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Author Topic: GSB and AI War  (Read 18697 times)

Offline Admiral

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GSB and AI War
« on: October 16, 2009, 08:42:41 pm »
Impulse the other week had a sale on the pre-order for this game (Gratuitous Space Battles), and combined with my annual customer survey discount could get this for even less than AI War's occasional sale price, so I did. It comes with immediate access to the game in it's incomplete state - a huge incentive for someone like me who likes to see how games evolve and also likes instant gratification, although frankly it took me almost a week to get time to install it.

I have to say, I'd love for Colonel X to meet his equivalent on the GSB team. I'd love to put the GSB graphical engine into AI War. Not that I'd use it much (I play on icon view most of the time) but it sure would be neat to see a huge AI War fleet doing their thing in GSB style graphics.

There isn't much in the way of gameplay; the "game" is aptly named. There were graphical rendering bugs on my screen (2560x1600) as well, but it is early days. It's really a toy more than a game; you set up the initial conditions and watch the fireworks. There is some design to it, but in my 20-30 minutes with it I haven't breached that part yet.

Cheers!
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Offline eRe4s3r

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Re: GSB and AI War
« Reply #1 on: October 17, 2009, 07:14:46 am »
I bought GSB as well and i have to say - the Graphics engine of that is inferior to Ai War - On the surface the stuff looks flashy but it doesn't use any decent graphical features that would be possible in a 2d game. Exception might be the missile trails but we have more missiles so we can not use these glow trails as GSB does.

Stuff like Overglow / Directional dynamic Damage of hull / Holes in ships caused by heavy weapons / locational damage are all missing. Something x4000 could code over 2 nights - if he would code a GSB clone ;P (Just figure of speech)

My main gripe is how GSB uses particles and animations - they are all in 1 file (1 animation frame sequence is in one large file) and the game just frame-shifts through them - this is a huge clusterfuck because NO 3D APP produces animations like that. If i had to do the red explosions in ai war frame by frame - then merge them all in a file, observe borders and pixel measurements, they would never have happened.

I already made a mod for the game (gfx, what else) but because all particle textures are in 1 large file i can not do overglow (or stuff like diffuse smoke coverage) So the effects will always remain mediocre, though it does have a particle engine thats pretty nice.. and impossible to work with (artist wise) ^^

Edit: Just so you get an idea see attachment ;p Thats the kind of graphic detail one could do but ask yourself, what for? A good space battle sim does NOT work with such hulls (they would need to be fairly modular in structure)

I tried getting this sprite in-game (in GSB) so i dug deep into the file structures and how stuff works.

Actually, i have a idea how one could make a GSB clone truly tactical but nobody is gonna make that game (basically each component you put on is a sprite element that you have to actual place on your main ship sprite - Sort of a like a 3D Ship builder, in 2D with actual tactical implications (you put the bride outside in the front, 1 hit can down you) etc.
« Last Edit: October 17, 2009, 07:27:42 am by eRe4s3r »
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Offline ldlework

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Re: GSB and AI War
« Reply #2 on: October 17, 2009, 12:10:13 pm »
heres some work on an idea similar to GSB + Escape Velocity:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0Ab7q_WkNh3bxZGZqenFrOF8xY2g0Mno2&hl=en
« Last Edit: October 17, 2009, 12:21:17 pm by ldlework »
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Offline Echo35

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Re: GSB and AI War
« Reply #3 on: October 17, 2009, 02:59:42 pm »
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Offline eRe4s3r

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Re: GSB and AI War
« Reply #4 on: October 17, 2009, 07:51:58 pm »
It'd be also cool that have actual personal simulated walking through the ship, so if you sound the battle alarm people are moving to the stations, and if you are hit before that you could loose entire crews and sections.
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Offline Volatar

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Re: GSB and AI War
« Reply #5 on: October 19, 2009, 09:40:46 am »
Quote from: eRe4s3r on October 17, 2009, 07:14:46 am
Actually, i have a idea how one could make a GSB clone truly tactical but nobody is gonna make that game (basically each component you put on is a sprite element that you have to actual place on your main ship sprite - Sort of a like a 3D Ship builder, in 2D with actual tactical implications (you put the bride outside in the front, 1 hit can down you) etc.

sure sounds like Battleships Forever...
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Offline Echo35

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Re: GSB and AI War
« Reply #6 on: October 19, 2009, 11:50:38 am »
Quote from: Volatar on October 19, 2009, 09:40:46 am
sure sounds like Battleships Forever...

If that game had multiplayer, my life would be complete. ;D
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Offline eRe4s3r

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Re: GSB and AI War
« Reply #7 on: October 19, 2009, 02:57:54 pm »
Battleships forever is hardly more than a toy ;) Graphically horrible but aside that also doesn't simulate diminishing armor piercing, stacked armor, different armor types, deflection ability, heat absorption etc. multi-layer shields, crews, energy links, reactor efficiency or compartments.. etc.

If you make a tactical space battle game it ought to be realistic - even if the numbers are science fiction CONCEPTS of physics should always apply - The reason i am writing that is because i still haven't found a Silent Hunter 4 in Space kind of game, i want a capital ship battle sim - IN SPACE ;)

The only game that has an barely realistic combat system is, weirdly enough - Space Empires IV

Imo these games need to move into the hard-core segment and stop being arcade - GSB is the best example, albeit fun its ultimately extremely basic - the underlying gameplay concepts are simplified to cater to laptop/casual gamers - what i talk is a hardcore game, like AI War is hardcore RTS i want a Hardcore GSB kind of game.
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Offline Echo35

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Re: GSB and AI War
« Reply #8 on: October 19, 2009, 06:36:17 pm »
Quote from: eRe4s3r on October 19, 2009, 02:57:54 pm
If you make a tactical space battle game it ought to be realistic - even if the numbers are science fiction CONCEPTS of physics should always apply - The reason i am writing that is because i still haven't found a Silent Hunter 4 in Space kind of game, i want a capital ship battle sim - IN SPACE ;)

http://www.geekdo.com/boardgame/6767
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Offline eRe4s3r

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Re: GSB and AI War
« Reply #9 on: October 19, 2009, 06:55:16 pm »
PC-Game ;P  :D :D :D
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Offline Volatar

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Re: GSB and AI War
« Reply #10 on: October 20, 2009, 07:43:32 pm »
Hahaha. I love board games...
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Offline Echo35

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Re: GSB and AI War
« Reply #11 on: October 20, 2009, 10:24:04 pm »
Quote from: Volatar on October 20, 2009, 07:43:32 pm
Hahaha. I love board games...

Ditto. Been a table top gamer nearly as long as a PC gamer and I love the former so much more.
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Offline eRe4s3r

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Re: GSB and AI War
« Reply #12 on: October 20, 2009, 10:38:30 pm »
I wish i could share that ;P Nobody around me wants to play complex board games anymore ;/ I guess they are all burned out from about 10 years DnD (we stopped when revision 3.5 came about) - 4.0 is just horrible crap and 3.5 was not balanced enough imo...

Well anyhow.. wants pc game ;P
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Offline Volatar

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Re: GSB and AI War
« Reply #13 on: November 07, 2009, 09:33:59 am »
The demo for GSB is now open to everyone. I played it a little. I was somewhat disappointed for some reason, but I can't put my finger on why  :-\
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Offline Admiral

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Re: GSB and AI War
« Reply #14 on: November 09, 2009, 08:00:51 pm »
GSB is really a one-trick game. It has pretty graphics and is fun for a few evenings, but it's basically a glorified tower defense type game. Was probably worth the $13-ish I paid (as compared to the entertainment value of a movie, my typical comparison) but not even remotely the value of AI War.
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