What kind of Space Sim...?
Sat, 10/10/2009 - 22:01
Looking around this site, I am impressed, but am also struggling a little bit to figure out exactly what Arc Nebula is aiming to be. Regardless, I am excited by it, as the line "A Universe in your Hand" appeals to me greatly.
However, I am curious what direction Arc Nebula plans to take. Generally 'space sims' as they are termed, can be broken down into two archetypes. The first is the mission/combat simulation which was epitomized with the Wing Commander and Freespace series, among others. The second would be the the freeform/trader/combat type, represented by Elite, Privateer, X and others.
If you can accept those generalizations, into which category would you place Arc Nebula?
Tue, 10/13/2009 - 10:56
#2
Doing things right does take a little more time...
Our vision is that this is the kind of game you can spend weeks (hopefully months) playing, and that it will have the depth and diversity you'd expect from a mature Space Sim. We certainly will not release it before it's ready, and the Combat Simulator is key to making sure we get enough feedback on those core controls from real players before we lock and finalise that part of development.
The vastness of the environment is key to this, as well as the AI and diversity of the races and planet systems out there to discover. You'll be able to see how big the environment is the first time you load up ArcNebula. But you won't be able to get to it all before you obtain some key equipment and discover some unique properties of the ArcNebula Universe. So there is definitely scope for discovery and complex game arcs. You will need to progress and ArcNebula is *not* a sector by sector level up style space shooter game at all. Although you can just jump in a ship and be a fighter pilot if you wish... We will be updating the core game, missions and story lines at least once a month (for free) once released, and also allowing in game purchase / winning of special ships and weapons later in ArcNebula's life. Those later paid additions are simply an idea on a long list of ideas at the moment and may end up being free also. We will just have to see how it goes over time. But for 12 months you can expect to be looked after very well (gratis) and have plenty to do and plenty of surprises. :)
I have mentioned in another post that I am putting together a blog post for this site about the control system and some of the thought processes we have gone through. I hope you guys will give me feedback on that also when I finally complete it. In a nut shell we are trying to maximise the use of the touch screen via intuitive dynamic contextual menus in your HUD to allow you to drill down to the functions you need to achieve quite complex ship commands and make tactical decisions. All the time keeping the interface clean and simple and the view out of your cockpit exciting and beautiful. At the same time (within the constraints of whichever "rust bucket" you are flying at the time ;) ) we also want to give you usable flight controls from the accelerometer as well as more fine grained ship control via contextual touch controls. Personally I think docking with just the Accelerometer (for example) is a nightmare on the iPhone. You may not find that, but touch screen controls to allow more delicate control will also be available to you if you wish to use them. On the other hand the iPhone / iPod is just great for fast paced dog-fighting - especially with some of the tweaks we're adding... and the touch screen is the perfect interface for sitting behind a moon and targeting three or four capital ships with an array of missiles you just bought.. before hopping back out of the system with your worm drive before they have time to react..
When I was a kid I would get the biggest cardboard box I could find, take it to my bedroom and draw dials and things on the inside and then get in and pretend I was in my own spaceship.... for quite some time! (Probably a very unhealthy pastime!) So for me personally it's not just about my love of Elite or the X Series, it's also been a burning passion to create my own Space Sim since I was a kid. :) I am not sure if that counts as a qualification, or a guarantee that this will be the best SpaceSim evah. But I am sure it helps.
scratt.
Wed, 10/14/2009 - 08:50
#3
Having a choice between touch
Having a choice between touch and Accelerometer control will be ideal. As much as the latter would be the "Preferred" method of flight, the thing is just not responsive enough to be my personal choice. The Dynamic contextual menus sound like the could be totally sweet-- I assume that means that the view won't be cluttered up with things you don't need in that moment.
I'm excited and Truly looking forward to test-driving it.
BTW... I used to bunch up the blankets from my bed to make a techno-organic swoop-bike on which I would embark on galactic conquest... so... Don't worry about your childhood whims. I think anyone with half a brain and a decent imagination found themselves in many an array of complicated alien hardware whilst playing pretend.
-Athgaan
Wed, 10/14/2009 - 12:07
#4
Another little thing..
I can't help myself, but this is very cool.. Just been playing with HIgh Pass filters on the accelerometer and we now have the ability to do back flips when in combat by a quick flip / twist of the iPod. Should make dog fighting a lot more fun. :)
By the way.. As you can probably tell the web site is an ongoing work in progress. *sigh* Your posts are always marked as not requiring approval when I get updates, and you certainly should not be having to wait for us to approve them. But when I check the posts to reply to them they are not published for some reason. Do you get to see them after posting? If yes, then we'll put it down to a Drupal glitch, and leave that on the back burner... But if not, please let me know, and I'll put it on our list of things to fix urgently. So much to do, so little time. :)
Sun, 10/11/2009 - 14:46
#7
What is ArcNebula?
Hi Cambragol, Thanks for stopping by and joining. Good question too. :)
Straight answer is that ArcNebula falls into the freedom/trader/combat type.
However, there are a couple of caveats to that.
- ArcNebula will be preceded by a Combat Simulator which will introduce combat in ArcNebula. We are very keen to make the combat in ArcNebula quite flexible and rewarding. So are incorporating some of the best features from pure combat "space sims" as well as the more strategic games like HomeWorld. The Combat Simulator will be set in a, or perhaps some, fixed planetary systems. Watch out for a blog entry from me soon on some of the cool stuff we are doing for the UI and control system in Arc.
- In ArcNebula proper we also hope to add some new twists to the oft repeated mine, trade, sell, build mantra of most space sims. More on that will be revealed in future web site articles.
Do also bear in mind that ArcNebula is a longterm project for us so we do plan expansive and ambitious version updates in the future (based on community feedback). Also all this feeds into the design of the desktop version, which is on a longer development path.
Note : On the iPhone all those later versions will be as upgrades to the existing App, so you won't be stung for more money when we enhance the sim over it's entire v1.x incarnation. And we have at least 10 major point upgrades already planned for after the v1.0 ArcNebula is launched. :)
The ability to react to a community and to upgrade an app once a month is great for a relatively small developer like us. Because we can get a really nice app to you as soon as it reaches a certain point, but then also grow that app interactively with our users over a period of partnership. Well that's our plan anyway, and it certainly doesn't mean that you'll be getting less at the beginning, just *more* later. :)
Thu, 10/15/2009 - 20:15
#8
Nice Reply
Thank you for the very clear and detailed answer to my question. From what I have read I can say that my interest in this game has climbed considerably. A lot of what has been discussed, and what you have said personally, really appeals to the concept of an ideal 'space sim' that I myself have.
I look forward to trying out the combat simulator. The idea of mixing some Homeworld like controls into a more traditional combat simulation sounds exciting.
I also like the sounds of the incremental improvements to the game. I understand that you can't always release a game exactly as you want it, but being able to later go back and add improvements is great. If you are like me, you probably have hundreds of ideas bouncing around, all of which you would love to impliment, but only a few of which you will actually be able to.
You seem to be very open to feedback from the community, so I am looking foward to being able to perhaps add some food to your creative flames so to speak. I have spent about 5 years brainstorming and working on a mod for I-war which shares some of the same ideals as ArcNebula, so perhaps I might actually have something you could use. Who knows.
In anycase I look forward to the progress, development and release of ArcNebula!
Fri, 10/16/2009 - 10:14
#9
Right back at ya! :)
Well likewise, it's great to have the enthusiasm of a community behind us. ArcNebula, well any project, lives and dies by it's players and developers enthusiasm. So we all help each other. As you've probably already guessed our motivation for doing this is that we want to play it too!
Something like ArcNebula is a big undertaking for an Indie publisher like ourselves and will give all of us the best results if we iterate and refine as we go. We won't release 'Arc' until it's a damn good game in it's own right, but there are many many things we already aim to introduce over the first 12 months of it's existence in the wild! :)
Please feel free to hit us with any ideas and or requests either here or using the contact form, or PM. And sure we'd love you to get involved. Show us what you've got. ;)
The fact that it will be an open "sandbox" environment is what has the most allure to me as a gamer.
I like mission based combat simulators--and there are some in the app store... but they just don't have the epically vast and varied universe that this title could offer. The closest thing to what this game promises to be (currently in the app store) is Galaxy on Fire 3D; which is a sorry excuse for a combat/mining/free-exploration space sim--albeit a noble effort. I enjoyed the first 10 or so hours of gaming before the monotony and repetition (and lack of a varied sound track) did me in.
I should hope that ArcNebula would learn from the mistakes
of others and deliver something infinitely more satisfying.
In addition to variety, the game would need to include some sort of decent story that will make it worth the while to fly across the galaxy to pick up an alien artifact and bring it back, only to be ambushed, and lose major story character... and you totally didn't see it coming.
;)
Of course that is easier said than done.
This will take a lot of talent to conceive correctly, and a lot of dedication to be polished enough to be successful.
Not to mention, timing is everything. A Christmas release is obviously ideal... (all the little kiddies acquiring itunes gift cards in 10-15 dollar increments will be going berserk in the app store.) But it's understandable that a quality product may take little more time than that.
Also,
I'm personally looking forward to the combat training sim, just to get a feel for the interface, and give my personal feedback. A game can be the next FF7, but if the controls suck, it's all completely meaningless.
Anyway,
-A