Limit Theory Forums

Cornflakes_91 wrote:

Mawhrin-skel wrote:[stuff]

Spoiler:      SHOW

i spy with my little eye some "borrowed" icons from a game we both know very well

lol sssssh

You know though, I always wanted to play with that star map - cool that I ended up making my own.

Drawing the ellipse at the right orientation is a right ballache, they still aren't right really

Okay, you have me at the point where I'm considering buying. Is there a demo that is close to what is currently being shown in screenshots on the website? Do you feel comfortable saying that the game will be finished by October 2016? And finally, If I buy now am I saving 6 or more dollars as opposed to waiting five more months?

BFett wrote:Okay, you have me at the point where I'm considering buying. Is there a demo that is close to what is currently being shown in screenshots on the website? Do you feel comfortable saying that the game will be finished by October 2016? And finally, If I buy now am I saving 6 or more dollars as opposed to waiting five more months?

I'll just break that down:

Is there a demo that is close to what is currently being shown in screenshots on the website?

Sadly we haven't had time to make a demo, but you could always buy, play it, refund it if you don't like.

Do you feel comfortable saying that the game will be finished by October 2016?

I'd feel more comfortable saying the game will be feature complete by that stage, but at the moment i'm unaware of the constraints of things like voice acting that can protract timescales.

And finally, If I buy now am I saving 6 or more dollars as opposed to waiting five more months?

The game will certainly be cheaper now than in 6 months time but you might catch it in the sale so it's hard to say.

I'm going to remove my salesman hat and put on my human hat. If you can spare the cash and are happy with something that probably only has a couple of hours playtime worth in it right now then buy. But there are other games that are $15 that will keep you amused for longer or if cash is tight please keep hold of it.

Right now we're just interested in hearing peoples thoughts and raising awareness. We really appreciate it if you do support the project, but if you're unsure or will be measuring that purchase on what you'll be getting right now - hold on for a bit. Hope that clears it up!

Mawhrin-skel wrote:...
is a right ballache,

lol!!
There's me reading this as a new word (bal-ash) and thinking it's french and about to google it.
Thank the heavens for being a guy, or I'd have definitely had a blonde moment asking friends/family..!

FormalMoss wrote:

Mawhrin-skel wrote:...
is a right ballache,

lol!!
There's me reading this as a new word (bal-ash) and thinking it's french and about to google it.
Thank the heavens for being a guy, or I'd have definitely had a blonde moment asking friends/family..!

Haha! Yeah that could have been embarrassing! I'll try and put a lid on my British-isms

Purchased, as the steam sale let me have an excuse for spending more money than I should. I'm excited to try it out when I get home from work.

Been a while again guys bit of an information blast here for the interested, hope you're all keeping well.

Over to the game, some talk regarding recent developments with an extended video awaits you in the ‘Overhaul Progress Update’ blog post.

"Swinging development chat back round to combat, we needed a decision to make as to how exactly we would display damage. When polled over on the forums, the majority of people wanted to see rolling damage counters which kinda fits with the finding and fitting of better weapons and support modules you’ll come across on your travels."
Secrets are finally uncovered as the tale ‘Paradijs Lost’ is brought to a cataclysmic end, but what will become of Eve and Jack…

“She remembered the first time her father had taken her to a Map. She’d wondered why it was called that. A map, she thought, showed someone how to get from Point A to Point B, much the same as the Imperiums ‘Jump Safe’ network guide traffic to areas of interest around planets. A jumpgate merely transported someone from Point A to Point B a lot faster than Near To Light drives.”
Development resumes and we all get a little closer to a taste of what’s to come as the todo list shrinks.

But just what is taking so long? and will development continue at this pace? Find out in the latest article with more preview images over in 'Sleeping Beast.'

"So now the development experience is very different. Rather than hand designed maps one-by-one, we instead give the game instruction to create an unlimited number of unique maps itself and rather than perfecting the behaviour of ships that will follow the same path each time, we instead give the ships a limited level of awareness and allow them to collectively make decisions based on their tasks and surroundings."

Sounds like it's rolling forward. Good.
I am excited to see the game progress.


Some (hopefully helpful) criticism:

In the first Gif, the damage textures don't fit too well. They are much the same as the main color.
At the least I would recommend patches of bare metal as well as scorch marks. As currently the effect is lost on the darker color.


If you have the capacity, and I do mean if, this is not an easy route to go: I recommend four texture layers.

Damage : Overlayer of dirt, scorch marks, and stuff on top of the paint.
Paint : Top layer of beautiful paint, and main texture
Armor : Under layer of metal, plastic, and whatever other surface materials you have.
Subsurface : The bits under the armor, pipes, exposed bulkheads etc.

Then as you take minimal damage you show chunks of the damage layer. (or better yet, add things to it on the fly)
As you take more damage, you can use an alpha channel to carve chunks from the paint layer.
Once armor starts ablating, you can use more alpha to strip away armor chunks, exposing internals.

Those internals, when exposed, should also have little puffs of smoke, or "air" as bulkheads are breached.
Sparks can fly off from them also.


I think it would add a lot more detail, and far more ability for dynamic damage effects.
Taking a lot of hits to your left side could leave that side scarred and pitted, whilst the right side is mostly unharmed.
End result would look amazing, and encourage the idea that the ships are individuals you need to protect, rather than simple mass produced throw-aways.

i didnt even see the damage textures on the angelwing when i watched it on my phone....

I was mesmerized by that ship and its progress through space, Mawhrin-skel.

Sadly I haven't had much time to explore your game yet but I love that effect.

Cornflakes_91 wrote:i didnt even see the damage textures on the angelwing when i watched it on my phone....

The all-around-shinyness of the scene worked the same way for me... in a 21" screen... ehem... I was like "what damage textures are they talking about?!"

Lum wrote:

Cornflakes_91 wrote:i didnt even see the damage textures on the angelwing when i watched it on my phone....

The all-around-shinyness of the scene worked the same way for me... in a 21" screen... ehem... I was like "what damage textures are they talking about?!"

Yeah there isn't any damage modelling just yet, but we are looking at a layers system similar to your suggestion - also decals. One of the trickiest effects to pull off believe me.

Cheers for the feedback!

Mawhrin-skel wrote:

Lum wrote:

Cornflakes_91 wrote:i didnt even see the damage textures on the angelwing when i watched it on my phone....

The all-around-shinyness of the scene worked the same way for me... in a 21" screen... ehem... I was like "what damage textures are they talking about?!"

Yeah there isn't any damage modelling just yet, but we are looking at a layers system similar to your suggestion - also decals. One of the trickiest effects to pull off believe me.

Cheers for the feedback!

Oh yes I know, damage is a pain in the butt to represent well.
Hopefully you guys manage to pull it off in a pleasing way.

We’re running at fever pitch here as development pauses while we start fine tuning for the First Playable Beta. A whole host of particle effects and shaders have been tweaked and added just for the sheer glory of it with a dramatic musical score thrown in for good measure.

But don’t take our word for it, check out the latest preview video ‘Galore!’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWDw8zCI7EQ

Nobody is more excited than we - now a mere are days away from releasing the First Playable of the new Shallow Space!

In the preview you’ll get to roam around a 30 Zone area, complete sample quests, fit modules, play with inventory – but the main idea of it is to test things like the controls in these early days as we roll in content and fixes, thick and fast.

Learn more about it, along with some excitable developer rant in ‘Cry Havoc!’

Woo! Nice to hear, Mawhrin! I've been looking forward to seeing for myself what you guys have done with this ever since you announced the changes. The gifs look beautiful, keep up the great work!