Game News Colony Ship Update #42: Combat Beta Progress Report #1

[Infinitron]

Tags: Colony Ship: A Post-Earth Role Playing Game; Iron Tower Studio; Vince D. Weller

The Colony Ship closed combat beta has been running for four weeks now. Thanks to Iron Tower's dedicated team of volunteer beta testers, it's made a lot of progress during that short time. It's not ready for a public release quite yet, but it's nearly there. In fact, it sounds like it would already be out right now if not for some character animations that are still missing. As usual, the monthly development update includes a batch of new screenshots for you to criticize.

I'm happy to report that the combat beta is going well and over 40 people are playing it at the moment. We went through 140 internal versions and 6 public updates in the last 4 weeks. Some players are true heroes who went above and beyond, testing each update and posting constructive feedback (900+ posts) which is shaping the game as we speak. The difference between the first version (that we released 4 weeks ago) and today's version is huge. If not for the remaining animations, I'd say we're almost ready for public release. So far the plan is to keep tweaking and improving until the end of the month and then re-evaluate the situation and see where we are with the animations (and whether or not we should release the demo with male models and animations only).

We added stimulants and implants. The coats are almost done, we're adding them now for the next update.
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The color scheme in the character and inventory screens seems to be a bit easier on the eyes now. These small things can make a big difference.

 

[luj1]

The color scheme in the character and inventory screens seems to be a bit easier on the eyes now.

You mean full teal, as opposed to full teal?

 

[Infinitron]

The color scheme in the character and inventory screens seems to be a bit easier on the eyes now.

You mean full teal, as opposed to full teal?

Here's a comparison, old vs new:

So... how is combat here going to be compared to AoD? AoD had GREAT combat, something I never thought possible in a single-character RPG.

There's no "going to be" here, people are already playing the game. Ask 'em!

 

[Grotesque]

There's no "going to be" here, people are already playing the game. Ask 'em!

Ok, then.


HEY PEOPLE WHO PLAYED THE GAME, HOW IS THE COMBAT IN THIS GAME COMPARED TO AGE OF DECADENCE?

Age of Decadence had combat??

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Lady_Error]

Considering it's the same people who created AoD combat, I don't see any reason why it should be worse in this game.

 

[StaticSpine]

So... how is combat here going to be compared to AoD? AoD had GREAT combat, something I never thought possible in a single-character RPG.

It's great. You have a lot of tactical options. Different kinds of firearms + melee + grenades (including smokescreens) + gadgets (power, distortion fields etc) + implants. You also have reaction attacks. And dodge works differently, it is not an alternative to armor, but a bonus, because you can't dodge bullets.

Overall, I'm very happy how the combat demo turns out. It is already super solid.

 

[Van-d-all]

Old, high contrast UI looked better IMHO...

 

[MrBuzzKill]

Looks sweet, except for the font.
On the upside, it's easy to read. But, on the other hand, it feels generic and not "futuristic" enough.

Now, this for example, is a harder to read font, I fully admit that. But IMO it looks good for the setting of the game:

Other than that, the game looks very good

 

[Deleted Member 22431]

Looks sweet, except for the font.
On the upside, it's easy to read. But, on the other hand, it feels generic and not "futuristic" enough.

You don't need this type of font to reinforce the futuristic theme. You have the setting, the NPCs, the itemization, and the songs for that. Fonts are there to facilitate the reading.

 

[luj1]

Old, high contrast UI looked better IMHO...

It's not even a matter of opinion, really bizarre what they did

 

[jackofshadows]

HEY PEOPLE WHO PLAYED THE GAME, HOW IS THE COMBAT IN THIS GAME COMPARED TO AGE OF DECADENCE?

First, it's more correct to compare to DR considering it's more party-oriented game (although as to be expected it will be definitely possible for solo runs). Second, since there's some shift to ranged combat and cover's implementation combat overall feels a bit different for sure but not so much. It's rich, it's great and just need more polish here and there. Personally, I had my doubts about new progression system (by using) but turns out it's much more interesting even to make the right choices at the beginning and then carefully (add new meat shield to the party or not, which weapon use where etc) shape a character further.

 

[Deleted Member 22431]

Osiginon, would you care to share one of the new songs since you are the composer?