Dill_rat

Thanks for posting your musings, Brad. It is always reassuring to know how personal this project is to the people working on it. And, as a non-designer, it's always nice to have a window into what kind of work goes into a game that I normally only see as a finished product. I think your goals for modding are fantastic. It is true that the potential of a game's value skyrockets when you open things up to the imaginations of users, as I recently observed with the

Welcome. As I'm sure you can tell there are a lot of people who care a lot about getting a serious contender for one of the greatest games of all time. It's difficult to live up to that, and there are a lot of ideas on what elements are needed to accomplish it. But I genuinely hope that you believe it is possible to achieve, and that you have a goal to reach it. That doesn't mean the game can't possibly fall short of "greatest" and still be good, but I

[quote who="Kavik_Kang" reply="9" id="3659716"] Quoting ShadeDark, reply 4 Good 3d models? the new MOO has them It's going to need them... considering they have absolutely no idea what game they are even making. Blind and lost in the dark... [/quote

The taunt doesn't restrict fast ships in space, it just demands they engage the enemy from time to time. If you simply run away you will lose in time. If you engage in battle you can keep your opponent from taunting you. So long battles stay long because of strategy, not griefing.

I've thought of another option: the Taunt! The Taunt should be an action that you can't reasonably use in regular combat (some ideas on that in a moment), but causes such fear/frustration/silliness in the enemy crew that they abandon ship. The Taunt should be unavailable for the first 3-5 minutes or so of the match, and its cooldown should decrease with each successive use. Basically, it gives each ship a "personalized" (according to race) jibe at the other player

[quote who="IBNobody" reply="79" id="3658090"] To add to this, most people are going to play the combat game as part of the RPG. The Spathi matchup was a valid early SC2 cheese tactic that was completely valid to use against the AI. Likewise, the AI would never NOT try to attack you. It isn't programmed to be a griefer. [/quote] I have to say, I'm leaning toward favouring a multiplayer that at least has the option of playing differently than single player for the pur

[quote who="Kavik_Kang" reply="77" id="3658004"] The timer really is kind of embarrassing "band aid and string" bad. [/quote] I agree with you 100% on that point, but disagree with you strongly on the following: [quote who="Kavik_Kang" reply="75" id="3657983"] The map is already in good shape assuming it is the right size, more than half of the ships probably do not have a problem with a ship on the map edge. The ones that do have a problem with it can eas

Simple: Vote-to-kick the griefer. It's 1v1 so you just need 1 vote. (Yes, I'm joking...) Seriously, it's a good topic. I'll have to give it some more thought, but so far I'll just add that I'm not particularly excited about a draw/dual loss/random loser solution. It is the most straightforward solution, but I'd rather give the griefer a reason not to waste my time at all, not just limit the time he/she can waste. Also, a match timer mean

#1 Fleet building: Make a deck vs. Dynamic response Short answer: given the choices I find Deck intriguing, but I vote for Dynamic. See my arguments below on why I don't really like either choice. Deck seems straightforward: pick a stack of ships in a certain order and let slip the dogs of war. Nevertheless, we don't know whether there are limitations on the deck size or composition. SC2 had a point system, which has bee

I've been playing Halcyon 6 quite a lot just recently; it's great fun. The sense of humour imbued into the game, with its whacky aliens and diplomacy elements, is very reminiscent of Star Control 2. The rest of the game is a nice blend of FTL-style combat (albeit simplified) and XCOM base management. I think the game is great fun, but it has some surprising bugs and it does suffer from some pacing issues. But, like I said, overall I really like the game.

I'm on board with you in principle, but I have long suspected that local multiplayer is something only a few people actually care about these days. Truth be told, older gamers like me don't really look to sit in front of a computer screen with a buddy as the way we socialize anymore, and I suspect that younger gamers simply grew up with multiplayer being an online thing. I think they should include local multiplayer, but I hardly think the game will stand or fall on the

The original Star Control - despite its lack of adventure story mode - was chock full of hilarity. Does anyone remember the game menu? When you'd highlight the "Quit" button the corresponding icon was "NO FUN".. like the no smoking sign with FUN in the middle. Anyway, I think including little things like that in the reboot would make a nice trip down memory lane. Any others people remember and would like to see again?

[quote]PLEASE MAKE HIS SHIP'S BRIDGE TURN PURPLE AND HAVE HIM ATTACK US!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE!!!!!!! [/quote] And it can't be just any purple.. it must be a purple that reaches out and tweaks your medula oblongata! (Points if anyone remembers THAT reference. Hint: SC1, not actually in the game, but in the box)

Exciting! I'm looking forward to hearing how things are looking on the gameplay end!

I second this!

I think, in not-so-specific-as-Hunam's terms, the challenge to hook people in 15 minutes or less lies in Story, Aesthetics (Sound, Images, all the things that add to the "Feel" of the game), or Action; preferably all three. If we take the same starting point as the above (i.e., first bit of SC2), Hunam suggests it was good, but not great. I agree that when you break it down into it's components (mystery is presented, fetch quest, dialogue) it sounds underwhelming.

[quote who="Vaelzad" reply="28" id="3632991"] Quoting Dill_rat, reply 27 hat's cool; I'm a completionist type of gamer, but if you make it clear by having a huge scope then players like me won't get drawn in to the impossible task. and what is that number or amount of time to compl

How big is too big? That really depends on how you look at it. I will join the chorus in saying that large for the sake of large is not really a bonus. If you're looking at thousands of stars and more planets, and if I assume exploring a system takes even as little as a minute on average (probably not the case), then some thousands of stars is pretty clearly setting things up that you don't expect the players to explore the whole map. That's cool; I'm a

Had a really quick look at the recent vault updated, and I was rolling in the aisles at my first contact with the new alien. Lines are forming on Earth, indeed! My friends, I must say seeing this has convinced me 100% that you are the right team to be dealing with the Star Control franchise. Hats off to you! I can't wait to see what else is in store.

Hyperspace theme, yeah you're right. My bad, sorry.

Random events are interesting; they add stochasticity which simulates reality, but - as one poster mentioned - everyday reality isn't very random. What may seem random has more to do with the fact that we couldn't predict that it was coming. So.. when I walk out of my house and get hit by a baseball thrown by some particularly clumsy neighbourhood kids, that might seem random, but it actually had a cause. I just didn't know about the cause until my eye socket was

As I understand it, components of SC1 and (especially) SC2 will not be returning if their use impinges on the capacity of the original creators to continue the story they began all those years ago. In that light, I think most items on your list would be A-OK as long as their use isn't going to impede the continuation of the story from SC2. Example: Procyon is a star that exists, and the use of the star name itself shouldn't be problematic, however it was also tied to the

What are your thoughts on paid expansions and DLC for Star Control? I'm not a big fan, but I am a realist, and I understand if Stardock have already assumed that any IP such as this one will serve as a platform for such paid add-on content. So.. what do you fine people consider as valid fare for DLC material? Is there anything we want to make heard that we don't want to see?

Sorry if I've missed any discussion on this, but as the new StarControl will not have any of the old aliens as part of the story, has anyone revealed if the series' old ships will make it into supermelee? I think it would be great if we'd still be able to fly as (or against) all the old staples, even if they aren't playable in the main story mode. If I recall, all the ships from SC1 made it into the SC2 supermelee even though they weren't in the game itself.</p

I will be happy so long as there is a sound effect in the game with a deep voice to "launch fighters".