Space Wreck - post-apocalyptic space RPG inspired by Fallout

[Abu Antar]

 

[Kamaz]

Oh, wow, I was a little too late :D Thanks for the posting!

Anyways, I wanted to add a bit more. In the GIF you can see two ranged options: STEADY SHOT and QUICK SHOT. This whole combat rework stems from the combat problem in Fallout - at some point I realized that the best strategy is to run to your enemy close and then shoot her/him/it in the eyes. Max out precision and damage. While it does not take away from the enjoyment of Fallout, I decided to try to mitigate this problem in my version. That's where the STEADY SHOT and QUICK SHOT flow comes in.

STEADY SHOT is actually your base shot, without any modifiers. (At least, at the moment.) It is quite deadly if successful (a lot of damage and char HP is usually low). But the caveat is - you can use it only if you are standing still, actually, if it is your first action in the turn. As soon as you spend some AP, you cannot have STEADY SHOT that turn. You can shoot and then move, sure, but shot must come first. The logic being that you must be steady when discharging a weapon, not moving or reloading or smth.

QUICK SHOT however is available at any time, yet it is less efficient (half the precision or damage - I am working it out atm). But then, again, it costs only half the AP of a STEADY SHOT, so you could squeeze twice as many in one turn.

So, if you see an enemy, you now have the option to either shoot it from the distance or run closer to it and then attack with better hit chance. However, if you do so, your damage/precision would be significantly limited and, if you fail to land the killing shot, you will find yourself in compromised position close to the enemy who now can just take a full power/precision STEADY SHOT at you (which could kill you instantly). And then retreat with spare APs. On the other hand, if you keep your distance and try STEADY SHOT, you engage with an enemy in a firefight which - to me at least - seems a bit more realistic and interesting. That's also where your skill prowess comes in handy - if you have higher RANGED skill or/and PERCEPTION, you'll have an edge. Then, again, if you have a lot of AP and EVASION, you might still try rushing an enemy, because you could do a lot of QUICK SHOT's per turn and just overwhelm your opponent with bullets.

That's my reasoning. And that's actually the whole point I changed the system to JRPG-like combat menu. Those now offer more possibilities, not only for shots but MELEE skill as well. But more about those some other time.

 

[V_K]

That seems like an interesting and tactical system, but having to use the menu each turn can get tedious real fast. It would be better if, say, right clicking an enemy opened a menu, while left clicking executed an attack the game contextually selected as default. So e.g. if you have a ranged weapon equipped and haven't moved yet this turn, left click would default to a steady shot (but you can still override it by right-clicking and going through the menu), and if you have moved, to quick shot. Would save the player a ton of extra clicking.

 

[Kamaz]

It would be better if, say, right clicking an enemy opened a menu, while left clicking executed an attack the game contextually selected as default.

Valid point! Will check this in play testing.

That would also be in line with rest of the game (out of combat interactions) where a lot of functionality - picking the lock, pickpocketing etc. - is tied to the right click menu.

 

[AdolfSatan]

Sounds like a nice system, and VK's suggestions are spot-on.
But more importantly... Will there be WICKED SICK DEATH ANIMATIONS?

 

[Kamaz]

Last week I introduced the combat menu and how it can offer you tactical options besides basic attack. This time the story continues with the SHOVE mechanic.

Canonically in Space Wreck gravity is simulated on off world ships and stations by magnetic shoes and ferromagnetic surfaces where possible. However, should you detach from said surface, you'd be floating in zero-G (that's why knocked out characters can be seen floating in some previous GIFs). In combat this can be used to your advantage - if you pass a MELEE skill roll against opponents EVASION difficulty, you can hurl your adversary across the room until it will crash into something. While this is more of a positioning move, upon contact with e.g. wall, enemy will suffer a damage that is proportional to his/hers current carry weight - in other words - more loot in inventory, more hit points will be lost.

Possible uses: a great way to put some distance between you and your foes or a way to prevent being surrounded. Or just, you know, shoving off

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

Why not shove someone into the space?

 

[Ranarama]

I first read SCAN VITALS as SCAN GENITALS and wondered if you were taking a page from Mass Effect.

 

[Kamaz]

Why not shove someone into the space?

Because it would condemn them to a slow and horrible death?!

However, as it is now, if you shove somebody and there is nothing to crash into - e.g. if you are outside - that person will fly indefinitely and won't be heard of again.

I first read SCAN VITALS as SCAN GENITALS and wondered if you were taking a page from Mass Effect.

Man, you have no idea how vital that other option could be...

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

Because it would condemn them to a slow and horrible death?!

That's the point.

 

[Abu Antar]

 

[Kamaz]

I went back and double checked if you can shove npcs into space as Jedi Master Radek was wondering. Yup. You can.

Also, in the process, I chose different animations and added ASCII sound effects.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

Thanks. I love it

 

[Kamaz]

Small detail about the portraits of NPCs in the game - I am starting to use artificially created human faces instead of real photos. For this I am using a service called https://generated.photos/use-cases and when they learned about my game, they reached out to me to learn more and later added Space Wreck to their use case section, which, I think is pretty cool for a small project this game is.

Here's excerpt that lists reasons why are we starting to do this:

It is not easy to find a suitable portrait for every character in the game, especially since we have a limited budget and cannot afford models and photo shoots. Even though we have a pool of photos to work with, sometimes you need something very specific - ethnicity, hair, age - and the right angle. That can be a big problem and the one that Generated Photos solves well - you can specify quite detailed parameters and then have a selection of consistent portraits to choose from. And another less common but important aspect is that there are times when we need to portray less than admirable characters, and then it is safer and worry-free to use artificial "actors"."

Below are some of those generated photos in game:

 

[Kamaz]

Space Wreck got featured in Canard PC video game magazine!

Here's the link to the online version (though, behind the paywall and in French):
https://www.canardpc.com/413/lettons-lettons-entrer-soleil-space-wreck

Whole thing is not huge, around 1000 words, but still, I am excited!

 

[JarlFrank]

Kamaz I don't know if I asked you this already but the Steam page lists Windows 10 under minimum requirements.

I'm on Windows 7 and need to know if it works on that.

 

[Kamaz]

I'm on Windows 7 and need to know if it works on that.

I was just being cautious because I have not yet tested it on Win7. As I can see in docs for the wrapper, Windows 7 and later is supposed to be supported. As soon as I get the chance to try it running on that OS, I'll update the specs.

Theoretically it should work.

 

[fantadomat]

Kamaz I don't know if I asked you this already but the Steam page lists Windows 10 under minimum requirements.

I'm on Windows 7 and need to know if it works on that.

Most win10 games work on win7.

 

[Kamaz]

The most recent addition to the Space Wreck fleet - "Sprīdītis". With a crew of up to 12 and space for cargo, this small relay ship was usually dispatched to fix mining equipment wherever needed.

 

[Kamaz]

I am currently working on a content and thus there's less to share. However there's a tiny bit of general gameplay to show off: crit fails.

As many role playing games, Space Wreck sports dice rolls and when you roll very low, it is a critical fail. This can happen with many interactions, most common being combat, but it also can happen to your character when trying to engage in a conversation. There are two rolls - CHARM and speech. CHARM determines whether the other person is actually willing to engage you and if you fail it, it means she/he perceives you as ugly, repulsive, maybe frightening and does not want to talk to you.

You can, then, try to force conversation by speaking to him/her but that's a speech roll and if you fail it, then you cannot muster a word out of your mouth, basically you are frozen, overwhelmed by anxiety. If you have failed both of those rolls there's a third way out - take a sip of any alcohol. That'll boost your self confidence and allow you to force yourself upon the other person even if they don't want to talk to you.

Worth noting that if you have above average CHARM/speech (3+) then you'll never fail this way, these outcomes are reserved for people who sacrifice those social stats. This also may force you to look for other ways to achieve your goal.

My ultimate goal was to improve the role-playing experience, to change a little bit of your game play if you decide to have low stats.

 

[Kamaz]

Like in many RPGs, there are vents in Space Wreck, however, there's a twist - they have a size parameter attached, so you can be "too big" for that hole.

I think this adds another role playing nuance to the game - if you want to play as a tanky character with lots of HP and carryweight, you can not squeeze through the tight vents. Lighter characters, in turn, can take advantage of this - e.g. navigate around enemies, access locations, get loot.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

That's pretty awesome!

 

[Kamaz]

As touted, combat is 100% optional in Space Wreck. There are many ways to deal with threats, but here's one example of the engineer character using a remote control "gun" to turn otherwise hostile sentry bot into a loyal companion.

Context: there are generally five main character archetypes in Space Wreck - smooth talker, soldier, "thief" (stealth oriented), explorer and engineer (techie, hacker etc.). While there are more than few shades of gray and these roles often overlap and transcend each other, I try to provide solutions in one of these areas.

This example is of an engineer play style - granted you have high enough SCITEC and TINKER skills, necessary components, tools and access to a workstation, you can create a remote control device that allows turn your enemies into your friends (granted they are of metal). Given your success in targeting them with your PERCEPTION and RANGED, of course. There are other gadgets and tools you can construct that give you some edge in certain situations.

It's also worth noting that it is not a single skill you depend on. For example, SCITEC unlocks blueprints for items but you must roll TINKER to actually build these things. And, as I noted above, when trying to apply these in action, you must either have some decent RANGED aptitude or have to SNEAK close enough that that does not matter.

 

[V_K]

This example is of an engineer play style - granted you have high enough SCITEC and TINKER skills, necessary components, tools and access to a workstation, you can create a remote control device that allows turn your enemies into your friends (granted they are of metal). Given your success in targeting them with your PERCEPTION and RANGED, of course. There are other gadgets and tools you can construct that give you some edge in certain situations

Just please make the system closer to Ultima 7 spellcasting (a small number of standard components that you mix together in different combinations) than to Div:OS crafting (each recipe requires its own components).

 

[Plane Escapee]

Whenever I saw the name "Space Wreck" pop up, I was absolutely certain it was a different indie space rpg that I already knew about, for some reason. Hadn't actually clicked the thread until now (thanks to the List of Incline poll). This looks amazing!