July Update - Now we're talking! Thoughts

from StarControl Forums

The July update was a very good one for me.  It feels like the game is on a roll with development now.  More than just (awesome) sketches, it's got some meat on the bones.  Granted, there's not gameplay in it yet, but these sounds, effects, v/o's, and concept art are starting to create a good idea in my head of what the game will be like.

 

In no particular order:

Human ship design - Love the bright colors on the optional components and modules. I absolutely dreaded the idea of yet another blue/grey/white human ship with a rotating center.  It's been done before.  Babylon 5 popularized that and did a great job, but I've rolled my eyes every time since.  Making the modules extra bright is GREAT!  It will make the ships more unique and interesting.  I don't want to get bored with my flagship!

Planet critter designs - I can't say enough good things about these!  Whoever is coming up with the concepts is on fire.  I have too many favorites to list.  Please pick however many dozen of these to put in game...they're all winners!  Top panel standouts: 14, 15, 18, 19.  Middle panel standouts: 1, 2, 6, 11, 14, 16,19, 20, 24, 26 (lol!), 27 v2.  Bottom panel: Barlow, Boulder Serpent, Evil Eye Biter Tripod (Awesome!), Trider, Mushphoolip.

 

Your question of how to introduce the creatures...I don't understand the question...in SC2 we found them on some planets, and not on others...assumed it would be the same here...

 

Figure 11 - Planet Designs - I'm actually going to talk about the lander...I like the wheeled/arm lander much better!  Will you use that and the phallic (sorry, that's how I think of it - already told you it's not my favorite design.) lander , or just one design?

 

Planets still look awesome!

 

The intro video sketch is good.  I built on it some in my reply to the July Update Thread. It's a good foundation for a cool idea I had, or whatever your team comes up with next.  It needs more before and/or after it, as it doesn't tell quite as much story as it could, standing by itself.

Music - The music is quite promising.  I like the bit of nostalgia that it brings.  I've seen others speaking against racial music, but I think it's a great idea.  Many people won't even notice.  You can't associate the music until you meet the aliens it belongs to anyway, so it's not going to be a big deal.  It will however, be a great way to help create a sense of cultural border within otherwise black and empty space.  Please keep racial music while exploring!

The Super-Melee music is perfect!!!  Don't know why, but it just is...sorry if that's not very helpful.  I want to make it my ringtone.  DO. NOT. CHANGE. A. THING!

 

Tywom Dialogue music - more precusion, less synthesizer maybe?

 

Planet music - meh...I'm good either way.  The clips were too short to make much impression either direction.

 

Xraki dialogue - Really nice!  Good atmospheric music!!!

Xraki space - again, good atmosphere on this race's music!  Carry that principle over to others.  Timpany drums and violins at parts are a great addition, so that it's not all synthesized music!!!

 

 Trandal's Rig Clip - I'm looking at the meat the whole time, not the device.  Any way to highlight the device more?  Glowing, shinier?

 

Multiverse Explanation linking all 4 Star Control games - This is simple and it works.  Thanks for going with a good answer on this.  I love that the precursors appear in all universes!!!  Gives me hope for the Orz and the Spathi too!  *Wink wink*

 

Alien Race Art

Figure 2 - Butt-ugly, but certainly distinct!  I can honestly say this doesn't remind me of anything else I've seen!  Source lighting is a good call on this critter.

 

Figure 3 "Jeff" - LOVE it! Wasn't sure I'd see any bipedal aliens, but it's a good compromise between familiar and new.  Love the stacked brains. Love the internal lighting and transparent skin!  This one is so creative!!!  I can't wait to meet him and see what the race is like, and isn't that the WHOLE POINT of the art design???  Please tell the guy/gal who drew this that the nailed it!  I would appreciate that!

 

Figure 4 "Trandals" - Interesting, as we knew, but I don't know how much staying power it will have.  Compared to the others, the critter is actually kind of boring, but I know some of that is on purpose.  Can you make the device more prominent somehow?  With motion and full artwork/sound, I'm sure they'll come alive *har har* more, but I'm putting this as my least favorite right now.

 

Figure 5 The Pinthi - Again, I am so eager to meet these aliens!  The minimal design gives me NO CLUE as to what to expect with them, so they are high on my Curiousity Scale!  Question thought - they are reminiscent of the Slylandro gas bags...is that ok with you?  It is ok with me!

 

Figure 6 The Measured - The name gives me pause. Wouldn't they more likely be "The Measurers?" The Measured means they were judged or quantified by something else...if that's actually the case, then I'm curious about their story and what it means.  If it's just a gimmick name, then it could stand to be tweaked.

That being said, I like the design a lot!  Every universe has bureaurocrats!  They are like the Precursors, Everywhere!

 

First 15 minute challenge -


First 15 minutes of gameplay:

 

Start w/ship in peril – first view of bridge is with red lights and alarms going off everywhere. Fuel is low, systems are in disrepair, electronics are not responsive. 1st mate says we’re near a star system that may contain the components we need to repair, but they’re on a nearby planet.

 

Brief player controlled fly-in to a planet (very minimal tutorial or aide steps! That was one of the great things about SC2 – you get hung out to dry right from the start!)

 

Planet lander sequence along with urgent instruction that we need to land safely and find “X” resource to repair, and “Y” resource to refuel. (Possibly plant a ship part on the planet that can be very quickly installed/upgraded, or make “X” a ship part that was scanned from orbit and looked compatible for repairs once the player returns to the ship.)

 

Planet landing should be scaled to take 3-5 minutes to complete at most, have some mild but guaranteed-to-occur perils, then launch back to the ship (successfully).

 

Back on the ship the light and power are back on, but smoke is still in the background on the bridge cutscene. 1st mate congratulates on a job well done, says some systems are usable, but player needs to return to Earth/Starbase to repair and refit.  

 

On the journey to Earth nearby, a small combat/melee occurs, and any number of plot points can be introduced at this point, and this would be the end of the first 15 minutes of play.

 

Reasoning: Immediate peril is engaging. The main enemy of the first 12 minutes of play will be your own ship [low power/oxygen/fuel] and the environment [the landing itself, whatever the rover encounters, space, time]. A moderate sense of both urgency and helplessness would be reminiscent of SC2. (Have partial systems/UI available for this introductory portion, coming back online as the brief steps are concluded???) Only in the last 3 minutes or so with the first melee combat will an alien ship be an enemy. That’s where it can link up to the main story, or whatever you want it to do.

 

Please consider something like that for the first 15 minutes of the campaign gameplay.  I think it would be instantly engaging, build sympathy and comradery with your ship, and be a natural way to introduce the major features of the game in a short span of time.

 

Marketing Trailer -

SC – Origin announcement/advertisement video script proposal

 

Text, V/O, or both, spoken slowly while montage plays:

“For thousands of years, mankind has reached for the stars.”

(Montage of tribals around a fire, pan up to sky filled with stars. Then zoom out from stars, revealing them to be reflected on the lens of a renaissance telescope, pan to blue prints on a desk, one is a rocket. Flesh out the rocket, blasting into space – the SC-O ship)

 

(SC-O ship flying through an obviously different star system to Sol – peacefully, beautiful)

Overlay text, V/O or both:

“In the year 2XXX, the stars reach back…”

 

(Sudden disruption per your sketch video, very brief action scene unique to SC-O.)

 

Fade to/text overlay:

“Star Control – Origin”

 

Fade out, then back in with:

“Coming 4Q2017”

 

OOOH!  I just had an epiphany – The intro/commercial that I suggested with the brief action sequence, that could be what damages the ship!  That could be the lead-in to the first 15 minutes of game-play!  It’s all related [Makes spooky noise]!!!

 

If you've stuck with me till now, thank you!!!  Again, great update!  There is so much promising material in here.  Not everything is a home run, and I hope you'll look at a few things, but so much is so good!

 

Thanks for what you're doing, and for including me.

25,343 views 9 replies
Reply #1 from StarControl Forums Top

Racial music matters!

Reply #2 from StarControl Forums Top

Also, questions to SD related to some July update content.

1. Is Jeff Scryve? You don't have to answer, 'twas a rhetorical question. :P I love his head design.

2. Why Trandals "move" like a bird? Shouldn't it be more robotic since they are abiotic in nature?

3. I've noticed only couple of flying creatures and not one swimming. Is underwater exploration out of question at this point? Completely?

4. Why can't you post some HD concept pictures? I'm honestly already tired of half a year of this:

 

Offworld Trading Company
Reply #3 from StarControl Forums Top

Well, i do want more HD alien screens as well..

but maybe there is only this one and the ones on the july update (so far)

Reply #4 from StarControl Forums Top

I must say that this update makes this game seem very promising. The music is amazing! So much nostalgia. On the subject of racial music.... It must be a part of the game! It was one of the coolest aspects of SC2 and without it, I fear that dialog just won't be as cool. Nothing conveys what you have to expect from the race better. For example,  let's say you enter XRAKI space. The music is sinister. It makes you feel wary of what you might find there. Now let's say you run into a XRAKI and initiate Dialogue, the music starts up even before you speak, and you begin to feel weak in the knees as there music and dialogue, as well as imposing foreign alin figure stare down at you in disgust. (Yes I know this is all my speculation, for all we know at this point the XRAKI could be pink and fluffy as well as the friendliest race in all the galaxy, and the music could be a huge misnomer) Music is such an essential part of the Star Control universes. Use it well and it will work for you. Remove it at your own peril.   

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Reply #5 from StarControl Forums Top

I would definitely be disappointed if there wasn't a theme played every time you talked to each race. I'm not sure if it's necessary to have one separate theme for conversation, and one for battle. It'd be quite difficult to come up with 30 themes for the 15 aliens. Why not stick with just the one, and then do a really awesome battle mantra music for all battles? 

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Reply #6 from StarControl Forums Top

I just wanted to say that I was really pleased to see the Pinthi in the July update. One of the things I love about Star Control is the diversity of the aliens, including sentient floating gas bags, glowing fungi, crystalline and metallic races and so on. It's really important that SC:O continues that tradition, so it's great to see what look like either sentient microbes or some kind of sea egg-type creature, and I hope there are plenty more weird and wonderful (if scientifically implausible) beings on the way.

Reply #7 from StarControl Forums Top

Especially scientifically implausible! I think Star Control is the place to be humorously pushing the boundaries of "what is life" and "what can intelligence arrive out of?" None of the dreary only human, or only human + AI, etc realities in "hard sci fi" these days. what a bore.

Reply #8 from StarControl Forums Top

Hey, I'm a bit late to the party but I have an idea about the distribution of future species.If it isn't too late.

You see the Remnants had amassed quite a large seed and genetic vault/Bank/library of all species known to exist  within the 4 universes.

They created a ship,The Inseminator. It's roll was to travel like a clock through space planting all types of life according to the  makeup of a planet preventing interbreeding and Sterilization.

At the same time extracting samples of new mutations and adding them to the seed and genetic pool(Earth history documents visitation and samples taken from Dairy Herbivores,equines and abductions of Human species.Some returnees vaguely remember the name of the AI running the ship.. something like Noahrrk).

The Inseminator is pilotless and run by an Artificial Intelligence Noahrrk.It has a docking bay where drones are sent down to planet surfaces or in space(where samples of Space Whales and other lifeforms that live in dark space are collected)

Noahrrk was programmed to  generally take two samples if the life form has female and male versions.But not all life forms follow the same rules.Some species are but one sex yet transported into another atmosphere Noahrrk has documented the sex has changed.Such events baffled the Remmnants.

Like clockwork the Inseminator travels through space reaching each planet ( at a to be determined space time interval).


Their will be accounts of the Inseminators existence through Alien interaction that will develop into a quest to find the ship somewhere within the 4 universes(a long long quest).Once found it's a peaceful encounter.Having met Noahrrk he will give out some information about the remnants or a titbit about a future expansion.Your rewarded with a alien plant that leeches onto surfaces sucking toxic gases.Perfect for removing any toxic effects acquired from planets.Just place it on your skin and let it suck away until toxic free and what ever other rewards fit the length of the quest.

Anyway that's my idea.Having an event such as this for example within the game will allow you to add creatures to planets in the future.Players will be aware of the Inseminator or Noah's Ark (as Humans have named it) through dialogue encounters.

Reply #9 from StarControl Forums Top

Hollie muther of resurrection! That's a neat idea!

Are you going to comment on, at least, the latest updates? We're here bored to shizz and it's 2 more weeks 'till the end of the month/next update. We just wanna discuss something other than SFB and Subspace.