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chrismdp
Jan 7, 2015



Hey everyone!

I've been working away at Sol Trader for the last 3(!) years in my spare time, and thought it was about time to get the word out as it gets closer to being done.

I'm running a Kickstarter this month - feel free to check it out. There's also a Stream Greenlight page. Rock Paper Shotgun did a nice preview.

More info:

It's a space ARPG game for PC and Mac which crosses elements of Dwarf Fortress with Elite and Asteroids. The game has exploring, trading, mining, fighting pirates etc, but the neat bit is the procedural history generator inspired by the adventure and legends mode in Dwarf Fortress.

Each new game is already two centuries old, with a living history full of characters that are born, live and die before you even exist. 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. You'll then be able to create your own story 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.

I've built the game in C++ using my own engine (OpenGL, SDL, Chipmunk for Physics although I think I'll take it out, libOGG etc.) I do

Links to more info
Kickstarter - ends Feb 4th
Steam Greenlight
Subreddit
Twitter
Twitch channel for live dev streams
Youtube archives of streams, week notes from last year and trailers

A few quick screenshots:





I'd appreciate feedback if you'd care to share, and will hang around to answer questions. It's been so long with just me working on the game it's great to get it out into the light of day and hear what other people think. I'll update this thread with any major news and updates as they come out.

Thanks - take it easy!
Chris

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chrismdp
Jan 7, 2015

You might also want to check out the new gameplay video I just released:

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

Brackhar
Aug 26, 2006

I'll give you a definite maybe.
So generated histories are cool, but what's the pitch for how it adds value to the game in this case? What part of the generation ends up affecting my experience as opposed to just being back story?

chrismdp
Jan 7, 2015

Brackhar posted:

So generated histories are cool, but what's the pitch for how it adds value to the game in this case? What part of the generation ends up affecting my experience as opposed to just being back story?

Great question. As the game generates, you get generated right along with it: the game pauses history in your designated birth year, and you run through the same history process. That means you make friends and enemies, take jobs, get married and divorced etc right alongside everyone else.

When you start the game you take this whole network in with you: you then leverage these contacts to fulfil your goals in the game.

I did a fuller explanation and in-game walkthrough of some of this stuff on a recent podcast video for Space Game Junkie:

http://www.spacegamejunkie.com/featured/sgj-podcast-91-making-living-sol-trader

Iunnrais
Jul 25, 2007

It's gaelic.
So... is the history system analogous to the acclaimed Shadows of Mordor Nemesis system? (I haven't played SoM myself, but I keep hearing wonderful things about this system)

That is to say, how much and how directly can you muck about with other people's lives and progressions, and are there tangible incentives/rewards for doing so?

chrismdp
Jan 7, 2015

Iunnrais posted:

So... is the history system analogous to the acclaimed Shadows of Mordor Nemesis system? (I haven't played SoM myself, but I keep hearing wonderful things about this system)

That is to say, how much and how directly can you muck about with other people's lives and progressions, and are there tangible incentives/rewards for doing so?

Yes, there will be definite similarities in terms of how the relationships work in Nemesis. The entire mission structure will be based around these relationships - you won't be able to avoid mucking with their lives. Any reward you take for completing a mission will be balanced by a negative opinion of you from the opposing party, and will cause missions to be conducted against you from them, their contacts and relatives.

Moridin920
Nov 15, 2007

by FactsAreUseless
Looks cool, I'm a sucker for this kind of thing so I'll probably pick it up once it's available.

chrismdp
Jan 7, 2015

Cool - glad to hear it.

It doesn't look like the Kickstarter is going to be successful, so release might take a while longer I'm afraid, but I've been really pleased by the amount of support and encouragement I've received so I'm still keen to push ahead and get it done.

Lord Windy
Mar 26, 2010
I'm curious as to why you needed the Kickstarter money, from what I understand you've done this almost entirely by yourself. I read the thing of what you need money for, so wouldn't you have been better off going for the 10% you needed for Artwork, adjusted for the VAT and Tax? The 20000 becomes likes 4000.

But to be fair, I'm probably only saying that because the Kickstarter didn't sell me on the game. Infact, if you let me I think I can explain the major reasons why this Kickstarter turns me off.

quote:

Sol Trader: a compelling space action RPG for PC/Mac

Fusion of Elite, Asteroids & Dwarf Fortress: 200 years of procedural history, characters & intrigue to discover each new game.

That is a bit of a mess to start with. If I find something needs to tell me what it is ripping off (not that you are, just using the term) than it probably isn't doing it very well. And in this case in particular, it conjures the wrong kind of idea of what the game is about.

What this game is Sid Meier's Pirates in Space without piracy. And it is an exciting version of it, I want to play that game.

quote:

Speeding through a dangerous asteroid belt to avoid pirates Going through those shoals of reefs so the pirates crash and you don't
Meeting the President of Earth's Old Federation Meet the awesome governor and his daughter!
Painting your ship the colours of your pirate band Choosing your colours to fly
Blackmailing an official for valuable information
Becoming a double agent for two different governments Getting letters of Marque from both countries and playing them against eachother for Land and Power
Trawling the city markets for the best deals by day
Hitting the bars at night to network with important contacts That thing where they gave you rumors and you could buy maps
Getting a friend to repair your ship for a discount
Outfitting your ship with extra powerful engines to escape pursuers Out fitting your pirate ship you stole
Mining asteroids for rare metals with specially equipped lasers I think this is new
Collecting satellite and ship debris for a paltry fee [i]Those stupid missions you could do, like escort a fleet of merchants for pennies!

Running out of fuel and calling a rescue ship
Avenging the death of a family member [i]You literally go looking for your family

Gaining lucrative missions from the senate due to your father's political connections
Collecting samples from a far planet for a scientific mission

Read that there, it is almost literally Sid Meier's Pirates. A deeper, probably better Sid Meier's Pirate. Dwarf Fortress is about building a fortress and having fun with all the random poo poo that happens. Elite is kinda like this, you got the image. I didn't play it a heap but I remember it more being about exploration than all the stuff here. Asteroids was a crappy arcade game where you shoot asteroids (my opinion).

But while it is like Sid Meier's Pirates and you could probably sell it better like that, you probably shouldn't try to sell it by comparing it to other games, sell it instead on the game strengths by itself. Just go in an immediately say what your game is, why it is fun and what is fun about it. Keep it as short as possible and link to a website for everything else. The parts about ship equipment, factions and whatnot shouldn't be as long as they are because I simply didn't read them.

quote:

Why Should You Back Me?

I have lots of experience working on games and large software projects:

I worked for four years as a professional AAA games developer. I worked at Elixir Studios at the start of my career, working on Republic: the Revolution, Evil Genius and other unannounced titles.
I've always loved making indie games. I sold my first indie title 25 years ago: I wrote a version of "tag" and sold it to my school friends for £0.10 at the age of 11. I care deeply about seeing this project through.
I built a software service company from scratch to 12 people, creating and shipping lots of software projects for customers.
I started programming 30 years ago and have been programming professionally for 16 years. I now train other programmers and blog and speak at conferences regularly on programming and team dynamics.
I've already built much of the game, as you can see in the video. Apart from paying for some artwork, I've already got three years of part-time development done entirely on my own.

You kinda speak about yourself a little much and you don't need to. And don't think me too mean, but I did big eyerolls at the 'sold my first indie title at age 11' and the 'programming since I was 6' parts (I only care about programming experience if you are doing an MMO.). The part about the software company actually makes me wonder why you can't bankroll it yourself and the AAA game developer doesn't really help much unless you say what you were. I would just assume you were QA there.

If you asked me to write it, this would be it.

quote:

Why Should You Back Me?

I've already built much of the game, as you can see in the video. Apart from paying for some artwork, I've already got three years of part-time development done entirely on my own.

That's it. It's also modest, which is a really good thing.

A lot of these things are subjective to me of course. I've never done a kickstarter, though I have backed a few. To me the most important thing is brevity and not comparing games to games. You should give just enough information for people to want the game without bogging the whole spiel down.

Pladdicus
Aug 13, 2010
Some solid advice right there.

LotsBread
Jan 4, 2013
I only pay attention to goon games that have goon betas and whose goon creators open doors to other goons so they can raid their goon fridges and leave the goon houses without paying for anything goon

Point I'm making, OP, is gimme game key

chrismdp
Jan 7, 2015

Lord Windy posted:

I'm curious as to why you needed the Kickstarter money, from what I understand you've done this almost entirely by yourself. I read the thing of what you need money for, so wouldn't you have been better off going for the 10% you needed for Artwork, adjusted for the VAT and Tax? The 20000 becomes likes 4000.

But to be fair, I'm probably only saying that because the Kickstarter didn't sell me on the game. Infact, if you let me I think I can explain the major reasons why this Kickstarter turns me off.

Hey thanks - that's all brilliant advice. I'm going to attempt to push the game to the next point without further funding, and then re-do the Kickstarter, so will definitely take this all into account. Thanks for taking the time to write it up.

Chris

Haruharuharuko
Mar 24, 2008

Yeah I lied; so what is the truth?

Ok I'm a sucker for stuff like this, anything with procedural content just because I tend to play games for long periods of time and don't want stuff to get stale. I'll say it looks pretty neat like an upgraded Space Ranger.

I'll also say this the number 1 thing that makes people pay attention to your kickstarter game is for the love of god have a playable demo for people to gently caress with. Seriously If people can see that the game is up and running and a few basic features like say the history generation and poke a stick at it more people would be willing to fork over some cash as they know theres at least something there not just screenshots and video. My 2 cents at least.

Edit: I mean look at all the buzz Besiege has generated in a week with just essentially a demo .

Haruharuharuko fucked around with this message at 10:34 on Feb 11, 2015

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chrismdp
Jan 7, 2015

Haruharuharuko posted:

Ok I'm a sucker for stuff like this, anything with procedural content just because I tend to play games for long periods of time and don't want stuff to get stale. I'll say it looks pretty neat like an upgraded Space Ranger.

I'll also say this the number 1 thing that makes people pay attention to your kickstarter game is for the love of god have a playable demo for people to gently caress with. Seriously If people can see that the game is up and running and a few basic features like say the history generation and poke a stick at it more people would be willing to fork over some cash as they know theres at least something there not just screenshots and video. My 2 cents at least.

Edit: I mean look at all the buzz Besiege has generated in a week with just essentially a demo .

Yeah, the reason I didn't have a demo last time round was mostly because I wasn't quite happy with some of the mechanics and didn't want people to get all prejudiced about the game just because the alpha doesn't "live up to the vision" yet. In hindsight that's misguided: next time there will be a demo :)

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