Author Topic: For shame! No cookie for Chris, lots of Stars Beyond Reach screenshots for you.  (Read 29827 times)

Offline Sounds

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This is the most anticipated title of 2015 for me. Fingers and toes crossed it all comes together. From what you've posted it looks like you've got a real winner here.

I don't think I can come up with a good set of wow type words that represents how excited I am. I'll just say:

Ooooooooo aaaahhhhh!  :D  :P

If you need another eager body to alpha test this, count me in.  :)

Offline x4000

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Haha, wow -- I've got you added down!  I've really appreciated your help on past titles, too.  Hoo boy, though.  Whenever I hear someone is that excited about one of our games, it makes me more uneasy than anything else.  Hope we don't let you down! ;)
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Offline mrhanman

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For what it's worth, you haven't let me down yet.  I know a lot of people haven't liked one game or another in your catalog - and that's fine - but I've gotten a lot of enjoyment out of each of your games.  Some to a higher degree than others, maybe, but I've not regretted a single purchase.

Offline Gemzo

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I don't think I can beat how hyped Sounds is... Not to say that I'm not excited, of course.  Regardless, I'll be around to help with testing, if you'll have me.

Offline Cinth

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Haha, wow -- I've got you added down!  I've really appreciated your help on past titles, too.  Hoo boy, though.  Whenever I hear someone is that excited about one of our games, it makes me more uneasy than anything else.  Hope we don't let you down! ;)

I'm excited to be sure, though I know what to expect of the alpha/beta process.  Arcen's testing process is one hell of a rollercoaster and I just love the ride.  It's also pretty fun being able to help shape up a game as a fan... I (we) want the game to be just as good as you do!
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Offline Histidine

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Whee! Hey, if I wave my arms hard enough, will you add me to the list of interested testers?  :P

Quote
Nutritionist Training
Great! I always wanted to know what haute Skylaxian cuisine tastes like. (And it's a prerequisite tech for "beer" too!)

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Oil Power
I like how figuring out how to burn this "petroleum" thing is in the last third of the tech tree.

Offline x4000

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For what it's worth, you haven't let me down yet.  I know a lot of people haven't liked one game or another in your catalog - and that's fine - but I've gotten a lot of enjoyment out of each of your games.  Some to a higher degree than others, maybe, but I've not regretted a single purchase.

It really does mean a lot. :)  I don't expect everyone to have the same taste as me, and we do a lot of eclectic things, so I'm always actually kind of shocked when I run into someone like you, heh.  Like I said, it means a lot. :)

I don't think I can beat how hyped Sounds is... Not to say that I'm not excited, of course.  Regardless, I'll be around to help with testing, if you'll have me.

Haha -- yeah, extreme excitement is not a prereq for the alpha.  You've been super helpful in the past, also -- I've got you marked down!

I'm excited to be sure, though I know what to expect of the alpha/beta process.  Arcen's testing process is one hell of a rollercoaster and I just love the ride.  It's also pretty fun being able to help shape up a game as a fan... I (we) want the game to be just as good as you do!

I appreciate it. :)  Hopefully this alpha will be smoother than a lot of our past ones, or at least that's the goal.  More about refinement and honing than finding out "oh let's redo the combat model 3 times" like in TLF.  If we wind up in that territory, then I've already seriously misjudged something.

Whee! Hey, if I wave my arms hard enough, will you add me to the list of interested testers?  :P

Added you!

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Nutritionist Training
Great! I always wanted to know what haute Skylaxian cuisine tastes like. (And it's a prerequisite tech for "beer" too!)

Haha, yeah.  In this case, one thing to remember is that these guys are figuring out an awful lot of stuff all at once, and the order doesn't really follow from historical sources.  They have a hugely rich amount of data to work from about much more advanced stuff, and so to some extent it's a matter of priorities, and also a matter of figuring out each piece of the process.  Fermentation isn't necessarily something you'd figure out from scratch on an alien world super fast -- and frankly, the process might be different since the microbes et al are different there.  Anyway, that's my BS explanation for all that. ;)

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Oil Power
I like how figuring out how to burn this "petroleum" thing is in the last third of the tech tree.

One thing that is misleading about the visual of the tech tree is how exactly the relationships work out.  If you look at the oil power tech, it is far to the right, sure.  But it doesn't take a super long amount of time to get there, at least if you're doing anything underground at all (which you should be).  One of the biggest barriers to learning oil power is actually GETTING any oil at first, and then you figure out what to do with it.

But this does highlight one way in which the horizontal position of items in the tech tree can be unfortunately a bit misleading.  You can get very far horizontally on one track within a couple of dozen turns (or less, if you really pimp your science to the detriment of all else).  However, that doesn't mean you're all the way done at all.  Civ V and similar have a very interconnected tech tree where you really have to do everything from left to right, and can't leave much behind to the left by the time you get an age or two to the right.

Here that isn't really true, because you can go way deeper on one branch before circling back.  And in this portion of the tech tree, that's not an exploit at all, because it's no like you're just unlocking better military or whatever.  You're focusing on one part of your empire-building over another, and that may be a Really Bad Idea or a clever way of dealing with the situation at hand.

There are also some cases where something had to really jump horizontally over a bunch just to fit, and it's not really a representation of how advanced it is.  It's just what could visually fit and make sense grouping-wise.  It feels really different from other tech trees, and in practice I think it feels fine.  It was super overwhelming to me before I introduced the gating by social progress level, though.  That was a huge part of the reason for that.

The latter portion of the tech tree may be more traditional, I'm not sure.  The first part of the tech tree is really unusual because of the nature of unlocking techs for a citybuilder instead of a traditional 4x type game.  But once you get past the bulk of what is shown thus far in the tech tree, you're really done with all the basics of a citybuilder.  Maybe 10 of the techs aren't even needed for that.  You're then getting into the territory where you are well beyond the basics and you're starting to specialize, or choosing to very heavily specialize.  That will probably have a pretty different feel from the first part of the tech tree, but we'll see.
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Offline Endymion

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Ended up playing and getting excited about way too many 4x games recently after not playing any for a while so I'd love to be in the alpha of this one. Well I'd kind of hope that I wouldn't have time for this but that seems kind of unlikely at the moment.
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Offline Mick

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This looks amazing.

Offline x4000

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Ended up playing and getting excited about way too many 4x games recently after not playing any for a while so I'd love to be in the alpha of this one. Well I'd kind of hope that I wouldn't have time for this but that seems kind of unlikely at the moment.

Lots of recent comparison points then -- excellent!  I've got you marked down.  Sounds like you're looking for work at the moment; I really hope you find that and wind up not having time for game alphas. :(

This looks amazing.

Thank you!
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Offline Sounds

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Haha, wow -- I've got you added down!  I've really appreciated your help on past titles, too.  Hoo boy, though.  Whenever I hear someone is that excited about one of our games, it makes me more uneasy than anything else.  Hope we don't let you down! ;)

Sorry no pressure. :)

My gaming time is very precious, so I don't play as many titles as I used to. Looking back over last year's gaming time I only had five titles consistently played. These were:
  • AI War
  • The Last Federation
  • Europa Universalis
  • Skyward Collapse
  • Distant Worlds
Whilst the year is young I didn't think any other title on the horizon for 2015 could possibly join the above mix. However reading through the details of this (and other posts) on SBR gives me the feeling that late night gaming is about to return. Bah who needs sleep. :P

Again no pressure. :D
« Last Edit: January 20, 2015, 07:06:40 pm by Sounds »

Offline windgen

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I've been lurking without posting for a while.  I've always wanted to see Arcen's take on the 4x genre.  I suppose AI War and TLF have it covered to some extent, but this game looks awesome.  Can't wait until the alpha / beta...

Offline Alex Heartnet

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My best guess on what the player races will be?

Acutians:  I build stuff to make money, and spend money on building stuff.  Capitalism naturally lends itself to the sort of rapid expansion needed to survive in a hostile 4x environment.  And what kind of self-respecting CEO doesn't want a massive sprawling office tower to rule from?  They seem like they would be the game's closest thing to a 'Vanilla' race.

Skylaxians:  The other Vanilla race.  Such classic-looking aliens yet all too human...

Fenyn:  Nature-cities sound like they would be fun to build!  Watch out for pollution...

Boarines:  This might be more like building a suburban area then a city.  White picket fences everywhere.

Krolin:  Gotta have at least one evil race to play as?  I can already picture a bunch of  :( citizens going full terrorist without any kind of transition and the player needing to send a bunch of soldiers to solve the problem classic fascist-style.

Zenith:  Okay, so they build monster over-sized space stuff, and I have no reason to see why they won't do so on the ground.  A single Large building is better then three Medium buildings or ten Small ones, right?  Must build bigger bigger is better...
Also, we never got a chance to meet them personally in AI War...

Peltians:  These guys have an interesting communal I-do-what-everyone-else-does mindset.  Lends itself very well to society-building, but small behavioral problems could quickly snowball into big ones...sounds like a balancing act in that regard...
The Peltian Military is mostly artillery.  Maybe a few bombers as well....maybe more then a few...

The following are definitely NPC-only races:

Thoraxians:  Aside from being confirmed as a NPC-only race, these guys are too alien to make use of terran-style infrastructure.

Neinzul:  See above, only even moreso...

Burlusts:  Such classic villains can only truly be at home when fighting the player

Yau:  Lemme guess, it's a particularly evil version of "Enlightenment".  Also snakes.

Evucks:  They would make a nice foil for the Boarines and seem like the sort of alien that would possessively hold onto a resource they cannot use themselves...hey gimme that no keep your tentacles off of me...
« Last Edit: January 21, 2015, 06:26:13 am by Alex Heartnet »

Offline allison

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Social Progress! ^_^

That header font is so happy and perky... is it the intended effect though?

Offline Mánagarmr

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Skylaxians:  The other Vanilla race.  Such classic-looking aliens yet all too human...


Let me explain their playstyle in Dwarf Fortress lingo: !!SCIENCE!!
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