The Long Journey Home- - Star Control 2-inspired roguelike from Daedalic Entertainment

[Infinitron]

http://www.gamereactor.eu/news/408153/The+Long+Journey+Home+features+exploration+everywhere/

We had a chat with creative director Andreas Suika the intriguing space exploration game The Long Journey Home. Procedural generation, alien diplomacy, resource management, and much more.

One fascinating part of the game is how communication and dialogue is not only a game mechanic, but it's also deeply built into the rest of the game.

"We started really with a prototype how people can communicate if they haven't the same language," says Suika. "I'm not native English, so to communicate and bring over your message is already hard in this world. So we thought this could be a good basis. So that like an Italian guy and a Japanese guy try to communicate and it goes completely wrong."

"We wanted that in the game, so we tried to have a system where you build sentences, small ones. You can ask about things, you can talk about things, you can show things, you can insight, you can praise things and then in the dialogue and how the aliens react is really based on their traits and how they are. It's not multiple choice, and you will be learning new words with time so you can even 'explore' the dialogue, and find quests there so you can show some one something special and they say 'oh, I know that you have to go to that planet, there's an old man he can maybe help you'. To have this kind of exploration everywhere in the game, so there comes that fun and to have the feeling of I'm alone and nobody understands me and I can do something wrong if I'm not aware how they are and who they are."

Another interesting aspect is how your ship is great at the start and you're objective rather than expanding it is to try and keep it from falling apart.

"The resource management is not really in the depths of you have to micro-manage everything, but it's really like we wanted to have it all about the feeling of being alone and trying to get home," says Suika. "We did something, normally in an RPG it's like you are small at the beginning and you are big at the end."

"For us it's more you have a big ship at the beginning and it's falling apart and you're trying to keep it together and for that you need resources, you put new devices in your ship and you don't have weapons in the beginning, you don't have a shield in the beginning but you can get them from the aliens and it can give you some advantages. For example a shield is also has 'communication' means, there is a race in the game that acts really positive if you raise your shields before you call them because it shows power. We built everything around that and that's the meaning of the resource management is to have communication means with the aliens, trading is also not just you sell that and that's it, you have to barter with them, so they offer you money and you can say, no I want more, more, more and maybe they get totally pissed, maybe for them it's a diplomatic incident if you over do it, so you have to learn how to use your resources, your devices, your items and your crew in a good way."

The Long Journey Home is planned for release on PC, PS4 and Xbox One late in 2016.

 

[LESS T_T]

Steam page is live: http://store.steampowered.com/app/366910/

The epic space exploration RPG from Daedalic Studio West

It was only supposed to be a test-flight - a jaunt to Alpha Centauri and back. But when your jump-drive malfunctions, you and a mismatched crew along for the ride find yourselves trapped and alone on the wrong side of the galaxy. Now, the only way back home... is through.

Forge alliances with strange alien races, from the noble Wolphax Knights to the untrustworthy Ilitza. Harness your crew’s skills, from archeology to diplomacy. Make deals and tough moral decisions that will change the universe. Do whatever it takes to survive.

The Long Journey Home combines the freedom of modern roguelikes with the stories and quests of your favorite RPGs. You’re in charge. Help the poor alien you rescued on a wreck back to his home world, or head for your slaver friends to earn a few credits on the side. Deliver that parcel as you promised, or keep its contents for yourself. The choice, and the repercussions, are yours, in a living universe that is never the same each time.

One destination. Endless adventures.

Where will your Journey take you?

Key Features

• A living, procedurally generated universe inspired by beloved SF classics.
  
• Completely freeform adventuring. It’s your ship. You’re in command. Enjoy the challenge and re-playability of roguelikes, with the depth and storytelling of modern RPGs.
  
• Crew with real personalities, not just stats. Harness their skills, from archeology to diplomacy, but also share their excitement and stress as they talk about their adventures, argue over decisions, and find out who they truly are.
  
• Hundreds of handwritten quests, from taking part in the galaxy’s greatest combat tournament, to raiding trap-filled alien tombs, to helping lead a holy crusade.
  
• Discover and learn to deal with more than twelve alien races, from easy-going traders to completely inhuman species that need more than a translator for communication.
  
• Master both tactical space combat, and the natural hazards of hostile worlds.
  
• Be humanity’s ambassador. Prove that we’re ready for the stars.

 

[LESS T_T]

Gameplay videos:

 

[Infinitron]

Some stuff from the game's blog: http://blog.tljhgame.com/

Meet The Aliens: The Wolphax

You’ll meet many alien species on your way back to Earth. If you’re lucky, one of them might be the Wolphax. They’re one of the most militaristic races of the galaxy, though not in the usual fashion. They’re not conquerors. They’re not villains. They’re just making up for lost time - countless generations of being little more than smart but puny grasshoppers at the bottom of the food chain on their exquisitely lethal home planet. That’s a lot of pent-up aggression.

Then they invented spaceships.

Things are rather different now.

Now, the Wolphax Knights (of course, just TRANSCOM’s interpretation of their word) are a common sight on the spacelanes, fighting for honour and status in intergalactic tournaments in the name of their Lost King. If you’re brave, maybe you’ll enter their Grand Tournament - an epic quest that will last much of your journey. Lack the stomach for that? Individual Knights will be happy to answer individual challenge. Unlike most races, the Wolphax respect martial skill - if you want to impress them, be ready to fight. With honour, of course.

But, behind all the ceremony, trouble is brewing. The glory of the Knights doesn’t extend to their planets full of under-appreciated serfs, and in their poverty filled slums, talk increasingly turns to sedition and civil war. Only the return of their mythical Lost King seems to have any chance of preventing societal collapse… and only one ship has a chance of finding him.

Will you lead the crusade into the unknown and perhaps gain a powerful ally for yourself and humanity, or simply push forward towards Earth and leave them to their own internal business? As ever, you may not have a choice or an opportunity. You may not even meet them in your unique, generated galaxy.

Every Journey is different. Where will yours take you?

Meet The Crew: Nikolay Lebedev - The Researcher

Few have contributed more to scientific progress over the last sixty years than Professor Lebedev, yet his accomplishments are unknown outside the top-secret research programs and halls of government where he spent his career. As co-creator of the Daedalus jump drive, he finally has a chance to put his name in the history books as the man who gave the stars to humanity. Nothing will stop him.

Will you travel with Lebedev to unlock the secrets of the universe and the technologies you find on the way? On each Journey, you’ll join four specialists out of a pool of ten. Their skills and personalities will open new stories and new opportunities, for better and worse.

Where will your Journey take you?

Meet The Crew: Malcolm Winters - The Pilot

To be exact, a test-pilot, on loan to IASA from the US military. Winters’ main responsibility was working with the Daedalus engineering team to help create a reliable, multi-terrain lander capable of surviving 87% of hostile planetary conditions, while still being easy enough for civilian operation. Secretly though, he fears the success of the Daedalus mission as much as its failure. In his eyes, humanity is not yet even half ready for whatever lies out there in the galaxy. Once Pandora’s box is open, will we regret not leaving it closed?

Will you travel with Malcolm to explore distant planets and harvest their secrets? On each Journey, you’ll join four specialists out of a pool of ten. Their skills and personalities will open new stories and new opportunities, for better and worse.

Where will your Journey take you?

I kind of like the Beyond Good & Evil-ish low-poly graphics.

 

[HoboForEternity]

i actually never played any of daedalic RPG, just their point and click games

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

Heh. Malcolm Winters is teetering over that line between "homage" and "ripoff". I know the developer has talked about his love of Farscape and how much it's inspired this project, but that's literally an exact description of John Crichton.

Edit: Regardless, this game looks to be shaping up quite nicely. Looking more and more like a D1P.

 

[Sranchammer]

I want to fuck hot alien babes

 

[Beastro]

Heh. Malcolm Winters is teetering over that line between "homage" and "ripoff". I know the definition has talked about his love of Farscape and how much it's inspired this project, but that's literally an exact description of John Crichton.

But he's black!

 

[HoboForEternity]

Okay, watched those videos and read articles. This seems holy amazing so far. I love daedalic game, and jope this delivers

 

[Infinitron]

Oh god, I guess you can't have a Star Trek-like game without The Wesley:

Meet The Crew: Zoe Creed - The Blogger

Australian student Zoe began writing about her love of space at the age of 16, and now her Zoetrope website and video series boasts one of the most enthusiastic young scientist communities on the internet. With the Daedalus mission being as much about reinvigorating the public’s interest in space as testing the jump drive, IASA invited her to be the project’s embedded reporter and an official observer on the test flight. After a life dreaming of seeing the stars, she’s about to get her wish. Whether she likes it or not.

Will you travel with Zoe to meet new species and uncover their mysteries? On each Journey, you’ll join four specialists out of a pool of ten. Their skills and personalities will open new stories and new opportunities, for better and worse.

Where will your Journey take you?

 

[Kem0sabe]

Really? Zoe the zoetrope blogger?

 

[Space Insect]

I wonder how long it will take to get a shitstorm from either the SJWs or the Gamergaters over Zoe Quinn Creed.

Also: Zoetrope

 

[Beastro]

When I think of the the perfect crew for my fun filled, roller coast space adventure the first one that comes to mind is a blogger.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

Sounds more like Jake Sisko than Wesley Crusher to me.

 

[Infinitron]

Meet The Crew: Benoit Verdier - The Savant

Child prodigy. Born to excel. He wrote his first best-selling software package at the age of 11. By 16, he was deciding on his PhD. By 21, he was bored of every challenge that came his way. With IASA, he found one worth his time. Yet with that intelligence comes an often self-destructive arrogance that more often than not sees him taking short-cuts and quick-fixes on seemingly simple problems that only cause everyone around them more grief. He’s the genius who can knock out the power in a city block just changing a light-bulb.

Will you travel with Benoit to find scientific challenges and advanced civilisations with whom he might be able to finally form a connection? On each Journey, you’ll join four specialists out of a pool of ten. Their skills and personalities will open new stories and new opportunities, for better and worse.

Where will your Journey take you?

 

[Morkar Left]

Looks atmospheric but judging from the previews I don't think it has a lot of gameplay. More like; klick to go there to choose your next story you want to here, choose between A or B etc. and not much of direct control to influence the gameplay / make use of actual gameplay mechanics. Maybe I'm wrong and I would be glad if I did. But I'm sceptical here.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.spacegamejunkie.com/podcasts/sgj-podcast-156-long-journey-home/



http://thekoalition.com/2016/a-jour...ith-andreas-suika-about-the-long-journey-home

A Journey to the Stars: An Interview With Andreas Suika About The Long Journey Home

The Long Journey Home is an RPG that is set in outer space. This RPG promises to deliver procedurally generated worlds and characters who have distinct personalities. To find out more about the game, I asked Daedalic Entertainment’s Creative Director, Andreas Suika, a few questions about what went into the game’s development, what inspired it, and what the team hopes to deliver to players.

From where did the team draw inspiration when creating The Long Journey Home? What other games and works of science fiction influenced the game?

We started by looking for the kind of intrinsic motivation that everyone, every culture, just “gets.” Like survival games. We don’t need to run around the woods and hunt for food anymore, but we still understand it on a deep-down level. So, we looked for something similar, and immediately liked the idea of finding a way home. It’s a classic story, from The Odyssey to The Martian. But it’s one we can all identify with. We’ve all been lost. We’ve all been homesick. We all have to find our path.

So that’s where we started. Then we started playing with possibilities. Colliding cultures. Messages being lost in translation. We started with a communications prototype based on simple words and concepts instead of full dialogues and multiple choice, where both you and the other participant are trying to understand each other and there’s scope for potentially disastrous misunderstandings.

What scenario fit all this? We’d always wanted to make a Sci-Fi game. All the pieces came together quickly. We took our love of games like Starflight and Star Control, particularly the second game, and got to work. There’s been a lot of piloting and 4x space games over the years, but we missed this kind of more personal adventure. One ship, a crew. Stories. A vivid journey through a cool original universe, but one definitely inspired by some our favourite SF. Farscape. The Fifth Element. Guardians of the Galaxy. Most recently, The Expanse.

What sort of emotions do you want people to feel while playing the game?

As many as possible! The main theme of the game is “finding your way home,” and obviously that’s rooted in homesickness and longing. You mostly see that in the responses of your crew as they talk, share experiences, get to know each other and are tested by the situations they encounter. We want you to care for them. To want to win for them and get them back because you empathise with them.

But the journey itself has to be an adventure, and we don’t want to waste the awesome chance to have your own spaceship and an entire galaxy to play in. Danger is around every corner, but so are great opportunities, new friends, funny moments, dramatic moments. This isn’t a sterile game, and we want the player to feel they’re always exploring the unknown game after game after game.

That’s why we generate a new galaxy, star systems, planets, surfaces and even quests, as well as pick a few different aliens each time. Who you meet, the abilities and personalities of your crew, all of that changes not just what you can do, but the flavor of the journey. Maybe in one game you’ll get the friendlier races and can trade your way back home. In another, it’ll be a hostile galaxy, and you might have to do some things you don’t want to do if you’re going to survive. We think this personality is one of the key pillars that makes the game feel special.

Where there any themes about how humanity deals with the unknown that you wanted to tackle with this game?

Really, it’s more about the player’s journey and how you choose to make your way through the universe. The stories you’ll encounter give you a lot of freedom, but with that comes some tough decisions. Sometimes, they’re moral ones. Do you sacrifice one crewmember so the others have a better chance? Depending on who you have aboard, you might find volunteers willing to give up their freedom for the greater good, or opt to send someone kicking and screaming into alien slavery. The universe will respond, but we won’t stop you. You’re in command. It’s your call.

What makes this even more interesting is when you add the very different… and often very strange… alien cultures. Like we said, communication is a big part of the game. What you say. What you do. What reputation you leave behind. Once you’ve mastered that though, we step back. We have nasty aliens in the game, and it could happen that you reach Earth with just one survivor and the worst aliens of the galaxy your best friends. If players are left asking themselves if it was worth making deals with the devil just for the sake of these four people, that would be very cool. Plunging into a sun at the end of the game to prevent the universe from finding Earth is… well, it’s not how you win! But we’d love to see someone decide that it’s what has to be done.

In what ways will the player feel connected to the game’s characters and world?

At the start you choose four out of ten crew members. They’re all specialists in different fields, but you won’t really know their personalities and the full range of things they can do just from that. By having them interact with items, aliens, characters and each other, you’ll get a better feel for who they are and what else they might be able to do. They’re people, not just collections of stats. You’ll see them argue, joke around, grieve the fallen, comment on quests, and you slowly learn the subtleties. We’ve got one for instance, Benoit, who is a scientific genius, but he’s arrogant, so if you give him a job he sees as beneath him, he’s likely to rush it and break something. A less skilled engineer however won’t volunteer to start poking at something unless she’s absolutely sure she has a good chance, which is great for safety, but not so good when you need confidence and risk-taking. You may have both, and a choice. Or one, and none. Or neither!

The conversations work really well. The more you play, the more you’ll learn about their past, see friendships and other connections, and pick up on details that might be useful. It’s not a simple script. You experience it your own way, differently each game. We hope players will enjoy just putting different groups together to see how they get on, as well as picking their favourites for character as well as function.

Why go with randomly generated worlds over fixed environments?

Think of our system more like LEGO – a lot of bricks in different shapes and sizes. That includes very small story parts, location types and snippets, alien races and so on, glued together with items and characters and diplomacy. It means that each game we can put together a new starting experience, but also allow for lots of branching that depends on your decisions and your crew. If you have an archeologist, that opens up different options than if you had a researcher. Some characters even have their own stories that you can only get if they’re on board.

We are a super small team and we used procedural generation to create what we call “the carpet” for the stories and aliens to bring to life. It wasn’t our goal to go for procedural generation for its own sake. We wanted to create a vivid universe full of interesting stuff to discover, but also one that would stay fresh, game after game. You can’t be lost if you know where you are. You can’t explore familiar space. Every game had to be different, and that means procedural generation. The player can enter a code and share their universes, but even then, a mix of crew and decisions and the aliens encountered will make every trip through it a unique experience. We couldn’t have done that with a fixed, controlled environment.

What sort of challenges did the team face when creating a game that is randomly generated?

First of all, the challenge of NOT just creating a huge amount of space with nothing much in it. We iterated a lot until we found the balance between “random” and “authored.” You can’t just roll a dice and get an interesting universe. When we talk about randomisation, it’s closer to drawing cards designed to be interesting and varied, and then controlling the flow. You don’t want to get one star system with five quests in it, and then nothing for the rest of the sector. You do want the scope for surprises, for pieces to work together and feel like it was planned all along.

Recently, I entered a system with a distress beacon and saw three alien ships fleeing the scene of the damaged ship. Behind the scenes, those are two separate “stories,” but it didn’t matter. Even knowing that, they felt connected, and part of this living universe. Your brain makes these connections for you, and as a designer, it means that much of what you see is out of my control. But I love that, just as I did in the older games we’re inspired by. It means it’s your story, from start to finish.

When can we expect the game to be released? On what platforms?

Later this year for PC. Next year for Xbox One and PS4.

 

[Infinitron]

http://blog.tljhgame.com/post/146062756897/get-ready-to-explore-the-universe-heres-a-quick

Get ready to explore the universe. Here’s a quick tour of your ship - don’t worry, you can change the name to whatever you like. You’re in charge!

Each room is vital to learning about the galaxy beyond Earth and surviving… but we’re fondest of the Quarters, where you’ll find your hand-picked team of four chilling out. Remember, in The Long Journey Home, the crew isn’t just stats and still pictures. They’re both the reason you fight, and your greatest assets.

…though we’re not sure who decided to bring that promotional photo of Lebedev aboard. Benoit, was that you? Might want to hide it.

 

[Kem0sabe]

 

[WhiteGuts]

A not-boring space game with actual interaction with aliens and whatnot ? Count me in.

 

[Infinitron]

Another crew member: http://blog.tljhgame.com/post/146118768953/slowly-the-crew-comes-together-each-game-pick

Slowly, the crew comes together. Each game, pick four specialists out of a team of 10. Kirsten here is the only one of them with actual space experience, after two tours on the ISS-2. At this point, she feels more at home in space than under blue skies. Will travelling different stars at the other end of the galaxy make even this veteran astronaut feel nostalgic for Earth? She’ll have plenty of time to consider it on The Long Journey Home.

 

[Infinitron]

http://blog.tljhgame.com/post/146215674711/whats-space-without-lots-of-aliens-empty-thats

What’s space without lots of aliens? Empty, that’s what! That’s why we’re focusing heavily on filling it with life. Most of the galaxy will stop for a chat… not always graciously… and the more you explore, the more you’ll find about their cultures, their stories, and most importantly, how they can help you get home alive.

For instance, do you have a particularly annoying guest on board, say, claiming to be an Ambassador? Maybe instead of doing his quest, like in a typical RPG, you’ll find a slaver willing to take him off your hands for a few credits. It’s your ship. It’s your choice. Get ready to make lots of them… and face the consequences.

http://blog.tljhgame.com/post/146315278601/as-you-travel-the-universe-youll-find-the

As you travel the universe, you’ll find the remnants of several past civilisations. Their ruins are ripe for the picking. Treasure, secrets, precursor devices and more await the brave or foolish. Just remember, you’ll be in competition with alien treasure hunters, collectors and pirates for the best stuff, and not everyone will be happy to just let you wander off with a great find. As for what brought down these once proud species? That’s a bigger question. Maybe you’ll be the one to find the answer to it.

 

[WhiteGuts]

The more I read about this the more interested I am.

 

[Infinitron]

http://blog.tljhgame.com/post/146414182297/the-lander-is-one-of-your-most-important-tools

The Lander is one of your most important tools. It’s how you mine for resources, head down to planets, meet races that don’t necessarily have a presence in space, and go searching for ancient relics and precursor devices to help you home. Treat her well, and she’ll help keep you self-reliant in a galaxy of aliens with no reason whatsoever to cut you any breaks at all.

But be careful, it’s fragile. Will you risk a trip down to that molten planet in the hope of essential fuel, or be drawn by the seductive blip of a point of interest in the depths of a gas giant? Losing your Lander isn’t the end of the world - there are ways to replace it, if you know where to look. But find yourself trapped in the wrong system, and it could be the end of your Long Journey Home.

 

[Bubbles]

We're attending a half hour presentation of the game at Gamescom again. Surely there's some good questions to be asked here ("How much is this like Firefly?" "Why did you hire Richard Cobbett?", "How can you find the right balance between procedural generation and handcrafted quests?"). If you want to add yours to the pile, post them here.