Dominus Galaxia, KickStarter live, beta build inside!

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

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Jeff Graw

#15
Ok guys, there's a download page at itch.io to get the KS build:

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

Martok

"Like we need an excuse to drink to anything..." - Banzai_Cat
"I like to think of it not as an excuse but more like Pavlovian Response." - Sir Slash

"At our ages, they all look like jailbait." - mirth

"If we had lines here that would have crossed all of them. For the 1,077,986th time." - Gusington

"Government is so expensive that it should at least be entertaining." - airboy

"As long as there's bacon, everything will be all right." - Toonces

CJReich46

Quote from: Martok on October 04, 2019, 11:00:58 PM
Excellent!  Downloading now.  8)

Downloaded last night. Impressive. I liked the combat, could use a tweak or two. Really liked the diplomacy screen, THAT was icing on the cake. Plus it does have that good MOO1 vibe. I commend you on this, for one I like MOO1- the reason why people like MOO2 is because it added more.  I like a Space 4x with depth (Distant Worlds Universe) but sometimes I want to keep it simple. MOO1 fills that, and I think this game is comparable. Adding the Pirates was a nice touch. Plus instead of combat with the AI races, you could hail them, again forward thinking, and I noticed there were queues for shipbuilding A, B, C. Nice.
" He either fears his fate too much
Or his deserts are small,
Who dares not put it to the touch
To win or lose it all."  - James Graham 1st Marquis of Montrose

Jeff Graw

#18
Quote from: CJReich46 on October 05, 2019, 10:29:27 AM
Downloaded last night. Impressive. I liked the combat, could use a tweak or two.

Combat actually just got a pretty big improvement a few months ago. I'm at least going to experiment with adding firing arcs relatively soon. Besides that, the other big weakness that I can see is critical hits and flanking. Mainly because I've been waffling on whether or not to keep them, so I haven't put enough focus in that area. So, I'm either going to streamline that part or elevate them to be more of a first class citizen.

Quote from: CJReich46 on October 05, 2019, 10:29:27 AMReally liked the diplomacy screen, THAT was icing on the cake. Plus it does have that good MOO1 vibe. I commend you on this, for one I like MOO1- the reason why people like MOO2 is because it added more.

Thanks a lot! I'd hazard that the biggest reason is because the game world feels so rich and alive. MoO 2 had an emotional resonance that is probably still unsurpassed. I'm also of the opinion that all of us are subconsciously biased based on emotional resonance. So for instance, everything being equal I'll perceive the game that better immerses me as also being better designed.

Quote from: CJReich46 on October 05, 2019, 10:29:27 AMI noticed there were queues for shipbuilding A, B, C. Nice.

Technically not a queue, but a pointer. This is a tool that is really handy for larger empires, but is a rightful pain in the ass to explain/onboard.  ;D

The way it works is you can set a whole bunch of colonies, let's say 20 of them, to produce preset A. Preset A might be pointing to a ship class named Annihilator. Then you design a new ship class named Victory, and set preset A to point to that instead. Now thanks to that one action all 20 colonies have changed to producing Victory-class starships.

Jarhead0331

Where is planetary bombardment and invasion at the present state and how do you plan on developing it?
Grogheads Uber Alles
Semper Grog
"No beast is more alpha than JH." Gusington, 10/23/18


Jeff Graw

Quote from: Jarhead0331 on October 05, 2019, 05:17:45 PM
Where is planetary bombardment and invasion at the present state and how do you plan on developing it?

Both are pretty close to MoO 1 at the moment. Bombing is pretty similar, but there's a finer degree of control. Invasion is also pretty similar, but no cool animation, and like space combat it supports events with >2 sides.

They're both areas I've been thinking about expanding, but I don't have any concrete plans to share just yet.

Jarhead0331

I haven't played MOO1 in 25 years. I really do not remember any of its mechanics. lol
Grogheads Uber Alles
Semper Grog
"No beast is more alpha than JH." Gusington, 10/23/18



Jeff Graw

#23
Quote from: matt3916 on October 05, 2019, 08:35:07 PM
Dont care for the font.

I'm growing a bit tired of it too. Well, it's less that the font is bad then that I use it absolutely everywhere.

Jeff Graw

Just thought of something I should mention here that I was talking about in another forum, because it totally plays into the spirit of war-gaming. It's something that I want to do within the next 9 or so months: Ship design intel.

Basically, the idea is that when you first encounter a new ship class it looks like a blank slate... after interacting with it more (eg. fighting it) you begin to uncover its stats. And the more you fight it the more effective you get at killing it. Espionage would play into this as well, so you could also sometimes get information without needing to go into combat. And allies would share information in general.

Besides just being, I think, really cool, and giving players something to "explore" later in the game, I think this would lend well to a lot of strategic situations. Making huge fleets of cheap ships to appear stronger than you are? Being careful when to use your new designs so as to keep them hidden (and therefore strongest when finally revealed)? Even when to build new ship designs seems like it would become a much more involved question.

Martok

Quote from: Jeff Graw on October 05, 2019, 08:48:43 PM
Quote from: matt3916 on October 05, 2019, 08:35:07 PM
Dont care for the font.

I'm growing a bit tired of it too. Well, it's less that the font is bad then that I use it absolutely everywhere.
Huh.  I actually like the font myself; I find that in its own small way, it contributes to the aesthetic and "feel" of the game.  I can see where some might feel it's over-used, though. 



"Like we need an excuse to drink to anything..." - Banzai_Cat
"I like to think of it not as an excuse but more like Pavlovian Response." - Sir Slash

"At our ages, they all look like jailbait." - mirth

"If we had lines here that would have crossed all of them. For the 1,077,986th time." - Gusington

"Government is so expensive that it should at least be entertaining." - airboy

"As long as there's bacon, everything will be all right." - Toonces

FarAway Sooner

I like the ship design intel idea.  It is a new convention, but a clever one.  Starting out with awareness of ship size and little else (perhaps some vague measure of shield strength or max speed observed) would be cool.

I'd only suggest that intel not be arrived at solely by fighting something.  Time alone should build some familiarity with ships, either because you simply observe them flying by, or because the lead design engineer decides to retire in your star empire.

I'd think that programming the AI to deal with this would be insane.

Jarhead0331

What about scanner technology? Research should include a module to be installed on ships that can ID specifications and capability.
Grogheads Uber Alles
Semper Grog
"No beast is more alpha than JH." Gusington, 10/23/18


Anguille

Quote from: Jeff Graw on October 03, 2019, 12:42:50 PM
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).
I don't see it this way. To me, voting in MOO1 had a strong role-playing element. You get to vote for the player who has the same values or is going to the best ruler for all. In some way, it's similar to an alliance Victory.

Jeff Graw

Quote from: Jarhead0331 on October 06, 2019, 02:51:44 AM
What about scanner technology? Research should include a module to be installed on ships that can ID specifications and capability.

Yup. I'm thinking that this can actually be rolled into the battle computers. And in that way you can also have some tension between battle computers that excel at grabbing specs, versus ones that are better at straight up combat. Perhaps with the addition that the former is stronger when the intel on a design is really low.

Quote from: Anguille on October 06, 2019, 07:22:25 AM
I don't see it this way. To me, voting in MOO1 had a strong role-playing element. You get to vote for the player who has the same values or is going to the best ruler for all. In some way, it's similar to an alliance Victory.

I agree 100% about the strong role playing element. But I still don't like it from a design perspective. If all the players were humans would anyone ever get elected? No. So I'd like to put something else in there to capture the role playing part, just without the unfortunate AI-compulsion thing.