negotiations did break down and the heat of battle commenced. Or he usually did. This place was unsettling him. He was tired, and he was getting older. But more importantly... he was curious.
He turned to his second in command, calling her over from her control station.
"Saka?"
"Yes, sir?"
"Get some heavy weapons troops. The old Rhinoceros3 model, if we have any, they're old but they'll be more reliable than these newfangled Wolfsbane attack units. And I want squads seven and one ready to move in half an hour, maximum."
Four flamingo-class walkers creaked into the base yard below him, their machinery emitting a gentle hum occasionally penetrated by the slow metal clang of their feet upon hard paving slabs. The Major looked down at his little fortress, his bastion of Progress in a universe that so rarely managed to look toward Tomorrow, and he took a deep breath.
"And you're in charge."
"Sir?" Saka was already halfway through dialling the relevant units, but looked up, her face suddenly concerned.
The Major lowered his visor, grey eyebrows heavy beneath a furrowed brow. His expression was soon barely readable as the light of a hot sun glinted off the glass.
"You heard me. I'm going in."
1 This may make no sense to anyone who isn't an early medievalist - suffice to say that Roger was not the only excessively common Franco-Norman name in the high medieval world.
2 The anagram is intentional.
3 Because running with a "let's name things after exotic animals" theme seemed like fun.
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Aha well I'm glad you like them, it means a lot! And that phrase is pretty great, don't be surprised if it makes it in ;)
Ace little story too! You'll be happy to know you'll soon be able to spread the stories of Major Tancred and his battles all over the world. The squad creator is ready! And boy are we pleased with it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X029EbdMWSY ( i couldn't seem to embed this, it told me the link was invalid :o )
So let us know what you think! And as ever, anyone you think will be interested, please send this their way. Tomorrow we should have a more in-depth look at game-play, and another full battle video
We're currently working on the initial round of balancing costs. Pretty sure we don't want any Rhinos costing the same as Curious George there!
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Yay, I like contributing random bits to projects :D
If you're embedding videos, you need to use the http version of the url not https, like so:
:)
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Ah super! That makes a lot of sense.
Just writing some possible upgrades now. Would it be a cool thing if you could upgrade your commander to be in one of those heavy weapons suits? He is currently a massive badass with the sword and pistol, but fluff wise i feel some would want their fearless leader strolling around high above the rest :balrog:
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By the heavy suit, do you mean the Flamingo, or the thing the heavy weapons guy has?
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The thing the heavy weapons guy has (which i think we might be calling a Heron or an Ibis). Flamingo might also be cool to take him in.. Tanks are next on the to do list! They take up 4 squares so need a little finessing to stop being an unpleasant contribution to the UX
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I don't think the commander in the HW suit makes so much sense, in that you need your commander able to bark commands not just focussing on firing a big gun accurately. I would definitely like to see a commander strolling around in a Flamingo though.
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The squad setup looks great, couple of questions though. Does armour class affect how likely you are to be hit or does it reduce damage? Also with the upgrades system, doesn't that reduce the need for so many types of infantry? Like you could have a basic guy with a pistol as the cadet and then upgrade him with a needle gun and light armour and he's a medic, or give him a jetpack, a hammer and heavy armour and then he's an assault. Otherwise the upgrade system is mostly a set of stat boosts, other than the weapon choice. Also completely unrelated but....Any chance of a copyright dodging lasersword making its way into the game? :D
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I don't think the commander in the HW suit makes so much sense, in that you need your commander able to bark commands not just focussing on firing a big gun accurately. I would definitely like to see a commander strolling around in a Flamingo though.
Well in that case, i shall take note of this feedback and see if we cant make a 'commander variant' on the flamingo!
The squad setup looks great, couple of questions though. Does armour class affect how likely you are to be hit or does it reduce damage? Also with the upgrades system, doesn't that reduce the need for so many types of infantry? Like you could have a basic guy with a pistol as the cadet and then upgrade him with a needle gun and light armour and he's a medic, or give him a jetpack, a hammer and heavy armour and then he's an assault. Otherwise the upgrade system is mostly a set of stat boosts, other than the weapon choice. Also completely unrelated but....Any chance of a copyright dodging lasersword making its way into the game? :D
armour class actually effects damage (and in rare cases, accuracy). A gun has 3 damage values, which determine how much it deals against each armour class. We do like the idea of having things like rocket launchers being less accurate against lighter armoured, more nimble foe, so that will likely make its way in. But generally AC doesnt affect accuracy. Distance and cover do though :)
Nope, its more stat boosts, with selective weapons for each unit to give them a slightly different play style which is outside the units usual tactics, or enhance things that it already has; we dont want to give the 'usp' of each troop to all others because then balancing becomes a nightmare. Its more like being able to create a combat sniper or a glass cannon sniper; its still a sniper, but the play style is different but working of the same basic frame.
aha, i can certainly try!
We're actually currently revamping the combat so guns work on real world distance instead of tiles (diagonals make for a nightmare when aiming) so new video will be in a couple of days. But this has allowed us to make even better addition, especially to cover. Units behind cover will remain hidden, but can now peek out and shoot (as you would expect in real life, but its hard to tell a computer that!)
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AC affecting damage is good. I don't know if you played Wasteland 2 but I get the impression the damage model is quite similar to that. They have an interesting mechanic whereby plasma/laser weapons actually do more damage the higher the opponents armour is up to a threshold. e.g. A laser gun is damage 3, if the opponent has 1 or 2 armour, the gun will do less damage at 3 regular damage and higher than that it'll do extra damage. Armour piercing rounds have the same effect I think. Can't remember tbh.
Fair enough on the upgrades, sounds like a great system as I've said, peeking out of cover sounds good, something a lot of tactical squad games sort of need but don't have. The indie game Frontline Tactics did this quite well and had a pretty good cover system overall actually. Yay for laserswords :P
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Will the game feature different armor and damage types with different effects on each?
For example, If someone's armor is a shield, as opposed to armor plating, it'll deflect types of laser weapons more effectively than solid projectiles such as bullets or AP shells from missile launchers. Or the other way around, how ever it works better. :)
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Fair enough on the upgrades, sounds like a great system as I've said, peeking out of cover sounds good, something a lot of tactical squad games sort of need but don't have. The indie game Frontline Tactics did this quite well and had a pretty good cover system overall actually. Yay for laserswords :P
I havent played wastelands 2, although i did give it a lookin'. I should probably try it out! I have played Frontline Tactics though, which had some minor influences on design (although the lack of peeking in that game is massively damaging..) :-X
Will the game feature different armor and damage types with different effects on each?
For example, If someone's armor is a shield, as opposed to armor plating, it'll deflect types of laser weapons more effectively than solid projectiles such as bullets or AP shells from missile launchers. Or the other way around, how ever it works better. :)
so far no plan for different armour types, but weapons will have a pattern that ~kind of~ fits this. Guns in the 'Lazers' group are better against light armour, 'Tempest' weapons (which are special to the Tomorrowmen) are better against medium and heavy etc. So there is some consideration of weapon genre v armour, but no specific calculation.
The refactor is done for cover now, and working! Just need to get the fog of war matched up with it so it occludes units properly.. otherwise things look a little whack :P
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Yeah Wasteland 2 does turn based combat very well imo. Also Blackguards for hex based turn based and blood bowl for clarity of mechanics could be all things to consider.
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Looking forward to more screens and stuff. :)
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hey guys!
Sorry for the quite, every time i get footage i want to release, something cool gets added so i wait and get more. Its a terrible cycle! Ill work on the footage i have and get something out this week. Apologies!
So heres an update though:
- all the units (except the flamingo) are in and animated, next job is to get them some gear!
- the new peeking system works as planned
- elevated terrain!
- objective based games! Currently deathmatch and control. In control you score points for having units in a certain area
- AoE attacks. Rockets now do blast damage
- Weapons have a damage range. To make it more exciting, weapon have a x - y damage instead of a set value
- A radial menu to select weapon to attack with
- highlighting attackable enemies for quick threat recognition
we currently have an idea to change how rounds work. Instead of moving ALL your units, you move ~8 stamina points worth, then your opponent does, then you do etc until all units are out of stamina/declined a move and then the turn ends, and the stamina refreshes. The idea is, it makes less a wait between turns (which can be 3 - 5 minutes in the early game) and also makes a more pragmatic, response based play. You have a chance to retaliate an attack, instead of watching it unfold, helplessly :arwen:
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Yeah Wasteland 2 does turn based combat very well imo. Also Blackguards for hex based turn based and blood bowl for clarity of mechanics could be all things to consider.
i checked out both of these! Took some influence from wasteland, like the templates for certain weapons (was wondering how to do a flamer!) and the radial menu from black guard was really nice so decided that was a good way for our UI to go when dealing with weapon selection. So thank you!
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You're welcome, I have a steam library made up of tons of these games :)
The update is appreciated, looks very promising.
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Definitely make that change to how rounds work - a lot of the best tabletop skirmish games have similar mechanics, it really helps gameplay. :)
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you can see some screenies of a game unfolding here! http://breadthewholetime.tumblr.com/post/114670855858/a-back-and-forth-game-of-big-space-initially-on
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Looking good, level design could do with some asymmetry but nice to see the elevation and cover :)
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Looking good, level design could do with some asymmetry but nice to see the elevation and cover :)
yes definitely! Theyre still very much test levels currently, theyre quite small too. Need to be a bit bigger to make use of the snipers :D
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Looking good :)
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If you do decide to make a singleplayer portion, take a look at X:Com EU/EW. They have about 2-4 turns of just creeping forward before being ambushed/seeing enemy and sniping them. Might be something to consider.
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Just had a thought, for Mp you might want an unlock system. Unless you're against that, people like unlocking things. Science proves it. Probably. For unlocks though you have to be careful not to imbalance the game.
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I think unlocks should be cool more than meaningful, which helps solve the balance issue with them; being able to give your guys some slightly more swish-looking uniform options or a gun that's very slightly better against tanks but a tiny but worse against infantry but more importantly has a really snazzy sniper sight. Or something like that.
Unlocks for commander kit could also be fun; given the commander's stamina will still be restricted per turn it'll give you more options but not necessarily more power.
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Yeah that's the sort of thing I was thinking, sidegrades>upgrades.
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hey guys!
Sorry for the long silence, I was in good old Berlin.
but here!
you can see a little more of whats been going on.
I hear what youre saying about upgrades - as a rule im against play to win. I think its the problem with a lot of games. The living card game beats the collectible, for instance.
HOWEVER!
minor unlocks is the key, definitely. The plan in the long term is to have units stats tracked across games, kills, deaths etc etc. This could then mean units earn medals, which give them very slight boosts in certain areas - kill 100 units, maybe you get a +1 to all damage rolls. That sort of thing. Nothing game changing as weapons, but something to show your loyalty to your troops has been noted, and their xp on the battlefield is meaningful. No permadeath because.. well.. not so fun in multiplayer (many friendships will be broken) but we want units to feel alive and personal somehow.
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also guys if you go to www.partywithaliens.co.uk/bigspace you can play the game! Its a little unclear how to do so currently, and we'll be working on that in the near future once all squad modifiers are in. But you can set up and save your squad, and create a game. You'll need a buddy to play against however! (create a game, name it - they can join)
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Is (or will there/plans to/whatever) there a melee system?
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Is (or will there/plans to/whatever) there a melee system?
melee weapons work the same as normal weapons except they ignore shields, there isnt a separate combat system for it currently ~
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I keep meaning to try this out but not getting a chance... you should totally come to ExiliCon and demo it though!
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(https://41.media.tumblr.com/1f52682771c815e642d0a7fb48f5435f/tumblr_nmybmfjryk1qfqstao1_540.png)
Just made the first more engaging, non-symmetrical map. Need to test it for balancing, but should be a big step in gameplay.
The game is a little buggy but were looking to split our servers and keep a stable build on the link supplied, and keep a private place for our testing of new features!
Need to make a new.. new video, and weve put in some of those big changes (including the more back and forth rounds.
thats in july, right? Might just have to do that!
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This is starting to look really cool!