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News:

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

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Author Topic: Blog Posts  (Read 337526 times)

Alex

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Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #30 on: September 05, 2011, 09:05:44 AM »

"Pffft, I liked the UI version that was never actually out so much better!" :D
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Alex

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Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #31 on: September 17, 2011, 06:10:30 PM »

New blog post - New Feature: Damageable Ship Modules. With a video :)
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CommComms

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Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #32 on: September 17, 2011, 09:10:41 PM »

Alas, poor Piett!

That reminds me, any idea on if we'll be able to name our own ship captains?  And also I love this patch and want to marry it and then raise a family of adorable patch babies with it.
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Thana

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Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #33 on: September 17, 2011, 10:17:59 PM »

Looks pretty good. I also like how you obviously put thought into gameplay as well as the coolness factor. Because you're definitely right that destructible ship components do produce the danger of a slippery slope. I guess this is one of the things that alpha and beta testing can help finetune, too!
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Alex

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Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #34 on: September 18, 2011, 09:03:09 AM »

That reminds me, any idea on if we'll be able to name our own ship captains?

Probably yes. It's a question of "realism" (note the quotes), which is at odds with letting you rename people, vs it being a sandbox and a roleplay-your-own-adventure type of thing. I'm leaning strongly towards the latter.


I guess this is one of the things that alpha and beta testing can help finetune, too!

Yep, absolutely :)
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Qloos

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Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #35 on: September 18, 2011, 11:23:56 AM »

Quote
I want to stay away from adding any extra UI elements – for example, ones showing you the exact status of every weapon and engine. It’s just too much information to keep track of in the heat of combat. Instead, there are distinct animations and floating text to let you know what’s happening, right there on the combat screen. We’ll also have some specific sound cues for the various events (“weapon disabled”, “flameout”, “repairs in progress”, etc) to make it as clear as possible what’s happening.

Request option toggle to disable said text.
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Alex

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Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #36 on: September 18, 2011, 11:50:24 AM »

Request option toggle to disable said text.

Pretty likely a bit down the line, though I can't promise when (or 100% if). I think I know where you're coming from - I played M&B with all the overlays turned off myself, and it provided a nice extra level of challenge and immersion. Part of that had to do with the medieval setting where overlays were immersion-breakers, but still, I think I get it.

It's also a question of presenting enough information to new players vs not cluttering up the screen. For now, I'm trying to strike a balance between the two, but, like I said, some options to control that are likely down the line :)
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Blips

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Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #37 on: September 18, 2011, 11:53:42 AM »

Quote
I want to stay away from adding any extra UI elements – for example, ones showing you the exact status of every weapon and engine. It’s just too much information to keep track of in the heat of combat. Instead, there are distinct animations and floating text to let you know what’s happening, right there on the combat screen. We’ll also have some specific sound cues for the various events (“weapon disabled”, “flameout”, “repairs in progress”, etc) to make it as clear as possible what’s happening.

Request option toggle to disable said text.

I actually found the floating text to be horribly distracting. I'd like for a toggle as well - perhaps simply flashing / tinting modules would be a more elegant method of displaying which are disabled and which ones are active.
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Alex

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Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #38 on: September 18, 2011, 12:03:00 PM »

I actually found the floating text to be horribly distracting. I'd like for a toggle as well - perhaps simply flashing / tinting modules would be a more elegant method of displaying which are disabled and which ones are active.

You can definitely see it without the floaties - there are distinctly-styled explosions to indicate it, and a disabled module is tinted darker (and has "welding" repair sparkles).

The floaties do make it a lot more clear what's going on, though, especially if you aren't aware of the mechanic in the first place...
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CommComms

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Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #39 on: September 18, 2011, 01:01:00 PM »

Probably yes. It's a question of "realism" (note the quotes), which is at odds with letting you rename people, vs it being a sandbox and a roleplay-your-own-adventure type of thing. I'm leaning strongly towards the latter.

Maybe every captain has a "name" and a "call sign".  Have the name be randomly generated or pulled from a database or however you want to do it, and the call sign is set by default to be the captain's name, but editable by you to be whatever you want.  That way you can have your name and change it too.
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Erebos

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Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #40 on: September 18, 2011, 06:54:54 PM »

I also think a toggle would be good to have, although the text should be on by default.

I suggest that when a weapon on the player's ship is disabled, the name of the weapon at the bottom of the HUD should be greyed out – no extra elements required, just make it look different. It might be a good idea to do this for the target information too.
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Avan

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Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #41 on: September 19, 2011, 10:07:24 PM »

I noticed that the missile launcher's inaccuracies were identical for each salvo of missiles launched by the dominator, resulting in a very orderly looking innaccurary to the weapons fire.

Alex

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Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #42 on: September 20, 2011, 10:35:01 AM »

Because it's not inaccuracy, they're fired in a fixed spread pattern :)
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Alex

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Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #43 on: September 29, 2011, 05:45:56 PM »

New blog post up - What's Next?.
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Flare

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Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #44 on: September 29, 2011, 06:27:16 PM »

SQUEE!
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Quote from: Thana
Quote from: Alex

The battle station is not completely operational, shall we say.

"Now witness the firepower of this thoroughly buggy and unoperational batt... Oh, hell, you know what? Just ignore the battle station, okay?"
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