Limit Theory Forums

Posted: **Thu Jan 08, 2015 2:38 pm**

Future gamers will look back on these days as the best of times for space games.

Today's entry is Sol Trader, described as inspired by Elite, Asteroids, and Dwarf Fortress, with some RPG-like story and mechanics baked in as well.

Quoting just part of solo developer Chris Parsons's Kickstarter description:

When you create a character in this world, you face the same choices as all the computer-controlled citizens did. The decisions you make in your character's early life set your starting skills and attributes, and your family connections and business contacts.

There is no set story. The game generates two centuries of characters, events and interactions to set the scene: as a player, you are born into this world and form relationships in it before the game starts.

You'll then be able to create your own legend within this world: explore the known (and unknown) solar system, trade goods, run missions, leverage your contacts, and avenge members of your family as you see fit.

This is (unless a stretch goal is met) a single-player offline game. Much of it is already done after three years; the alpha will start when the Kickstarter ends.

Pre-game history generation FTW.

Posted: **Thu Jan 08, 2015 2:42 pm**

Not yet having seen the kickstarter, I love the sound of this.

Posted: **Thu Jan 08, 2015 4:34 pm**

Indeed, this game is essentially Limit Theory. I'll most likely be backing this, though the currency exchange rate will kill me.

Posted: **Fri Jan 09, 2015 3:05 am**

Love the look of it, especially the emphasis on AI character interaction. The character history is pretty absurdly-detailed

Backing!

Posted: **Fri Jan 09, 2015 5:35 am**

Backed Alpha access - woot!

Code: Select all

All the benefits of the BETA ACCESS plus:

Full access to the alpha builds of the game, available right now. Play the current version of the game as soon as the Kickstarter finishes!

Can I mod the game wrote: Will I be able to mod the game?
There will absolutely be modding support!

It's already possibly to easily mod all the art and the solar system layout without any extra tools.

I have some tool programs to convert text files into game-readable data, and will release these open source, allowing you to rewrite the whole AI and retune all the ships and components.

Posted: **Fri Jan 09, 2015 6:17 am**

That personal history/ancestry stuff would be cool for LT

Posted: **Fri Jan 09, 2015 9:21 am**

Backed. And as Josh says. Backed hard!

Posted: **Fri Jan 09, 2015 10:46 am**

Holy shit.

This guy also worked on a few of my other favorite games.

I am backing this hard.

And like the quote at the top says; "If you don’t want to play Sol Trader when you've read [the Kickstarter], I’m afraid we can’t be friends anymore. That’s just the way it is." -- I wholeheartedly agree.

Epic find Flat.

Posted: **Fri Jan 09, 2015 2:04 pm**

I considered this, but I've backed so many games that still aren't out, I'm quite frankly tired of backing stuff that won't be out for a long time into the future. I know many people dig that, but having to wait over a year for something, my patience just cannot handle it. Nor am I big on Alpha/Beta testing... And then finally when (if) the game comes out a year, 2 years later, it's nothing like what I thought I was backing, and hence a huge disappointment. I want to extend good luck for this though, I hope it works out well. It looks like it might be enjoyable...

Posted: **Fri Jan 09, 2015 3:54 pm**

Sol Trader looks brilliant, if he lives up to his promises. I'm hoping he will. The Kickstarter isn't looking too good, though - usually games are a lot farther along by this point.

I'm still hopeful.

I doubt it'll be as big as LT, but it would definitely be amazing.

Posted: **Sun Jan 11, 2015 7:32 am**

wizaerd wrote:I considered this, but I've backed so many games that still aren't out, I'm quite frankly tired of backing stuff that won't be out for a long time into the future. I know many people dig that, but having to wait over a year for something, my patience just cannot handle it. Nor am I big on Alpha/Beta testing... And then finally when (if) the game comes out a year, 2 years later, it's nothing like what I thought I was backing, and hence a huge disappointment. I want to extend good luck for this though, I hope it works out well. It looks like it might be enjoyable...

Sadly I'm starting to agree completely with this, there seems to be far far more "Early Access, Alpha, Beta, Crowd Funding" games than there are good released games coming out. Truth be told regardless of how good a developer, or company is all of these systems are built around the pretense of you buying something without getting something. Even if you're getting entry into alpha/beta, you're paying for the privilege of an inferior "unfinished" game. In some cases, these games never truly eventuate into their claims. For me it isn't so much about the patience factor as it is the fact that I'm handing over money for a promise, for an idea which may or may not pan out. Having backed/bought a good number of EA/Crowd funding games I would say only a couple have actually lived up to the original idea. Most fall short, including some of the big ones. E:D, Planetary Annihilation, Star Citizen, Starbound, Secrets of Grindea, CubeWorld... all these games have fallen short or simply never reached even close to the promises they had in the beginning. E:D was the closest I would say that actually hit what they aimed at, and the deal breaker for me was the removal of offline play. Planetary Annihilation is great but it's riddled with performance issues that keep the game far FAR away from the target description that they had in the beginning. So I guess part of the real problem is that every single one of these projects sell an overly ambitious idea that simply isn't realistic at all. I don't think that will stop me backing, but it will certainly curb my backing to more reasonable amounts and I won't be backing for alpha/beta entry in games anymore unless they offer something significantly more than access to the unfinished game.

Posted: **Sun Jan 11, 2015 9:42 am**

I dunno why but I couldn't get a sharp resolution on the video so I couldn't get a clear grasp of the graphics. It also didn't give me a good view of the gameplay (since there was so much to try and squeeze in there). So I am not quite sure how it would play and all of that. The list of things in the game look very interesting but I have a huge list of games on my wish list and after buying a new car, my funds for games are short

Posted: **Sun Jan 11, 2015 9:51 am**

Charley_Deallus wrote:I dunno why but I couldn't get a sharp resolution on the video so I couldn't get a clear grasp of the graphics. It also didn't give me a good view of the gameplay (since there was so much to try and squeeze in there). So I am not quite sure how it would play and all of that. The list of things in the game look very interesting but I have a huge list of games on my wish list and after buying a new car, my funds for games are short

Clearly you need to free up more RAM.

Posted: **Sun Jan 11, 2015 10:42 am**

I'm trying to ignorer this game. It's a great find, Flat, but I really have got enough games in the pipeline now. It seems I'm not alone.

Posted: **Sun Jan 11, 2015 1:18 pm**

There is always place for just one more, isn't that true any longer?

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