SpaceSimCentral

First newsletter for Dominium has been sent out. [url]http://dominium.maksw.com/?wysija-page=1&controller=email&action=view&email_id=3&wysijap=subscriptions[/url] I still need to roll the dice on whether to try IndieGogo - I don't want to distract myself too much from trying to make Dominium a little more interesting to see running. It wouldn't be fair to IG to slap up a duplicate pitch and just abandon it - it will need ongoing updates and attention just like the Kickstarter one did. So I'm in a quandry - as I'm not convinced IG will do any better given the lack of successful games on there, but who knows? We might be one of the few Personally I don't think you should go for the Indiegogo just yet, let the dust settle on the Kickstarter and work a bit more on building a fan base. The biggest challenge I have at the moment is getting texturing on the new ships coming from Sol. Budgetwise, there ain't any, I can manage token payments for now, and texturing/mapping models is a royal pain. I've put an advert up here on GameDev - but tbh - I'm not hopeful. I may well get interested parties, but I think they'll be less enthusiastic when they hear how much I can offer! We'll see how it goes Might be worth asking on the Blender forum if any one is willing to work on the textures.

I share the sentiment on IndieGogo Pinback, too be honest - firing up another Crowdfunder right now has little appeal I'd rather concentrate on some coolness. I'll give the Blender guys a shout - no traction from the GameDev ad sadly  Cheers for firing up this thread Looks like I may have to hire you and Geraldine for PR when we "make the millions"

IIRC Blender Artist is the main forum [url]http://www.blenderartists.org/forum/forum.php[/url]

Not sure this is possible, but have you hit up any colleges for some of the kids looking for some projects or experience. I know the colleges (mainly the trades, ie: auto, elec, etc..) would let people bring in their cars for the kids to work on and you paid quite a low fee for pretty good work and the kids get to work on real projects. Maybe there could be some art students looking to get some exposure and always nice for some of them to build a porfolio early to show off what they can do... just a thought. I would offer free services, but I absolutely stink at art and probably couldn't give my art away for free  Nice newsletter too and don't forget about that wife  Hope ya make backups of your work so just in vase something happens to that laptop, don't know how many times I have read about some devs loosing weeks of coding to some sort of accident. Personally the Dominium kickstarter pretty much halted once the news of the name change came out, that was a huge issue for the success of it. So waiting a while letting time pass and doing it again would be better. Keep that motivation going and you will make it.

Cheers D1 - I actually had plans to hire a bunch of students from Temasek Poly (Singapore) - I know a lecturer there. I was planning to hire a bunch for 6 weeks if we got funded. The idea of approaching some locally with ad-hoc work hadn't occurred - so good pointer, I'll do some digging  I'm fully SCM'd (Perforce) with fileserver and off-site backups - got far too much to lose to risk it on a HDD failure Interesting note on the name change - too be honest I think it was dead after day 3, we just didn't gain any momentum so there we go. I'm distracting myself with the PCG ship & station decks atm - right now it's a unique selling point (ish) so I'm keen to see how practical it will be in the game - video coming soon

Looking forward to seeing more of the game as it develops. I hopped on the KS on day 3, and it was agonizing how it sort of just stopped. Normally with an active "pitcher" projects seem to move along. but here.. so much effort for naught.

It's how the cookie crumbles RaymondH - thanks for the empathy though! Edition #2 o f the newsletter is in the works btw - though it'll be a mix of roundup and "postulation" this time around UI, PGC, Textured Vessels, and plans for what to put into the first "not-quite-playable"!

Issue two out now. I'm aiming to keep the promise of at least one per month - so here's the latest micro-updates in one convenient shot of info goodness :)I've been working on the UI system - which is shaping up to look quite promising- and tinkering with the PGC content. In between I've also been pulling in the first "made for Dominium" textured ships from SolCommand and PixelDad!Two Cocindril destroyers are ready, I need to get them fully marked up - and then dig out some freebie/stock model for the turrets so they can deal some damage and then knock up a video of them in action. I'm toying with turning the Cocindril model set into Imperial Naval Destroyers - as I really like the heavy "enforcer" look about them that Sol achieved.We also have two volunteers for ship texturing - again given the nature of "working gratis" there are no time-frames, promises or expectations here - so as and when, I should be able to present a few more screenies of our content looking a bit more spaceworthy!Dev-wise - once the UI is "workable" - I can start on the draft Navigation system - and then the player will be able to make their way about the galaxy without the plethora of hacks, key-combo's and code-changes I need to do that as it stands With these UI elements in place, the draft trade system can then be wired up, and then some NPC's dropped in to liven things up a bit. At that point, I'm planning to release a "barely-playable" demo. Meaning - it will be playable, but nothing like what the final product (or even the pre-alpha) would be like. It will be for compatibility checking, general feedback, and of course just to put something "tangible" into your hands :)The story/novella is coming along nicely as well. I've pretty much wrapped up the entire first book plot-wise, and I need to redraft, edit and flesh it out with some more descriptive prose. It's hitting about 120k words atm (so a decent short novel length). It's amazing what you can get done on the tube in 90mins per day for six months!Enjoy the news roundup if you haven't seen it already! 

Cheers again Pinback Just dropping a line to say although I've gone quiet on SCC - I ain't dead  Beavering away with every spare minute - some updates to come soon. Be well!

No worries Maksw Have enjoyed reading your updates some great ideas in there.

Nice newsletter too and don't forget about that wife

@maksw
How goes it?