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Starsector 0.97a is out! (02/02/24); New blog post: Simulator Enhancements (03/13/24)

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Author Topic: 345 days - you've read this post before  (Read 21150 times)

David

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Re: 345 days - you've read this post before
« Reply #15 on: March 05, 2018, 08:47:42 AM »

It also helps to be working with David; his art and writing (and design collaboration) are a constant source of motivation.

D'aww!

If I may join in here, Starsector is kinda "the game I was born to make" in that I've wanted to make something like Starsector since I was a kid. Like, I watched scifi TV and movies with my dad, read my mom's huge collection of scifi books, and played scifi games like Master of Orion. I even made up my own space ship combat/RPG game where I'd draw the player's spaceship and the galactic map on a whiteboard and they'd fight tactical battles on a smaller whiteboard. So basically a tabletop RPG but where I drew everything.
... Yeah, so I've wanted to work on Starsector since I was a kid. After a number of aborted efforts and a start of a career in game art, along comes Alex, who wants to make the exact same thing. Sign me up!

(Also, working with Alex is great. He's gracious and respectful in collaboration and is all-around a real solid dude. But y'all probably could guess that from seeing the product of his labour and talking to him here. 'Course he takes out his evil side by pulling some seriously crafty moves in games of Dominions.)
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Alex

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Re: 345 days - you've read this post before
« Reply #16 on: March 05, 2018, 09:08:44 AM »

If I may join in here, Starsector is kinda "the game I was born to make" ...

... I literally almost typed that exact thing, word for word, but then thought, "that might come off a bit melodramatic". Ahem. But yes, that's how it feels.

... I've wanted to make something like Starsector since I was a kid.

Same, I've been trying to make basically this game since I was like 14 and made an Asteroids clone. It even had pixel-by-pixel sprite rotation code! I'm still proud of that. Wish I had some screenshots... and, oh man, that reminds me. I started my game-dev journey by writing a graphics editing program. Because you need the tools first, right? This is back in the DOS, pre-MS-Paint days. Then I used *that* to make a font, that I then used in that very same graphics editor. Damn thing even had RGB palette editing, since VGA supported that. That was about the point I realized that, while I could make a palette editor, I had no idea how to go about making an actual palette.

... also, typing in the assembler code for a mouse driver, by hand, from a magazine, so I could actually use the mouse in my programs. And it *worked*! Kids these days, uphill both ways, and so on.

(The graphics editor also had support for animations. I mean. What. And a custom file format that was *awful*.)

Anyway, fun times!


(Also, working with Alex is great. He's gracious and respectful in collaboration and is all-around a real solid dude. But y'all probably could guess that from seeing the product of his labour and talking to him here. 'Course he takes out his evil side by pulling some seriously crafty moves in games of Dominions.)

(D'aww; right back atcha. Especially the bit about crafty, evil Dominions moves.)
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Midnight Kitsune

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Re: 345 days - you've read this post before
« Reply #17 on: March 05, 2018, 11:24:46 AM »

Another thing: Alex works very closely with the modders between releases to help them get in stuff that they would like and they have a decent need for. From what I have heard from the modders, Alex has made things a ton easier and many things would not be possible without his willingness to help them out, which in turn leads to awesome as hell mods which boosts interest in the game!
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Harmful Mechanic

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Re: 345 days - you've read this post before
« Reply #18 on: March 05, 2018, 11:30:31 AM »

I've had my share of clients who want a level of quality that takes time without the whole inconvenient 'takes time' part, which just goes to show that when someone knows absolutely nothing about what they're asking for, they'll automatically assume it's easy, that equally polished updates could be run off in less time rather than the level of polish being the result of time.

(Really, everything about the OP is like a joke you'd hear at a freelancer meetup. And not a kind joke. A 'thank god I don't work for that guy' joke.)

If Starsector is the game Alex and David were born to make, it's the game I always wanted them to. I've been tweaking and customizing 2D space games since I got a copy of EV Override on a shareware CD in 1998 and went poking around inside it with ResEdit. I've never stuck with a game longer than a couple weeks without going in under the hood and screwing around, and Starsector got me painting digitally again, got me mixing sounds and writing design docs and hiring out my skills to other modders. I've started writing up a few case studies for my portfolio, just because of this game. It'll help net me some new gigs. I've paid a lot more than $10 for worse networking opportunities.

So, OP: if there's not enough game for you, stock, the thing smart, talented people with applicable skills generally do is roll up their sleeves and make more game all by themselves. It's not easy, but it's pretty accessible and it's fun. There's always something new to do, and it'll humble you. And if you're too busy for that, then why is the long wait between updates so painful?
« Last Edit: December 06, 2019, 01:47:45 PM by Harmful Mechanic »
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Zhentar

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Re: 345 days - you've read this post before
« Reply #19 on: March 05, 2018, 07:59:47 PM »

Well, if it's 'be all sappy about Starsector' time: I think Starsector is within the same order of magnitude as Star Control 2.

p.s. 0.9 release, now, please. Or super buggy beta version. I'll take whatever fix I can get!
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Linnis

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Re: 345 days - you've read this post before
« Reply #20 on: March 06, 2018, 01:36:46 AM »

One good thing with such slow, meticulously created content in updates is that not one update has disappointed or worried us... for me atleast. Though the speed is in epic slow timescales where whole games might be made within.

@Alex: Have you thought about beyond starsector? I am sure in the end you will get enough success for you to handle once the game is published. Will you retire? Create a studio? Build a castle?
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Draba

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Re: 345 days - you've read this post before
« Reply #21 on: March 06, 2018, 03:25:01 AM »

If I may join in here, Starsector is kinda "the game I was born to make" ...

... I literally almost typed that exact thing, word for word, but then thought, "that might come off a bit melodramatic". Ahem. But yes, that's how it feels.

The kind of game I was born to play is an unholy union of Dwarf Fortress + Starsector, but Starsector by itself is pretty damn close too :)
Out of curiosity(and ofc if it's not something you'd not talk about it): did Starsector fund all those years of fulltime dev, or did you save up to have a swing at it?
« Last Edit: March 06, 2018, 03:26:38 AM by Draba »
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Alex

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Re: 345 days - you've read this post before
« Reply #22 on: March 06, 2018, 09:28:36 PM »

Well, if it's 'be all sappy about Starsector' time: I think Starsector is within the same order of magnitude as Star Control 2.

That's quite the bar to clear, especially considering SC is the game that really started this for me!

@Alex: Have you thought about beyond starsector? I am sure in the end you will get enough success for you to handle once the game is published. Will you retire? Create a studio? Build a castle?

A castle sounds nice. (But, seriously, the next thing after Starsector, provided it was financially viable, would probably be... an expansion for Starsector. No idea what that would entail, though, haven't thought much about it.)

Out of curiosity(and ofc if it's not something you'd not talk about it): did Starsector fund all those years of fulltime dev, or did you save up to have a swing at it?

A combination of both; couldn't have gotten this far without either.
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Typo91

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Re: 345 days - you've read this post before
« Reply #23 on: March 07, 2018, 10:30:18 AM »

Well, if it's 'be all sappy about Starsector' time: I think Starsector is within the same order of magnitude as Star Control 2.

p.s. 0.9 release, now, please. Or super buggy beta version. I'll take whatever fix I can get!

StarControl 2 is my original love...  did you know they are actually trying to make a new one? its on steam.

I got my hands on an early release, its pretty rough.

Starcontrol 2 was and still is a magical thing... the The Ur-Quan Masters remake is a testament to this, and that other game thats being made in the same style, as a direct continuation from the community.

I can't stress enough how amazing Starcon2 was... my god... still have the map and remember exploring the galaxy... maybe thats why i've followed this game so much for the better part of a decade.

This game could use a modular ship that you build from totally separate parts you find blueprints for, would be kinda cool.
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Sooner535

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Re: 345 days - you've read this post before
« Reply #24 on: March 07, 2018, 11:31:13 AM »

A castle sounds nice. (But, seriously, the next thing after Starsector, provided it was financially viable, would probably be... an expansion for Starsector. No idea what that would entail, though, haven't thought much about it.

Day 1 DLC confirmed :P
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SCC

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Re: 345 days - you've read this post before
« Reply #25 on: March 07, 2018, 12:08:50 PM »

A castle sounds nice. (But, seriously, the next thing after Starsector, provided it was financially viable, would probably be... an expansion for Starsector. No idea what that would entail, though, haven't thought much about it.)
I'm not saying that it should be multiplayer, but it should be multiplayer.

Alex

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Re: 345 days - you've read this post before
« Reply #26 on: March 07, 2018, 01:08:12 PM »

Starcontrol 2 was and still is a magical thing... the The Ur-Quan Masters remake is a testament to this, and that other game thats being made in the same style, as a direct continuation from the community.

I can't stress enough how amazing Starcon2 was... my god... still have the map and remember exploring the galaxy...

Indeed! It was/is good stuff, and I'm glad UQM is a thing.

Day 1 DLC confirmed :P

:-\

I'm not saying that it should be multiplayer, but it should be multiplayer.

Haha, that's one thing I can just about promise it wouldn't be. It helps that a) it would be a monumentally bad idea, for technical and business reasons and b) it's also not something I'm super interested in doing. I'm all about that single-player experience, you know :)

(Technical: game's not designed for it from the ground up, ergo it's basically impossible. Also, balance etc are for SP, not MP, and it's not just a question of tweaking some values - again, needs to be designed for it from the start. Business: a smaller game with an MP component is asking for huge amounts of trouble. An MP game needs a large, consistently active player base; imo it's crazy to stack the deck against yourself like that. There's no slow burn possible, it's either hit or you're done.)
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Seth

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Re: 345 days - you've read this post before
« Reply #27 on: March 07, 2018, 03:36:00 PM »

We live in era of multiplayer games, they are produced in bigger quantity, even single-player focused games get MP shoved in, sometimes hurting SP content itself. SP focused games are few, and good quality ones are even fewer. Personally I'm glad MP is not on the board and won't be.
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Midnight Kitsune

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Re: 345 days - you've read this post before
« Reply #28 on: March 07, 2018, 04:11:49 PM »

We live in era of multiplayer games, they are produced in bigger quantity, even single-player focused games get MP shoved in, sometimes hurting SP content itself. SP focused games are few, and good quality ones are even fewer. Personally I'm glad MP is not on the board and won't be.
You and me both!
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Tartiflette

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Re: 345 days - you've read this post before
« Reply #29 on: March 07, 2018, 04:20:18 PM »

I thought we were now living in a world where single player campaigns were forcefully shoved into multiplayer-only game?
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