Founder's Vault: January 2018!

Who's THAT guy?!

EDIT: I love him. I want him in the game.

EDIT AGAIN: Are we supposed to try and figure out who that is? Let WHAT begin?!?!

1. Art Style

Okay, with that first picture of the 2 art styles, you did in a pic, what I've been trying to explain for MONTHS. That sums it up, perfectly:

Art Style 1 is silly cartoony art.

Art Style 2 is REALISTIC cartoony art. No one would ever mistake it for a photo, but it's not all giant heads, long necks, spongebob stuff like Art Style 1. And that's definitely more of the style we want to go for with Star Control.

The early concept for the Trandals and Drenkend ship is ALSO wrong - it's not cartoony at all, it's realism. 

So I think you're headed in the correct direction. Whimsy. Stylish. Realistic Cartoonish. Irreverent.

2. Pick 2

Well, if you're leaving it up to us to pick the 2 we want you to focus on, I say throw out the cost and go for performance and quality The cost of such things is not our concern. hahaha

I love the new pics of the ships with the materials system implemented. The ships look outstanding, unique and somehow "physical", like they exist as solid objects somewhere. Love that.

The commander is way, way, way better and looks less shiny. Now if only we could do something about her plastic hair. I'll be sold!

The planets are unfathomably better now, as round spheres in space. There's not a mountain or chasm large enough in the universe to change a planet from a sphere to a wonky, bumpy object - as viewed from space. They look wonderful. The final planet pic, of that purple planet makes me itch with anticipation at exploring that place. I just want to land. I want to land on that planet and discover what's there. It's wonderful.

3. Status Report

I love the Mukay. They're the best. So much personality, even in the design. I hope they're lovely to talk to, but also wise, like how they say in the screenshot: "Oh! A new alien! In a delightful new spaceship!". It's so passe, to them, like, an every day occurrence - a new alien! Cool! Whereas, the earth would probably stop moving for a day, standing in awe of us finding a new alien, these guys already know how the universe works, and they're mildly happy and only slightly taken-aback at the arrival of a new power on the galactic stage! It's marvelous to see what a cool personality they have. But, also, don't fuck with them, considering they're known to be the only race powerful to take on the Scryve! So, they're mildly amused and welcoming to you to give them a bit of entertainment. Reminds me of the Arilou. 

I know you said, "exploring is super fun!" and the weird thing is - I BELIEVE IT. Because it LOOKS fun. It SEEMS fun, already, and I believe you when you say that.

Same goes for the planet exploration. It SEEMS fun already. I know there was some question as to whether it has been fun, but I never questioned that. The characteristics of a "Fun Time" are already there, by nature. I never questioned that.

4. Adventure Studio

I want it in my life. Now.

Judging from the 3 ears that is most likely early concept art of the Drenkend.

Like the new music files.

Hopefully the material system for ships and changes to planets will assuage complaints about the graphics.

I'm looking forward to the SC3 source code, not to mod it. But because it will easier to get info for my guide and the wiki if I can take it directly from the files.

Speaking of the wiki, I have been meaning to create pages for the species introduced in Kessari Quadrant. But what about the portrayal of those from SC1&2? Should I make separate pages or just one page for both universes and clearly specify which information is for which universe?

Really happy to hear about the SC:KQ source being prepared. What is all going into the preparation?
Your staff going to do like P&F did and have one guy make sure it builds in Windows then throw it at Sourceforge (or Github)?

What about the art and assets, as it sits now they are hiding behind some awkward compression that nobody has been able to figure out. Maybe that will be up to us to figure out using the source.

And how will it mesh with the company having the source released along with the game still being sold?
Assuming that the source will be immediately compilable on modern Windows.

What are you doing hogging that Adventure Studio?

Our minimum target is a an Nvidia 650 level card with 1GB of video memory. Believe it or not, this actually qualifies as a relatively high-end video card.

Which means that you'll have a juicy high-end requirement, yes?

This. I read once that even Mars (with it's ridiculously massive Olympus Mons mountain which dwarfs Everest) was shrunk down to the size of a billiard ball, it would be substantially smoother and rounder than an actual billiard ball. No geographical feature can stop a planet from being a perfectly smooth sphere when you're far enough away to see it in its entirety.

Having said that, in most cases the sphere is ever-so-slightly slightly bulged at the equator because of the centrifugal force from the spin, but the surface is still super-smooth at that scale.

So, long story short, yes, I agree, I am happy to have got rid of the cartoonish bumpy planets. 

The Scryve laser just keeps getting better. Getting a really good Ghostbuster proton gun feel to it.

Adventure Studio looks like it is going to be really useful. Any thoughts on how it will integrate with Stellar Cartography? Would be handy to visualise your story elements in whatever universe you create.

Can't stop drooling over the updated ship models, well done Stardock. Also, that purple planet looks AMAZING.

I've never mentioned the music before, because it's all been so perfectly "Star Controlly" to my ears.  Just like these two are.

As a tribute to the original cartoony look, at some point along the way in the adventure game you should drop an anvil on something!

That Pinthi dialogue soundtrack is my third favorite track out of all revealed ones. Just great!

Though it's not dark enough for bad Pinthi... Unless they're not bad........

I feel like, by their nature, they're considered "bad", like a Great White Shark. But a shark doesn't WANT to be bad, it just happens to want food and people is food. The Pinthi are probably some real nice guys..... that happen to make you bleed from every orifice until your heart explodes.

The Phinty music sounds very Meat Boyish (like Danny Baranowsky work).

And that's not a bad thing, at all. In fact, I love it how good it was made.

@Hunam, I hope they include the long genus/species/etc name of the Pinthi, so you don't have ALL 2-syllable names.

pinthilonicus gastrophylae or something like that. That'd be cool.