Game News Colony Ship Update #49: Hydroponics and Progress Update

[Vault Dweller]

Don't assume it to make sense, though.

Basically the ship is full of hipsters who've moved from making "retro style games" to "retro style guns".

Of course it does make sense. It's much easier to create a gunpowder gun (and gunpowder) than lenses or electronics (or fuel/energy source to operate them) that would be needed for energy weapons. It always cracked me up when in Star Trek phasers could be disabled during transport or in other situations they just didn't work even though a gun would definitely work. AK-47 is a better rifle than any American one thanks to its reliability and cheapness and has been for over 70 years and even a nigger can make it assuming he can operate a lathe and has internet access.

Just like it is silly stuff pixelated fonts into 4k games, it is silly to put tommy guns into sci-fi. Why pick something massively flawed when you have the hundreds of years of potential advancement to draw from? That is pure hipsterism.

Because sometimes that's the only thing *you* can make. Just ask these guys:

https://wethearmed.com/general-firearms-discussion/chechen-homemade-weapons/
https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2014/01/22/common-illicitly-homemade-submachine-guns-brazil/

We looked at the weapons people make today (conflict zones and gangs) as that's the best indicator of what's possible with limited skills and without access to proper workshops and materials. Obviously, these aren't the only weapons in the game but they make good starting weapons.

Someone says: make a bow. You take a branch of wood and piece of string instead of making an arbalest - or god forbid, a compound bow with cables and pulleys.

Who is this *you*? An engineer sitting in a well-equipped workshop? Or average Joe who has a branch of wood and a piece of string? What one can make is limited by one's skills (gun schematics won't be of much use to a person who can't make precise parts and doesn't have the right steel but has some pipes and basic tools), tools and resources. Another limiting factor (if you make guns for sale) is your market. If your customer can pay a thousand bucks for a gun, that's one thing. If only two hundred, that's another.

 

[oneself]

Sounds a bit weird? Cant' we stealth for parts of a building?

I'll elaborate a bit. This is mostly for quest based stealth solutions. For example, stealing from a locked container in a back room, or infiltrating Mercy's compound to take her down. You are not forced to go with just one character into stealth, you can use several. Experience will be divided, and more people moving means more noise, but you can do things like taking two separate paths, etc. Also you can use it to position your party for combat, if you think that your designated infiltrator won't pull it off.

There are several designs in the game regarding stealth. Sometimes they are in small locations, with the goal of stealing something or rescuing a hostage, so it's better to go with just one guy because the enemies are very close by. Or others are more "open ended" like getting into a fortified compound, so going with more than one might open up interesting scenarios like taking down two nearby guys in succession (one takes each), or use the opportunity to create an ambush with the whole party.

So this is just a branching text sequence with checks or is some built in mechanic into the game where there is noise generation based on number of individual in a group

 

[Vault Dweller]

But being fair here, I actually believe that access would not be as rare/difficult as it sounds in the environment described by VD. Technologies such as 3D printers...

The way I see it, there are two problems with 3D printing on a generation ship. First, limited supplies. I doubt the colonists would be able to print anything they want a hundred years after the collapse of the established order. Basically, the same reason why the energy cells are so rare. Second, in a colony that can't be resupplied colonists who rely on their own skills, no matter how limited, would fare better than colonists relying on technology they can't repair (without parts) or supplies that would run out sooner rather than later.

So this is just a text sequence with checks or is some built in mechanic into the game?

Built-in mechanics.

 

[Fenix]

Basically the ship is full of hipsters who've moved from making "retro style games" to "retro style guns".

I should admit this is hilariously funny.

Keeping the proper proportions, I would say that the same applies here: there is no reason to believe that after a journey that took centuries, the settlers would have easy access to these technologies especially in an environment that is degrading over time.

Actually, such generation ship would have anything for producing gun powder weapon, cause components a natural - manure for closed agricultural cycle, sulfur could be synthecized by bacteria, wood charcoal could be get from ship's orangery.

 

[Rarre]

Day 1 purchase!

 

[Elhoim]

So this is just a branching text sequence with checks or is some built in mechanic into the game where there is noise generation based on number of individual in a group

You can read a bit about it here:

http://www.irontowerstudio.com/forum/index.php/topic,7861.0.html

 

[Harry Easter]

Hey! Cool screenshots. Hope all will be well. Will buy the game asap.

Seconded.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[urmom]

Looking good. Can't wait.

 

[hivemind]

are you guys planning on making this available on game streaming services such as stadia and geforce now?

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

Fuck streaming services. Streaming services are a death to gaming.

 

[hivemind]

How so?

 

[Vault Dweller]

are you guys planning on making this available on game streaming services such as stadia and geforce now?

No plans. I don't know how it works, whether or not it would affect our sales on Steam and GOG, whether or not they'd want to sign us up, what kind of headache on the tech side it would bring, etc. We'll look into it when the game is ready.

 

[thesheeep]

How so?

Some people think they actually own the software they play via Steam
Others think physical media is not a thing of the past and not something only for collectors by now

That said, I wouldn't want to buy games on Stadia, either.
It is, after all, a Google product, and Google is known to just randomly kill their projects.
A monthly sub would be something I'd recommend to at least some people, though. Especially those with crappy PCs and good internet.

are you guys planning on making this available on game streaming services such as stadia and geforce now?

No plans. I don't know how it works, whether or not it would affect our sales on Steam and GOG, whether or not they'd want to sign us up, what kind of headache on the tech side it would bring, etc. We'll look into it when the game is ready.

Developing for Stadia is pretty great, actually.
Basically like developing for a PC platform with only a single hardware configuration.
Obviously, the game has to work on Linux for that, but most engines make Linux builds fairly easy as well - unfortunately, Unreal is known for lagging behind in Linux (and Mac, for that matter) support. Then again, there are quite a few UE games that do support Linux without problems...
Also serves as a nice incentive to make a game work cross-platform to begin with - always a plus in my book.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

Some people think they actually own the software they play via Steam
Others think physical media is not a thing of the past and not something only for collectors by now

I can mod games on Steam. The chances that Steam pulls out old games from it's services is lower than on Stadia (due to lower maintenance costs), and even if it does, then you can be sure that the game was archived by pirates and is available to the public.
Choosing Stadia means giving more power to corporations and less to players. Choosing Stadia is evil.

 

[Fenix]

are you guys planning on making this available on game streaming services such as stadia and geforce now?

No plans. I don't know how it works, whether or not it would affect our sales on Steam and GOG, whether or not they'd want to sign us up, what kind of headache on the tech side it would bring, etc. We'll look into it when the game is ready.

Well, I'm agains that shit, but sadly it IS future, that is pushed down our throat, so on the commercial side it would be wise to considered it, somewhere in the future.
There won't be PC anymore relatively soon.

 

[hivemind]

I can mod games on Steam. The chances that Steam pulls out old games from it's services is lower than on Stadia (due to lower maintenance costs), and even if it does, then you can be sure that the game was archived by pirates and is available to the public.
Choosing Stadia means giving more power to corporations and less to players. Choosing Stadia is evil.

You can mod games on geforce now if the game has a workshop.

It's literally just a digital internet cafe. Retvn to tradition.

 

[BlaineMono]

So this is just a branching text sequence with checks or is some built in mechanic into the game where there is noise generation based on number of individual in a group

You can read a bit about it here:

http://www.irontowerstudio.com/forum/index.php/topic,7861.0.html

hey fella you've already dealt your 40 dmg with the first stab, no need to go overboard there

 

[BlaineMono]

No plans.

ok cool, any plans on becoming an epic store giveaway title?

 

[Momock]

Well, I'm agains that shit, but sadly it IS future, that is pushed down our throat, so on the commercial side it would be wise to considered it, somewhere in the future.
There won't be PC anymore relatively soon.

So PC is going to die, for the 148974556th time? Ooooouuuuuuh!! So scaaaaaary! Beware the undead PC!1!!1

 

[Major_Blackhart]

I'd really be interested on seeing what kind of technology has been lost, what's been retained and why, and the different social structures that have popped up.

Has the size of the ship been determined yet? I keep thinking of the ship in Pandorum, but don't know if that's too large for you or not large enough.

 

[Fenix]

hey fella you've already dealt your 40 dmg with the first stab, no need to go overboard there

Yeah probably it make more sense to show damage after animation played.

 

[Pegultagol]

Happy New Year to you too! Thanks for the update and hope the project progresses well into the new year and beyond.

 

[cherry blossom]

Creatures moving on walls in a iso-TB game, now that's what I call quality TB time. Serious incline.

Sounds a bit weird? Cant' we stealth for parts of a building?

I'll elaborate a bit. This is mostly for quest based stealth solutions. For example, stealing from a locked container in a back room, or infiltrating Mercy's compound to take her down. You are not forced to go with just one character into stealth, you can use several. Experience will be divided, and more people moving means more noise, but you can do things like taking two separate paths, etc. Also you can use it to position your party for combat, if you think that your designated infiltrator won't pull it off.

There are several designs in the game regarding stealth. Sometimes they are in small locations, with the goal of stealing something or rescuing a hostage, so it's better to go with just one guy because the enemies are very close by. Or others are more "open ended" like getting into a fortified compound, so going with more than one might open up interesting scenarios like taking down two nearby guys in succession (one takes each), or use the opportunity to create an ambush with the whole party.

Last I asked, VD had said that each and every encounter would be hand-tailored and there would be no "emergent" situations like roaming enemies, as in typical open world games. Has that changed?

Could you also elaborate on this quote (from IT forum): "tile value calculation is quite taxing on the engine". A bit surprised about this.

 

[Old One]

Are there any plans to make a boxed version with feelies?