Infinity:Battlescape @ Kickstarter

[INovaeGene]

What we can do with planets in Infinity Battlescape [I:B] is dependent upon the amount of funding we receive (at a minimum from what you see with our current screenshots, we'd like to at least add vegetation and volumetric clouds). We would like to have structures on the ground that can be attacked/defended, but that type of gameplay will likely be a stretch goal. The main focus of I:B gameplay will center around 2 teams of 128 players each engaging in first person spaceship combat at areas of interest scattered throughout a solar system, eventually culminating in massive space battle end games. We're still putting our gameplay ideas down on paper, and will present them at the launch of our crowd funding campaign, as well as on our Infinity Battlescape website (once it's finished). Those who pledge for the alpha level tier will be able to help us shape the optimum gameplay via forum feedback and play testing. One definitive thing I can say about planets is there will be no landing at ground installations (or space stations for that matter), with the express intent to get out of your ship and walk around with a character avatar, not even for the highest stretch goal. This however, is not because the engine could not handle this type of implementation. The engine is optimally coded and right now is garnering very high frame rates in our testing, the reason is more of an art resource/coding implementation and game design issue that comes with a very small indie team. Even if the crowd funding does really well and exceeds our goals, we're not going to be tacking on all kinds of stretch goals that drastically change the core game design as well as increasing the scope to the point of potentially damaging a solid launch, walking avatars as a stretch goal would do just that. Long term, we are still committed to the Infinity MMO, but I:B has to come first. It's a game we know we can build with our small team. We're focusing on shipping a solid initial product, which if successful, will lead to the development of the MMO. However, as mentioned above, the crowd funding campaign will only be for Infinity Battlescape, there are no ties to the MMO other than the engine used for I:B would be the starting point for the MMO, the art direction, and some of the lore. I can understand many of the frustrations people may have about the seemingly perpetual nature of this engine's development. I am the lead artist, and have been involved with this project since 2007, and have been waiting just as long to get going and make a game already, we're finally almost there. It has been a long iterative process for the art team, developing/re-developing the art pipeline alongside the coding team as the engine evolves. Not only was it important for us to develop the pipeline, but also work with the coders to develop & optimize the engine's art toolset, which is not only important for our team, but also for the viability of licensing our technology as a revenue source to support our game project(s). Two part time coders can only go so fast, and believe me, we have tried to add to the coding team, but the talent level required is very high, and the passion for our particular project HAS to be there due to the pro bono nature of the work required. Looking back at the upgrades to the engine in preparation for this crowd funding campaign, I can only say, now that I see the latest installment and its performance gains over the previous, the upgrades were quite necessary and are very welcome. The artists now have a much more robust toolset to work with to create an immersive game world, and the engine’s performance has increased drastically from where it was 3 years ago. So for those who are still interested, hang in there, we’re finally seeing some light at the end of the tunnel, and very much look forward to building a game with this engine.

[Pinback]

I for one are looking forward to seeing what you guys have got . Will their be any Rift support for the game?.

[INovaeGene]

Yes, one of our coders has an OVR devkit, and has already implemented it.

[Pinback]

Been a long time since we have heard any news about the proposed Kickstarter, any one know what they are upto, are we looking at next year now?.

[INovaeGene]

We are pushing as hard as we can to get the KS out as soon as possible, understanding that we are still a non-funded/part time dev team. We had quite a few coding delays this year, specifically in the realm of HDR/tonemapping. Lighting is very crucial in terms of visual presentation for a game, and integration into a game engine which allows seamless planetary interaction along with space based and interior scenes has proven to be very complex/challenging. Developing a global HDR solution that retains the kind of quality we require in any/all possible game scenarios has taken longer than we anticipated. For most games, artists are afforded the ability to tweak the lighting on a per scene basis, that is not an option for what we're trying to build. This of course is not the only technology hurdle we have to deal with however. Having said all that, we have a handle on these challenges and we will be releasing a new planetary rings video shortly, it will be the last video we release before the KickStarter. I am not going to give any dates, because when you're non-funded and the team members are working part time, there is just no way to reliably do that. What I can say is we are still hitting it hard and our efforts will ultimately culminate in a Kickstarter campaign. 

[Pinback]

Excellent news INovaeGene will be looking out for the video. And remember when you do start your Kickstarter campaign lots of updates.