Star Nomad 2, Updated Trailer!

Recently got these done,

Trading UI: I just noticed the lines are mis-aligned.. ew.

Loot UI: I re-used some of the trading UI functions to minimize duplication.

The loot table is randomized based on the faction & ship type. When players get the killing blow, they are eligible to loot the ejected cargo-pod.

And working on the NPC communication system. The goal is to make it very dynamic, what the NPCs have to say to you, takes into account your faction standing, reputation, global events (whether you contributed to it or not), local events & current status. Also the humor is pretty random. Hopefully it adds a good degree of immersion to see your actions are being noticed.

ie. If you complete a Bounty Hunt at some system, some of the NPCs will have something to say about it.

Once these individual elements are finished, the game is playable as a whole.

A few things remain on the to-do list:

* Contraband smuggling system, NPC patrol detection, and player is given option of paying a fine (& confiscation) or get into a firefight.

* Mining asteroids!

* Major additional content; the local random encounters. Lots and lots of scripted encounters for immersion & lolz.

Also have to do a Steam Greenlight soon.

This is really an impressive work!

It reminds me that game... oh yeah... Galaxy on Fire from Fishlabs! Have you tried it? Maybe there a few interesting game mechanics!

BTW: How long have you worked on this project (it looks very polished!)?

Thanks! Galaxy on Fire is a spacesim, so its in the same genre (similar to Elite, Privateer, Escape Velocity, Star Control, Freelancer & Space Pirates & Zombies!). Though mine is more of a sandbox spacesim with squad combat, it's most similar to Star Sector.

Since January this year. Ideas and such were from the end of last year. It's basically all the things I wanted in the first Star Nomad, but was unable to do due to lack of C2 knowledge at the time. It's also all the things I want in a spacesim, so if it doesn't work out, at least I can enjoy playing it myself.

Just finished the last 2 core game mechanic!

Smuggling:

A very lucrative source of income for pilots brave (or crazy) enough to sneak pass law enforcement & military patrols. High risk, high reward is the name of the game here, with one successful smuggling trip raking in the credits!

Note that depending on the Faction, certain valid tradegoods are considered illegal so pay attention to the descriptions!

For smugglers unfortunate enough to run into the law, they have to quickly decide:

Choose to give up your cargo or try to make a run for it!

Obviously, any smuggler worth his spice is going make a mad dash to jump out of system.

If you make a run for it, you had better be good at dodging missiles or your ship engines are going to be knocked out, repeatedly, by EMP missiles.

Hopefully it’s a fun playstyle, with lots of tension but plenty of reward!

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Mining:

In all lawless (un-colonized) systems, there are a variety of mineable asteroids for pilots to claim, all they need is to equip an active mining laser module.

Systems further away from civilized space yield better asteroids & ores, but also pose higher risk as the frequency of pirate traffic increases.

To mine, just target the asteroid, and activate your mining module. The graviton beam will focus and fragment chunks of precious ores, ready for pickup into the cargo hold.

All top tier (Mk3/4) modules as well as faction Ships require a certain number of the rarest ores, Gravonite & Elypsium, which are auto deposited (if you have any in your cargo) into your Universal Bank account upon docking at a port.

Besides mining to obtain these rare ores, they are also often dropped from tougher ship cargo and merchant vessels.

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Phew! Been a long haul, nearly there!

Now in the final phase of development, putting it all together, more polish & content (random encounters, think FTL or Fallout)!

really nice

Thanks blackant !

A big update, lots of pics, currently play-testing complete build & balancing & tweaking AI

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This is what happens during a system under siege from rival Factions:

During a random play test I happened to stumble into an Imperial system which was under pirate attack, the fighting was intense, with the defending Imperial quad wiped out by some pirate reinforcements. The victorious pirates camped that system wrecking havoc on merchants and disrupting trade.

Not wanting to be a pirate victim, I decided to scoot and jump into a nearby system, which happens to be Cerulan, an ex-Imperial system which the Omni Collective (Purple Zerg-like Ships) previously captured. The Empire (Golden Armored Ships) gathered its resources & fleet to launch a full scale offensive to try and re-take it. Obviously the Omni HQ called in reinforcements to prevent this, and so an epic battle took place.

https://halfgeekstudios.files.wordpress ... eet-01.jpg <-- Fullsize

Both the Collective & Empire decided (AI voodoo magic!) this was an extra important battle and committed ALL their fleets into this engagement. The scale quickly escalated… I ran and hid in a corner to avoid all the crossfire..

Out of the blue, a random scouting fleet of the Starborn Federation (Aqua Crystalline Ships) decides to jump in to investigate all the ruckus and got caught inbetween, promptly going out in some big explosions.

https://halfgeekstudios.files.wordpress ... eet-02.jpg <-- Fullsize

Due to the Omni holding a major system advantage, their fleet was bigger and so they eventually wore down the Imperials, taking out all their Colossus Capitals.

The siege is over, the bulk of the Omni Fleet heads to the Jump Point to return to their systems (A big Starborn fleet was heading for Omni space elsewhere!).

https://halfgeekstudios.files.wordpress ... eet-03.jpg

But no! The silly pirates in the adjacent system (which they were pillaging) decided to get greedy and jump in to plunder some hapless merchants…

https://halfgeekstudios.files.wordpress ... eet-04.jpg

Those pirates sure didn’t expect such a massive Omni Fleet here, they decided to make a run for it (AI ships can flee if odds are very bad for them, or if severely damaged), but the firepower overwhelmed the pirates before their jump engines could charge up!

System secured for the Omni.. even the little drones fly home.. aww, how cute!

https://halfgeekstudios.files.wordpress ... eet-05.jpg

So, that’s what you can expect if you wander into systems under siege from the big factions. Normally the battles are smaller, unless the AI deems the system is important enough AND they have a good chance of winning, they usually do not commit such a large force. Doing so leaves their other systems with weaker defenses, making it vulnerable for the other faction to conquer.

In a 3-way-battle, the AI does its best to survive & win. This means attacking a weaker foe, but also preventing foes from growing too powerful. It’s been tough to design & balance this aspect, but it’s done, very functional & very effective.

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Since making this game, at the start I've always worried I bit of more than I can chew, on a personal talent level but as well as on a C2 engine level (back then, there were a lot of negativity regarding C2 being only for simple games or smaller scope projects)...

But luckily, C2 is an amazing engine, simple on the surface, but it enables a ton of depth & complexity. There really is no better 2D game engine out there. <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt=":)" title="Smile">

— Wow. Looks really solid

Anonnymitet

Thanks!

It's surprisingly well organized since I made a habit since the start to fragment lots of event sheet for each specific task (ie. 1 faction's AI in 1 event sheet) and I put lots of comments so I don't forget!

Usage of functions & arrays help reduce repetitive events but it's still quite big. If I could restart everything from scratch, I can trim it down by about 2000 events knowing what i know now as well as several features which were poorly done (but it runs efficiently enough).

Haha, nice. Looks organized and well documented

Will you work with a publisher this time or will you publish this yourself?

Anonnymitet

I've got to do a nice video then onto Greenlight it goes soon and hope it passes.

Also, you are right, the more you work with C2, the more you learn everyday, it's great. I hope to be able to go on and make even better games but...

If this game doesn't do well on sales, it'll most probably be my last as I have to consider changing careers into something that earns $. One thing about SN2, it's the spacesim game I always wanted to make but never knew how. SO if it sell peanuts, at least its a game I enjoy playing, so not all will be lost.

112... means 1120 or 11200 events?

112... means 1120 or 11200 events?

11K so far. But event counts by themselves don't really say that much since someone better at C2 or logic than me would achieve the same features in less events.

Star Nomad 1 was about 4K events, but it was more wasteful and un-optimized with event usage compared to this one so far.

Just an example, in SN1, for the spawning of dynamic merchant vessels, I repeated it for each of the star system. In SN2, I use an array that defines the behavior of each star system, one of the metric includes how "busy" that system is and I use 1 function for all the star system to spawn random merchant ships based on that metric in the array. So I accomplish an even more complex spawn system with a few events compared to hundreds.

Wow, simply wow.

About the changing careers if the game doesn't make enough money I'd strongly advise against it since you seem very talented. It'd be such a waste. I haven't read all of this topic's pages but have you considered fundraising services like Kickstarter?

In the worst case scenario, I'm sure there are some companies in the game industry looking for people like you.

Good luck and please don't give up!

— I'm in the same boat as you.. I'm making my first game... so I'm about where you were on SN1..if my game doesn't make any money, then at least it's the space game I always wanted..

The game looks pretty great so far! can't wait to play it.

byondisoft

Thanks. I already changed career from science researcher to solo gamedev, so if this doesn't work out, gotta do something to earn $. That's life!

jobel

Thanks. Good luck with your Alpha One project!