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Hi SSC! my name's Malcolm Sparrow - owner of Mak Software Studio - a small UK indie working it's butt off on it's wannabe Spacer called 'Dominion'. I came across SSC about 6 months ago doing our first Kickstarter pitch - and simply haven't had chance to get around to doing a recon since then. But - as chance would have it - one of your members (SolCommand) led us back to SSC after I asked him to do some of his awesome ship design and modelling for us. Now I've had a chance to look around - and I'm kicking myself for not checking the site out further earlier! This place is a hotbed for enthusiasm, ideas and long-term gameplay experience  We're a three man team (myself for code, Mr. T for design/gameplay, and PixelDad for art) - and we've all been developing games for plenty of AAA studios over the past fifteen years. I'm currently contracting full-time to bring in money to pay for Dominion's development where I can (such as paying PixelDad, SolCommand and others for asset work). Mr. T's volunteering on a promise - he's that passionate about the game! We took a fair bit of feedback from the original pitch on Kickstarter, and since Christmas - we've been working hard to update it based on that feedback, and I've done a whole load of work to bring the visual bar up to scratch to (hopefully) match today's "competitive edge", but it's still a long way off where I want it to be! [sharedmedia=gallery:images:927] Dominion is intended to be an online MMO - but, we're starting off by building the foundations of a solid, rewarding, fun and challenging stand-alone single-player game - which will seamlessly lead into an online experience if you choose, or further DLC expansion packs will provide additional offline challenges. We have our own C/C++ game engine, developed over the past ten years, which runs on PC, Mac, Linux, iOS - and with a good shove, Android - these will be the platforms we'll be targetting for the initial release, all being well. We don't want 'Dominion' to be "Elite" or "Freelancer" or "Freespace" or "Star Citizen" but "better" or "different" or "remade". That would be a prepostoruous, and fruitless claim. All of those are (or will be) excellent in their own right. We want Dominion to stand on it's own two feet - and also be "excellent in it's own right". We have a strong narrative (if I say so myself!) and I've been designing the game universe, the game, the gameplay for the past 27 years. And I've listened - a lot - to others it's not just my own self-inflated ego and opinion that's building this beast! On top of that - we want to let people mod the bejeebers out of it From the off, we'll let people create their own ships - even upload them for peer review and be included in DLC updates. If we get our stretch goals, modding existing content and creating missions/campaigns will all be possible. The very long term goal is for a vast and diverse game universe, with bucket loads of content submitted by modders, and planets you can not only land on, but explore with levels created and submitted by modders and ourselves - as well as stations you can explore in FPS mode inside, and even your own ship. You can build your own fleets, hire pilots to trade for you, even buy and build space stations. We want to make an expanding universe which is constantly growing with new content being published (for as long as the game shall live that is!). We want the people who will (hopefully) play Dominion, to help build it, drive it, evolve it. We want to build the game, and the tools which let that happen. I know all this sounds very high and mighty, and far too good to be true! But, we have a plan. The plan is to build a foundation, and then keep building more and more into it as we go - provided each "part" proves worthy, and popular. We're not reaching for the moon on day one, but we sure are aiming for it. With all that in mind - we're after something - you know it! Our first pitch failed primarily due to lack of exposure - and that's what we're after for the repitch, the more the better. We've put our concept on Greenlight - and got a great reception with 96% voting "Yes" - 5 stars in two weeks! But it's not a one way street - we're big on 'mutual' and cross-promotion. We're looking at game crossover - bringing aspects of other Sci-Fi games in where feasible to cross-promote. And we also want your input - your thoughts on what makes Spacers 'rock'! We've got plenty of ideas ourselves (check our website for blogs). I saw in another post another comment along the lines of "Does mining suck?" What if you had to scan asteroids in a ring system to locate ores, then drop mining rigs off on them which deposit ores in containers you have to come back to collect later? What if you could hire a transporter with pilot to do this for you? What if pirates started nabbing the ore pods before you got back? That's the kind of gameplay we want to bring to the fore. Anyway - that's a lot for a first post I guess! I can go on, and on, and on... so here's some pretties to show we have something on the go. Even if our next funding round fails - I'm not quitting - it may take five years of my spare time, but Dominion is going go live  I hope you like what you see... ! Youtube Trailer :  Link : [url]http://dominion.maksw.com[/url] Link : [url]http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=133758746[/url] Link : [url]http://www.indiedb.com/games/dominion[/url] [sharedmedia=gallery:images:928][sharedmedia=gallery:images:932][sharedmedia=gallery:images:930]

... what makes Spacers 'rock'! Plenty of rockin' spacers around here... welcome to SSC.

Cheers Cody

Welcome to SSC MakswAnd I can't honestly remember the first kickstarter pitch, did a search couldn't find it on their website. But from the screenshots you are definitely building something great by what you said in your intro. And you are exactly right don't build your game after any other, build your own game. Maybe it's my age but now I think I look more for uniqueness and the little things in a game. Some of the possible features you mentioned are part of that. Automation without too much management is perfect for me :)And going the route of Squadron 42/Star Citizen in the aspect of single player merging into MMO is a great idea and you are covering both types of gamers, and your even throwing in the possibility to be able to mod in both games.... I guess SolCommand going to be busy ;)With not knowing the scale of Dominion yet, here is a couple possible additions to the gameplay...I have always been a huge fan of exploration and having your starmap be blank and it is opened up only by your adventuring, but would be nice for players to sell their own pieces of starmaps to players. Meaning you sell what you want and maybe you just want to leave out the sweet asteroid field you make cash from.Realistic damage. So if your ship is damaged it actually is damaged and acts properly as it should, and for more realism (if you can walk the internals on your ship) go to the damaged area and actually see damage.Ability to drop or leave mines/probes that could be a potential trap or notification that someone has found your favorite spot, and these probes or mines phone home to you and you would get an update of their destruction or sensor alert from a probe.Space is all about the unknown, why can't you mine or harvest something and when processed some microbes are released making people sick or unleashing a plague on the populous.Manufacture and or tweak your own weapons, not just power, but actually adding of modules... let people tinker.Different style of weapons, people always use lasers or torpedoes. Why can't we make some new weapons that really cause some havoc, if they get through the defenses. Make hull destroying weapons that if they make it to the hull they latch on and start drilling and when depth is reached it will plant an explosive. Which can be remotely detonated at the given time of the user. Things like that.. Well that is enough to think on, hats off to you in building your own engine and having it support all the main platforms that has to be one of the hardest parts right there. Your game doesn't need to be as flashy as Star Citizen to be successful, it just needs to be unique and offer things that most games don't. Maybe one day we will see SSC Station floating out at the edges of space  Oh as always, I offer free forum space to any developer that wants it. Just need to PM me if your interested. -D1-

Welcome to SSC mate

Cheers D1 and Time Bandit! ...the first kickstarter pitch, did a search couldn't find it on their website That was precisely our problem - no-one knew about us - I was trying to hit KS before the bubble burst on "fag-packet-designs" getting funded. I hit it on the day it burst is seems KS wouldn't feature us without a "gameplay video" - which I pointed out wasn't possible unless I got funding... even so - we got an average pledge of £59.58 from 43 backers - which shows it had promise! [url][/url] I have always been a huge fan of exploration and having your starmap be blank and it is opened up only by your adventuring Exploration is a big thing for us - few "Spacers" seem to take advantage of this. Having a "Fog of War" which you reveal is very appealing. That said - we also want to become "MMO" at some point, so we're juggling this with the single-player experience. Realistic damage. So if your ship is damaged it actually is damaged and acts properly as it should,... [url]http://dominion.maksw.com/video/destruction-its-the-name-of-the-game/[/url] That's our prototype damage in action - vessels will have core systems (power, weapons, shields, life support) each can be targetted (if you have the schematics) and can be blown up/disabled - affecting your ship, until eventually it's "Kaboom" time. Handling we'd ignored for now - as the tech on offer in the universe sidesteps newtonian physics mostly - that said, there are "fly-by-wire" vessels which would/should be affected. When in FPS mode and exploring your damaged ship - that's something that hadn't occured It's an excellent idea, so we'll card it up! Ability to drop or leave mines/probes that could be a potential trap or notification that someone has found your favorite spot,... Catered for the prospect of being a pirate chased by a bounty hunter and laying a trap for them was too good to overlook! Salvage will also be "dicey" with booby-trapped hulks littering the universe. ...why can't you mine or harvest something and when processed some microbes... I like - I see things like this as being a small data-trail around the action, easy to "implement" but more of a challenge UI and "consequence" wise. The prospect of a medical disaster on a station due to some "dodgy ore" - leading to a surge in price of medical supplies... Manufacture and or tweak your own weapons, not just power... This is already on our stretch-goal list. We want a lot of customisation (as per the modding) - so two "stock" Destroyers would have wildly different configurations - meaning the schematics aren't 100% reliable for planning an attack. Shield placements would differ, as could power. You could completely reconfigure your shield generator web within the hangar to fix "voonerable spots" inherent in the "stock" layout when you buy the ship. Further - Mr. T. (our designer) is champing after "Crafting" - so obtain certain parts, elements, resources - and take them to a skilled tech shop at a station to assemble you a 250% shield booster. Sadly this is high on the "stretch-goal-o-meter"! Why can't we make some new weapons that really cause some havoc... I read (and am inspired by) a lot of Sci-Fi, and I also write it (unpublished, hobby stuff). If I get to it - I have some corking offensive and defensive tech on the list which go well beyond plasma bolts and laser beams (though of course, they are the bread-and-butter offensives). The trick is balancing one powerful offensive with a likewise hugely powerful defensive to protect against it. I don't like doing things by halves - so when we put Anti-matter Warheads in a missile, I really want it to go "BANG" and let everyone in a light-year know it went off. Surviving something like that takes a lot of shielding  Which can be remotely detonated at the given time of the user... Nice! Your game doesn't need to be as flashy as Star Citizen to be successful, it just needs to be unique and offer things that most games don't. Ah, if we could compete with SC's visuals... but - we have a different ethos in Dominion (ignoring budget, staff, resources etc!). We're trying to isolate "uniqueness" - not to "beat" anyone - but just enough to make our little niche of the Space-combat Gaming world stand aside tall and proud. If we do that well enough, we'll be happy! And yes, if we get funded I thoroughly intend to keep SolCommand (and anyone else who'd be interested!) very busy... Maybe one day we will see SSC Station floating out at the edges of space... We put Planet Greenlight in after we got 5 stars on Greenlight Concepts as a thank you for their support. I see no issue with an SSC Station  BTW - if anyone is up for volunteering ideas (or content!) with a view to them going into the game - we're all ears - and anything we pick up will earn a "Design" credit in the game, and if it's awesome enough - a free copy on launch. Sadly we can't pay for all the cool ideas - but we'll do what we can, where we can! Naturally D1 - you've already earned a mention and a copy! So that sets the bar for "awesome enough"

Welcome to the forums Maksw. Kickstarter seems to be a bit of a lucky dip as weather a game is funded or not, seems to how much you ask for and if you can find the backers.

I see no issue with an SSC Station ;)BTW - if anyone is up for volunteering ideas (or content!) with a view to them going into the game - we're all ears - and anything we pick up will earn a "Design" credit in the game, and if it's awesome enough - a free copy on launch. Sadly we can't pay for all the cool ideas - but we'll do what we can, where we can! An SSC station 3D model ? Well, if you guys have any ideas, pics, or concept art I could use I may just give it a try to make a model as I made that destroyer for you, if you'd like.

That it is Pinback - we've been doing some research and it looks like if you don't get an initial spike of interest/backers in the first few days, you're pretty much 'doomed'. We're looking to do Kickstarter, IndieGogo and RocketHub this time - although we're keen to not seem too 'greedy' - but we have to maximise our chance of getting funded, which means increasing the chances/exposure. We'll probably stagger the campaigns based on how the previous on goes. Still up in the air though. I think our previous pitch was too high a target, and was just too little, too late to get interest. I'm hoping we fixed that with the new pitch - we'll see  Cheers for the welcome!

Hi SolCommand - that appeared just as I replied to Pinback  Cool - I'll gladly donate Sol - but let's make it a free model on your site as well? That way the other projects on here (Paragon et al) can use it too? Or there could be variants specific to each project Just ideas! Any thoughts on a design D1? 

I would have to agree with Pinback on the Kickstarters, little hit & miss. But what most of the kickstarters that are successful have in common is the fact that updates were done and they had substance to them and of course you had a good initial write-up describing the vision and if you can show that in video or screenshots/art the better. Because people like all this and they need to think, yeah I think they can pull it off.I wouldn't want any other person designing SSC than SolCommand, maybe we should leave this conversation for in your new area...

When we've sorted the stretch goals and rewards, I'll slap a preview up here if everyone's happy to give us feedback? I'm not precious about it I want this one to work, so it has to be as good s we can make it to stand a chance.I'm happy to move this to the new forum (thanks D1 for setting it up!) - although, the way my posts are going in this thread it looks like I'm trying for 'longest scrolling thread' I'll pop a cross-link in here as soon as I get chance to sort it out.

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