Work-in-Progress News 4
Hello Pilots & Commanders!
Let's take another look at what we've been working on for the major update coming to Space Reign.
It's finally coming. The option to directly control large ships as their commander and manually fly, use its weapons systems and maximize their combat potential, is almost ready.
It hasn't been an easy task, since it's yet another form of player control with its specific gameplay and technical challenges, but we are slowly getting to the point where it is actually our favorite way of playing.
We are really looking forward to your feedback and suggestions on this system. Now let us get through some of the main aspects of controlling the large ships.
[h2]Ship controls[/h2]
As stated before, the core of this mode is a 3rd person camera perspective as opposed to the 1st person cockpit view that is available for the smaller, fighter-class ships. This allows for much better visibility and situational awareness, which is ideal for larger and more complex ships with greater number of hardpoints and in the future, modules.
Basic controls will feature manual adjusting of PITCH, YAW, ROLL and THROTTLE as well as the option to turn on auto-steering, allowing you to set the desired PITCH and YAW values with continual input. This will be especially useful when you want to achieve a combat orbit around a target and focus your attention to weapons.
Since we've started choosing the right camera variant, we have tested numerous camera modes and behaviours, only to find out that what works in certain situations isn't ideal in other. Thus we've made the decision of including two different camera modes:
Of course, this is just a result of us, two developers, testing it so far, so any changes based on player feedback are possible on the road ahead.
[h2]Weapon Systems[/h2]
When it comes to weapon control, we have decided to implement 2 alternatives that complement each other. Controlling the weapons is therefore possible in two ways:
Automatic Control - Weapons in this mode will fire automatically based on their default stats and current Aiming mode
Manual Control - Weapons in this mode are directly controlled by the player
Each weapon can be also set to one of these modes separately, which will be useful when you just want to control the primary weapons and let the rest do their job.
Weapons set to auto mode will pick their targets based on the Aiming mode - Free aiming will let them choose their target freely while Target aiming will make them focus their fire on the current target, if possible.
Whether you just want to steer the ship and assist your weapons by adjusting angles, or you want to pick apart enemy vessels by shooting manually, don't worry, we've got you covered.
[h2]Perspectives[/h2]
There will be two different perspectives when controlling a large ship:
Default Mode - Standard view with all UI elements displayed, primarily used for ship control and maneuvering.
Fire Mode - More limited UI info focused on weapon control and option to use a targeting visor with several zoom levels. This mode will also feature target tracking, which will make the camera automatically lock on the current target - especially useful when controlling projectile weapons manually.
We have also been working on a lot of new sectors that you will be visiting, with some improvements being made to the loading sequence, which should help players encountering RAM usage issues when deploying in and out of a sector.
Using freshly made assets, the sectors will also feature more diverse environments to explore and fight in.
[h2]Conquest sector Type[/h2]
The biggest update in terms of the main gameplay loop will come with a brand new sector type - The Conquest. This type will feature larger conflicts between the corporations and factions trying to capture control points, outposts and resource operations present in a sector. Each side will have an established base of operations from which they will try to claim resources, launch assaults, build defenses and more.
We'll give more information about this in the next news segment, so stay tuned.
As we have mentioned in the previous work-in-progress news, we have decided for this update to include features and mechanics way more complex than what was originally planned - a more simple and straightforward content update.
The decision to do this is mainly tied to technical and development reasons, since many foundational systems still have to be changed or updated in order for these new systems to work. (such as the Large Ship direct control). Therefore, it is much better for us to make all of these necessary changes in one large update, so that the technical foundations are put in place once and for all.
Once this is done, it will allow us to focus on more frequent content updates. We understand that this is not ideal for everyone, but please, bear with us.
Due to the complex nature and size of this update, we would like you to invite you to join the development process testing the development branch, which will include the core changes of the update for you to try out and give us feedback on.
Current plan is to have the first version of the dev branch ready on steam by the end of the year/early January. We'll definitely keep you posted when the time comes.
With this year coming to an end, we would like to thank all of you for your continuous support, patience and all the feedback and suggestions you've given us since the initial EA release of Space Reign back in June.
Space Reign still has a long way to go, but we are very glad to see how much fun you guys are having already.
See you in the next post and don't forget to join our discord for more frequent updates and nice community talks!
Daniel & Adam
Let's take another look at what we've been working on for the major update coming to Space Reign.
Large Ship Direct Control
It's finally coming. The option to directly control large ships as their commander and manually fly, use its weapons systems and maximize their combat potential, is almost ready.
It hasn't been an easy task, since it's yet another form of player control with its specific gameplay and technical challenges, but we are slowly getting to the point where it is actually our favorite way of playing.
We are really looking forward to your feedback and suggestions on this system. Now let us get through some of the main aspects of controlling the large ships.
[h2]Ship controls[/h2]
As stated before, the core of this mode is a 3rd person camera perspective as opposed to the 1st person cockpit view that is available for the smaller, fighter-class ships. This allows for much better visibility and situational awareness, which is ideal for larger and more complex ships with greater number of hardpoints and in the future, modules.
Basic controls will feature manual adjusting of PITCH, YAW, ROLL and THROTTLE as well as the option to turn on auto-steering, allowing you to set the desired PITCH and YAW values with continual input. This will be especially useful when you want to achieve a combat orbit around a target and focus your attention to weapons.
Since we've started choosing the right camera variant, we have tested numerous camera modes and behaviours, only to find out that what works in certain situations isn't ideal in other. Thus we've made the decision of including two different camera modes:
- Locked camera - the camera will rotate together with the ship, making navigation a bit easier
- Free camera - camera will ignore the ship movement, which we've found more suitable in combat engagements
Of course, this is just a result of us, two developers, testing it so far, so any changes based on player feedback are possible on the road ahead.
[h2]Weapon Systems[/h2]
When it comes to weapon control, we have decided to implement 2 alternatives that complement each other. Controlling the weapons is therefore possible in two ways:
Automatic Control - Weapons in this mode will fire automatically based on their default stats and current Aiming mode
Manual Control - Weapons in this mode are directly controlled by the playerEach weapon can be also set to one of these modes separately, which will be useful when you just want to control the primary weapons and let the rest do their job.
Weapons set to auto mode will pick their targets based on the Aiming mode - Free aiming will let them choose their target freely while Target aiming will make them focus their fire on the current target, if possible.
Whether you just want to steer the ship and assist your weapons by adjusting angles, or you want to pick apart enemy vessels by shooting manually, don't worry, we've got you covered.
[h2]Perspectives[/h2]
There will be two different perspectives when controlling a large ship:
Default Mode - Standard view with all UI elements displayed, primarily used for ship control and maneuvering.
Fire Mode - More limited UI info focused on weapon control and option to use a targeting visor with several zoom levels. This mode will also feature target tracking, which will make the camera automatically lock on the current target - especially useful when controlling projectile weapons manually.New Sectors & Conquest sector type
We have also been working on a lot of new sectors that you will be visiting, with some improvements being made to the loading sequence, which should help players encountering RAM usage issues when deploying in and out of a sector.
Using freshly made assets, the sectors will also feature more diverse environments to explore and fight in.
[h2]Conquest sector Type[/h2]
The biggest update in terms of the main gameplay loop will come with a brand new sector type - The Conquest. This type will feature larger conflicts between the corporations and factions trying to capture control points, outposts and resource operations present in a sector. Each side will have an established base of operations from which they will try to claim resources, launch assaults, build defenses and more.
We'll give more information about this in the next news segment, so stay tuned.
Update When?
Release - Q1 2024As we have mentioned in the previous work-in-progress news, we have decided for this update to include features and mechanics way more complex than what was originally planned - a more simple and straightforward content update.
The decision to do this is mainly tied to technical and development reasons, since many foundational systems still have to be changed or updated in order for these new systems to work. (such as the Large Ship direct control). Therefore, it is much better for us to make all of these necessary changes in one large update, so that the technical foundations are put in place once and for all.
Once this is done, it will allow us to focus on more frequent content updates. We understand that this is not ideal for everyone, but please, bear with us.
Development branch - Test the Update before it's live
Due to the complex nature and size of this update, we would like you to invite you to join the development process testing the development branch, which will include the core changes of the update for you to try out and give us feedback on.
Current plan is to have the first version of the dev branch ready on steam by the end of the year/early January. We'll definitely keep you posted when the time comes.
Thank You!
With this year coming to an end, we would like to thank all of you for your continuous support, patience and all the feedback and suggestions you've given us since the initial EA release of Space Reign back in June.
Space Reign still has a long way to go, but we are very glad to see how much fun you guys are having already.
See you in the next post and don't forget to join our discord for more frequent updates and nice community talks!
Daniel & Adam
The Day of the Struggle for Freedom and Democracy is primarily linked to the year 89 and the so-called Velvet Revolution, which marked the peaceful transfer of power and the advent of democracy. It represents the beginning of free entrepreneurship in our countries, including the gaming industry, which gradually developed during the 1990s to its present form.
