Another update from Maksw about the UI http://dominium.maksw.com/2013/06/25/ui-work-has-begun/

Interesting blog update from Marsw about weapons http://dominium.maksw.com/2013/06/28/weapons-101/

I have to say I'm loving the ideas about weapons. If these could be put in practice and in a good way .... well, it's one of those things that add another layer of fun to a game.

Weapons which have gravitational disturbances is a interesting idea but their would have to be some way of stopping them from being all powerful.

Another update, this one dealing with giving the player a captain log of their adventures 😎 . http://dominium.maksw.com/2013/07/05/a-brief-history-of-dominium-time/

new one about the galactic economy  http://dominium.maksw.com/2013/07/11/a-consistent-dynamic-galactic-economy/

Video about turrets, hardpoints and add on ect 😎

Me thinks Maksw is building up content for another go at fund raising?

Hi y'all 🙂

@Geraldine - nah, or - not really. It may happen again - but the time and effort for the fundraising distracts massively from actually doing "dev" work. All that time is now going into dev 🙂

Current plan is : Get bare-bones decent UI up and running, to allow trade between the systems. Get enough in to shoot at NPC's and get shot at. Then some tidyups and get a bare-bones playable out there, so I can start worrying about compatibility problems early on.

Then - after fixing everything that needs fixing and some more polish - steam / "Playable Alpha" sales. 

I won't rule out Fundraisers again - but for now, time and effort is best spent on "de game" 🙂

And trying not to be disheartened by watching the awesome X-Rebirth videos doing exactly the kind of detail I want in Dom 🙂

Sigh, slowly slowly...  😉

Slower perhaps, but progress is still progress. Glad your still at it

What helps about playable alphas that people pay for is that they own a copy of the game but also get to help bug squash and maybe even feedback on game direction in the process. There is a few games doing that route since its hard to get on to Steam.

Would not be too disheartened by X-Rrebirth after all Egosoft have been at it for a few years and theirs is some doubts about some of the game elements they have gone for in the game.

Ah - I remember playing the original X when it first came out - but can't actually remember if I enjoyed it or not... that may be a bad thing. Either X was 'forgettable', or my memory is failing... 🙂

But, X-Rebirth looks the part, I hope they don't flop on the gameplay - that would be criminal. It looks superb and I want that level of detail. Sadly, it can never happen without big-budget-busting team sizes.

As far as Dom goes - I've taken a "time-out" the past two weeks, to analyse the novel I've been writing (which is set in Dominium) whilst commuting on the Tube over the past eight months. it got to about 130k words (a decent short novel) - but "editing" it is only possible with some dedicated hard slog at home. Originally it was going to be a novella as a reward for the Kickstarter - however it's now kinda 'grown' into a fully fledged trilogy!

I'm now back on the UI work - which is just that little pinch away from bringing some basic gameplay together (ie. navigate to system via star-chart, then dock and browse economy/market to do some trading). UI is a major time-suck, because it's all that "tiny detail" which hangs it all together that you can't see... and I've made a rod for my own back by wanting 'clever' looking 3D UI. When will I learn... probably never 😉

Weapons which have gravitational disturbances is a interesting idea but their would have to be some way of stopping them from being all powerful.

Sorry Pinback - only just spotted this one - and wanted to clarify as what I'm intending probably came across as an "uber-weapon" - which you quite rightly observe may be too powerful. 

I admit I did toy with "singularity" bombs and so on - and ruled them out for precisely that reason. Too powerful, too "surprising" to the player who gets caught in one. I may yet put them in - but they would be very short range, and abundantly obvious what was about to happen so you can avoid it somehow.

Anyway - the weapon payload I am planning is more to prevent ships from using their g-drives, either pulling them back down into "normal space" as they fly along a trade route, or preventing them escaping. Think "mass locked" from Elite. Disturbances (or large masses) affect g-drive technology, which can throw them off course (ie. a ship, or space station), or even prevent them from being used if large enough (like a satellite/moon). So mines could fabricate gravitational disturbances and be used to lay traps. They can be countered by targeting them and destroying them, or hitting them with EMP's.

Of course, those ships that do not use g-drives won't be affected... making these weapons useless against them 🙂

Still breathing... still working on Dom... 😉

Latest post on the (now) solidified 3D UI (still work in progress mind, but now doing what I wanted it to...)

Nice update but if you move menus off screen will you have any indication that they are open in the main view.

Just remembered what that yellow text on a blue background reminded me off, an Amstrad 464.

Ha har! Awesome - yes - or the Commodore Plus 4? I'm sure it had yellow on blue...

The menu's will probably remain 'fixed' for precisely that reason - consistent navigation. 

I've got lots of things to consider with letting the player move stuff about - namely 'losing' stuff, but I've got a fair number of ideas which will help. Ultimately I don't want the player bogged down with 'desktop management' to play the game - so these toys will be there, but not in your face or forced 'ui micro management'.

I'm, kinda liking your new UI system, the ability to resize and move the positions of the UI items I think will be great. What resolution were you running when you made the video, I thought the UI items used up a lot of screen real estate, would these look smaller on higher resolutions? But you also over come that with the resizing option, I did really like that ability to travel with commodities window open and watch it update as you pass through. And even in a rough state I like what you are trying to do with the galaxy map. Keep up the efforts and Maksw, and do you have your stories for sale or for download?

Cheers D1 🙂

The res was 1920x1080 - and as it's all 'rough as', yeh, it looks a little overly large. Getting the right sized font for this is going to be 'interesting' 🙂 I want it to be flexible, but not cluttered / overly complex - so clarity will be king. But, so is content... lots of tweaking to do and suggestions are always welcome 🙂

The book's being proof-read now by some volunteers - then I have a final  pass to do on it... then 'decisions'... do I self-publish? (it will be for sale, revenue to go toward the game!)... or do I chase a publisher/agent/etc.

Self-publish has it's appeal (naturally) - but then as I know from the Kickstarters - getting enough people to see it is no easy matter!

Hey - if you like, I could dump the first chapter in here in a thread? It would be great to get some feedback...

 

The book's being proof-read now by some volunteers - then I have a final  pass to do on it... then 'decisions'... do I self-publish? (it will be for sale, revenue to go toward the game!)... or do I chase a publisher/agent/etc.

 

Self-publish has it's appeal (naturally) - but then as I know from the Kickstarters - getting enough people to see it is no easy matter!

 

Hey - if you like, I could dump the first chapter in here in a thread? It would be great to get some feedback...

Nothing wrong with starting out as self-published since I believe you can do that via Amazon, those apps stores and other sites (heh even here) and if it doesn't get you the exposure you need try a legit publisher.

I personally wouldn't drop it in this thread, I would create a new one in the Dominium forum. Dominium also has a download area so you could post it there as well if you had the ability to cut a chapter off in PDF form. But good luck on the book, because that has definitely have to be the toughest is getting a book/short story noticed enough to pay yourself back for the time and effort. One good thing about this all is that it will be linked to a game so your efforts in creating back story is already done 🙂

On the game display, I think this is a never-ending battle with people that like cockpit or HUD views and those that like minimal HUD to show off more of the game. I know after seeing videos on it I actually really like the HUD/Cockpit environment for X-Rebirth, its minimal but gives you a lot when you want it. I think that is what you should try for, minimal but can be expanded to give you what you need when you want it. You have some nice visuals and you don't want the HUD to over power or out do them. Yeah there is those gamers that like the information right in front of them at all times. But maybe that could be presented to them in scrolling or expanding widgets on the screen. I think the HUD is probably the hardest thing to design just because there is some many different opinions people will have of one. I am more of a simplistic person, so simple and plain is better for me that is.

Cool D1 - I will pop it into a thread for sure 😉

That's the goal for the UI - please everyone 🙂 Those who like minimalistic and the cluttered horror I have seen on Eve 🙂 All the UI can (will) be collapsed to icons parked where you choose. 

"Less is more" 🙂

 Those who like minimalistic and the cluttered horror I have seen on Eve 🙂 All the UI can (will) be collapsed to icons parked where you choose. 

YAY !! 🙂  Horror or not, I love the EVE UI so this is good news to me :p

Not played Eve but from the vids I have seen in the past I am not a fan of the endless menus.

Well that UI is something that only its mother would love ..... and EVE die hard fans (which I think I am even thou I'm not playing it any more) but the only reason it's so cluttered/complicated is because of the huge amount of options & actions you can choose from in the game.

I, for one, just can't see how you could have a game as complicated as EVE without a complicated menu system as well. I think the two go hand in hand.

P.S. If you guys actually believe EVE has a complicated UI please check the software called Blender ...... , you'll have a heart attack :)))