The stasis chamber hisses softly around you. Artificial fluids built up inside your ears begin to retreat as the cryoplasm drains slowly. Breathing comes naturally, at first. And then the tickle of a hundred nanites filtering your oxygen forces a cough or two of surprise. Beneath new skin a fresh infusion of blood pulses with the cadence of tribal drums. Your thoughts cascade and it all makes sense again. You open your eyes to the dull interior of a starship.
(https://media.indiedb.com/images/members/1/669/668900/profile/apsis_banner.png) (https://apsisonline.itch.io/apsis-online)
Various small icons flicker to life in your peripherals. Location, vitals, people? You look around and see no one. But can tell by the social activity (https://youtu.be/lEvNvsolJEo?t=69) in your skinfeed that there are others, both near and worlds apart. In your ears, a local A.I chimes in softly with an introduction to the ships systems, emergency protocols, lunch menu and array of ordnance. A copy of the Voyagers Handbook has been allocated space and stored in your read-only memory.
(https://media.indiedb.com/images/members/1/669/668900/profile/landing.gif)
Apsis Online operates entirely within the command line. The game environment is presented in ASCII and each planet and landing site visited by players are procedurally generated (https://img.itch.zone/aW1hZ2UvNzY5MC8xNzczOTMwLmpwZWc=/original/Zk%2BXpt.jpeg). Combat is currently not the focus. But ground combat will be a real-time/turn-based hybrid system inspired by TomeNET and DF Adventure Mode in time. Space combat will operate within the scope of Classic Battleship (in space). Which should lend well to how I plan to handle conflicts on a larger scale in the future.
(https://img.itch.zone/aW1hZ2UvNzY5MC8xNzc1MjA1LmdpZg==/original/%2FXBFD%2B.gif)
The engine uses a combination of real-time features to handle things like chat and animations, making the world feel a lot more alive (https://img.itch.zone/aW1hZ2UvNzY5MC8xNzc1MjAyLmdpZg==/original/lwA5ps.gif). Having a built in forum and social system was part of an idea to have a self-sufficient platform for players to operate in as well. I went into a lot more detail (https://apsisonline.itch.io/apsis-online/devlog/63552/apsis-online-v1-released) in the devblog for version 1 if interested.
The game has been very recently ported to Windows (64-bit for now) with the current server being very much a test server. I'll need to work out a way to get something more proper than a shared VPS if I'm going to re-enable things like chat which badly clogs up precious bandwidth. Forget it if there are multiple users on one ship. So these features are temporarily disabled.
Additional Resources:
Gamejolt (https://gamejolt.com/games/apsisonline/396672)
Discord (https://discord.gg/46K6VGm)
First Paradise Wiki (http://www.roguebasin.com/index.php?title=First_Paradise)
(https://img.itch.zone/aW1nLzI5MjY5OTUucG5n/original/kdCeXh.png)
This will be a short update! But I'm excited to announce the latest major release for Apsis Online. Which includes:
- A new user-interface for @Space.
- Cryptocurrency wallet integration (although disabled for now).
- Refactored interact mechanic (took 6 years but I did it).
- Minor but broad gameplay patches for offline mode (First Paradise).
A lot of the management features being worked on are very MUDdy. So I'm going to start calling this a multi-user roguelike (MUR).
Some of you might recall that ridiculous bug in which the interact icon would erase things as you moved the cursor. This stemmed from an old piece of code I wrote back when I had no idea what the hell I was doing. And thankfully, a lot has changed since then! The fix required a lot of patience considering how tangled up that code was with the base game (First Paradise) and how many things broke in the process. But dammit it worked and now functions a lot more like it should have in the first place.
Cryptocurrency integration was added but I needed full-access to the game server to utilize this feature effectively (and securely). Having a server sponsor is great until you need root access. That said, I have been exploring options in regard to financing a beefier VPS or dedicated server. This includes Kickstarter, Patreon or an exclusive crypto partner. We'll see, but in the meantime I have re-enabled the ability to donate to this project. Any additional support would be appreciated! But what would mean the most to me is you just signing up and checking out the progress overall. Everything will get sorted out in due time.
Sandboxing it up on planets is painfully slow right now as we're live only through the generosity of Vineyard and beggers can't be choosers. But I'm committed to 24/7 uptime from here on out. I'll see you in-game. And thanks for playing.\
PS: Posting and commenting on things may take a few seconds as well, stick with it! It'll go through.
Play! (http://apsis.online)
(https://apsisonline.vineyard.haus/1/New_Apsis_Online_Logo.png)
Apsis Online V6 introduces the #Marketplace board to @Space. Now players can buy and sell in-game items while the system functions as a sort of public ledger for these transactions. I'm also excited to begin development on what I'm calling the World Seed. Which is the algorithm that intends to "awaken" the game "world" despite there being many. As such it would more aptly be titled the Big Bang or something similar!
Planets will come alive with weather systems that affect player settlements and other AI built habitats and their inhabitants. There will be a greater emphasis on mechanisms that allow for cause and effect. The latter of which may vary as is the nature of what should be dynamic gameplay. A generated summary of some events will be automatically reported via some space news agency I haven't decided on a name for yet. These reports will be published in the #Frontier board under the username of that agency.
Shouts out to Dwarf Fortress Legends mode. I can only aspire to that level of detail.
Looking Forward
I tossed around the idea of spaceports and putting one above Bromius II. But would prefer player feedback regarding the purpose of such a thing before committing. Since I'd rather add most of what would be in a spaceport to the array of tools planned to be available aboard your own spaceship.
The game currency, TETRA has been created and tested against minor transactions like buying and selling pickaxes. In the past I had implemented cloud crypto wallets - a feature that can be entirely ignored - in order to allow players to swap the native game currency for a partnered cryptocurrency. This wallet is still active and has been tested as well. Although swapping and withdrawals are disabled as I continue to iron out any issues behind that tech.
Lore Changes & Other Features
New changes to the game canon include the history behind @Space itself, being a more meta edit. The built-in social network was created as a way for crew aboard sleeper ships to engage with each other across different sleep cycles. Like a sort of Facebook for space-farers to communicate. I find this to be a charming idea and one that I'd like to continue expanding on. The social features present are at the core of the game engine after all.
Another interesting and previously-present feature is in drone operation. In the past I had allowed players to scout planets before landing and subsequently embarking. This and other ship-oriented activities will be the focus of the subsequent V7. As well as performance upgrades when it comes to leaving the spaceship and walking around planets. It remains to be seen whether or not this issue can be instead solved by upgrading a dedicated server (an expensive proposition). But all tests have proved this to be the case so far.
If Apsis Online interests you do feel free to check out associated projects like the short story (WIP) Winternet on Wattpad (https://www.wattpad.com/story/213446751-winternet) based in the AO universe. Or drop a line in-game and say hi. We're always looking for more voyagers!
The game, currently V5.2 and only available to Linux testers, can be found here (https://gamejolt.com/games/apsisonline/396672) if interested.