Incline Remnants of the Precursors - Merry Christmas, bitches

[Forkrul]

Still think the game will be finished in 2017

 

[RayF]

Still think the game will be finished in 2017

Let me think about this...
1) Darloks are being worked now. They'll be done by the end of the year.
2) GNN artwork will be done next. Probably at least 2 months since they will be race-specific, but probably some shared art assets.
3) Technology artwork is next. Probably about 30-40 images... another 2 months.

At that point, we have the next alpha in Spring 2017.

What remains after that will be the following: Humans, Mrrshan and Klackon races + Tactical ship combat + Random Events.

Then for the next alpha, in "Late 2017"
1) Tactical ship combat will take several months of code and artwork, but hopefully I will have gotten a lot of code started by the previous alpha.
2) An 8th race. 3 months of artwork but not much code required at all.
3) Random Events and the related artwork (which is minor).

So, by the end of 2017, I hope to have a completely functional MOO1 clone with the exception of two races. I guess it's possible that the Random Events may get kicked forward to make the schedule. If I am comfortable with the game quality at that point, I'll probably call it a "Beta" and deliver the last two races during that time.

Once I call it a "Beta", the game will be permanently available as opposed to the "one-month trial" of the alphas. I certainly hope to be at that stage by the end of 2017, but I know better than to make promises.

However, the point of the intermediate playable alphas is not only to demonstrate progress and let testers find bugs, but to remind everyone that this indie game, unlike so many others, is never going to be vaporware.

Ok, now about "Finished". This game will probably never be finished in the sense that I have no more to do. There's a lot of post-MOO1 work that I plan on doing even while the game is functionally complete and perfectly playable. For example, I'll need to add the additional 3 MOO2 races, the Antarans, heroes, and other things. I have already told the artist that I have at least 2 more years worth of work for him, but the game will be released and playable long before we are finished improving it.

By the way, here are the Darloks (link has info):
https://remnantsoftheprecursors.com/2016/10/09/darlok-soldier/

 

[Joined on the 4th of July]

Ok, now about "Finished". This game will probably never be finished in the sense that I have no more to do. There's a lot of post-MOO1 work that I plan on doing even while the game is functionally complete and perfectly playable. For example, I'll need to add the additional 3 MOO2 races, the Antarans, heroes, and other things. I have already told the artist that I have at least 2 more years worth of work for him, but the game will be released and playable long before we are finished improving it.

I assume there's going to be a simple switch in the new game options to disable all this post-MOO1 stuff?

 

[RayF]

I assume there's going to be a simple switch in the new game options to disable all this post-MOO1 stuff?

Absolutely. There will always be a way to play the original MOO1 ruleset.

I think a mistake a lot of people make is thinking that they know how to design a game when really all they know is what they personally think should be in a game.

I will add things later in an attempt to follow a progression to MOO2, but will definitely make it a separate ruleset. The first release is intended to be as faithful to MOO1 as possible. Basically, if you still prefer to play MOO1 after I've released the game, then I've done something horribly wrong.

 

[RayF]

Here's the Darlok scientist

 

[Destroid]

Spoiler

The Darlok looks p cool though.

 

[RayF]

The Darlok looks p cool though.

I'm lobbying a bit with the writer on them. He's a real sci-fi guy and the Darloks are a bit more of a fantasy race since they were originally patterned after the Nazgul. What I'd like to ultimately do is take the Elerians (patterned after the elves) and create a jedi-sith dynamic between the two races. These kind of story elements are important because they will drive some of the game content added in the 2.0.

 

[SCO]

Elerians are actually probably a mix of

Spoiler

(it fits because MOO1 is almost a full year after SC2 was released)

and star trek andorians (they had a telepathic subspecies, another coloration granted) mixed with klingons or another warrior race stereotype but with space babes to mix it up.

 

[Forkrul]

Can't wait to play this!

What about the sound and music, are you just the using same as moo1?

The sound in Moo2 was excellent i liked how they had different music for each race's diplomacy screen.

 

[RayF]

For legal reasons, there will be all-new music in the game. Each race will have a separate theme in the diplomacy screen. There should be no re-use of code, art or sound assets.

 

[agris]

For legal reasons, there will be all-new music in the game. Each race will have a separate theme in the diplomacy screen. There should be no re-use of code, art or sound assets.

Can't you require that the user has the original MOO installed and then copy the music from that directory into RotP?

 

[RayF]

Can't you require that the user has the original MOO installed and then copy the music from that directory into RotP?

Ignoring the technical issue of verifying that a user has a particular program installed on their computer (which is the kind of computer snooping I am philosophically against anyway), that still does not give me legal clearance to use someone else's intellectual property without permission.

I could more easily have the game look for audio files in a specific folder and allow motivated players to essentially override every musical track in the game with whatever they want.

 

[Destroid]

The music from MoO 1 is pretty bad anyway. MoO 2 is all Brian Eno copycats.

 

[RayF]

The music from MoO 1 is pretty bad anyway.

I agree, but I'm sure a lot of it is the function of 1993 PC speaker technology. It surprises me that so many people like it; I'm guessing nostalgia has a hand in it.

Regardless, music is very subjective and I have little doubt that many players will prefer something else so I'll just have to make it overrideable.

 

[RayF]

All-new or a remix a la Ur-Quan Masters?

All-new.

None of the contributors to this game except for me (the developer) has ever played any of the Master of Orion games or any games in the space 4X genre for that matter -- not the artist, the writer, nor the composer. I consider this a big positive.

 

[Joined on the 4th of July]

MOO1 music isn't anything special, but it's used sparingly enough that it doesn't get annoying. That could be something worth mimicking. Have something minimal and/or quiet (at the most) in places where original was silent.

MOO2 main screen theme is a nice song, but it does get old eventually.

 

[RayF]

MOO1 music isn't anything special, but it's used sparingly enough that it doesn't get annoying. That could be something worth mimicking. Have something minimal and/or quiet (at the most) in places where original was silent.

That's exactly the approach being taken. If there was a way here to upload the audio file for the background ambience, you could listen to it.

 

[RayF]

A graphic designer has joined the team and is planning to re-design some of the UIs most in need of visual polish. She recently designed mock-ups for the Status screens which I've implemented over the past week. Here are a couple of screenshots from that work:

 

[RayF]

Our graphic designer, the newest member to the team, has designed a significant upgrade to the main galaxy map screen while retaining all of the feel and elements of the original MOO1.

Before and after shots can be seen here: https://remnantsoftheprecursors.com/2016/10/16/why-you-need-a-graphic-designer/

But for those who just want to see the new galaxy map mockup, here it is:

 

[Naraya]

Our graphic designer, the newest member to the team, has designed a significant upgrade to the main galaxy map screen while retaining all of the feel and elements of the original MOO1.
Before and after shots can be seen here: https://remnantsoftheprecursors.com/2016/10/16/why-you-need-a-graphic-designer/
But for those who just want to see the new galaxy map mockup, here it is:

Sharp and clean, I like it!

 

[kyrub]

While the graphics look very fine to me - and they respect the original, which is sweet - my breaking point is the AI. Especially the ship design part and the diplomatic part.
This could be so much better than in the original game, and it would really improve the overall experience. Otherwise it will be the "more of the same" experience for me and I will pass on it.

For the ship design, there was clear lack of templates for different special parts of the ships. You can build very nasty designs around super technologies, like High energy focus, Black hole generator, which are obvious, but even with Warp Dissipator, Energy Pulsar, Inertial Stabilizer. These ship designs can give the attacker (or defender) overwhelming advantage for little cost. But their design must be treated differently than the run-of-the-mill warships - and that is something AI should learn to do. The game will be so much more fun if we face opponents who can teach us a lesson in this way.

As for the Diplomacy, it would be lovely to have an Alpha Centauri-like system, with truces and expulsions and trustworthiness... Or even better, take a leaf from the GalCiv book here with throwing different options on the table to strike a deal. But that is premature, I am curious to see what you bring up. Expectations are high - but I hope that you aim for something better than just nicer carbon copy of the original.

 

[RayF]

While the graphics look very fine to me - and they respect the original, which is sweet - my breaking point is the AI. Especially the ship design part and the diplomatic part.
This could be so much better than in the original game, and it would really improve the overall experience. Otherwise it will be the "more of the same" experience for me and I will pass on it.

For the ship design, there was clear lack of templates for different special parts of the ships. You can build very nasty designs around super technologies, like High energy focus, Black hole generator, which are obvious, but even with Warp Dissipator, Energy Pulsar, Inertial Stabilizer. These ship designs can give the attacker (or defender) overwhelming advantage for little cost. But their design must be treated differently than the run-of-the-mill warships - and that is something AI should learn to do. The game will be so much more fun if we face opponents who can teach us a lesson in this way.

As for the Diplomacy, it would be lovelly to have an Alpha Centauri-like system, with Truces and Expulsions and trustworthiness... Or even better, take a leaf from the GalCiv book here with throwing different options on the table to strike a deal. But that is premature, I am curious to see what you bring up. Expectations are high - but I hope that you aim for something better than just nicer carbon copy of the original.

kyrub, the AIShipDesigner class is going to borrow heavily from the expertise provided by the MOO1 experts on the RealmsBeyond forum.

You'll have the same diplomatic options as in MOO1 but with the ability to suggest counter-offers to sweeten deals. However, there's not going to be a trading table where players pick and choose a deal. Those are both unrealistic and too exploitable.

From a "feature" standpoint, this game is going to be exactly what you don't want -- a nicer carbon copy of the original. That's the whole point of the project!

But from a "gameplay" standpoint, it should play much better -- the AI should be smarter, exploits will be closed, the extremely rare micro issues are squashed, and the UI should be much easier to use.

Ultimately, though, the game is going to be open-sourced so modders can tweak the hell out of it as long as they know Java.

 

[kyrub]

I never understand why I people so eager to make copies of original, again and again. You can love the original thing (and I certainly do), but only the blindest of loves lets you forget what could be better. Diplomacy in MoO was terribly exploitable, trade deals were pretty formulaic and daft as well, the same goes for biologic bombs.

Anyway, if you succeed with AI, it will certainly do the trick for me. Keep it up, Ray.

 

[RayF]

I never understand why I people so eager to make copies of original, again and again.

There has never been a remake of MOO1.

 

[mutonizer]

I never understand why I people so eager to make copies of original, again and again. You can love the original thing (and I certainly do), but only the blindest of loves lets you forget what could be better. Diplomacy in MoO was terribly exploitable, trade deals were pretty formulaic and daft as well, the same goes for biologic bombs.

Anyway, if you succeed with AI, it will certainly do the trick for me. Keep it up, Ray.

It's a good exercise in game development I'd say as you already know how the end product needs to behave & feel, which prevents your scope from going way overboard and getting lost somewhere on the way because shit got out of hands.