Dominus Galaxia, KickStarter live, beta build inside!

Started by Jeff Graw, October 02, 2019, 05:31:33 PM

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Jeff Graw

Hi guys!

I was asked to come in here and post a bit about my game, Dominus Galaxia. It's a 4X space strategy game similar to Master of Orion 1.

A few factoids I think you guys might appreciate:

   -Goal is to have a liberated AI that plays by the same rules and constraints as humans.
   -Hotseat mode is supported.
   -Support for >2 sides in tactical combat events.
   -There are "deathmatch" and "tdm" modes that disable diplomacy so that you're left with a pure wargame.


Kickstarter is now live!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/starchartinteractive/dominus-galaxia

And you can download current build at:

https://starchart-interactive.itch.io/dominus-galaxia

If you guys have any questions feel free to ask  :)

Jarhead0331

Hey man...welcome to the forum.

Haven't had much chance to play around with the beta yet, but I love the racial art for the various races. Good job so far.

Question about the KS campaign...the beta seems pretty feature complete based on what I've read, so I'm curious as to why you are releasing the beta build for free and doing a KS...doesn't seem to make much sense. How much of the game is really left to develop at this point?
Grogheads Uber Alles
Semper Grog
"No beast is more alpha than JH." Gusington, 10/23/18


Jeff Graw

Quote from: Jarhead0331 on October 02, 2019, 06:13:42 PM
So I'm curious as to why you are releasing the beta build for free and doing a KS...doesn't seem to make much sense. How much of the game is really left to develop at this point?

To clarify, the beta build will be fully featured, but isn't going to be updated outside the crowdfunding period (well, maybe for a bit afterwards), so to continue receiving updates you'll need to opt in to a tier with beta testing (or be a beta tester prior to the KS).

Regarding feature-completedness, well, the final output here is going to be a lot more than the sum of its parts. I'm hoping to upgrade the presentation as well, and maybe even add a bunch of cool optional features like a real-time mode, more realistic star systems, and so on.

Basically, I could see this game going really far if everything lines up well. I could see myself working on this 10 years after release just continuing to add content, systems and polish. But that's going to depend on sales, which depends on putting something out that is really awesome on day 1. Being the perfectionist that I am, I'd prefer to keep DG in beta until I either have to release, or hopefully when I'm really satisfied with the quality of the product.

Geezer

We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.  George Bernard Shaw

Jeff Graw

Thanks, Geezer!

I get the feeling that my previous response maybe wasn't the greatest, but I dunno. If you guys want me to try to elaborate more on the development plans, then that's fine and I'll give it another shot.

SirAndrewD

"These men do not want a happy ship. They are deeply sick and try to compensate by making me feel miserable. Last week was my birthday. Nobody even said "happy birthday" to me. Someday this tape will be played and then they'll feel sorry."  - Sgt. Pinback

FlickJax

I am not a space 4* specialist but there are lots here, your commitment atleast is great and welcome.

Martok

Hey, Jeff!  Glad to see you over here. 


In answer to your question, Jarhead, the game is indeed pretty much feature-complete, yes, but is still rather bare-bones at the moment.  He's looking to make it more fully fleshed-out before releasing DG to the general public.  (Jeff, feel free to clarify/correct me if I'm speaking out of turn here.) 


Speaking only for myself, I'm undeniably pretty jazzed about Dominus Galaxia.  I've been following Jeff's work for some time now, and it's hard not to get excited about it (although I do my best ;) ).  I really like the thought & effort he's put into the game's design (which is a *lot*), and his philosophy behind it.  While it remains to be seen how well his vision translates into reality, I very much look forward to seeing him try. 
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HoodedHorseJoe

I will try this as 'space' and '4X' are two words that are relevant to my interests... but man, I do wish people would stop trying to re-do Master of Orion.

It's nice to see someone trying to re-do MOO 1 for a change - most games of this nature are trying to copy MOO2, but I'm personally not a fan of using this as a start point. We end up getting a lot of the same kind of games rolling out, and the 4X genre deserves better than that.

I do like what I've seen of the tactical layer though - this is one areas where I think space 4X games can really shine, so it's good you've created a dedicated battle section. Two-tier ship designer is also music to my ears, as is "infinite tech tree". So it sounds like you're being creative in the right ways. I look forward to seeing how this one pans out.

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Jeff Graw

Quote from: Martok on October 03, 2019, 03:09:41 AM
In answer to your question, Jarhead, the game is indeed pretty much feature-complete, yes, but is still rather bare-bones at the moment.  He's looking to make it more fully fleshed-out before releasing DG to the general public.  (Jeff, feel free to clarify/correct me if I'm speaking out of turn here.)

No, that's actually something I should have mentioned: Close to feature complete, but rather content-bare.

Quote from: WargamerJoe on October 03, 2019, 04:27:05 AM
It's nice to see someone trying to re-do MOO 1 for a change - most games of this nature are trying to copy MOO2, but I'm personally not a fan of using this as a start point. We end up getting a lot of the same kind of games rolling out, and the 4X genre deserves better than that.

Heh, well, making DG has made me a fall a little bit out of love with MoO 1 from a design sense, and has also given me a lot of time to think about the genre. That said, MoO-1 type games certainly seem like a massively under-served niche, with only SoTS 1 coming to recent memory.

Now, if I had to start over again I'd do a real-time 4X based on the concept of communications delay and your physical presence in the world. For example, if you want to control a battle with any kind of accuracy you need to risk your person by putting yourself on a nearby (or engaged) ship. It's an organic solution to micro-management since if you try to manage faraway colonies you end up doing more harm than good, while you want to make sure that you trust frontier governors. And then you get into fun stuff like jamming the transmissions of units leaving the leader of that faction blind in an area, etc. Someday I still might try to make this game, if I think I have the energy to do another 4X from scratch...

Jarhead0331

I'm not sure I quite understand the nuanced difference between "close to feature complete" while still being "rather content-bare"...but I'm working on it!

Have you thought about incorporating any features from MOO3? The modded and patched version of MOO3 is and will probably always be one of my all time favorite 4x titles. It is so overlooked and under-rated, but it got so much right and truly tried to bring the genre into several new directions.
Grogheads Uber Alles
Semper Grog
"No beast is more alpha than JH." Gusington, 10/23/18


Jeff Graw

#12
Quote from: Jarhead0331 on October 03, 2019, 11:47:02 AM
I'm not sure I quite understand the nuanced difference between "close to feature complete" while still being "rather content-bare"...but I'm working on it!

Basically the difference between having a system in place for x and having a lot of x. Eg. Support for space monsters, random events, leaders, etc. versus the number of the same.

To be more specific about the kind of content I mean when I say DG is lacking, it's all the background stuff that makes the universe feel alive and breathing. I think that currently the universe feels a bit bare.

Quote from: Jarhead0331 on October 03, 2019, 11:47:02 AMHave you thought about incorporating any features from MOO3? The modded and patched version of MOO3 is and will probably always be one of my all time favorite 4x titles. It is so overlooked and under-rated, but it got so much right and truly tried to bring the genre into several new directions.

The MoO 3 galactic council was interesting, if perhaps a bit rough. MoO 3 also did a pretty good job with ground combat. Having some kind of galactic council (minus the council victory, because it requires AIs to vote against their best interests), and a bit more in-depth planetary invasions (although probably not tactical, since combined with tactical space combat I could see that disrupting game pacing) are both on my wish-list.

Jarhead0331

^The ground combat was a big plus for me, as was the ability to form fleets, flotillas, squadrons for ships and armies, corps, divisions, battalions for ground troops, each requiring certain types and quantities of units. No other 4x game has had this kind of detail and I loved it. 
Grogheads Uber Alles
Semper Grog
"No beast is more alpha than JH." Gusington, 10/23/18


Anguille

First, welcome to the Grogheads forums! Also congrats on your KS.

I am fully with Jarhead about MOO3. One of the greatest game design for a 4x (actually 5x) game. Too bad Quicksilver didn't patch it further...guess if it was released today, it would have been easier. A lot of great ideas to pick from.