Space Wreck - post-apocalyptic space RPG inspired by Fallout

[lukaszek]

One last aspect to this - next update there are coming _Nominal tablets_ - a drug that removes RNG from your skill rolls. However, the side-effect of that drug is a heavily reduced XP rate - which you may actually want in some cases.

is there a drug that takes rng to the next level, where your stats are meaningless at the cost of higher xp rate?

 

[Kamaz]

is there a drug that takes rng to the next level, where your stats are meaningless at the cost of higher xp rate?

No, not at the moment.

 

[Infinitron]

In Space Wreck, XP and STRESS are ... interchangeable.
1) At every odd level (Levelup)- you get to improve your skills - representing getting more experienced.
2) But on every even level ("Stress up!") you have to pick both positive AND negative marks that alter your character with traits.

You can pick whichever positive mark you like but there are only three randomly selected negative marks and you MUST choose one.

As mentioned previously, your XP (STRESS) rate depends on the WORK attribute (varies from 80% to 200%), hence, some characters will get more experience (and stress) while others will have a more spaced out level/stress-ups. Arguably, hyper XP rate is not necessarily beneficial. Consider also that to have such a high rate you must have high WORK which implies you had to sacrifice PHYSICAL, CHARM, FOCUS, and PERCEPTION core attributes that can not be raised by simple levelups in the game. If you created a character with PERCEPTION 1, you will have to endure that decision no matter how much XP you gain.

This is sort of a "chad" vs "incel" approach where "chads" have high inherent stats and core attributes, but "incels" have increased skills: however, neither can have both.

One last aspect to this - next update there are coming _Nominal tablets_ - a drug that removes RNG from your skill rolls. However, the side-effect of that drug is a heavily reduced XP rate - which you may actually want in some cases.

That is very creative - turning levelling up itself into an adjustable knob with pros and cons. Where'd you get the idea?

 

[Modron]

I would imagine from the small number of crpgs (and table top systems) using bonus-malus character creation systems, the only ones I recall offhand are the Game of Thrones RPG, The Outer Worlds, and the Realms of Arkania series. I know there were a few more but I can't think of them offhand. He just took that a step further and applied is across the rest of leveling up.

 

[Infinitron]

Sure, bonus-malus systems are pretty common. It's combining that with the concept of the WORK stat that makes it clever.

 

[agris]

shit or not, I respect that he's trying new things.

and it actually looks interesting. godspeed Kamaz

 

[Kamaz]

That is very creative - turning levelling up itself into an adjustable knob with pros and cons. Where'd you get the idea?

Like with many other things in Space Wreck, this can be traced back to Fallout. I don't really like how the INTELLIGENCE attribute works there. It seems no matter what sort of character you are, intelligence is a must-have because...it gives you skill points. Moreso, in the course of the game, because your primary attributes are often superseded by skills; eventually it all boils down to skill points. And you get XP for everything.

Hence, I decided to cut Intelligence into nice little pieces where WORK is that powerful element that gets you skill points. And, because another thing I don't like about Fallout is power-creep, there must be pros and cons. In this case, investing in WORK takes away points from other attributes so it balances out nicely (I hope!) - WORK has no other functionality on its own; investing in it, you actually invest in skills. Meanwhile, other attributes, as you've noticed, do a lot, thus not investing even a single point in any of these is a serious commitment. And, because you cannot simply increase any of the core attributes by grinding XP, this should make them even more valuable and investment in WORK - costly.

TL;DR

I want your starting game decisions to matter all the way through; to avoid "flat" overpowerful and very similar good-at-everything types of characters in the late game. I want your end-game character still be afraid of the first enemy - cambot - because you decided to invest all in WORK and have other strong suits.

 

[Kamaz]

"Stop littering!" - cambot being environmentally conscious until the very end.

There are shock grenades coming to Space Wreck's next update. If it does not knock the enemy out right away, it'll paralyze them for a turn. Useful!

 

[Terenty]

When is the final release?

 

[Kamaz]

When is the final release?

I have a history of skipping dates, so will not give you a straight answer.

Instead, consider this - Baldurs Gate 3 and Starfield will probably keep my target audience busy for months, when they release.

 

[Kamaz]

Update 1.2.65

A cure for randomness
If you have ever been frustrated by a dice roll failure, this update is for you!

The main focus of this update is on managing the randomness factor in the game. Following player feedback, we noticed complaints about the game's dice rolls. While the math is sound - we use natural distribution algorithm which means that rolls will most likely fall around your skill/attribute value, there were clearly some things we could improve. Read on to learn specifics!

Rerolls

Plain and simple: now you can reroll failed skill checks. Rejoice! Of course, there are some caveats, though:

• you have a limited number of rerolls, based on your FOCUS attribute;
• you have to be "concentrating" - you must select the option before the rolling ends.

There are many skill checks in the game - some important, some less so; now you have an additional safety buffer for those crucial ones.

Clearer difficulty messaging

Previously difficulty of a skill check was based on its absolute value: that is, regardless of your skill level, it would show "easy", "hard" etc.

With this update, however, we describe the difficulty based on the difference between your skill and the target number. See here:

• if delta >= 4 then "guaranteed"
• else if delta == 3 then "pretty safe"
• else if delta == 2 then "easy"
• else if delta == 1 then "likely"
• else if delta == 0 then "50/50"
• else if delta == -1 then "risky"
• else if delta == -2 then "unlikely"
• else if delta == -3 then "unrealistic"
• else if delta <= -4 then "impossible"

Remove random completely with Nominal tablets

Lastly, if you still are annoyed with randomness as a concept, we got a solution for you too - Nominal tablets. This is an item that can be found in the game and, once consumed, will remove any dice rolls whatsoever. That is if your tinker is 3, you will never "roll" anything but 3 while under the influence of the drug,

Lore-wise, these Nominal tablets suppress your anxiety and stress, remove stage fright, but also dull the excitement and adrenaline. Basically, you don't crumble under the stress but you also would never perform above expectations or get the "second wind".

Be warned of side effects, though: while medicated, your XP gain is severely hindered - because you never challenge yourself, you cannot grow.

Grenades, mines and traps

Take advantage of the new throwables - grenades. If you manage to land a hit - based on your PERCEPTION - the target will be paralyzed for a turn. Good if you want to follow up with a killing blow or just run away.

Or, if you tend to avoid combat (which is a good idea, btw) the new shock traps can be useful - set it up on a container that NPC might use (e.g. where they keep their water bottle) - and it'll knock them out cold upon next interaction. All their stuff - keys included - now is yours for taking!

Repair robots

There are now new possibilities for engineers: repair a destroyed robot to get a loyal mechanical follower! Even better, if defeated in battle, you can "resurrect" it right after; granted you have the components and skill to pull it off.

To be honest, there's really no limit to how many robots can you repair - as long as you have R/C Controllers to spare.

Book's worth of proofread NPC dialogue

We've been slowly but steadily proofreading the game's texts. With this update, all of the character dialogue in the game should be now covered. This amount to a whopping 130 000 words!

To give you a perspective - Andy Weir's Martian is around 110k words long. An excellent book, by the way: its realistic near-future Solar system exploration has been an inspiration for many things in the world of Space Wreck.

The Chief Snitch

And last - but definitely not the least! - we've been adding subtle content all around the game. The biggest and the most impactful addition is the new quest The Chief Snitch on Kurbads. To be fair, it's not just the "quest" per se but rather all the new options to advance your main quest or provide new ways to interact with the world that are noteworthy here. You also get a chance to explore some of the characters more and interact with them.

Note: there are now new story stars and even new final ending slides related to this storyline.

===

These are the major highlights of this update but there are still more subtle changes and fixes in the game.

Until the next time!

 

[harhar!]

What stops me from reloading? I might need those focus points later!

 

[Kamaz]

What stops me from reloading? I might need those focus points later!

Randomness is "predestined" (using seed), meaning that even if you reload, this specific skill check will likely yield the same outcome.

Somehow changing the world state before re-rolling can be used to work around this, but I think it's a bit too cumbersome and it's easier just to embrace the failure.

 

[Twiglard]

There's something wrong with collision detection. I was able to start combat through a wall and a closed airlock. Cambots and Q-Tanks weren't able to return fire.

 

[Kamaz]

There's something wrong with collision detection. I was able to start combat through a wall and a closed airlock. Cambots and Q-Tanks weren't able to return fire.

WDYM? Did they see you through the wall or did you attack them through the wall?

 

[Twiglard]

WDYM? Did they see you through the wall or did you attack them through the wall?

I'm able to right-click a cambot through a wall selecting 'COMBAT' and target shots at it.

In a similar fashion, if a cambot moves behind a wall, I can still shoot it without moving.

This way, I was able to clear 4 cambots and a q-tank in the first area's basement warehouse with rocket fuel without taking any damage in return. They just stood there and took it.

 

[Kamaz]

FYI: because of the fracking Larian Studios moving Baldurs Gate 3 up (!!!), I now have to delay the unannounced Space Wreck's release to a new unannounced date.

That, and because Twiglard found a bug. (Thanks for testing, by the way!)

 

[Strange Fellow]

That's really nice of you, giving Larian the chance to make some sales rather than taking all their business with a simultaneous release. Kudos.

 

[Kamaz]

Patch 1.2.69

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1063540/view/3691314104876523089

Overall, a small set of tiny fixes, but I am trying to curb the slowdown some players experience in certain populated areas (e.g. Kurbads, Sepikoda). If you've encountered something like this previously and now happen to play the game with 1.2.69+ version at some point, lemme know.

("It works on my machine", so I need to rely on other people's reports to see if there's an improvement.)

Other than that here are the rest of the changes:

• Fix windowed mode and store it per machine, not cloud settings.
• Character shouts float over darkness.
• Increase container peak font size.
• Increase settings menu selector size
• Notify the player with the text log and sound when the screwdriver is applied automatically.
• When hovering over vents, show a caption with a size description.
• Fix the lying terminal.
• Fix potential crash in dialogue attack.
• Shuttles now fly with doors closed.
• When pressing the CONTINUE button in the menu right after completing the game, load the last autosave. And not crash.

Otherwise, we are prepping for the full release.

Cheers!

 

[Abu Antar]

Kamaz
Is it true that the game will release on October 10th?

 

[undecaf]

Is Space Wreck comin on GOG at any point? Does anyone have a clue?

 

[Kamaz]

Kamaz
Is it true that the game will release on October 10th?

Yes. I've locked the date. For the n-th time.

Oct 10, 2023

There's even going to be a small launch expansion. Here's a sneak peek

Is Space Wreck comin on GOG at any point? Does anyone have a clue?

Probably not.

I reached out to them individually a couple of times over the years and there's even a community wishlist but they don't seem to want us there. It's possible due to the potential shortness of the game and their refund policy?

 

[Atlet]

 

[Infinitron]

Kamaz
Is it true that the game will release on October 10th?

I must have missed something. How did you know this?

 

[Abu Antar]

I just know things that are not always official.

RPGSite wrote a newspost.