“Turning the Tables” Mission Playthrough Video

Well, I finally beat the combat UI into reasonable shape, and was able to record a full playthrough of one of the earlier (and definitely easier) missions. The fleets are comparatively small, and so is the map, making for faster-paced action.

The mission briefing, to set the mood:

The independent prospector ISS Hamatsu is coming back from a tech mining expedition on a decivilized world. The haul is good, and the Hamatsu’s captain has retained a mercenary ship to provide protection en route to market at the Hegemony worlds.

It turns out the captain’s worries were justified. Coming out of hyperspace for a routine refueling stop in the Corvus system, the ships are attacked by a suspected Cult of Lud task force. The Ludii blame technology for humanty’s ills, and will do anything to prevent the Hamatsu and its high-tech cargo from reaching Hegemony space.

After a brief conference, the captains of the Hamatsu and the mercenary ISS Black Star conclude that a counterattack offers the best chance of success – retreat is not a viable option as the Hamatsu is running low on fuel.

The ISS Black Star is under your command.

This is the first look at a continuous slice of Starfarer gameplay. Enjoy!

Some statistics:

  • bugs exposed and fixed during the recording process: 6
  • number of times I thought I was recording, but alas, no: 1
  • number of times I actually lost: 1 (so proud of the AI when it happens. Like a parent. Of something murderously vicious and occasionally (?) none too bright)
  • Talon interceptors hurt – to put it mildly – during the filming of this mission: well over a hundred, but who’s counting.

Hmm.  Just realized that Windows Movie Maker (yes, I’m still using it.  Any better suggestions?  Preferably free or at least cheap) washes the picture out a bit. Oh well.

Any questions about what’s going on in the video? Ask away in the comments!

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This entry was posted on Saturday, March 26th, 2011 at 3:37 pm and is filed under Development, Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

17 Comments:

  1. Video looks very nice. I really like the HUD, minimalistic and functional, best way to go IMHO.
    Also, the way damage numbers add up instead of the usual “flying numbers” is a good idea.
    I was very surprised to see the tactical overview pop up. Very smart to have the action still visible.
    The only question I have is how you control your flagship, I’m assuming direct keyboard control? Can you use the mouse for steering? And how about strafing? (Although I figure a big hunk of flying metal doesn’t strafe to well, if at all)
    Also, I’m wondering about the button in the tactical overview (or however it’s called) that says “Transfer Command”…

    by Braindead
  2. Looks awesome; Can’t wait for the Alpha!!

    by Kelbane
  3. Great video. Looking forward to the Alpha alot more now.

    Have you thought about Corel Studio Plus? I’ve never used it myself but it is pretty cheap on Impulse.

    Theres also some shops that sell slightly older versions of some of the more well known ones like Vegas Pro etc for quite cheap aswell. Usually 2009 or before for quite cheap. Just google video editing software and take a look at the shopping area.

    by Ocid
  4. Really impressive. I love the shield effects, explosions, ship designs, and the UI is effin’ cool.

    It’s like you looked into my imagination to see what I’ve wanted in a game, then improved on that.

    If the higher level strategic layer is decent, this will be my personal space game of the decade. And I’ve played them all. Thanks for the video! It looks FUN!

    by SeaBee
  5. That’s the best looking UI I’ve ever laid eyes on. You’re attention to detail and the style you went for is utterly sublime.

    And best of all, that didn’t seem to subtract away from the mechanics at all. I’m really digging the inclusion of newtonian laws.

    by Horrigan
  6. @Braindead: WASD to steer, mouse to aim and fire. Holding Shift-A/D activates “strafe mode” where AD strafe instead of turn, and the ships auto-turns towards the mouse. Smaller ships are much better at it, while something like the Onslaught will barely move sideways at all. “Transfer Command” lets you take over another ship, at the cost of a delay. Useful if your flagship is disabled, or if you just want to use a different ship for the latter parts of a battle (faster ships are great early on to capture objectives, for example).

    @Ocid: Cool, I’ll look into those. Hadn’t thought to look for an older version.

    Thanks for the kind words, guys! Been working a lot on the UI lately, so I’m especially glad you like it.

    by Alex
  7. Great Ui and awesome video. I loved the smoothness of the actual battle and there were no hiccups at all. And im pretty sure you could maybe find a free version of fraps somewhere as plenty of people have it. This just makes the wait for the alpha so much harder. BRING IT OUT NOAI!!!

    by Mofouler
  8. I meant for video editing – already using fraps to record it 🙂

    by Alex
  9. Aaaahhhh! Hope you’re happy, I had a dream about this game last night. Just pre-ordered. Thanks for stopping by the Bay12forums and answering our questions, helped make this a must-buy game.

    by SeaBee
  10. @SeaBee: So, the subliminal messages in the video are working, then 🙂

    by Alex
  11. @Alex: Yes, too well, too well!

    by SeaBee
  12. I’m quite excited about this game. I do wonder, will it be possible to give detailed commands to individual weapons or weapon groups? For instance, if you’re playing with a battleship and you’re attack by multiple frigates, will it be possible to order each of your heavy turrets to target a different frigate?

    by Akimbo Kittens
  13. You can order a weapon group to fire automatically, which means each weapon in the group will pick targets on its own.

    You can’t give orders to individual weapons, except for when you’re manually controlling a weapon group as a whole.

    by Alex
  14. cool, can’t wait for it to be out!

    by Glen
  15. Dudes! I totally preordered your game just now.

    Well, no, but I would have already if paypal wasn’t taking so long.

    Keep up the good work! This looks crazy good.

    by Boxsmith
  16. Annnd it’s done.

    Enjoy your $10. 😛

    by Boxsmith
  17. Thanks! Working on getting that alpha out, should be soon now 🙂

    by Alex