Void Destroyer 2
New story missions!
We are now moving towards the end of the "main story" of the game. I hope you enjoy the new missions and post feedback/comments on them in the game's main forums. If you do post on the forums about the game's story - please consider tagging the post with a "SPOILERS" disclaimer.
I should be able to create new missions at a faster rate now that the initial "hump" has been passed. So the next item on the agenda is more story missions, then work towards properly implementing carriers then finalizing the story.
After that - we'll officially enter the "Beta" stage - during which I'll basically play the game start to finish multiple times and polish/improve/bug fix whatever I find.
After a fairly fast Beta stage (I hope!) - the game will be released and then we'll see what the future holds!
As always thank you for the incredible support, comments, feedback, criticism, reviews you guys have given me and the project.
Happy New Year!
Paul
Dev Video - War!
Here's a new update vid:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Z7Ta78GfP8
Direct Link: YouTube
Summary:
War! -
- There is now another player to faction state - at war!
- War state is triggered when the player captures another faction's base
- War state can also be trigged via declaring war
- When at war with a faction - that faction will deliberately attack you
- The faction will attempt to destroy your trade ships, platforms, take your fields and blockade your bases
- Will also try to re-take any lost bases (of theirs)
- You can weaken a faction's ability to send out these attacks by destroying their platforms, taking their fields and blockading/taking their bases
- During war - other faction's relations won't deteriorate as a result of the war (eg: the military won't dislike you for destroying civilians - if you are at war with civilians)
- Comms platforms can be built in base space or empty space
- They will alert you to incoming enemies(base) or nearby enemies (open space)
- You can now abandon a base (might be better than losing it)
- Abandoned bases will return to their original faction's control after a time
- You can "make peace" with a faction you are at war with
War!
The past few weeks I've focused on fleshing out the mid to late game where the player is starting to expand their territory via capturing bases. When you capture another faction's base that is considered a declaration of war.
During war - the faction will deliberately attack your assets and try to re-take their lost territory (bases). This adds another layer of a dynamic sandbox to the game - something I'm always very excited to do.
In the past - if you've engaged in base warfare - things were far too easy and without enough consequence. You could take another faction's base, then kill some of their enemies and be back to good terms. Those days are gone, so who you chose to attack must be carefully weighted on how well you can defend yourself against their counter attacks.
Once you are at war the layer of hostility increases - you will be attacked - but you also have a chance at strategy and lowering your opponent's ability to fight. Destroying the enemy's platforms, taking their fields, blockading and capturing their bases will reduce their ability to send out attacks against you. So before you cross that red line of war - you might consider a first strike against a faction's platforms.
When you are at war - other faction's scores won't decrease as a result of the war. So for example - if you are at war with the civilians - the military won't turn hostile (if they weren't already). This allows you some control over who you fight and when. Although it might not be easy to accomplish this - since before being at war - the military won't like you fighting civilians.
This is my attempt in guiding the player's path through the base conquest portion, whiel still giving them the freedom to do anything they want. I (as a developer) want the player to start conquest slowly and not immediately attack the civilians or the military (the two factions with the most bases). This system allows for that while being consistent with the game world's logic.
I hope to add to this system and further enhance it - please let me know your thoughts via feedback!
What's next?
I'll most likely focus on bug fixes and improvements to this new system, I'll likely change the way that capture ships can be bought/built - making them a bit more significant to obtain.
Also I'll do a pass on the faction's and their relations - I'll likely make it so that destroying bounty hunter ships isn't a crime nor does it increase the wanted timer - after all bounty hunters get paid to hunt you - they don't post bounties. These types of twekas will be with the new "at war" mechanics in mind.
After that?
More work on story missions!
And after that?
Work on adding carriers to the game and giving them some unique mechanics (ship/fleet building) - with the goal of making them something like mini bases.
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As always - Thank you for your incredible support!
Paul
Dev Video - Platforms
Here's a new update vid:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRWmM9Dpko4
Direct Link: YouTube
Summary:
Working towards better implemented platforms -
- Platforms take time to build (versus being instant before)
- A base can only build one platform at a time
- Bases will build "far away" platforms (defense, production, repair, refuel)
- Production platforms will generate cargo pods
- These can be bought by the player for a low cost
- Or stolen!
- Far away platforms will build defense platforms to defend themselves
- Some factions will sell production platforms to the player
- Auto traders will check nearby platforms for better opportunities
- Player can build far away platforms - via building a builder ship at an owned base.
- Indie transports will ferry cargo from production platforms to bases (including player bases if so requested)
- Player can assign ships to patrol a far away platform
More implemented platforms:
I've decided to put the story missions on hold and work on better implemented platforms. The current progress of story missions takes the player to where they might consider dabbling in elements related to bases - which includes platforms.
The big idea was to make platforms more "solid" in terms of game play, some platforms were fairly useful, like repair platforms, but others were just for show (production platforms). Now production platforms offer trading and piracy opportunities - as they actually produce something.
Bases will now build "far away" platforms - this means that there's no longer the possibility of wiping out all platforms - and not having them come back. This should make the game world feel more alive and logical.
The player can buy and build far away platforms to support and expand their empire - and sort of "customize" their area of control.
I hope you guys enjoy the new possibilities with platforms and post feedback!
What's next?
I'm likely to add a few more elements to platforms - like having ships run towards defense platforms for aid, having platforms participate in overworld combat and related items.
After that?
More work on story missions!
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As always - Thank you for your incredible support!
Paul
Dev Video - Story Missions!
Here's a new update vid:
https://youtu.be/wgyZnbqZJD0
Direct Link: YouTube
Story Missions:
These past few months were spent via working on "main story" type missions. I'm happy to say that I've completed a "first pass" of what might turn out to be somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 of the main story (hard to tell at this stage).
If you've kept up with these updates you might recall me often planning on starting working on main story missions, but other things ended up being on the agenda - so it feels good that I finally buckled down and worked on this element of the game.
Honestly - it wasn't as bad as I thought! Back in Void Destroyer 1 days - I had a pretty rough time adding story missions, often it would take me about a month to add an hour of game play - a terrible ratio in my opinion!
Luckily I think that Void Destroyer 2 - being a sandbox game - story missions are just part of the core experience. Versus like in Void Destroyer 1 - being central.
The other element that made adding story missions feel smooth is possibly that I have a lot of time on my hands - to think and plan! While changing diapers, feeding baby, rocking baby, walks with baby, etc etc!
It's a big life change, but it's getting more and more stable as I'm happy to report that my lil guy has slept all the way through the night for the past week. Let's hope that it's a trend!
The other neat aspect of working on story missions (versus new features) is that it lets me fix bugs (as reported by you guys) versus adding new ones (when I add new features) so that feels good to sort of "catch up."
Hope you guys enjoy the new story missions and post feedback!
What's next?
I'm most likely to continue working on story missions - hopefully getting to somewhere towards 2/3, then my plan is to focus more on late game elements. For example - base capture mechanics and response. So you won't see the military stand idly by after you've captured their base, they'll try to get it back!
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As always - Thank you for your incredible support!
Paul
Void Destroyer 2 - Development Recap
Seeing as the game has changed it's look and feel dramatically over the past few months - I've decided to do a bit of a marketing push. So I've created and added new trailers/videos and screenshots on the game's store page.
New Trailer - Alpha May 2018 -
https://youtu.be/h73B3nrSg1Y
Direct Link: YouTube
New explainer video - What is Void Destroyer 2 -
https://youtu.be/1kMcV4Fu390
Direct Link: YouTube
New mini tutorial video - Basic controls -
https://youtu.be/lBfwDJEm-v8
Direct Link: YouTube
For those interested in what's been going on going on since the game launched on Early Access - here's a summary:
- Tons of bug fixed, tons of bugs added, tons of bugs fixed
- Tons of new ships, bases and other objects
- Better fleet management
- Fuel mechanic added (faster overworld travel)
- Bunch of auto generated missions
- Bunch of scripted missions (faction missions)
- Ship capture
- Black market bases
- Field ownership
- Rapid travel gates added
- Base capture/blockades/ownership/management
- Base - building ships and platforms
- Remote interface (turning the game into a quasi 4x game)
- Mobile bases
- Multiple fleets and non-player fleets
- Trade interface (expanded trade ship management)
- Dynamic economy and rebalance
- New skyboxes
- New dynamic skybox system
For those interested in what's on the agenda before release - here's a summary:
- Main story
- Faction response to base war
- Proper implementation of carriers
- More dynamic sandbox (events?)
- Better implementation of "Kind" faction (missions auto/scripted)
- More ships (focusing on larger ships)
- More features - that I didn't even think of yet (!!!)
- More bug fixes
- More polish
While the above list may seem small... Adding a main story requires multiple months of thinking up and scripting missions/events/happenings, the addition of new ships, upgrades, bases, objects, etc. New features/mechanics/tweaks to support the story - and various other things I can't even think of yet.
Thank you very much for your incredible support - without you Void Destroyer 2 in it's current state wouldn't have been possible as with many indie/one man projects - sales fund development.
I hope that you are as excited as I am about the future of the project!
Thanks!
Paul
Dev Video - More work on skyboxes and baby!
Here's a new update vid:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1J-Hna9rIM
Direct Link: YouTube
A few weeks ago - my baby boy Noah - decided to arrive early. Both mom and baby are fine and we are starting to fall into a comfortable routine of a life with a newborn and I'm starting to be able to consistently work on the game again - yay!
A huge part of the dream of being an "indie game studio" was to be able to be at home when a baby might arrive. The challenge is now to keep the game growing in both development terms and in audience terms so that I can continue this "indie" life. The "indie games industry" is constantly changing - more and more super awesome games are releasing and many times more not so awesome creating a big struggle for attention and trust from players.
Anyway - Void Destroyer 2 is a huge aspect of my life - and even bigger now that I have a son - who I hope to spend as much time as possible with. Being at home and supported by my own business just got more important. So you can be sure that I am more committed than ever to the project.
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This new update showcases further work on the new "skybox changes" - in the last update I showed some new "skyboxes" that the player can chose to make the game look a bit more "traditional" - something that's been requested and commented on by players.
In this update - I've changed the "default" way that the game presents itself significantly, via a procedural skybox system (fancy way of saying - I'm not using files - I'm using math).
To me - this is a significant step towards release since the game is much closer to looking like what I imagined (and even - literally dreamed) what it would look like. I hope to further refine it - to make it match my dreams as close as I can.
I hope you guys give this a go and let me know your thoughts and feedback.
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What's next?
I'm likely going to spend some time working on new marketing material - a new trailer and screenshots. Then work towards the early game story (new story related assets have been added on my side, but not on the game's side).
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As always - Thank you for your incredible support!
Paul
PS: thanks for all the baby + mom well wishes!
Dev Video - Work towards improved skyboxes and related elements.
Here's a new update vid:
https://youtu.be/mvGJW4JDiZQ
Direct Link: YouTube
While many of the elements in this update aren't final - I've decided to release what is current on my side - I hate not updating the game frequently. These elements will be further worked on and refined to the best of my ability.
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The past few months have been a bit challenging on my side, there's a few reasons for this - I've been working on several things at once -
- Early story mission assets (testing/converting assets from part 1 into part 2.
- Procedural "space dust" generation
- Procedural "space clouds" generation
- Procedural "space skybox" generation
- New space "skyboxes"
- Last on the list - but not least - my wife is 8 months pregnant!
Some of these elements ran into difficulties and involved a lot of trial and error and there's been many distractions.
Recently and as discussed in the update vid this particular update's goal is to improve the visual aspect of the game. This is a very challenging thing to do - chief among the rasons that I'm simply not very good at this.
I hate to say/label this sort of thing in a negative way - because "not being good" often means not spending enough time improving at something. But in my case I'm simply better at certain things than others. I think that visual elements - are my weakness.
Furthermore on my side there's been a lot of work and trial and error on these elements - and I'm left feeling that I don't have much to show for it. It is very frustrating to sort of see what you want to accomplish - in my mind's eye - but not be able to get there - via my current skills/abilities/assets.
Still! This is part of the process - little failures lead to successes and I'm ever optimistic and hopeful of constant improvement to Void Destroyer 2.
I hope that my wall of text up there isn't portraying a bleak picture - it's simply sort of "in the middile" update - versus where I hoped we'd be.
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I hope you enjoy the new update - as always I'm open to feedback/discussion/etc.
Thank you for your incredible support!
Paul
Dev Video - Scripted missions and mission progress re-balance
Hey guys!
Here's a new update vid:
https://youtu.be/MoORHfbFKGo
Direct Link: YouTube
Short Summary:
- More scripted faction missions
- Mission progression re-balance
- Tons of bug fixes (major crash bug found and fixed)
- Ship re-balance
If you've noticed that it's been a while since the last video update, that is because I was working on the same elements as in the previous update - scripted missions.
Currently there are at least 3 scripted missions for the "main" factions (19 scripted missions total) - I've decided to use this as a "minimum" number and move on to working on other elements of the game. I hope to have at least 5 or so scripted missions per faction - but due to how long each mission takes and how the game other aspects worked on - we'll just have to see. Either way - I'm very satisfied with the scripted missions and believe that they add a great amount of variety, fun and challenge to the game - while also expanding on the game world through the interaction of you and the game's factions.
Now that there is a good amount of scripted missions and auto generated missions, I've re-balanced mission progression. The goal is that advancing through a faction should feel more significant. You will now have scripted missions acting as a sort of "gate keepers" to some mission ranks. As before mission ranks unlock higher tier ships and higher tier (better paying and more challenging) missions.
While working on these scripted missions I also fixed many bugs (as reported by the community) and other issues. I've found and fixed a major crash bug that was plaguing the game for more than a month. The dreaded - "I crashed on docking" bug.
As the scripted missions often mean very frequent tests and because I challenged myself to use appropriate faction ships for the missions - I've also tweaked and re-balanced many ships.
For example - the bounty hunter faction now has very expensive upgrades, that greatly boost their ships. Keeping in line with the idea that this faction aims to be the best of the best.
What's next?
I'm likely to "take a break" and work on smaller elements, potentially some more upgrades and hopefully a auto generated mission or two.
After that my goal is to work on the story missions.
After that working on later game elements.
After that working on later story missions.
And then prepping for release.
Still a ton of work to do - but it's satisfying work and my sincere goal is that you guys enjoy the end result.
One last thing:
As a hobby I've started a YouTube web series called "Game Dev Paradise" - a series of videos intended to talk about game development. The intended audience are gamers who are interested in how games are made, potentially very early beginners to game dev/programming and those further along who are curious about how someone else does it.
If you are intested - check it out here -
Game Dev Paradise Play List
Thanks again for your great support, feedback and reviews - I hope that you guys are having a great day!
Paul
Dev Video - Talking about scripted missions
Here's a new update vid:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3S0LZJ0gzLw
Direct Link: YouTube
It's a 10+ minute ramble about the process of adding in scripted missions to the game. Which is the current main focus.
There's a few elements that go into adding the mission, including thinking up the general mission idea, adding in a rough version of the mission, play testing, adding in the supporting code for the mission (if required) and polishing it up until its ready.
In the process of adding in these missions - I often see areas of the game needing improvement/polish - so I take little detours and work on the elements as they arise. For example I've improved the "aim assist" and "turret" aim elements. I've improved a few elements of combat ship behavior and various other bug fixes as they come along.
I hope that this process continues as it's been going - it's very satisfying to see the game grow in content and polish.
I hope that you all have a happy holiday season - Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and a happy New year!
Hope that you have time to enjoy our great hobby - gaming :)
Thank you for all of your support!
Paul
Dev Video - Discussion on pirate attacks and scripted missions.
Here's a new update vid:
https://youtu.be/1J_a1MZliKY
Direct Link: YouTube
This dev update is more of a "discussion" than demonstrating new features.
The first part of the vid discusses the new "pirates very likely to attack player trade ships" mechanic. I've been seeing a few feedback threads pop up about this so I've decided to do a test run - asking this question:
Would I be able to successful mine using a hired ship with a basic Hornet?
The answer is yes - and for me - it was fun, engaging, challenging, risky and rewarding.
Now for other players that answer might be different, especially because the game does feature an element of randomness, and because I as the developer tend to play the game with different knowledge than you guys.
Once again - the goal is that trade ships are balanced in terms of risk/reward. Previous to this mechanic, trade ships had much reward for nearly no risk.
I hope to create a reasonable amount of risk to balance this out, so I'm looking for more feedback on this and will continue testing and refining this mechanic.
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Part 2 of the update vid discusses the upcoming scripted missions. To give you a short summary, scripted missions are a big time investment for me, but
I see them as a necessary element to be included into the game.
I have many reasons including - breaking up the monotony of "auto generated" missions. Introducing the player to the game world, its rules and factions. Creating much more interesting and unique challenges for the player. And having a main story in the game.
If you are interested in game development and think you might want to help out in scripting missions let me know - maybe we can come to a arrangement for you to work on adding more scripted missions to the game.
Serious inquiries only. The ideal candidate would have a passion for game development, passion for Void Destroyer 2, loads of time (whether in the short term or the long term), loads of patience, loads of desire to learn the scripting system in VD2, etc. Please use the forum to initiate contact.