Looks intresting, downloading the demo now.

EDIT: Played the demo and am impressed gonna give it a back on kickstarter 🙂

Added to the kickstarters on the mainpage, thanks RogueEarth for the heads up on your kickstarter and good luck making your goal (which I think you will attain).

Looks intresting, downloading the demo now.

 

EDIT: Played the demo and am impressed gonna give it a back on kickstarter 🙂

I have gone in as well.

Bit of a strange first update from them?, would have thought it was a bit early for stretch goals.

I want to thank everyone who has contributed so far!  We are very excited about Eterium.  We've updated our stretch goals to include some of your feedback:

New at the 50K level:

• We'll be adding a playable 3rd person camera.  This is an option for people who like to see their ship or just don't like the first person perspective.  
• Power and shield allocation - Players will be able to allocate power from various systems.  Bolster your shields with power from the engines, of go all in on your weapons to deliver that final shot.
• Customizable load-outs for later missions.  Once you have proven that you have a feel for the game (e.g. been promoted) you will be able to customize your missile load out after the mission briefing.

 

New at the 75k level:

• Full Oculus Rift support.  This will require us to redo the cockpits, as they only have a front right now.  With Full Oculus Rift support you'll be able to look around your cockpit.  This also opens the possibility for us to support other tracking devices like TrackIR
• Once we have full cockpits, we will have a new slew of camera options for those who don't have an Oculus Rift.  Target lock camera, keeps your target always in view, the camera will look around the cockpit to follow your target.  We'll also support looking around the cockpit using keyboard and mouse controls.

 

We are very excited about the progress we are making on Eterium.  We'll have more updates coming soon!  And once again, thank you all for your support!

 

I was just going to post about how they don't seem to be doing many updates when I spotted this one in the emails about a new demo http://rogueearth.com/Demo/

We have released a new demo with some new features and bug fixes!  Please report any problems or bugs on our forums.

Download Demo

Summary of what’s new: 

• Bug fixes including more responsive keyboard controls
• Improved docking bay lighting (we are still working on making this better!)
• Docked ships in the docking bay.
• Your wingmen now launch with you instead of waiting for you in space.
• Better explosions with debris! (work in progress)
• New blackout/redout effects
• The UEA Canopus now has destroyer escorts

 

Check out the Release Notes for a comprehensive list of changes.

Notes:

• If you have an older version of the demo installed, you will need to uninstall it before installing the new demo.  We don't have our patching system working yet.
• This new demo modifies how games are saved, so your old save file will not work with the new demo.  When you launch the new demo your save file will be deleted.  So if you don't want to lose your progress, please hold off on updating.

 

Another update

Yesterday youtuber Scott Manley posted a playthrough video of Eterium! Check it out.

 

We're a little embarrassed that he ran into a few bugs that we thought we had fixed (the exploding after autopilot bug for one), but all around I think the game did pretty well. We've taken a lot of notes on his comments and have started fixing some of the issues he's found. 

• We're going to make it easier to land in the landing bay.  Coming to a complete stop, like he did, will end the mission.
• We're working on a way to make the location of Lyota Station's landing bay more obvious.  Maybe some kind of visual landing aid or something.
• As mentioned on our KS we will be replacing all the music with custom music. I just received a few more tracks from our musicians and they sound great. I can't wait to get them hooked up in game!

Eterium in the news: 

• Frodneid, a blogger at IGN, did an interview with me:  http://www.ign.com/blogs/frodneid/2013/07/05/kickstarter-game-interview-eterium/
• And we were mentioned in July 7th Kickstarter Katchup over at Rock, Paper Shotgun:  http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/07/08/kickstarter-katchup-july-7th/

 

They don't seem to be too keen on the updates.

Just under 10 grand and they still have 19 days to go

Video for the above post.

Eterium have finally woken up with another update.

Hi everyone.  I got some exciting news today.  First I've received another delivery of music from our musicians Scott and Chris.  I hooked up some of the music in game and tried it out.  I like the new direction we are going, but I'd like to get your opinions on it too.

Also, Eric, a programmer helping us out in his spare time, has been working hard to help rewrite shaders and create new post processing effects to improve the in-game graphic quality!  His changes definitely make the game feel more realistic.  Particularly the laser effects.

I created a quick video showing off both.

This video is a quick combat scene from the Beid System.  The UEA Canopus diverts to the Beid system to help evacuate a colony that is under attack by superior Revi forces.  In the video I am tasked with coming to the rescue of a transport carrying refugees.  By default your Wingmen will attack the nearest target, unless you order them otherwise.  In the video I take advantage of this by having my wingmen cover me so I could go straight in and attack the two Stri'kal medium fighters which were launching missiles at the transport.

 

I have implemented dynamic combat music that transitions between three tracks based on how the battle is going.  It's still a little rough around the edges (and not in the video above because I was doing so well the entire battle). I am still working on it.  I'll have a new video soon that follows an entire mission.  I'll make sure it has some of the dynamic music transitions in it.

Here are some new screenshots:

 

 

 

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I've backed this game, not usually a fan of rigid mission-style sims but I think it looks good and I wish them every success. Not sure they'll make the Kickstarter target but hopefully that won't dissuade them from continuing, I'd still buy a copy.

auryx

Seem to be a bit slow but they still have 15 days to go and a few more updates would go amiss.

New update and this is more like it, like the idea of procedural space stations.

We've been busy at work on Eterium dealing mostly with bug fixing and kickstarter promotion.  However, I did get a first pass of the dynamic music ready to show.  It still needs a lot of tweaking and work.  The idea is that the music during combat will transition between 3 different tracks based on how desperate the combat is.  I haven't quite tweaked all the details of when the transitions will occur.  The play-through video below will give you a pretty good idea of what it will sound like in game.  This video also introduces a bunch of other music tracks that we have just added.

As I promised in our last update, I have a play-though of a full mission from about half-way through the game.  This mission is the same mission that the combat scene in the last update video was from, but this time it is the full mission (and a different play-through so that combat scene will play out differently).  I chose this mission because it is one of the few scripted mission in the game (most of our missions are procedural).  Since this mission is scripted, I know that there will be an asteroid field, a surprise attack in it and that the nav points will take us really close to the planet Beid.  Combat in asteroid fields is definitely intense, running away is a perfectly viable option.  Asteroid fields hinder sensors so it makes it very easy for enemies to sneak up on you!

A note on the star's brightness: The main star in the Beid system is a large one, and it's brightness is part of the hazards of flying in the Beid system, however there is a bug that was introduced with the last graphic update that we have not yet fixed: the cockpit does not occlude the star.  So the intensity of the star will be considerably less once this bug is fixed.

 

We have also been discussing the possibility of adding procedural space stations to the game.  The idea is that we would create a number of space station parts and then leverage our docking code to attach the pieces together.  The feel we are going for is makeshift space stations and outposts that the Revi construct as they invade our space.  Each part of the station will be destructible.

If the procedural idea turns out to be too far out of scope, we might just make a few different stations.  We really need to get the parts in game and see how it looks and feels before we can get an idea of what we can do with it.  I've attached a quick sketch that Dave put together while we were talking the idea over.

 

Video from above

We are really liking the idea of the procedural stations too and are working on getting it in game so we can show something.  In the meantime I've been concentrating on getting more of the new music into the game and getting ready to release another demo.  The new demo will have some performance enhancements as well as most of the new music tracks in the game.  I'm also reworking some of the missions for the demo.  Most of the changes will be minor tweaks, but the 3rd mission in the demo (which is actually the fifth mission in the game) will be getting a full overhaul.  I never liked that mission very much anyway.  It landed in one of those areas where our procedural mission generator just couldn't do it justice.  The mission was usually too easy but sometimes too hard.  It's a very delicate point in the game where the player has finally gotten the hang of flying and is ready for a challenge, but not yet ready to handle some of the heavier missions that come later on.  Our procedural mission generator is very good at making challenging missions.  But sometimes you just have to script a mission by hand -- which allows for a lot more interesting missions anyway!  In this mission you'll face a wing of enemy fighters on patrol after a battle (complete with battle damage and a missing member) and encounter (and hopefully score) your first enemy freighter kill.  For those who can't wait for the new demo to see the new mission, I have a play-through video of it.

[media]

We'll be announcing the new demo in a few days!

Nice one Rogue

New update

Thank you all for your support and pledges so far. Ten days to go on funding and we are only just over half way funded. We are planning a big push next week including the release of an improved demo with better graphics, more polished missions and the new music. Please help us spread the word about Eterium, let's see if we can't make these last 10 days count!

A couple people have suggested that we offer add-ons. The idea never occured to me, but apparently there are other kickstarters doing it as well.

This is how it works: If you'd like to further help us get funded, you can increase your pledge while keeping your selected reward the same. After you've increased your pledge, send me a private message with which add-on(s) you would like. I'll make a note next to your pledge. For physical items you must already have pledged at a tier that has a physical reward.  Digital items require a pledge of $15 or more.

All Tiers:

• Add: $5 - Add 2 Exclusive digital wallpapers (included in the $35 tier) 
• Add: $5 - Add a high resolution digital poster (ideal for printing) (included in the $50 tier) 
• Add: $10 - Add a digital sound track (mp3 format) (included in the $60 tier) 
• Add: $15 - A second digital copy of the game for family or a friend. 

Physical Tiers Only: 

• Add: $15 - Physical copy of the Sound Track 
• Add: $25 - An additional physical copy of the game. 

(Outside US, please add $5 per physical item for shipping)

There has been some confusion about the two $35 tiers. This was a mistake, we intended to only have one $35 tier (but kickstarter won't allow us to edit tiers once someone has pledged). So these tiers will be treated as one tier and people pledged at this level (and above) will receive items from both $35 tiers.

 

New demo version released:

We have just released a new version of the demo! (Revision 2534.02)

Key Features:

• The new music is now in game!
• Improved graphics and performance
• HDR lighting
• An all new 3rd mission
• A chance to encounter the new Grilkath Medium Fighter (on the final mission!)

Just played it for the first time, very impressive. The "extras" lack a bit of polish around the edges - spelling and grammatical errors, oddly-justified text in the mission briefings, odd anime-style figures in the cutscenes etc - but those are all really minor things, the gameplay itself is great and extremely professionally done. It's just like being in Wing Commander again 🙂 New dynamic in-mission music is good too. I miss directional indicators at the edge of the screen for off-screen targets, but I guess the original WC games didn't have that.

I played with keyboard and mouse and must confess, the mouse control is a bit clunky - to be fair, the devs recommend a joystick or joypad so my fault for not plugging one in! I wasn't quite able to pin down why it felt clumsy; it's possibly because guns are fixed forward and don't swivel to follow the mouse cursor (as in Freelancer, or Fairspace which I've been playing recently) or maybe the movement-to-mouse-speed ratio is a bit off. Mouse was very laggy in the menu screens too but that might be my PC.

Anyway, still a great effort and I hope this game sees the light of day soon, good luck to the dev team! Really looking forward to playing the whole campaign 🙂

auryx

Thanks auryx.  I am a gameplay programmer by profession and for a long time I was the only programmer on the project.  Another programmer joined us recently but he has been concentrating on improving the visual quality and performance as well as 3D support and potentially oculus rift.  The "extras" will see polish before the game is released.  With this demo, I wanted to get the game out as quickly as we could to show off the gameplay elements and try to raise some funding to develop the game.

Mouse control is a tricky thing, but it is something that we have to face.  Many players these days, aside from space sim fans, probably don't have joysticks or even gamepads.  So we try what we can to get the mouse to feel right.  A lot of work has gone into our mouse controls, but it still needs more work.  We are always open to suggestions on how to improve the game.  BTW, the guns actually do track when using the mouse, but not by a lot.  This makes it a little easier to line up a shot.  When the mouse cursor turns red, it means your guns are locked on, this does not guarantee a hit, but the guns will fire along the correct path to hit the target.  We might loosen this up a bit more with mouse controls once we get more feedback.

Ahh, thanks Andrew for pointing that out - I hadn't noticed that at all, too busy trying to shoot down the bad guys 🙂 Will have to try again with a joystick later.

I do understand that the "polish" stuff is secondary at the moment, so my comments weren't a criticism - getting the space sim part right is the main thing, and you guys seem to have nailed that! Another impressive aspect that I meant to comment on was the 3D wireframe display in the mission briefings - really good stuff and great for immersion.

Good luck with the Kickstarter!

auryx

Still 4 days to go but still 10 grand off the target, can't help but think a few more updates would not go amiss.

Update

With just over 4 days left, the campaign is not tracking well.  While it is possible that we could get a surge of backers at the last minute, we are not holding our breath here.  We have been asked if we have a contingency plan for Eterium.  I know you guys are all exciting about Eterium and really want to see this game released.  I do too.  Eterium is my first indie game and I am hoping that it is the first of many.

But first things first, Eterium needs to be completed.  I currently have had the opportunity to concentrate my efforts fulltime on Eterium and I am making great progress.  But if the campaign does not succeed, I will no longer be able to devote as much time to it.  What we are thinking about doing as a contingency plan is alpha funding the game.  That means you will be able to purchase an alpha of the game and play it immediately.  Your feedback will help direct the game.  But because alpha funding may not generate as much money as our goal on the kickstarter, our aspirations for Eterium will have to be cut back to something manageable.

The alpha I am working toward right now will contain around 15 missions and I'll add another 15 or so to conclude the game (over 30 missions have already been made, but I only feel I can bring 15 of those up to a level I'm willing to sell before launching the alpha funding).  If the alpha funding is popular, then it may still be possible to redo the character art or even add the forth ship and other goals from the kickstarter as well as adding more missions.  We will start the game out small and expand on it.  Our decision on this has not been made yet, so please discuss your thoughts in the comments.  If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them.

Of course I know you guys are anxious to see another update of the game as it has been a few days.  So I have a small update to share.  I started work on a new sector in the game, the Teide System.  This will actually be the third system in the game, coming in before Beid.  About half of the missions that we have made for the Eridani system will be repurposed to be used in Teide instead.  Teide is lit by a brown dwarf star, so it is a very dark system.  Because of this, we discovered some lighting bugs (the carrier is not properly lit in the demo) and I realized that I really did not like the lighting on the cockpit.  Most of the cockpit lighting was baked into the texture.  That has changed.  Firing the weapons and the environment now have a greater effect on the cockpit.  I've attached screenshots of both the new cockpit lighting and some from the Teide System.  The first two shots are from Lyota System (the system in the demo), the last 4 are Teide. 

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They could still get a boot in the last 4 days but I think a lack of update has played a part here as they have only done 9 so far over the last 30 days.

Yeah, it's a pity that they are unlikely to make their target and may have to scale back their plans, it's a really impressive game. I think that lack of (supporter) numbers and publicity is the killer. Wish Chris Roberts could have given this a plug or something, it's so Wing Commander-esque that I bet people would have flocked to it!

auryx

Oh it's going to be squeaky tight this one just over 18K and 47 hours to go, but they can still do it, just upped my pledge..

new update.

We are getting close to the end of the campaign and I want to thank you for all your support. I see that a lot of you have increased your pledges and I thank you for that too. Our team, being comprised of a programmer and artist, has really be heads down just making the game. We have not really known much about marketing except that it is needed. It really has turned out to be more difficult than we thought. On future games that we make we will concentrate on marketing a lot earlier in the game's development. There is still a chance that we can pull through for Eterium so we're holding our breath. But even if we don't get Kickstarter funding, we will do our best to make this game happen. Not only because a lot of people have contacted me expressing a desire for the game to be finished, but because I just have too much fun making it.

Please like us on facebook and we'll keep you up to date on our progress. Check out my interview with Brian and Jim on their podcast over at Space Game Junkie.

I have been going back through the game polishing up the earlier missions to get ready to potentially alpha fund the game, when I decided that Chapter 2, in the Eridani System, needed a different ending. A few months back Dave showed off a new corvette on our blog and told me that he felt the old corvette did not look like a big enough ship. The corvette should carry 5 to 10 people, whereas the old one looked like it carried only 2. I was really excited at the look of the new corvette but disappointed because I really liked the old one. I decided to repurpose the old corvette to be a courier. The courier is a small and quick, jump-capable ship that is designed for delivering communiques. Since faster than light travel through jump space has be developed but there is no means of faster than light communication, all intersystem communication is done through personal delivery. In the mission, there is a large enemy presence in Eridani system and HQ must be informed. Your mission is to escort a courier all the way across the system to jump out and deliver a message to HQ. Your course is plotted to avoid the numerous asteroid fields in the area as well as minimize enemy contact. The courier is a small ship; it's a bit larger and slower than a medium fighter, but armed like a light fighter. It had been a while since I looked at the AI code and I really could not remember if a fighter-like ship would behave properly being escorted. I was afraid that it would handle itself like a freighter and try to run from combat. But our courier pilot is a bit of a hotshot who is really tired of flying a courier and just wants to see some action. He should fly like one of your wingmen. I placed the courier into the game as I would a freighter in any other escort mission. To my pleasant surprised the AI recognized that it was flying a fighter (technically) and broke off to engage just like any other wingman would. When the battle was over, he returned to his preprogrammed course toward the jump point.

An update would not be complete without showing something. So here are some screenshots from the new Eridani mission.

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Last minute help from everyone has been amazing ...Heading towards the 20k but still 5k to go and only 30 hours

It would be a great loss if this one falls short...

If anyones been thinking about pledging please take another look 🙂

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1989266212/eterium-a-space-combat-sim-for-windows-pc

Its right up our street 🙂

Update about add on to the pledges.

Twenty-four hours to go and we have just a little over $5,000 to go.  We've been getting a surge of backers, so there's still a chance we can make this.  I would like to remind all knew backers about our add-ons.  The idea is that you increase your pledge while keeping your reward tier the same, then send me a private message with which add-on(s) you would like.

All Tiers:  

• Add: $5 - Add 2 Exclusive digital wallpapers (included in the $35 tier) 
• Add: $5 - Add a high resolution digital poster (ideal for printing) (included in the $50 tier) 
• Add: $10 - Add a digital sound track (mp3 format) (included in the $60 tier) 
• Add: $15 - A second digital copy of the game for family or a friend.

Physical Tiers Only: 

• Add: $15 - Physical copy of the Sound Track 
• Add: $25 - An additional physical copy of the game.

(Outside US, please add $5 per physical item for shipping)

Since no update would be complete without some new screenshots.  Here's three screenshots from the latest mission I've been working on.  The Revi have a mining outpost in the Teide System and your job is to escort the destroyer UEA Alexandria to take out a convoy of freighters carrying resources to Revi ships in neighboring systems.  I have not added the fighter cover yet because I've been experimenting with how the destroyer handles itself in combat with 6 freighters (it handles itself as you would expect, lots of exploding freighters!)

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FUNDED !!!

Thanks for the amazing support guys !!

Just back from work and see it has been funded looking at it yesterday when it was going agonizingly slow I did not think it would make it.

Congrats to Rougearth and team on a successful Kickstarter.

Kickstarter update.

We made it.  Thank you everyone for your support.  It was a really rough last couple of days.  I want to thank everyone who helped spread the word and really bring the community together to help make this game happen.

We are looking at an October delivery date for the rewards and release of the game.

This is just the beginning and we still need your help.  Everyone who pledged at the beta level or above will be receiving a copy of the beta version early August.  With your help we will make Eterium the best game we can.

Thank you everyone for your support!

 

New update from Rougeearth

Hi everyone, welcome to our first development update.  We'll be sending out a new update every other Monday until development on Eterium is complete.  If you want to stay completely up to date, check out our dev blog at http://rogueearth.com/  or visit us on facebook at

We have planned out a 10 week development schedule for Eterium, although it is very possible that it could slip due to the amount of outside help we are going to need to complete the game.  The success of the kickstarter has afforded us resources to seek out help of other talented people to bring the game to a new level.  First and foremost is of course improved cutscene graphics.

We'll be releasing a beta version, for those who joined at the beta level, starting next week (sometime around August 12th).  The term beta is rather difficult to define when it comes to an indie game, particularly one with a kickstarter success.  The game is beta in that the technology behind the game is at a beta level and many of the missions in the game will be at beta.  But the beta will not have all the missions and we are currently working on some sweeping changes to the game's story.  So I think it is best to describe our beta as a chance play more missions than the demo has (significantly more) and give us feedback on what you like and don't like as well has help us track down bugs.  Many of these missions will find themselves in the released game, even if the story is a bit different.  We will be updating the beta regularly as development progresses to the point that it will become a more traditional beta being a complete early copy of the game.

I am thinking about going with Desura for beta distribution.  The final game will be available from multiple different online distributors.  If anyone has any objections to the beta being on Desura, or has a recommendation for a different service please discuss in the comments or let me know in a private message (Since we have not been greenlit on Steam, distributing the beta over steam is not an option).

 

New beta should be out next week looks like I will have to do something about my broadband with all these games starting to appear.