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Messages - Retropunch

Pages: 1 ... 129 130 [131] 132 133 ... 170
1951
Other Games / Re: Space Death
« on: September 18, 2014, 10:49:56 am »
This looks great, they're really taking it in an interesting direction and the videos look great! I just hope the exploration aspect is something they focus on, rather than it being a 'stop the ship blowing up' micromanaging simulator.

1952
Other Games / Re: Veins of the Earth BETA 6 is here! - feedback needed
« on: September 18, 2014, 10:46:01 am »
Quote from: Zireael on September 18, 2014, 05:38:52 am
Tell me what else do you want to see on the wiki? Sample character builds? Worldmap description?
I think you definitely need a few beginner guides, as well as some easy sample character builds (the DCSS wiki has a number of these so it might be worth looking at those for inspiration).

I think a more in depth blurb explaining the game would be good, as well as an explanation of all the key mechanics.

Then just a general hints and tips section.

1953
DF Announcements / Re: Dwarf Fortress 0.40.13 Released
« on: September 18, 2014, 10:42:57 am »
Great work as always, thanks so much for this!!

1954
Other Games / Re: Galaxia: Remember Tomorrow - 4x space strategy game (Alpha15D)
« on: September 18, 2014, 10:40:33 am »
Quote from: Ufnv on September 17, 2014, 01:20:36 pm
Now this sounds really interesting.

So, the general idea is the game does not force you to participate in any "council" not there a dedicated screen for it.
Instead this is an advanced level of diplomacy - an alternative to alliances. Basically, there can be some political structure that unites several races, giving some benefits but requiring some obligations - financial, military, etc.

In this terms, for example, "slavery" model described by Majestic7 is also a part of a "council" of a very special kind :)

You can either be invited to join, or form a new structure by yourself.

So, there should be a long list of bonuses and trade-offs and when the new "council" is found, it selects some of then as a basic rules.

Need to think about this a bit more, maybe I can make a working model...

That's exactly what I'd love to see! The rules of any alliance could be voted on, with members having more influence/power having more say. These would obviously be tied to the race preferences, so certain races might not ever join an alliance with certain rules. Other races could be joined into the alliance as time goes on as well. You could eventually end up having major alliances (like the Federation v Klingon Empire) and I think that would make for extremely interesting gameplay!

A galactic council would be just one of many forms of alliances that could come up. I'd suggest that you could even have different levels of alliances within alliances. This could work a bit like NATO is an alliance, which is within the United Nations. The United Nations style 'galactic council' would only intervene (or come together) over very major issues, and would also have some very basic rules (no attacking members, no slavery and so on). Obviously, not everyone is forced to join the council, but you would get some basic protections by joining.

Quote from: IcyTea31 on September 17, 2014, 01:26:23 pm
Another tweak to the diplomacy system might be to hide the disposition bars. After all, you should only know how much they like you by their actions, because anyone with any experience in realpolitik (interstellar empire leaders, definitely) knows to hide his exact agenda.
I agree, diplomacy should definitely be something which is a bit more fluid. The player needs to be able to actually feel immersed in the diplomacy rather than it just being about numbers. Uncovering their motives via espionage and negotiations would then become a big part of the gameplay.



1955
Other Games / Re: Veins of the Earth BETA 6 is here! - feedback needed
« on: September 17, 2014, 02:12:36 am »
Quote from: Zireael on September 17, 2014, 01:57:08 am
Quote
I don't think there's any harm from deviating, but there is some merit in being a roguelike that sticks to d20 rules. I don't know any others that do.

Incursion sticks to d20, too. :)
And as much as I love bare-bones d20, it does have its flaws.

Well, I meant in terms of other than Incursion (as that's not in very active development) and VotE is the definite successor.

I completely agree it has it's flaws, and I don't think there's any harm in deviating. If you keep it close enough so you could have a paragraph explaining the differences, then it could still be 'closely based on d20' which I think is a draw to people familiar to that setting.

1956
Other Games / Re: Galaxia: Remember Tomorrow - 4x space strategy game (Alpha15D)
« on: September 17, 2014, 01:20:09 am »
Quote from: NullForceOmega on September 16, 2014, 04:52:16 pm
I don't know about Ufnv, but the galactic council thing has always felt extremely forced and not at all useful gamewise for me at least.  I cannot even describe how poorly conceptualized the idea is, just from the perspective of trying to get multiple different intelligent species cooperating in this form of highly organized manner it does not even make the most remote sense (caveat: without a focal point such as galactic-scale conflict).

Well I'd assume that after a certain level of maturity these races would want to cooperate, at least in terms of trade/general rules? Collective bargaining would also be important, at least to smaller races.   

However, I do agree that usually galactic councils are a bit rubbish in games, as they largely just allow you to vote on random rules which are mostly not of much consequence (GalCiv2). For a galactic council to be interesting, it needs to both have solid benefits in joining, and be able to react to things that happen in game. I'd also imagine that it wouldn't always happen - perhaps only if 3-4 of the main races were on moderately good terms.

It could then arbitrate over wars, offer a joint protection fleet to members, offer better trade rates with members and so on. It'd have to be offset with some downsides, and it might not be something you always want to join, but it could shift the power/gameplay quite a lot. It would become more interesting if there were multiple councils, which would mainly just be a number of alliances. This would allow for NATO/Warsaw Pact style issues to arise.

It all depends how far you want to go into diplomacy and intrigue. I definitely agree that a rubbish galactic council isn't worth having, but an interesting one (or smaller pacts) could really shake the game up by allowing late game shifts in power - which are especially as pretty much every 4x game suffers from late game fatigue/grind.


1957
Other Games / Re: Veins of the Earth BETA 6 is here! - feedback needed
« on: September 16, 2014, 04:36:05 pm »
Quote from: Zireael on September 16, 2014, 01:21:42 pm
While you're playing beta 6, I'm brainstorming stuff for the next release, including:
  • ASCII mode improvements
  • changing prices so that the game operates on a silver standard instead of gold standard
  • introducing a parry bonus such as in Incursion
  • body parts system and the effects of hitting them
  • adding weight to money and banks you could deposit it in
  • using a defense roll instead of static AC

Some of the changes proposed are a pretty radical change compared to the game's d20 roots, so I would like some opinions.

I don't think there's any harm from deviating, but there is some merit in being a roguelike that sticks to d20 rules. I don't know any others that do.

As far as your suggestions go, I completely agree with getter77 that economy is difficult. I personally like collecting gold rather than bartering, but it needs to be carefully managed. I think the best way to do this is to go down the Baldurs Gate route where most things don't sell for much, but cost a lot to buy. Only things that are of actual consequence are worth selling, and that's because there's an actual trade off.

Adding weight to money is normally annoying I find, especially as it tends to be the one thing that you can drop in increments. Lets say your burden weight is 25.5, and you're at 24.0 and want to pick up a 1.6 weight sword, you then have to go in and drop enough gold to pick that up (and so on).

Body part systems are good, but that leaves you open to a lot of things that can quickly become annoying (head criticals, wandering around with a broken arm you can't fix) unless you balance them really well. I think it's a great way to go, but I'd urge caution as it's a huge undertaking.

Parrying sounds good though, although I personally prefer static AC.

1958
Other Games / Re: Galaxia: Remember Tomorrow - 4x space strategy game (Alpha15D)
« on: September 16, 2014, 04:25:24 pm »
Quote from: Ufnv on September 16, 2014, 03:53:32 pm
BTW, one question regarding "galactic council" prototype. Do you think it makes sense to make know all races that are known to the race you have just met? The more I think about it the more it sounds logical. Without this features you are basically restricted with two-three races you met and they often do not know each other, that limits diplomacy options.

I think the galactic council should only come about in the middle game. I don't think it matters if this is done by a requirement (once you meet three races for instance) or just on a time limit. Once it is formed, it should include all races, including ones you don't know.

If you wanted to make it even more involved (and I think it would be great), you could make it so that you have to be invited into the galactic council by the top three/four civilizations (unless you are one, in which case you are contacted by the other three to start a council). This might involve a number of things to gain access, such as giving a large amount of your economy or sharing technology. You'd then obviously have to make contact with one of the top three civilizations.

As others have said, I think a key point of 4x games should be the ability to play and win without war and I think galactic councils, diplomacy and espionage make that possible.


Quote from: greatorder on September 16, 2014, 03:50:36 pm
This really, REALLY gives me a Distant Worlds kind of feel. As in near-reproduction feel.

I really, really don't get that. I mean, other than that it's a 4x in space?? 

1959
Other Games / Re: Galaxia: Remember Tomorrow - 4x space strategy game (Alpha15D)
« on: September 16, 2014, 02:50:55 pm »
Quote from: Ufnv on September 16, 2014, 02:34:50 pm
Quote
This could all be made deeper with things like a galactic council which could be formed to preside over disputes, and so on.
This is currently the thing I'd like to avoid :)
Can I ask why you want to avoid it? I've always liked the idea of a galactic council (or planetary council in terms of things like Alpha Centauri, or Holy Roman Empire in EUIV). It gives you something to aim for in terms of manipulating things in your favour, and it also allows game changing decisions to be made that truly alter the course of the game. The key would be to make it more interesting than just useless mandates and rules which you have to follow.

Quote
I can understand the problems with writing a lot of dialogue, but I'd be more than happy to proof read (for free) the dialogue if you need the help, and I'm sure many creative people here would be happy to write some fluff dialogue to pad things out.
Thanks!

Quote
I like the tactical combat plans, although I'd like to see the player gaining more abilities/controls rather than just 'attack'.
Do you mean in combat, or in the game overall?
[/quote]
I mean in combat mostly. Currently, you're only able to position and attack, whereas it would be good if there were more things to consider. Positioning could be made more important and you manage the power output of ships to shields or weapons.

1960
Other Games / Re: Galaxia: Remember Tomorrow - 4x space strategy game (Alpha15D)
« on: September 16, 2014, 10:54:05 am »
Quote from: Ufnv on September 16, 2014, 07:50:57 am
Thank you for your reports :)

Yes, I am constantly developing this further and I understand the game needs some unique feature in it.

Re: Diplomacy. I think the way to do it is to have a number of racial traits and variables which modify how well they'll respond to things rather than just 'friendship'. These aren't just to do diplomacy, but how the races are 'feeling' at any moment and what their future plans are. Then you just need to give the player ways to interact with those in a meaningful way. This does require a large amount of options and the ability to uncovering their wants and needs through diplomacy or espionage.

For instance, lets say you have the Humans and the Valagars, and the Valagars want a steady supply of ore from the Humans. The Valagars gain the information through bribes/espionage that the Humans are wanting to expand to the Foo system which is currently occupied by the Arians, so the Valagars approach them with an offer to trade the ore for help causing unrest in the Foo system. This makes the humans distrust them due to how they know this information, but they go along with it. Once they've managed to cause unrest, the Valagars then blackmail the humans into giving them more ore or they'll tell the Arians about the plot. The humans decline, and that brings all three parties to the table to negotiate a settlement to stop a three way war.

It's just about giving them player loads of options and the information to make interesting decisions. If the humans war weariness was up, they might have not wanted to risk a war, but their distrust of the Valagars might have overridden that. However, a racial trait of 'pride' might make it unlikely that they would want to be seen to be involved in devious tactics like that. This could all be made deeper with things like a galactic council which could be formed to preside over disputes, and so on.

I can understand the problems with writing a lot of dialogue, but I'd be more than happy to proof read (for free) the dialogue if you need the help, and I'm sure many creative people here would be happy to write some fluff dialogue to pad things out.

I like the tactical combat plans, although I'd like to see the player gaining more abilities/controls rather than just 'attack'. I also think independent planets would be great, and add a lot of life to the galaxy too!

1961
Other Games / Re: Galaxia: Remember Tomorrow - 4x space strategy game (Alpha15D)
« on: September 16, 2014, 02:04:06 am »
Quote from: Majestic7 on September 16, 2014, 12:58:24 am
So, after playing the newest version for some time, I must say the game is remarkably stable for being an Alpha. I haven't had a single CTD nor ran across any gamekilling bugs. Things encountered s far have all been quite major.

Altogether, I'd say you have the basics. I've seen commercial 4X done worse than this as finished products; this game can already deliver all basic functionalities of the genre. What it lacks is its own special atmosphere. I mean some mechanics, contents and atmosphere that will go players go WOW! and tell about it to their friends, instead of being just "I played some 4X". I think it is special things like that which makes games rise a head above the masses. If a game only gives the same stuff Master of Orion gave decades ago, why not play Master of Orion instead, you know?

Anyway, I'm sure you have great things planned and it is impressive the Alpha alone is good enough to be considered a full, even if somewhat bland, 4X!

I kinda agree that you need a 'big' mechanic somewhere to differentiate it. It's a lot better than loads of commercial 4x games, and I believe with some extra work on the interface and some more content/balance it will be absolutely fantastic. Still, it does need something. Distant Worlds had immense automation, Endless space had showy space battles and rpg elements, GalCiv2 had areas of influence and was generally amazing.
 
I'd thoroughly, thoroughly encourage you to make diplomacy and espionage your star attraction. I don't think any 4x games have got this down really well - it's always just a case of 'give gift/demand gift/war/peace' which is really boring. You could have proper star trek style diplomacy with backroom deals, blackmail, bribes and all sorts. With this on top of a solid 4x engine (as you've got) it'd be really, really impressive

1962
Other Games / Re: Galaxia: Remember Tomorrow - 4x space strategy game (Alpha15D)
« on: September 15, 2014, 09:31:50 am »
Quote from: Ufnv on September 15, 2014, 08:40:17 am
I've just added the game to IndieDB!

Galaxia: Remember Tomorrow

That link doesn't work correctly for me unfortunately, although I've found it anyway - good job!

1963
Other Games / Re: Games you wish existed
« on: September 15, 2014, 02:50:16 am »
The Battlefleet gothic Vassal plugin is great as well - slightly easier to get to grips with as you can just have like '2 on 2' battle. I just wish someone could make some sort of AI, and a slightly better interface with some automation.

Such a shame that GW is so ridiculous about their copyright. I get that copyright is important for a lot of companies, but they're definitely at a stage where they could do with drumming up more interest in their IPs, as less and less people are buying the extortionate tabletop stuff and they don't seem to be able to come out with anything particular great.

I'm sacrificing to Khorn daily to try to keep them off Chapter Master.

1964
Other Games / Re: Looking for similar game mecanics. (CrusaderKing2 Game of throne)
« on: September 15, 2014, 02:43:29 am »
I'm also a big fan of that kind of thing, but unfortunately there's just not much about other than other paradox games. Things like King of the Dragon Pass have similar elements, but not really on the same kinda scale.

As far as just general diplomacy it's a tricky one in games too. I really feel it's the most severely neglected part of modern 4x/strat games. There's such a lot that could be done to make it more interesting, but instead it's usually 'declare war or give gift'.

1965
Other Games / Re: Remember Tomorrow - an indie 4x space strategy game
« on: September 14, 2014, 04:02:19 am »
Woahhh just got round to playing this and it's awesome - very polished and some awesome graphics. The combat is great, and I'm sure with a few more tactical options it would become probably the best 4x combat. You should really think about putting this on steam - it's way better than a lot of 4x games out there.

I've made a list below of some feedback - some of it is quite nitpicking/overly-critical, so I apologise for that. Also, a lot of these are personal preference (and mainly UI based, as I haven't had time to play enough for balance):

-The first thing that struck me was the cursor angle. Somehow it's...off. I think it needs to be rotated to the left a tiny bit. Seriously, I know it's a tiny issue, but it feels really strange - for the first 5 minutes it felt like if you haven't calibrated a touch screen properly.
 
-Right clicking to move ships on the galaxy map is also a bit odd. I'd like to be able to click on a ship and then right click where I want it to go. Right clicking, then left clicking seems strange and took me a while to figure out.

-There could do with being a 'universal' build screen, where you can set build orders for all your planets. If there is one I haven't found it yet. I think it'd be great to have it instead of where the 'rotate' option is on the main screen. I don't think it's needed, and it'd be a useful thing to have there

-I got immediately attacked by pirates. Perhaps there could be a 'safe' year or something so you've got time to work out what everything does/get used to things.

-The research screen could do with being a little bit clearer somehow. Perhaps having research in a 'tree' style would be better, as in a list it becomes a bit tricky to know what's what somehow.


Really, great work and I can't wait to see how this develops!

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