SpaceSimCentral

Also has a glow test vid 

Big update from Paul about adding some spit & polish to the game and Steam shenanigans. Hey guys - first off I read all your great comments on the previous updates - thank you and I took them all into consideration.The current goal is to change gears a bit and focus on overall polish and improvements to the game for Steam's Early access. The goal more broadly stated is to give as much value to the Early Access buyers as possible. So to do that I'm focusing on "making the game not look cheap" and small improvements to make the game easier to control and less frustrating. In the "not cheap" department - there is a lot of very awesome stuff happening in ship mode - for example camera/HUD shake, new visual effects, nearly complete HUD visual overhaul, including new cool HUD elements. Overall these are very tiny changes but they are going to make ship mode a lot more fun/interesting/engaging. Void Destroyer is a mix of space combat and RTS - so the danger is that it might become a crappy space sim and a crappy RTS (jack of all trades master of none type scenario) - but with these changes it will not be a crappy space sim. I'm going to hold off on showing these updates to you guys until they are mostly complete - I'm looking forward to the big reveal. When you guys see the changes and go "wow" - don't forget that it is you that had a substantial part in making it happen via your support.On the RTS side there's been a bunch of quality of life improvements and bug fixes. I'm trying to look at the game from a new player's perspective and just making things click. One of those ways is by adding a "floor" to tactical mode via a grid. This is a very simple change, but (hopefully) gives our human minds an easier grasp on moving around in tactical mode. There's a bunch of other changes so check out a video that I prepped below: For a direct link:  etc: so I said getting on Steam would mean delays - but actually that statement is turning out mostly incorrect. Like I said above what is really happening is that the focus changed from new story content to overall polish - which would have been done a bit later anyway (pre the commercial release). On a bit of a "I knew it was going to happen" side - when a game is added on Steam's Early access it is no longer automatically displayed on the "New Releases" area in Steam's store page. This appears to be as a result of a lot of early access games not meeting quality standards. The free ride is over - this change means that Early Access games don't get an automatic - released twice - type position on Steam (once for Early and once for Release). So making the game stand out is even more important now and there is even less incentive to rush.Still a lot of work needs to be done on the marketing side - prepping the Steam store front, meaning a new trailer, screen shots, probably updating Void Destroyer's main website (which is a bit cheap looking as well), things of that nature. It is a bit overwhelming - but at the same time very exciting - so exciting in fact that I go to sleep an hour later and wake up an hour earlier heh heh!

YES, I have seen this space sim with a RTS mode on[url][/url]

YES, I have seen this space sim with a RTS mode on[url][/url] This one. [url]http://spacesimcentral.com/ssc/topic/4011-star-quest-2-united-galaxies/[/url]

Just been wondering what going on with Void Destroyer, must try and remember to look at the blog. A quick summary of what has been going on:PC upgrade - necessary due to not wanting less than 60fps video recording (for trailers/marketing) with full effects on.Game engine component upgrade - having one stable PC (old) and having one clean PC (new) it was a good time to upgrade all of the outside libraries that the game engine uses (eg: physics engine, rendering engine, gui engine). Some of which weren't updated in 3+ years. Meaning that they won't be updated right before or just after release - allowing more time to test for bugs. Also the development tool (Visual Studio) updated and the game project updated to accommodate it as well.Bunch of new visual effects (optional) - very excited! The game is looking like how I dreamed it would look :)Living "universe" - ore drone hangars now launch cargo pods, which are picked up by transport ships and ferried over to bases or transfer platforms. AI controlled bases do this automatically. This giving the player (and future pirate factions) opportunity for theft. Going to enhance the "feels real" of the game greatly. There will be activity beyond combat (though with obvious hooks to combat). This will also get us closer to when the player must use outside mines to gather resources (in later sections of the game) as well as get us closer to "sandbox/privateer" mode .Early game enhancements - (see above - opportunity for cargo pod theft - thus a reward of getting resources faster at the risk of combat) and a mini boss added The game's setting - asteroid field - will be punched up - if you see an asteroid not part of an asteroid field - you'll soon know how it got there and in the later game you'll have an opportunity to influence that as well :)Still fighting for new GUI art.Bunch of new music tracks. The game retains its - music happens when something cool is happening - feel, but with less silence :)5 new ships recently purchased.Fixed a crash bug that has made iter 18 very unstable (crash during save).Lots of small improvements (ship change - based on distance, and allows to jump back to previous ship) - target nearest - cycles through nearby targets.So lots of stuff - the ETA is very dependent on art right now, since there is lots on that side (including "marketing" things like Steam's Store page needing "cover art") - I'm taking the time to work on as many aspects as I can before release. Once the art is there I'll focus more on releasing rather than polish and additions.My goal is basically to have an early access game that has the first 1/3-1/4 of the game at release quality. Hoping to show you guys some videos soon when the new art allows - I've been showing the game with unfinished assets for such a long time I'm looking forward to soon showing it with finished assets.For those that don't care for Steam, there will still be a non-Steam version and most of the work is Steam independent.Now that the game has been Greenlit - I feel thankful not having to worry getting Greenlit *shudders*Kickstarter funds spending has ramped recently up - and this reminds me that without you guys most of the new cool (outside) things wouldn't have happened. Thank you!PaulPS: check out the change log: [url]http://voiddestroyer.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=720[/url] check out the game's blog: [url]http://voiddestroyer.com/blog/[/url] (have to be a bit more pro-active updating it - since I do KS updates it sometimes falls off the radar) 

Update Hey guys - here is what has been going on:Work continues on polishing up the early game - this is so literal that - for the past 2 out of 3 weeks I've been focusing on the first 5 minutes of the game. The setting is being established and exploited to create immersion and give the universe a life of its own. I don't want to spoil this because I'm very happy and proud. I'm very certain that the unique setting of the game has been showcased well. Working on the early part of the game means looking at things in terms of - why would they do this - type questions. For example early in the game there is a pirate attack. Behind the scenes - in game development land - this is intended to be a in game tutorial. But the way it was presented in game the pirates basically throw themselves at a base without reason. So care has been taken to give the pirates a goal, and this leads to questions needing to be answered such as - what happens if they achieve it? Should I allow them to escape? What happens if they escape? What happens if the player follows them? It is sort of like pulling on a thread and ripping apart a shirt, but the end result is that the game world becomes much more real. A lot of modern AAA games have incredibly narrow paths - this makes things much simpler and cheaper - however Void Destroyer will have some branches that are dead ends (where it makes sense), and hopefully some more meaningful branches. We can do this because unlike AAA games a branch won't cost thousands of dollars - it will cost a day or so of scripting and coding.I hope you don't become too alarmed at the - first 5 minutes of the game statement - because in Void Destroyer - every ship is pilot able - so ships that add to the life of the game world - will later on be essential for the player to support the fleet and war effort.The bad news is that I'm still struggling getting art, though at the moment I'm not ready in terms of code and scripting so I can't blame any artist for slow downs (and even if I did the blame is always mine - so hopefully you won't catch me blaming others). What I have learned is a weakness of mine - I tend to engage too few artists at the same time. I really should try to grab more, I'm trying to correct this line of thinking. On the art side work is being done on the character portraits. The GUI has been re-done (so buttons, windows, text boxes etc - they look incredibly better than the old blue GUI, very happy about this). I really doubt that Tactical mode will get its overhaul before Early Access (however it did benefit greatly from the GUI re-work - it still looks too much like "windows"), and the HUD is a bit stalled - though strangely nearly finished. Some new 3D models are hopefully on the way. A bunch of cool new music tracks and sound effects have made their way in.So ETA? - I really hate giving these because I've missed every one of these. There is a double edged sword with the Holiday season - more time off (I have the Christmas week off) but also more time spent with family and friends - overall it should be a boost. I'm hoping for a "Steam Test" next week (closed Steam access to the Beta Backers) - and I'm hoping for Early Access in the very beginning of the new year (for all the backers) (even if it was ready before this - Christmas/New Year's week would be a bad time to release).Once again guys - thank you for your support.Paul 

update Hey guys! Happy Holidays and a happy New Year - best wishes! Check out the video update, it shows a bunch of updates to the project that I've been keeping under wraps in hope of showing you the completed versions - but decided to show the WIP versions since I don't want to keep you guys in the dark. Highlights - GUI face lift, HUD overhaul (about 80% complete), new visual effects.  What's on the horizon - Beta backer - Steam release Beta (hopefully.. this weekish). Steam Early Access (for all) hopefully very early January 2014. Going to keep this update short - again thank you for your support!

The Steam keys have been sent out, but I don't think the game is on Steam yet or I am I missing some thing here?. Edit just worked out what I did wrong and just re downloaded the game through Steam should make any future updates easier.

Pnback - cool The way things work - I can generate Steam keys for tests (or any purpouse really) though the game isn't officially avaiable for purchase through Steam itself (should happen soon though - will update). Updates are a real pain made incredibly easy via Steam - but the danger is that I send out an update, it gets downloaded by everyone but its buggy and now everyone has a buggy client - new things to worry about. For right now that isn't a huge issue since one of the purpouses is to bug test, but when officially released...

Updates are the main reason I have gone with the Steam version of the game although I have a love/hate relationship with Steam itself I think this will be the best way to keep up-to date with Void. Will be having a play later on. :good:

Big news for Void Destroyer as it will be getting Steam early access on the 15, two days from now, so if you missed out now a chance to get in on it. Hey guys - I've worked on so many things since the last update that I can't really remember any of the little details. Void Destroyer is approved by Valve and scheduled for release on January 15th, it is a bit funny - because no matter what I do or don't do - the game will be automatically released on that day. It is a bit of a funny mix of nervousness and happiness. I feel fairly similar to how I felt during Kickstarter, can't sleep, I wake up early and yet I don't feel tired.The two major things I've done over the past week and this weekend are two new trailers.Check them out:  

Update from Kickstarter. During Kickstarter days I did a pod cast with Space Game Junkie - a website devoted to space games. Last Tuesday I did another pod cast - here it is - if you think I ramble in typed word... well I guess that should prepare you for spoken ramblings as well.For those waiting on the DRM free version - I keep optimistically thinking it is right around the corner, but there's more and more to do towards that goal. To be more specific I want to release the next leg in the story content along with that version to give you guys about an hour or so of play time in addition to the current. I just (tonight) did some work on the research system, to allow for new ships/stations to be researched in the new story content, and added support for bases that aren't carved into asteroids (yesterday), and added (few days ago) mining ships (versus the rock retrieval drones) to the game and a mechanism of how they deliver the ore back to your base (via those relatively un-used transfer platforms). Before that I updated turrets that are "physical objects" in game - before turrets were basically just a visual - you could fly right through them - in the case of small ship turrets this wasn't an issue, but there are now offensive and defensive turret platforms that are downright mega.Also in some other news I (believe) that I improved flight mechanics - ships should "slow turning" in a more improved way, yet still obey their "physical" capabilities and limitations. Basically dog fighting in fighters should feel more responsive. I write "believe" because when play testing I can't quite nail down the change - but the code is improved and it "feels" better. Fired Steam up over the weekend and noticed the Void did an update, so the updates are coming in fast. :good:

Just played the game for the first time. Also did a recording of my impresions (+ webcam images so people can see my emotions). They often say RTFM, which is imo a good advice. But I went against it and started a full game right away. Lets say that my own equipment was more a limitation than the game itself. Controls were listed nicely on the right hand side of the screen. Objectives too. Question for the dev: It get the impression that you expected to have people playing the game who are like fuck RTFM, lets just blow stuff up. Am I correct in this? Loving the mix of being able to control a ship and being able to do RTS mechanics. The graphics are lovely. Remind me a lot of the game which made me fall in love with RTS games: Homeworld. (I was before that a diehard turnbased player, except for rollercoaster tycoon and transport tycoon deluxe). Good memories. I think the only downside so far is I was only able to play this awesome game for an hour. Might try to upload the video. But lots of awkward silence + derping up due to not remembering controls make me kinda unsure whether to upload it or not

"It get the impression that you expected to have people playing the game who are like fuck RTFM, lets just blow stuff up" Right - that was one of the goals. The "Tutorials" are fairly in depth, with tons of text and (I think) are fairly boring. Surprisingly players don't tend to call them that, so it looks like their goal of explaining in detail is working out well. The "in story" tutorial - is there for players like you as well as for players who went through the tutorial yet still need a few reminders (which is pretty much everyone - let's face it - there are a lot of controls/keys/concepts). If you are the type of player who will try everything (eg: I wonder if I can do this... let's try...), click every button - then you should be ok since I tried to design things to be fairly logical and unified. Video - yeah! Post it - when I play I'm biased via having made the game so watcing the first videos is very helpful. I changed/teaked/fixed more than one issue via watching videos like these. Thanks for supporting the project and for feedback! It sounds like you are exactly the game's "niche" - aka RTS + space sim - so please consider posting a Review on steam

Posted a review. But I am still a bit ashamed to upload the video file I can throw it on my home server which allows you to download it, if you'd like to.

Thanks, up to you then my friend (re: vid)

Update from kickstarter. Hey guys! It is hard to believe it has been 47 days since Steam's launch. Hopefully very soon those of you who are waiting for the DRM free build will download it via Humble Bundle. I uploaded the build a few hours ago, but as it is Sunday... well not everyone works - whenever awake and not eating - like me. Which is probably a good thing When they let me know that their side is ready I will post a comment to this update - ETA probably tomorrow-ish.The new story content is in - in both the Steam and the DRM free build - which extends the game by about 1.5 hours. The new mission is pretty involved and most of the goals that I had for it were met - which I'm very happy about. The "boss" of the mission is a bit too weak in effectiveness and will need a bit of improvement and other elements in the mission need much polish, but now there is a frame work for play testing and feedback, looking forward to it.On the Steam side - I posted a summary of the last 47 days. So I'll copy/paste it here.The Steam community (which many of you are a part off) has been great, and the launch reminded me a lot of Kickstarter days.--- START STEAM POST --Void Destroyer - Early Access - the past 47 daysOn January 15th, 2014, Void Destroyer launched on Steam's Early Access.In that time (47 days) here is what we accomplished:5 new ships3 new bases 3 new stations 2 new music tracks Over 1.5 hours of game play - over 10% of story/mission game play time added New character portraits Much improved flight control/mechanics New way of mining asteroids (via a new mining ship) Assault platforms - long range offensive artillery Much improved controller/joystick support (Xbox 360 controller fully supported for flight) Over 25 crash bugs fixed - numerous other issues resolved 20 Steam Keys given out in thanks to player assistance in finding crash bugs 57 builds uploaded to Steam Looking back at the past month and a halfThe Steam community has been incredible. You have shown great support for the project with your feedback, ideas and criticism. With you the project has been greatly improved. With your continued support this is just the beginning. Now that the initial spike of issues has subsided focus is being changed to new story content and game play improvements. Your feedback has made it clear that the areas to focus on are control/input, user interface and improving the look and feel of Tactical mode. Please continue your strong support - check back often - Early Access is an incredible opportunity to make this project exponentially better experience. Once again, thank you all for your trust and support. Paul PS: For more info on recent updates: See the project's Steam build patch notesFor what has been done since October 19th, 2013 see Iteration 19 Change Log --- END STEAM POST --Forgot to mention:I've made some strides in full filling some of the higher tier backer rewards. There are a few more in game characters named after some of you guys, and some of the new ships have names thanks to you. I will continue striving towards full filling all of those rewards, sorry that it has been slow going in this - and other - aspects.What's next:So it is time to call a cap on Iteration 19 and start Iteration 20. The near term plans are to create two new instant action scenarios to give the player a hands on back story of a certain something you get via the new mission. Improve the new dialog screen, then focus on more improvements to the UI, control, game play and add in new story/mission content.Once again - thank you all for your support!Paul Chaosavy doing an awesome job of updating the game. :good:

I'm heading over to the KS right now! Oh.. I get there and it closed half a year ago. Damn.

Been meaning to edit the title for ages, finally done now as you mentioned it.

Can't believe it been a year since the Kickstarter finished. 1 Year Since Kickstarter5 likesHey guys! I've been thinking of posting an update since it has been a while since the last one. Unfortunately there isn't much "wow" stuff to show. It has been mostly polish and working on the story. However I thought that marking the 1 year anniversary would be a good reason for an update.So since we are talking about 1 year post Kickstarter - I should acknowledge that this project is delayed in terms of my original promises. Right now the delay is somewhere between 4 to 6 months with an additional number of months to go (my estimate is 3 - but I've always been wrong). I'm sorry for the delay - on the bright side I believe that the project is better (and is going to be even better) than I imagined 1 year ago in the original time line.So what has been happening with the project? A bunch of new ships have been added to fill out some early story/missions. Without these some early missions were very bland.A lot of polish to the early first half of the game (I believe it is about 90% finished in those terms). A big boss ship to finish off the first half of the game.Still struggling with 2D GUI art - somehow this has been the biggest challenge, in terms of outsourcing. Recently dipped just below the $10k mark in the remaining funding from you guys (so there is plenty of funds for use to finish off the game - when you consider that $10k is a bit over 1/3 of the original)Roadblocks:Waiting on a special plugin to the game engine to finish off the first half of the game (making a fairly boring "thing" - fairly awesome) - when this happens I plan on releasing an updated DRM free build.Once again guys - sorry for the delay and thank you for your support.Paul Hats off to Paul he has done one hell of Job here as the game has been constantly updated over the last year. :good: