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 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 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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Jan 14, 2015 19:51
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You might also want to check out the new gameplay video I just released: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=legdoufEgms
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Jan 21, 2015 06:54
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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
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Jan 26, 2015 00:23
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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) 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.
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Jan 30, 2015 18:16
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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.
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Feb 3, 2015 18:17
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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. 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
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Feb 11, 2015 10:16
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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. 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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Feb 11, 2015 16:53
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