I have been making a game over the past month or so mostly for a college project, which was briefly showcased here a while back in the small works thread. It has since become larger and considerably more polished than it was before, including several big updates on the way
The game itself is a space simulator primarily inspired by the Freespace series, but will later include other features from the genre. As of now I have successfully implemented a dogfighting routine to be used by the AI, as well as customizable weapon loadouts for player and AI ships, and an adequate collision evasion system for the AI. I am in the process of implementing capital ship warfare, along with the ability to jump to other systems which as of today I have managed to crack. Please note that I am using several placeholder models and GUI elements that will eventually be replaced (I am a programmer, not an artist xD). I am working with a classmate who is a 3D artist though.
Since starting the project, I have uploaded several YouTube videos to demonstrate my progress. I haven’t updated very recently, but depending on how things go I will be posting a new one within the next week or two. The playlist on my YouTube channel can be found at http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBB71B98544A1CA16&feature=mh_lolz
I will be posting updates every so often, so watch this space!
New video is up, I made a script that includes planets into the game and allows the player to navigate the current solar system. Scaling is not quite there yet, but the distances between planets are accurate:
Apologies for the shortage of updates, but I have still been quietly working on some pretty big features. One of them is an editor that can be used for creating a game world quickly and easily:
It still needs a lot of work, but it allows the creation of solar systems with the aid of a visual interface. It allows the user to name systems, set up jumpgate connections, and move systems around. I could input the data for all the solar systems and all the planets by hand, but that would take forever and I won’t know what it would look like xD
All I need to do now is finish the editor for the inside of solar systems (such as editing planets, stations etc), and a way to parse it all into an external file that can be loaded into the main game. Once that’s done I can start to add life into the gameworlds that I create.
Looks like a fun game to play. Are you going for realistic or arcade art style? How big is the size of the project?
I’m interested in what you have planned for capital ship fights. Will you make any damage system like sub systems or just a one health bar idea? It would be nice to play a web demo.
this looks so awesome and if you need any help with space ships I can see if i can make you one i’m a amateur when it comes to modeling i’m only 13 but i can manage if you need anything let me know
@roger0 - I am aiming towards a realistic art style, but we are currently experimenting with a variety of different styles at the moment to see which is best. Capital ship fights are something I’m personally really looking forward to, as soon as I get the turrets working and making a custom targeting system for capital ships :). I am also experimenting with subsystems for different areas, which will also be manned by crew which will change efficiency of that function depending on the crew’s skills - very early stage though. The size of the project is pretty big - there are still a very large amount of things left to do, but I just take things step by step to stop myself from getting burned out.
@aysaspades - Thanks for the offer, I’ll send you a message once design direction is a bit more stable
@Paradigm-SW - My next task is making a system that will organise ships into a hierachy of fleets, which can then be given tasks as a single entity. These could include things like blockading a Jumpgate or destroying a station. I will also be writing the AI to be able to do this along with the player, which is a pretty big step. I’m hoping that this will open up a strategic layer to the game, making it accessible to players that just want to get stuck into the action, or players that are happy to sit back and move fleets across the galaxy map.
Again, thanks for the replies - I’ll be posting more updates soon.
