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Colony Ship Update #39 - The third iteration

Black Angel

Arcane
Joined
Jun 23, 2016
Messages
2,910
Location
Wonderland
I haven't played DE yet (lack of time) so I don't know how dialogues work there.
You should try it. I wished AoD implement its non-combat gameplay like DE did. If your playing DE took some of your time from developing CS, but it leads to you learning something from DE then I can wait a bit longer for CS.

http://www.irontowerstudio.com/forum/index.php/topic,7567.0.html
^ this was the first step

It works fairly well but I didn't like the single abstract score. So we split it into 3 'stats' making the strategy during a conversation easier to understand. The possibilities are a lot more interesting too and the conversations flow better. So let's say you're a trying to talk some thugs into letting you tamper with a certain object. Their leader's "stats" are Fear (whether he's afraid of you or not), Greed (successful tampering with the object can make him rich), and Doubt (tampering with the object can also get everyone killed). Some lines can affect several stats at the same time, so these branches are interconnected. Then we look not at the last check but the total score. Something like:

[Greed {value}] For a second there, Sharp Face hesitates, his mind conjuring up the riches waiting for him on the other side of that door, but he shuts these thoughts down. Chasing such dreams is the fastest way to die here.

“My place, my rules,” he says, forcing a fake grin on his face. “If you put that plastic into the reader, the cannons will pop out faster than you can blink. You may have a death wish but I don’t.”


vs

[Greed {value}] For a second there, Sharp Face hesitates, his mind conjuring up the riches waiting for him on the other side of that door. He tries to shut these thoughts down, but he can’t. People get rich all the time, why not him? Why not now?


Another character's stats are Piety, Loyalty, and Opportunism (the last two representing inner conflict you can exploit), so the stats are different in each case.
Cool. In DE, all these 'stats' are actually read by your character's skills. Since CS is obviously going to be combat-gameplay heavy, doing it this way is probably for the best.
 

Eyestabber

Arcane
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PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015
So things have been awfully quiet on the ITS front lately. Official website for CSG is completely outdated, Steam and Codex have the latest piece of news, dating back to September. Please give us another update before Christmas!
 

Daedalos

Arcane
The Real Fanboy
Joined
Apr 18, 2007
Messages
5,559
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Denmark
So things have been awfully quiet on the ITS front lately. Official website for CSG is completely outdated, Steam and Codex have the latest piece of news, dating back to September. Please give us another update before Christmas!

Yeah dude, they lost their lead animator/design guy. Keep calm and carry on.

Vince hired a new guy, and they are slowly moving forward now.

Rejoice, bröthers! The Incline Awaits us
 

Eyestabber

Arcane
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PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015
Yeah, and if you read this very thread you'll realize I'm well aware of Ivan 's passing. Thing is tho, Christmas is a very important time on Steam aka ITS main platform, what with the sales and all.

People browsing the platform aren't only looking for discounts, they are also thinking "huh, I wonder what's gonna come up next year...". And that's when a news update is very much needed, otherwise they might think the project went vaporware.

An actual progress report is 100% unnecessary, a simple pr piece like "2020 is gonna be great, we're gonna do the dev thing and you guys should stay tuned for more news regarding CSG! Merry Christmas from ITS!" would be more than enough.

Take a look on the Slay the Spire newsfeed, those guys know how to keep their community engaged and waiting for more.
 

Vault Dweller

Commissar, Red Star Studio
Developer
Joined
Jan 7, 2003
Messages
28,024
So things have been awfully quiet on the ITS front lately. Official website for CSG is completely outdated, Steam and Codex have the latest piece of news, dating back to September. Please give us another update before Christmas!
Update:

Ivan's death was a hard thing to deal with (still is). We all knew he was ill but we couldn't imagine that that's how it would end. Still hard to believe he's gone. Anyway, since Ivan's domain was armor and animations (including setting them up, troubleshooting, etc). we're way off schedule. We got a new animator now, he's making good progress. We're almost done with the armguards, next and final stop jackets and coats (helmets, gas masks and goggles are in and look pretty good). We have the working jacket/coat models we used for testing, we solved clipping and multi-layer issues, just need extra models and upgrades. The rest is done or almost done. We did the first Steam build, discovered that the engine doesn't want to read the dialogue system at all, so Nick had to rewrite it from scratch which took weeks. Our goal is to release the closed beta in Dec (checked with Oscar, he said 'definitely December'; I'm more cautious than optimistic these days so I'd go with maybe, who the fuck knows what can go wrong next?), so I'm waiting until we know for sure before I post a proper update. If it goes well, clear a few days for us in your busy schedule as I'd definitely want to know what you think about the mechanics.
 

Daedalos

Arcane
The Real Fanboy
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Closed alpha/beta invites go out to ppl on codex? If so, I definitely will provide with all the feedback I can if you ship me a steam key :)!
 

Eyestabber

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PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015
Thanks for the super quick response, mang. You know I'm not trying to hound you like an unhinged fanboy, I'm just trying to hear anything from ITS and give my 2 cents, like a concerned fanboy. Kinda like that time I thought Dungeon Rats would be slam dunk and sell like hotcakes, but it totally didn't. :happytrollboy:

Again, very sorry for your loss. 2019 was also a pretty shit year for me, here's hoping 2020 treats us all better. :brodex:

But srsly, I skimmed over AoD/DR steam discussions and it's pretty obvious you guys acquired a fanbase of satisfied customers outside the Codex. Pretty sure those guys are also itching for news...

As for the closed beta thing, again: I'm flattered and I'll (PROBABLY) be available around Dec/Jan. I read every post you made about mechanics and It's clear you intend to try something different from what was used on AoD/DR. Very curious to see what you can come up with.
 

Vault Dweller

Commissar, Red Star Studio
Developer
Joined
Jan 7, 2003
Messages
28,024
Closed alpha/beta invites go out to ppl on codex? If so, I definitely will provide with all the feedback I can if you ship me a steam key :)!
For the record, we're talking about the combat beta only (similar to the old arena demo for AoD), the goal is to focus on combat mechanics and combat builds. We'll start with five people, if they say it's not utter shit we'll add more people and then release to everyone. Since our team is small, we can't process feedback from dozens of people (especially if there are disagreements among the testers) so we'll do it in 'waves', which would allow us to listen to what every tester has to say.

Thanks for the super quick response, mang. You know I'm not trying to hound you like an unhinged fanboy, I'm just trying to hear anything from ITS and give my 2 cents, like a concerned fanboy. Kinda like that time I thought Dungeon Rats would be slam dunk and sell like hotcakes, but it totally didn't. :happytrollboy:
Cant win 'em all :)

As for the closed beta thing, again: I'm flattered and I'll (PROBABLY) be available around Dec/Jan. I read every post you made about mechanics and It's clear you intend to try something different from what was used on AoD/DR. Very curious to see what you can come up with.
Well, don't expect too much. I'd rather you be pleasantly surprised than disappointed. I hope that the foundation is good, the rest we can quickly evolve once the feedback starts coming in.
 

MF

The Boar Studio
Patron
Developer
Joined
Dec 8, 2002
Messages
892
Location
Amsterdam
I somehow missed that Ivan had died when I made my last post here, I thought he was still struggling. That must have come across as insensitive. I'm sorry for your loss. My condolences. I'll chime in with the chorus and say I really enjoyed his work. Rest in Peace Ivan.
 

Junmarko

† Cristo è Re †
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Joined
Jun 20, 2011
Messages
3,480
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Schläfertempel
Update:

Ivan's death was a hard thing to deal with (still is). We all knew he was ill but we couldn't imagine that that's how it would end. Still hard to believe he's gone. Anyway, since Ivan's domain was armor and animations (including setting them up, troubleshooting, etc). we're way off schedule. We got a new animator now, he's making good progress. We're almost done with the armguards, next and final stop jackets and coats (helmets, gas masks and goggles are in and look pretty good). We have the working jacket/coat models we used for testing, we solved clipping and multi-layer issues, just need extra models and upgrades. The rest is done or almost done. We did the first Steam build, discovered that the engine doesn't want to read the dialogue system at all, so Nick had to rewrite it from scratch which took weeks. Our goal is to release the closed beta in Dec (checked with Oscar, he said 'definitely December'; I'm more cautious than optimistic these days so I'd go with maybe, who the fuck knows what can go wrong next?), so I'm waiting until we know for sure before I post a proper update. If it goes well, clear a few days for us in your busy schedule as I'd definitely want to know what you think about the mechanics.

Don't doubt it's hard for you guys to deal with, passing of an old friend that you would also see at work everyday - you'll be hard pressed to forget anytime soon. Important to focus on staying positive in light of it, any way you can. Heh, you should design an in-game NPC after Ivan or something, give the team something to work on in his memory. It'll liven the atmosphere, shifting the reminder of his passing to something positive like an in-game tribute. If he came up with Iron Tower Studio name, give his character some ridiculous iron fort or something haha.

Immortalise the man!

rating_salute.gif
 
Last edited:

Whisper

Arcane
Vatnik
Joined
Feb 29, 2012
Messages
4,357
I am also waiting for beta test.
 

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