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Kickstarter for a single player space combat game, looking for a modest $7,500 more details on Kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ravenswordindustries/project-orion-0

 

Website http://www.projectoriongame.com/

 

 

 

 

Project Orion is a first person space combat experience. It features epic large scale battles, intense dogfighting, and an in-depth storyline. Project Orion takes place in a future where humanity has been at war for decades, only to find that their true enemy, a threat to their very existence, has just appeared. As a veteran pilot in the TDF navy outfitted with the latest in starfighter technology, you are on the front lines of the battle for our survival.

Quick Feature Rundown  

  • Intense fast-paced combat, the core of Project Orion  
  • Utilize the advanced energy routing of you ship to switch strategies at a moments notice
  • Extensive customization and research system
  • Fully featured single player campaign with an in depth story
  • Squadron control system to issue orders to your allies in battle

Platforms and Release Date

The target platform for Project Orion is Steam for Windows, with an estimated release date of mid-August 2015.

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Combat is at the core of Project Orion. The gameplay has been designed with a focus on what would give the player the best possible combat experience. For us that meant providing the player with as many options as possible to allow them to define their own unique play style.

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The most powerful ability given to the player is the Orion’s dynamic energy routing system. This allows the player to change strategies on the fly by instantly sending your ships power reserves to whichever system you need most. You can use speed to outmaneuver your enemies, power up your shields to survive the most dangerous assaults, or overload your weapons to rain destruction on your foes.

 

 

 

 


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7 minutes of game play footage, only 14 days left on the Kickstarter and theirs still a good chance of hitting the target if they can get some more exposure of the game. they have also been Greenlighed on Steam so they may appear on Steams early access at some point in time.

 


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DarkOne
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Definitely looks promising and the visuals are actually quite good and the combat looks fun. Would be nice to hear more about the campaign.


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Not enough updates as far as I can tell as they seem to have only done 4 but they still have 11 days to go and target not a high one, so still a good chance they could hit it if they start pumping the updates out.


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 Anonymous
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Hi guys, I'm actually the lead programmer on Project Orion and I'd really like to answer your questions and hear your feedback on our project.  DarkOne, what would you like to know about the campaign?  We're going to be putting out more updates in the coming days and finding out what people want to hear would be fantastic.


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Welcome to the forums Silent8Strike A few question for you regarding the game.

 

Will you be able to explore you base ship between missions or are you going for the more static screens as in Wing Commander?.

 

Noticed that their appears to be no leading target reticle in the game footage, will you be adding one?.

 

Will their be a match target speed key?.

 

Will their be a Paypal option at a later date, I only ask as I can't use Kickstarter at the moment.


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 Anonymous
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Welcome to the forums Silent8Strike A few question for you regarding the game.

 

Will you be able to explore you base ship between missions or are you going for the more static screens as in Wing Commander?

 

You will be able to explore your base ship in between missions. We're using this as a more in-depth way of telling the story, rather than using just cinematics and static screens.

 

Noticed that their appears to be no leading target reticle in the game footage, will you be adding one?.

 

Its interesting that you mention a lead reticle, as the functional prototype code exists for one in the current build but we have it disabled.  If we enable it would you prefer it be toggleable or constantly enabled?

 

Will their be a match target speed key?.

 

This is a feature that has been requested before, and we think it's a great idea.  It would be simple to implement this feature in future builds.

 

Will their be a Paypal option at a later date, I only ask as I can't use Kickstarter at the moment.

  

I know that unfortunately Kickstarter's payment system is an issue for many people.  We're exploring our options right now as for what we will do post-Kickstarter, whether we will set up our own store or possibly use Steam Early Access.  We will post an update with any news regarding this in the future.


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I would say that the leading reticle should be on as default and you should definitely add the match speed key along with a ship roll keys and the boost key if you don't have them already.

 

I would also say that you should add the enemy ship hull and shield strength to the center target or onto the reticle.


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 Anonymous
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I would say that the leading reticle should be on as default and you should definitely add the match speed key along with a ship roll keys and the boost key if you don't have them already.

 

I would also say that you should add the enemy ship hull and shield strength to the center target or onto the reticle.

Thanks for the feedback, having the enemy shield and hull stats somewhere visible is a good idea.  We will definitely be implementing the match speed key soon.


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You guys need to be doing a lot more updates as you are about the half way mark and you can still hit your target, have you contacted Brain on SPG http://www.spacegamejunkie.com/ as he might be able to do you a podcast in the next couple of days as well as hitting some of the youtuber who cover games.


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 Anonymous
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You guys need to be doing a lot more updates as you are about the half way mark and you can still hit your target, have you contacted Brain on SPG http://www.spacegamejunkie.com/ as he might be able to do you a podcast in the next couple of days as well as hitting some of the youtuber who cover games.

 

You're right, and were preparing a couple of big updates we will release today and more over the next few days.  We have been in touch with Brian, and just recently sent him the latest build of Project Orion to preview.

 

On a related note, do you think it would be beneficial to release this build to the public? Its something we have been considering over the last few days as it's stable enough.

 

Edit: Our latest update has been released -  https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ravenswordindustries/project-orion-0/posts/1256579


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On a related note, do you think it would be beneficial to release this build to the public? Its something we have been considering over the last few days as it's stable enough.

 

Was just going to ask if you had any plans to release a demo of the game, no idea how much of a difference it will make to the Kickstarter but you should start seeing some feedback on the game if you go ahead with it.

 

Nice update on the game.


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Waervyn
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Backed! Not sure if you guys are going to make it, but hope so! Looks awesome 🙂


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Demo now available on the Kickstarter page and they are asking for feed back on their forum. http://www.projectoriongame.com/forum/thread-52.html

 

Anyone know what size of download this is?.


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Waervyn
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Oh man, wish I could try this out now and give feedback. I'm away on fieldwork with a crappy laptop 🙁


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Just over the $4 grand mark and another 57 hours to hit the target.


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 Anonymous
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Thanks for backing us Waervyn!  The deadline is looming, but we're going to keep moving forward with updates and PR and hopefully we get a last minute bump.  Pinback, the demo is almost right on 1GB.  Its large but did my best to compress it and 3.2GB to 1 isn't a terrible ratio.


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Thanks for backing us Waervyn!  The deadline is looming, but we're going to keep moving forward with updates and PR and hopefully we get a last minute bump.  Pinback, the demo is almost right on 1GB.  Its large but did my best to compress it and 3.2GB to 1 isn't a terrible ratio.

 

Good compression but far too much for me unfortunately.

 

Looks like they have had a last minute bump as they are the $6 grand mark but still need about $1500 to hit the target and only another 19 hours to go.

 

New update and the demo has been updated.

 

 

We're back with another big update on the project, with more story, art, and design news. 

First however we want to take a minute to discuss the Kickstarter campaign. We're just under 48 hours from the end, and we've still got quite a way to go. At this point all we can try and do is reach as many people as possible and hope for the best. We know all our backers have done everything they can to help us, and we're extremely grateful for that. If you know anyone who might be on the fence about backing, this is the time to convince them! 

No matter how the campaign ends we will be finishing Project Orion, but we may have to sacrifice some of our vision to do so. Now on to the actual update! 

Campaign and Missions 

Today we want to share some more specifics on the campaign, including flow, mission count, and mission types. 

Beginning with progression, the campaign will move forward with the completion of individual missions launched from the mission/galaxy map. In between missions you will have the opportunity to explore the interior of your Capital Ship where you can customize your ship, speak to other characters, and overhear their conversations with others. We plan on adding more unique content to interact with as well. The capital ship gives us a lot of freedom to express the story in both direct and indirect ways, and we plan on taking full advantage of it. 

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We currently have 15 fully-featured missions planned, featuring a wide variety of gameplay. From epic two sided battle missions (like our current demo), to stealth, assault, pursuit, escort, and even out of ship exploration. We're focused on providing great variety in the missions so that each one will be unique and interesting, rather than repeating the same style over and over. 

Art Updates 

We've got a few more ships currently in progress to show you, in this case both frigates. 

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While significantly smaller than their capital ships, the Arckin frigate is still a force to be reckoned with. Typically deployed in small numbers as scouts ahead of a larger fleet, or in support of a capital ship. They can easily go toe-to-toe with a TDF frigate or in larger numbers even a capital ship. They carry a surprisingly large amount of support fighters as well given their size. 

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The TDF frigate is an aging but robust design. Carrying a much larger engine than most ships of its size, it's often used for shock value by charging at enemy formations and firing from close range. This oversized powerplant also allows it to be heavily armored without impeding maneuverability. Its primary weapon, stretching almost the full length of the ship, is a railgun capable of firing projectiles at over 20 kilometers per second. It has a small hangar allowing it to deploy a few support fighters, but depends mostly on its anti-fighter turrets to keep small craft away. 

Squadron Command Design 

Although still in the design stages, we want to go into detail on the current implementation of squadron commands. Commands will be given from a radial menu similar to the Energy Routing menu in game right now. Because of the fast paced nature of combat, stopping to give precise orders is just not an option. To account for this, time will slow significantly while the order menu is open, allowing you to free look and designate target for orders without worrying about flying into an asteroid. The final list of commands isn't finalized, but we will be sure to keep you updated on future developments. 

Demo Update 

Yesterday we updated the demo to fix a few input related bugs, such as inversion and the auto-roll functionality.

Thats all for now!

-The Project Orion Team


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DarkOne
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Congrats on making the funding goal on Kickstarter!

 

Hopefully that will give you some added motivation 🙂

 

Those models look great and can't wait to see what you do with the interiors.


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Awesome that they hit the target 😎 hope we a PayPal option in the future so the rest of can get in on the game.


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 Anonymous
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We we're amazed at how quickly things turned around in the last 24 hours of the campaign.  I think it had a lot to do with being a featured project for that last day, as our biggest issue during the campaign was lack of exposure.

 

We're working on setting up a paypal backing method right now, and it should be ready in a few days at the most.


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Exposure important but anyone doing a Kickstarter has to be prepared to do it as a second job as in 24/7 for the length of the Kickstarter and anything which gets over the 50% mark usually has a good chance of being funded.

 

Nice one Silent8Strike will keep a look out for the PayPal option.


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Store page is up with two options, a download version and a box version of the game.


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 Anonymous
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Just wanted to stop in and post a bit of an update. For one thing we've just started releasing early alpha builds to all Alpha backers and above.  The Alphas will have a lot of new content in them, so people without Alpha access can expect lots of content in the Dev Blog posts coming up.  We've got a post here detailing the new content here:   https://www.projectoriongame.com/news-05-alpha-begins/

 

We've also released quite a few Dev Blog posts discussing our progress and showing new content.  You can check them out here:   https://www.projectoriongame.com/category/devblog/

 

I'm still around to answer any questions as well, so please post if there is anything you want to know.


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Any news on when the game will hit Steam?


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