Core mechanics overhaul, exploring the open world

[MawhrinSkel]

So we've been doing some testing in the background and created a lightweight, physics based 3rd person FPS (ahem) to test viability for multiplayer. We also had another project going on testing the viability of chaining together 'instances' in Unity to get around floating point precision issues creating an open world type game and we enjoyed success with both. We also reduced the scale of the game, making it more intimate with mechanics normally reserved for RTT games (directional shields being an example) and we compiled a list of all the negative feedback and addressed it in this new prototype adding some of the features requested by the Players in Early Access. [/url] That physics FPS thing kept growing on the side and I figured since the game needs a rejig and physics would be nice i'll work all three into a new project. So the last 2 weeks I woke at 6am, hit the gym and then coded until I basically dropped everyday with the VFX dude and here we have it. Fortunately most of the code is reusable from the current Shallow Space alpha so it's not too big a deal. [/url] The UI will be completely redesigned to cope with the additional information the 4X FPS layer will bring and also the fleet UI will be improved to show the dynamic unit groupings now possible so there's a bit of work to do yet before we see anything playable. We're looking at using procedural generation to fill the 'zones'. Mining, trading, exploring (the scan/reveal system will make it's way from the existing alpha) and celestial objects will continue to shape the zones with status effects so one things for sure, all of a sudden it's a much bigger game. This is the tip of the iceberg really, somehow it's turned into a Freelancer/Nexus: The Jupiter Incident hybrid; checkout the latest[/url] blog post for more information. [/url]

[Pinback]

If I understand your blog right, that is you are going to add a sandbox game play to what is an RTS game and this open world game will be playable between the missions/ story of the RTS game.?

[MawhrinSkel]

If I understand your blog right, that is you are going to add a sandbox game play to what is an RTS game and this open world game will be playable between the missions/ story of the RTS game.? Well, the game as it was has had the usable elements extracted from it and is re-imagined as an open world RTS (with FPS and 4X parts.) So even the RTS missions will be quite open ended. Sounds like a drastic move but bizarrely it actually makes things easier in many ways. EDIT: But 'adding' it would be a disaster I mean, so it's actually a rewrite but sssssh - don't mention that because you'll scare the punters