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Element Space - turn-based sci-fi tactical RPG

StaticSpine

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Dec 14, 2013
Messages
3,232
Location
Moscow
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Q&A
Hello everyone,

First of all, we’d like to thank you. We are humbled with such a passionate reception.
For our first Q&A, we took a bit more time to gather enough data to plan out our course of action.
From now onwards, we will try to answer your concerns as soon as possible.

Checkpoints, Saving & Heals:
On our internal tests, levels took significantly less time to complete. So we didn't feel the need to have many exit points. Now that the game is out, in real player hands, we realize that might not be the case.

We agree that not being able to take breaks when you don't have a lot of time to play isn't great. Having to replay through a whole level, just to get another chance at the last encounter doesn't feel right, either.

The answer is not as simple as restoring your health after every encounter. That won't be any help if you were doing great, and you failed at the last encounter. You will still have to run through the whole level.

Although we are not ready to announce specifics, we are taking steps to fix this issue. We don't want to make any rushed decisions which could hurt the game in other ways.

Hit chance percentages:
You guys wanted to know the reasoning behind these design choices.

Element Space isn't a game just about shooting people behind boxes. Other games have already covered that out pretty well, so we wanted to double down on what makes Element Space special, which is using (and abusing) character skills and party composition to great effect.

Instead of having a complex aiming system that might give the wrong impression that going in guns blazing will get you far, we decided to streamline it to its fundamentals.:
  • If there’s a big object between your squaddie and its target, then you will hit the object instead.
  • If there’s a small object between your squaddie and its target, then there's a 50-50 chance.
  • If there's nothing, well, you earned that shot!
This system makes the battlefield easier to read at glance, and has the added benefit of driving home the necessity to reposition.
Hiding behind boxes isn't a place for action heroes. That's why we built a lot of movement options, and we don't have a "mana" system to restrict their usage.

The data we gathered this week show us a strong correlation between skill usage frequency and combat success rate.
That been said, we are talking some measures to make sure new players interact with the game the way we meant.

Melee Lock and Cover nodes:
We’ve read there is some confusion on to how melee interacts with cover.
  • When 2 units clash in melee lock, they are no longer considered in cover.
  • Other units have a 50% chance to miss shots at melee locked units.
  • If a unit is freed from the lock it will automatically enter cover if it’s standing on top of a cover node.
  • Line-of-sight rules still apply. Meaning that if there’s a large object in between shooter and melee locked target, the shot will hit the object.
If any these rules fail to apply, that's a bug!

Combat start positioning:
Encounters are meant to be a puzzle to be solved.
You are presented with a situation that you need to get through with the team that you selected.
Being able to choose your start location it's something we experimented with.
Ultimately we ended up cutting it because they increased the scope way too much to give them proper support.

Story:
Element Space is a branching storyline! The missions that pop up by relating to other companions (loyalty missions) are being developed and will be included in the final release. Although relationships between characters are deep in Element Space’s storyline, there is no romance… yet.

Localization, Character Creation & Voice Over:
For those concerned about the game being available in other languages, yes, localization is in the pipeline. We are still debating which languages

For our first game, we wanted to focus and fully flesh out on Christopher Pietham's story.

Here is an active thread with our thoughts, on the subject.
Having a prebuilt character set allows us to full voice over for every single one of them.
Yes, voice-overs are coming.

General Feedback:
We are reading all the feedback and bug report you are posting.
There are some really interesting suggestions and issues we agree with and we are working to make improvements (Overwatch preview cone, key bindings, hacking turrets, to name a few).
Please keep in mind that, even we consider all feedback equally, not all of them will make into the game.

For those concerned about ultra-wide screens, we won't be providing support for 21:9 as a game resolution, since it's beyond our scope.
But if you run into any trouble (ie: stretching, crashes...) running the game in such monitors, please, let us know.

Bug Reports:
Lastly, every reported bug has been added to our backlog (QA guys say thank you!).

We are opening a new thread to concentrate our bug squashing efforts for you to Please try to post your new catches here.


On behalf of the whole team: Thank you for your feedback. Your support means the world to us!!!
 

kirin

Learned
Joined
Sep 17, 2018
Messages
105
Thanks but this one, apart from being unwatchable without muting, didn't answer key questions like, is there map exploration and a world to interact with items to find NPCs to talk to, or is it just battle to battle with visual novel segments in between?

I think I can answer that one: as far as I can see this is more a missionbased RPG. Like you said, you fight from battle to battle and do some Interaction with companions. I didn't play far, but I think the description of the game would suggest that.

It's a bit unfortunate that there's not as much exploration and interaction, since all these maps are handcrafted. The level of interaction can even be as little as lore exposition or NPCs commenting as you click around map objects.

Just battle-to-battle is fine, a lot of indie games are like that, but if the game is just battles, then those battles have to be really good. Really hoping to hear some impressions of the tactics from midgame, since early game tactics appears to be purely positioning-based.
 

Pope Amole II

Nerd Commando Game Studios
Developer
Joined
Mar 1, 2012
Messages
2,052
This game is a librul piece of shit and should be roasted as such.

So there's 4 alignment directions to go for - Autocracy-Bureaucracy axis and Humanism-Independence one. Ok, I play the hardass Autocratic captain and, when the first mission (and companion) choice arrives, I go to Jupiter to help out my russian bros crush some puny librul-loving rebellion. And, since it was a companion mission, I expected to get a stone cold killer russian merc as a side kick.

But, ofc, no fun allowed with the libruls. No russians to. The denizens of the station (which I'm supposed to be working for) are showcased as the caricature-ish xenophobic slavers, rushing to kill me without even listening to my arguments. Allahu akbaring themselves in the process - because, you know, it's such a russian thing, yeah. Whether I'm wanting it or not, I'm forced to support rebels - roleplaying, lol. Choices, lol. And instead of glorious russian merc, I'm stuck with some afro-american swindler. Fuck yeah.

Add to this that in the previous dialogue (unrelated, just happened before this mission) there was a married couple mentioned and of course it was lesbian. Who would've guessed.

I suppose that the majority of other C&C in this game goes the same way and so it's mostly biowarian "have 4 reply variants which all mean one and the same thing" style of a roleplay.

Oh, and it's very easy to explain the relentless whining about game difficulty on the steam forums - the balance is shit. Ranged is utter trash and sure, it'll make the game almost impossible for ya. Melee is lolbroken, however, and it just rapes everything. Muh combat design, lol.
 
Self-Ejected

Harry Easter

Self-Ejected
Joined
Jul 27, 2016
Messages
819
Played the end of the first mission, failed and could only restart the whole mission. I think they are not lying, when they write that failure IS an option. The A.I. is not perfect, but you shouldn't underestimate it or the skills of your enemies. This is still interesting, but I will wait until they have the engine under control.

And I would really like to change the face of the maincharacter. This is the most generic guy-face ever. Where are the beards? Real men wear real beards!
 

kirin

Learned
Joined
Sep 17, 2018
Messages
105
Played the end of the first mission, failed and could only restart the whole mission. I think they are not lying, when they write that failure IS an option.

So you have to finish fights within the turn limits or you can't progress at all? It's not just a penalty?
 
Self-Ejected

Harry Easter

Self-Ejected
Joined
Jul 27, 2016
Messages
819
So you have to finish fights within the turn limits or you can't progress at all? It's not just a penalty?

No, most fights just have a penalty, but this time (endboss-fight) I have a turnlimit and either I win or fail, but the game keeps going. This is an interesting spin on "your choices have consequences."

And I can only restart the mission two times so far. I haven't tried out that feature completely, but I guess it just informs what I wrote above.
 
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Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,236
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Character introductions:



Alice de La Fontaine comes from one of the most influential families in the galaxy. However, she stands out even among the social elites. As a skilled Sensate, her martial arts skills are unmatched.
 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,236
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth


Bug fixing can be a bummer... but we had some pretty good laughs when we found some of them. That's why we saved them in order to share them with everyone!
 

StaticSpine

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Dec 14, 2013
Messages
3,232
Location
Moscow
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
8889d08354a5429854c4db2b77df2cb3c7300458.jpg


:lol:
 

Crichton

Prophet
Joined
Jul 7, 2004
Messages
1,210
This game is a librul piece of shit and should be roasted as such.

So there's 4 alignment directions to go for - Autocracy-Bureaucracy axis and Humanism-Independence one. Ok, I play the hardass Autocratic captain and, when the first mission (and companion) choice arrives, I go to Jupiter to help out my russian bros crush some puny librul-loving rebellion. And, since it was a companion mission, I expected to get a stone cold killer russian merc as a side kick.

But, ofc, no fun allowed with the libruls. No russians to. The denizens of the station (which I'm supposed to be working for) are showcased as the caricature-ish xenophobic slavers, rushing to kill me without even listening to my arguments. Allahu akbaring themselves in the process - because, you know, it's such a russian thing, yeah. Whether I'm wanting it or not, I'm forced to support rebels - roleplaying, lol. Choices, lol. And instead of glorious russian merc, I'm stuck with some afro-american swindler. Fuck yeah.

Add to this that in the previous dialogue (unrelated, just happened before this mission) there was a married couple mentioned and of course it was lesbian. Who would've guessed.

I suppose that the majority of other C&C in this game goes the same way and so it's mostly biowarian "have 4 reply variants which all mean one and the same thing" style of a roleplay.

Oh, and it's very easy to explain the relentless whining about game difficulty on the steam forums - the balance is shit. Ranged is utter trash and sure, it'll make the game almost impossible for ya. Melee is lolbroken, however, and it just rapes everything. Muh combat design, lol.



:troll:
 

frajaq

Erudite
Joined
Oct 5, 2017
Messages
2,380
Location
Brazil
It's weird this should be one of these games perfect for me but something feels really off watching these videos, but I can't even put it in words
 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,236
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Just three months of Early Access: https://steamcommunity.com/games/887370/announcements/detail/1752366427075859284

The Final Countdown | Release Date February 14th
5 FEB @ 10:48PM - MAKORA

9b662660aa27e5c8da076284d7a2b18e89b60c7f.jpg


Let the final countdown begin!
  • 15 hours of playtime per playthrough.
  • 24 handcrafted levels.
  • 32 melee and ranged weapons
  • Multiple endings and epilogues
  • Extinction Mode: Hardcore mode for those looking for an extra challenge.
  • 7 factions, each inspired by distinct cultures and traditions. Each has a unique fighting style and agenda.
  • 8 possible companions, each with their own backstory and narrative arc.
Localization

We are currently doing Internal and External QA for localization. There are languages which we don’t speak them fluent (or at all!). We are constantly working on this to finish this process (with all the promised languages) in order to have them ready for the day of the launch.

Loyalty perk: Buy it first, Buy it cheaper

Early Bird Publisher Discount: Buy it first, buy it cheaper!

Element: Space is finally coming out on February 14th! As a way to thank all the players and enthusiasts who have followed us through Early Access, we’re going to be maintaining our discounted Early Access price for a whole month after release! Buy the game before March 15th to enjoy this offer – it’s a great opportunity to get your own copy or to gift one to a friend!
 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,236
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
This is out:



https://gamasutra.com/view/pressrel..._PC_AT_A_SPECIAL_LIMITEDTIME_LAUNCH_PRICE.php

BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA: THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2019 – Argentina-based incubator and publisher Inca Games today announced that Element: Space, the first game from its in-house development studio Sixth Vowel, has launched for PC/Steam. . In this squad-based tactical RPG where decisions have consequences, players must forge alliances and build loyalty to save humanity from extinction. As a thank you to its early supporters, Element: Space will be available for a limited time at the discounted launch price of $19.99 USD..

More than two years in the making by a team of 50 developers, Element: Space is estimated to be one of the biggest games solely conceived and developed in the Spanish language Latin American region. The challenges and learnings the team faced during the game’s development was the impetus to form the Inca Games publishing arm to help other indie studios in the region, foster LatAm’s games ecosystem, and shine a light on its games and talent.

As Captain Christopher Pietham, players must align with an ideology, and strategically select and lead their squad of diverse companions into intergalactic conflict; dealing with the consequences of their choices throughout Element: Space’s deep story and rich combat.

The single-player game has core aspects of a classic squad-based tactical RPG but, rather than procedurally-generated missions, each is hand-crafted, non-linear, contains free-form skills-based combat, and is revealed based upon the player’s selection of factions, ideology, companions and more. Players experience 8 of the 24 nonlinear missions or submissions each time they play, determined by their choices, for an estimated 15 hours per playthrough, so the game must be replayed to experience the entire universe and story.

Key Features:


· A story and gameplay where every choice matters. Players’ selection of ideology, faction alliance, squad mate companions and behavior affect the weapon availability, skills, loyalty and the direction the story will take.

· 24 branching hand-crafted missions/sub-missions. Players experience 8 non-linear missions or submissions each time they play, determined by their choices, for an estimated 15 hours per playthrough, and the entirety of which requires multiple playthroughs.

· 7 faction worlds to explore (+3 non-playable). Each inspired by distinct cultures and traditions; and each with its own fighting style and agenda. Factions also provide unique bonuses depending upon the player’s loyalty and relationship with each.

· 8 potential companions to join you on your mission. Recruit 3 companions from eight unique squad-mates, each with their own backstory and narrative arc, as you race against time. Each unlocks different missions, weapons and/or specialized combat skills.

· A compelling skills-based battle system. Turn-based free-form combinations of movement, skills and attacks enables a unique team-based approach. A selection of 32 melee and ranged weapons is available, some unlocked based on faction relationships; Companions each have unique skills and develop 2 of 6 archetypes, with no two characters having the same combination; each set of enemies combine their abilities to challenge the player in a new way – all of this combines for complex combat and high replay-ability.

· Extinction Mode. A hardcore mode for those players seeking an extra challenge.

Element: Space can be downloaded on Steam, on the game’s website, on Humble Bundle, and on soon on GOG.com for a limited-time launch price of $19.99 USD, after which the game will be $29.99 USD. For additional information, please visit www.element-space.com.
 
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