If by "artifact" you mean some kind of unknown mechanical device from some long lost alien race then it sounds nice. I don't think any shield would be able to stop the amount of exploding energy spewn from a sun going nova and you wouldn't be able to absorb it either, not with a ship at least. So it should be something like a small moon sized starbase (Star Wars Death Star?) which should be advanced enough and which had enough power to make the sun go nova.
After the nova, there's only one thing - send in salvage drones and vessels to collect loot
Exactly that. I mean artifacts in Stellar Flux are are like some of the items from Weird Worlds 2. Only a handful of them are the generic Stats Boosting kind. Most of them are REALLY unique, and do stuff that cannot be done any other means. Some of them unlocks a totally new aspects of the game. For example "God in Box" is an artifact that doesn't do much but it keeps commenting player actions and give hints and warning. Kind a like that talking sword from Baldurs Gate 2. But much more extended. As of supernova - shielding from that is actually quite easy if you let your imagination go wild. Let me elaborate.
Troubles can be fixed, but if you can avoid them before they occur - that's even better. So when the sun goes supernova - instead of shielding against the explosion - you just avoid the effect by using an artifact called "Starblink". What does it do? It makes you vanish from the universe to a empty pocket plane. There's noting there to do or to interact with and you can come back any time you want. Sounds kind a lame and useless? Well not when your engines are damaged/out of energy and there's a comet heading your way... Or when the sector's sun goes supernova. But the timing is crucial because artifacts have long cooldowns.
In most cases - the player will be warned that the sun will go supernova and a counter will pop on screen. So the player has hurry and leave the sector before that or die. But yes, there are couple of ways to survive that, but I won't make them obvious. Its for the players to figure out and exploit.
Stargate Universe? Like when Atlantis goes near the sun to refuel? 🙂
Going to add a Dyson Sphere, Swarm, Ring, Bubble or Shell around suns?
Also take a look at the comets when they fly past suns, their tail trail is moving away from suns solar wind, not following the comets trajectory.
Yup. But the player has to do this carefully. Because the closer the spaceship is to the sun - the faster energy is collected and absorbed... But he also starts receiving damage and can burn himself. The burnage gets stronger the closer you are to the sun.
Dyson Sphere - I love the design and I always wanted to have it in my game but I leave this for later as I have to figure out the Right Way to implement it. It couldn't be the sector's sun, it has to be as something else, something extra. And meaningful. I hate so called "dead content" aka content in games that is there and its fully functional - but never actually used by the players. E.g Master level spells in Skyrim. Flashy, eye candy, powerful and... Totally unusable because of their casting speed and shitty range. I always try to avoid those sort of game elements. If something feels useless - I'd rather just kick it out from the game and replace with something remotely useful.
As of comets tails - I might not follow physics here. I mean, most people would think this is a bug or a glitch lol. And I already can see myself going left and right replying to "comet trail bug" reports that its actually realistic hahah. You know what I mean. Imagine Super Mario without jump control.
Why not? It would make the game truly alive. I mean, space is a dangerous place, dangers everywhere so you ought to be careful. Wanna be safe? Dock in the station. Well, there's pause button too. Imagine you warp into a sector, full of roids, or exactly at the moment whe the sun lashes an emp flare, or going nova. That would make players blood boil from adrenaline, I know mine would, trying to stay alive or helpless after an emp flare, unless you're prepared for it
There is High Difficulty and Unfair/Random Difficulty. If I, as a player, did something wrong or in a wrong way or just "not good enough", then I can make peace with the fact that I lost my game or suffered some sort of penalty. Because I just did not had what it takes. But if its random, based purely on dice roll? That's bullshit. I hate that in games. Because it doesn't give me any chance or opportunity to defend myself. Its like being killed right after respawn. We all are getting our asses handed to us on daily basis in real life. And in most cases we don't have control of the situation. I don't want to mimic this in game. Plus, the game is actually being designed as casual. Like Weird World. I want action only in action related situation, such as combat. Beyond that - I want the player to have time to admire the game world, and make decisions without being rushed. I want the player to actually take time and taste the game, not just run for the finish.
Ships hurling roids with tractor beams or using them as shields or a weapon of bombardment and destruction is awesome 🙂
Planet, roid, comet rigging? Plant a powerful enough bomb near the core and then wait for unsuspecting enemies to land for mining or trading etc.
Nano drones swarm? Ripping enemy armor and hull apart.
Both salvaging parts are good. Ripping exploded, unusable or derelict ships for matterials and equipment with drones or boarding and claiming ship for your fleet or your pocket by selling it are always welcome
Exactly that. You know what I love in games? When I am being given various options to deal with the situation. Derelicts are a perfect example of that. You can blow it into pieced and collect plenty but raw resources, or send in a team to check the ship board, or just leave it intact and tow the ship to nearest starport for sale.
Shouldn't the planet collapse being sucked in? I understand the explosion of a core, but instead of planet going "pop" like a balloon it should crumble and then explode into peaces. Of course there should be a landmass separating, the atmosphere burning the surface etc. etc., but that's just too much of a headache to implement in 🙂 So just try to make the planet crumble, explode and all of the pieces to be sucked in if possible
Oh I will tweak that sequence. Whatcha see now is a total WIP. I won't go as far as dynamic dissolvation of the planet because it might cost more then its worth. But there will be a lot of extending. Just you wait! 😀
Before I "forgot" as I'm celebrating New Years eve check these two games for some nice ideas:
Star Nomad 2
http://store.steampowered.com/app/414950/
There are some minor features that I like.
and
Anarkis Unending Galaxy
http://www.anarkisgaming.com/unending-galaxy-info/
Anarkis UG has some really nice X series features in 2D, fleets, stations, factions etc. which I really like as I'm a big fan of X series.
P.S.
Happy New Year mate!
Oh I know Star Nomad! 😀 Both the game and its creator. Silverforce created some incredibly organic and realistic game interactions. The trading system for example. Pure awesomeness.
As of Anarkis - Thx! I actually was not aware of this game existence! Looks damn good! 😀
Thank you Aule, sorry for the delay in reply. And a late Happy New year! I strongly believe that this year will bring a lot of joyful moments 🙂
Small Update (Because of the weekend)
So because there is another long weekend going on - I cannot work too much on the game. But I did found couple of spare minutes to check something out. I've made a test music(?) for Stellar Flux . It was something new as I've never made space music before. My domain are rather creepy, brainmelting, horror tunes. But this ain't that bad. Give it a listen and tell me what do you think, but don't expect Mozart. Its the result of around 30 minutes of work. So no fireworks.
You can listen to/get the music for free from here
And ANOTHER update! 😀 (I am on fire, oh yeah!~ )
Ingame VIDEO! 😀 Finally I am getting my shit kind a sorted after all those holidays and I have something that's in motion. There is not that much to do ingame, but there will be. For now - its more of a showreel of how the in game looks and feels. I am trying my best to make the game world feel and be both interactive and alive. So nothing is pure "decoration". Stray roids can be catched. They smash into sun, spaceships, planets and each other. Planet can collide, black holes sucks everything in, suns burns. And I am adding new elements each day. Hope you'll like it. I am doing my best.
[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Wvp1beqHfw[/media]
UPDATE! 😀
Okay guys, you've seen a lot of space vistas. But what about spaceships and stuff? Well I got that covered for you. Of course its all still Work In Progress so everything will be polished and might change. So take this more as a early design rather then final graphics. Hope you like it.
[CLICK THE PICTURE TO ENLARGE]
UPDATE! 😀
Okay guys, you've seen a lot of space vistas. But what about spaceships and stuff? Well I got that covered for you. Of course its all still Work In Progress so everything will be polished and might change. So take this more as a early design rather then final graphics. Hope you like it.
[CLICK THE PICTURE TO ENLARGE]
Can you write under the ships their name and type (Drone, Miner, Fighter, Destroyer, Cruiser, Carrier, Dreadnaught, Station etc.)
P.S. Nice updates mate 🙂
And ANOTHER update! 😀 (I am on fire, oh yeah!~ )
Ingame VIDEO! 😀 Finally I am getting my shit kind a sorted after all those holidays and I have something that's in motion. There is not that much to do ingame, but there will be. For now - its more of a showreel of how the in game looks and feels. I am trying my best to make the game world feel and be both interactive and alive. So nothing is pure "decoration". Stray roids can be catched. They smash into sun, spaceships, planets and each other. Planet can collide, black holes sucks everything in, suns burns. And I am adding new elements each day. Hope you'll like it. I am doing my best.
[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Wvp1beqHfw[/media]
Nice, but I hope sectors are going to be bigger, or borderless, more open space 🙂 Because, sun, blackhole and planets seem too close to each other. Add ships near them and they'd look similar in size 🙂
Small Update (Because of the weekend)
So because there is another long weekend going on - I cannot work too much on the game. But I did found couple of spare minutes to check something out. I've made a test music(?) for Stellar Flux . It was something new as I've never made space music before. My domain are rather creepy, brainmelting, horror tunes. But this ain't that bad. Give it a listen and tell me what do you think, but don't expect Mozart. Its the result of around 30 minutes of work. So no fireworks.
You can listen to/get the music for free from here
Background music? Not bad and calming to say the least 🙂
Nice, but I hope sectors are going to be bigger, or borderless, more open space 🙂 Because, sun, blackhole and planets seem too close to each other. Add ships near them and they'd look similar in size 🙂
A LOT bigger. The player starts with access to small sectors but as he warps from sector to sector the size of the Sectors are getting dynamicly bigger. This sector is Size 10. And Sizes goes from 10 to 60. Where the number indicates how many tiles are there one each X/Y axis. So a Size 10 sector is actually a grid of 10 x 10 tiles. Which gives us 100 tiles. In the other hand Size 60 means the sector has 60 x 60 tiles. Which is 3600. Thats 36 times bigger then the smallest.
Background music? Not bad and calming to say the least 🙂
Some new stuff has happen and I won't be making the music for Stellar Flux anymore. I've found someone else. Far better then I will ever be. And that person is capable of making music the caliber of e.g Inception or Interstellar. But *hush!* for now. Very soon I will present you my new "partner in crime 🙂
Oh and about the ships I still need to work on them. They look good but are too dark. Thats because I am experimenting right now with a dynamic lighting. So they have to be that dark for the Light source to actually shine on them. If I fail to do so - I will just make the graphics lighter.
A LOT bigger. The player starts with access to small sectors but as he warps from sector to sector the size of the Sectors are getting dynamicly bigger. This sector is Size 10. And Sizes goes from 10 to 60. Where the number indicates how many tiles are there one each X/Y axis. So a Size 10 sector is actually a grid of 10 x 10 tiles. Which gives us 100 tiles. In the other hand Size 60 means the sector has 60 x 60 tiles. Which is 3600. Thats 36 times bigger then the smallest.
Some new stuff has happen and I won't be making the music for Stellar Flux anymore. I've found someone else. Far better then I will ever be. And that person is capable of making music the caliber of e.g Inception or Interstellar. But *hush!* for now. Very soon I will present you my new "partner in crime 🙂
Oh and about the ships I still need to work on them. They look good but are too dark. Thats because I am experimenting right now with a dynamic lighting. So they have to be that dark for the Light source to actually shine on them. If I fail to do so - I will just make the graphics lighter.
Good, bigger sector size means more exploration, exploitation and extermination 😉
Glad to hear, you've got a music composer in your team it'll ease some of the stress and work on your project.
No worries about the ship sprites as they're still WIP, bud I'd like to know their role so people could give feedbacks and suggestions what to improve, change etc. 🙂
Good, bigger sector size means more exploration, exploitation and extermination 😉
Glad to hear, you've got a music composer in your team it'll ease some of the stress and work on your project.
No worries about the ship sprites as they're still WIP, bud I'd like to know their role so people could give feedbacks and suggestions what to improve, change etc. 🙂
Aaaand you just gave me another awesome idea.
Oh and...
Polished and upgraded the starship sprites a bit. I think this is as close as it gets to what I had in mind. And thats the last update for Stellar Flux for couple of days... I got food poisoned and I am barely seing what I type. Plus my kid got fever so we all be staying home for next couple of days.
[CLICK TO ENLARGE]
Aaaand you just gave me another awesome idea.
Oh and...
Polished and upgraded the starship sprites a bit. I think this is as close as it gets to what I had in mind. And thats the last update for Stellar Flux for couple of days... I got food poisoned and I am barely seing what I type. Plus my kid got fever so we all be staying home for next couple of days.
[CLICK TO ENLARGE]
Well they look much better now, good job on those sprites 🙂 The 1st on second row looks like a skull, is it a pirate ship of sorts? 🙂 What about shadows? If planets have them ships should have them too. Engine needs trails or glow too 🙂
All of your ships are a bit round, some pointy ships with corners are needed (imagine heavy armor plated ships), bio-organic, crystal type, well I think you get the drift. Well, I hope there's going to be a bigger sort of ships with different factions, races etc. Also no need to add wings, tails, fins for aerodynamics as it doesn't exist in space 🙂
P.S.
I hope you and your child will get better soon 😉
P.P.S.
That music composer of yours is he EricMatyas perhaps? 🙂
He's got some great music and sounds for all theme types free for commercial and non-comercial purposes in his website.
Or Przemyslav (Przem on youtube)?
He's got some nice music on his youtube channel 🙂
Nicely done, keep up the good work mate 🙂
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