Red Nebula, take two
Here is a second take on the Red Nebula game concept, after lots of polishing. Please keep in mind this is the concept for the whole game, and Milestone 1 will be just a part of it. I have also made progress in the coding department, but nothing cool to show yet. The engine is slowly progressing, but I have concentrated more on game design.
Slow-paced strategic / tactical science fiction game of space exploration. Space is empty, cold and hostile, information and resources are always scarce. “Survival horror in space.”
Features
- Procedural game world: no predefined species (except for Earthlings), stars, planets…
- Emergent behavior: instead of predefined behavior, most interesting events should dynamically result from underlying mechanics
- Scenarios: exceptions to above, static content such as starting condition, story and scripted events
- Semi-realistic: or plausible sci-fi; no Star Trek -style humanoid aliens, slower-than-bullet lasers etc.
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Exploration: information is usually very limited (and the world is a complex place), so recon and exploration are very important
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Morale: it’s important to keep the morale of the crew high
Genre
Strategy game with role-playing elements (player avatar).
World
The world is fully 3D with no borders at the edges of the world. Scale ranges from galaxies to planets and space ship fleets, with focus on the star and fleet level.
Perspective
The game is always viewed from the 3rd person in 3D.
Gameplay
Gameplay consists of scenarios and a sandbox mode, where you can play freely in the world.
Gameplay is in real-time and can be accelerated, decelerated or paused at any time.
Style
Ambience is generally really dark, with the exception of large settlements such as Earth, which are “beacons of hope”.
Graphical style is clean, dark and minimalistic.
In other news, I kinda got hooked on Eve Online. Actually I just tried the free 14-day trial because I wanted to see how the game had changed during the years. I used to be in the beta and liked it very much, but when the game was released I just lost interest for some reason. Still, it’s the only MMO game I have ever liked. I have tried Horizons, World of Warcraft, Neocron and probably some others I don’t even remember, but I never liked them. The style of Eve is something very unique, and I have always absolutely loved the visuals and music (though I have no doubt I will get sick of them if I play for a couple of months). Anyway, I’m now thinking of buying an account and playing for at least the month that comes with it…
Eve Online always pulls me in on those 14 day trials and twice now I have attempted a full account. The problem is after the initial “learning to play” period the amount of time and effort required to continue enjoying it goes up really quickly.
It has a very open system and the reward comes from playing it (a lot). On both occasions I have cancelled my account because I just couldn’t give the game enough time and felt I shouldn’t have to learn as much as I was in order to play what essentially is just a game.
I have bought myself a copy of Tabula Rasa to try, but it is still waiting to be installed. It seems to be different enough, in the same way Eve Online, is to hold my interest.