StarLife - an indie sci-fi 4X in making

[Hoverdog]

Hiya guys, I'll advertise a bit, hope you don't mind (is it the right forum?)

We’re Purple Orange Games, and we are currently developing StarLife, an independent sci-fi 4X game. We already have a tech demo showing rudimentary combat and currently are preparing for a Kickstarter that will air early April.

Though the space strategy genre never really died out, newer releases have not even come close to the venerable ancestor, Master of Orion, they lacked that special something that made it one of the best games of all time.

Our goal, of course, is to rectify this situation.

Our core design philosophy includes:

- Varied races with unique gameplay - +10% growth? Research halved? A bonus to combat efficiency? Meh. These are not game-altering changes. We strive to make species really different. Each one is going to have a trait, ability, or gimmick that forces the player to readjust to a new strategy.

- Complexity as a means to an end – most of today’s games are catered to the casual gamer, and thus stripped of many features and lacking depth. On the other hand, we feel that stockpiling gimmicks and mechanics that have no real influence on the game’s flow and only make playing more of a chore is a dead end. Complexity is a must, but it has to serve the player, not the other way around.

- Technology more than just a linear progression – again, latest 4X games struggled a lot with coming up with a sensible tech system. Separate trees that you select and research one by one are not interesting the slightest. In Starlife, we are trying to put some meat on these bones.

- Quick, but tactically satisfying combat – battles are one of my favourite parts of strategy games. Unfortunately, most of the time they are considered of secondary importance and are either simplified or tend to drag. Starlife will feature hex-based combat system rooted in board games that is quick to resolve and offers a tactical challenge.

- No unnecessary micromanagement – Micro is always a bane of 4X in longer, bigger games. Our plan is cutting down on it without limiting players’ choices.

- Your subjects are living creatures (unless they’re robots) – Have you ever felt that those billions of subordinates on your colonies are mindless drones that need constant babysitting? Well, we have. That’s why in Starlife citizens actually have will of their own. They are quite helpful, but, if mistreated, can make your rule a pain.

- A completely revamped diplomacy system, based on intentions. You can read more about it on our site.



OUR SITE

OUR FACEBOOK PAGE

OUR PROFILE ON INDIEDB

SCREENS:

[chemical_art]

I wish you well, but 4X doesn't translate well into betas or demos (it's kinda a complete package, just showing off diplomacy or combat doesn't mean much if the other X's don't mesh as well), and the well of them has been poisoned pretty thoroughly, so I won't even visit your site but will visit it if it goes 1.0

[Hoverdog]

Agreed, demos of 4Xs are of the worst kind - however, it's still the best way to show that a) we are actually working on it and it's not vapourwave and b) how does it feels like.

[Mick]

It certainly sounds interesting and I wish you luck. You have a lot of high (and vague) claims in your feature list though.

[zespri]

This immediately reminded me of another thread we had awhile ago when the creators of a kickstarter run for a 4x game came here to talk about their game: http://www.arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,11726.45.html

I think that previous kickstarter got funded, I wonder did the game ever saw the light of the day?

[keith.lamothe]

I think that previous kickstarter got funded, I wonder did the game ever saw the light of the day?

They're still working, from what I can tell.  It wasn't all that long ago that they got the money.

[Echo35]

The huge wave of 4X crap over the years makes me immediately skeptical about pretty much any new 4X game, so I'll have to see where this goes. I will say though, that pixel art is immensely satisfying.

[Mánagarmr]

I wish you the best of luck! 4X's have a tendency to die horribly If you pull this off, you'll be all kinds of awesome!

[Hoverdog]

A big new update posted on our site, discussing Espionage!

[chemical_art]

That first paragraph really needs to be rewritten, it implies your game has the negative features I think you meant to attribute to other games.

[LordSloth]

The interface seems surprisingly clear from the screenshots you've provide on the site and in this thread.

Before that kickstarter you've mentioned, your website needs a heavy dose of polish.

The first thing to do: View it through several browsers, including old versions of IE (at least back to IE 8, which was the last supported version on WinXP). As an example, the Gameplay section, looks dramatically different between IE9 and Chrome. The color scheme is unreadable in IE.

Second on the list: Remove most of the boxs/bubbles surrounding the text, such as in EXPLORE EXPAND EXTERMINATE. When you visit the main page Click Here, Alpha, Documentation establish this as a clickable link. Using it on other pages merely for highlighting confuses momentarily, and also gets in the way of the visual flow of text.

Third: The bar with links to News, Info, Gameplay? Get it to stay at the top of the screen with the Purple Orange Games logo. The position is fine, having it disappear when you scroll isn't ideal.

Fourth: After a commercial scarcity, it's an unusually busy time for TBS and 4X where they overlap and where they don't, kickstarted and not...  between MORE, at the gates, the banner saga, Age of Wonders 3, Battle Worlds: Kronos, Eador, Pandora: First Contact, Worlds of Magic, Endless Space, StarDrive (despite being an RTS), Iron Dawn, Shackleton Crater (canceled kickstarter), Predestination, etc. I can't offer any specific advice, just advise you to be ready to hit the ground running and be careful of the timing of your announcement. Even some of the bigger names have been handicapped by a weak presentation in the first week or two.

Unfortunately for you, Starbound, Starsector, StarDrive, Star Citizen, Star Conflict? Different genres, but similar names of games in the news in the last year or so. If you don't make a strong first impression, it would be easy to get lost with the name StarLife. If you make that strong first impression, the similarity in names won't matter nearly as much. The content will stick in their minds.

[Hoverdog]

Before that kickstarter you've mentioned, your website needs a heavy dose of polish.

The first thing to do: View it through several browsers, including old versions of IE (at least back to IE 8, which was the last supported version on WinXP). As an example, the Gameplay section, looks dramatically different between IE9 and Chrome. The color scheme is unreadable in IE.

Second on the list: Remove most of the boxs/bubbles surrounding the text, such as in EXPLORE EXPAND EXTERMINATE. When you visit the main page Click Here, Alpha, Documentation establish this as a clickable link. Using it on other pages merely for highlighting confuses momentarily, and also gets in the way of the visual flow of text.

Third: The bar with links to News, Info, Gameplay? Get it to stay at the top of the screen with the Purple Orange Games logo. The position is fine, having it disappear when you scroll isn't ideal.

Thanks for the remarks. The site will undergo some revamp before KS.

Fourth: After a commercial scarcity, it's an unusually busy time for TBS and 4X where they overlap and where they don't, kickstarted and not...  between MORE, at the gates, the banner saga, Age of Wonders 3, Battle Worlds: Kronos, Eador, Pandora: First Contact, Worlds of Magic, Endless Space, StarDrive (despite being an RTS), Iron Dawn, Shackleton Crater (canceled kickstarter), Predestination, etc. I can't offer any specific advice, just advise you to be ready to hit the ground running and be careful of the timing of your announcement. Even some of the bigger names have been handicapped by a weak presentation in the first week or two.

This is all true. Both the sudden resurgence of TBS and the unfortunate, uh, crapness ( ) of the games released recently (Endless Space I'm looking at you) could be a negative factor in our campaign. We are aware of this, that's why we are not rushing anything. We will have a working demo and lots of other stuff ready at launch.

Unfortunately for you, Starbound, Starsector, StarDrive, Star Citizen, Star Conflict? Different genres, but similar names of games in the news in the last year or so. If you don't make a strong first impression, it would be easy to get lost with the name StarLife. If you make that strong first impression, the similarity in names won't matter nearly as much. The content will stick in their minds.

This is also true, name is an important thing, and not an easy one to invent. Take MORE, for example - it's a fun name, easy to remember and recognize, but at the same time a total pony to find in search engines.

[eRe4s3r]

I would also strongly recommend to pick a name (or a subtitle that is smart) that can be found via search engines... you have no idea how many thousands of hits a project can lose by having a stupid "wordbook" name that links to billions of irrelevant results (because if you are new, you are not relevant yet no matter what). Starlife is a good example, google is a filter bubble, but even for me, StarLife does not link to you on the first 3 pages.... your problem is google is smart, it sees Star life, not starlife as absurd as it sounds.... google's smartness can be a problem sometimes ;p

And while on the topic of Kickstarter, your first video is what sells or fails your game. Make it long enough, make it interesting. And remember, Kickstarter sells hope, you never get anything funded that only shows what IS, you have to show what is and explain what might be, because your funders don't care what is, they care what you will do with the extra money ;p). Hope is what gets you pledges. And be concise, be precise, explain what your game is and what your game wants to be, and what your game does different and better.

Good example there on how not to do it is Shackleton Crater's Kickstarter. 0 Substance. No hope for anything. They sunk their game with the first paragraph. turn based realistic moon colonization. Wee... and they wanted how much for that?

[KingIsaacLinksr]

I would also suggest spelling out every detail of what your going to use the Kickstarter funds for. I've flat out avoided some Kickstarters because they don't say what they need the money for. They just state "to complete the game". Which isn't helpful to me because then I have to sit there wondering how much your development costs are and whether the price your asking is reasonable. Not something I feel like investing in.

[zespri]

Good example there on how not to do it is Shackleton Crater's Kickstarter. 0 Substance. No hope for anything. They sunk their game with the first paragraph. turn based realistic moon colonization. Wee... and they wanted how much for that?

How about bridge building simulator?