We've had a bit of radio silence here because so much has been going on. We worked most of the summer to prepare Interactive Fate for investments (the legalities involved were a challenge, but we solved everything) and turn the late alpha version of Rogue Ambassador into a very early beta.
This means we have all the major features of the game engine ready and we can soon dedicate ourselves fully to creating content: more space ships, exotic planets, quests, alien species, artifacts, and all the other cool stuff in the game. We are actively communicating with our potential publishers again and all signs so far are very positive =)
Another big news is the battle mode. After careful game designing and planning, we decided to make the RTS-style combat (as in Starcraft or Warcraft) more similar to FTL-style combat, which can be played both in real time or by turns.
The Mothership versus hostile pirate fleets
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| Click on image to see the full-sized picture |
Combat sensors, jammers, nukes and tactical fighter ships are used the same way.
Internal combat versus boarding teams (or alien parasites)
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| Click on image to see the full-sized picture |
The common aim of space pirates is not to destroy the Mothership, but destroy all its weapons and capture the ship and its cargo. Pirate assault pods will be launched at the mothership, full of armed aliens ready to breach the hull and kill or enslave everybody inside. If any weapons are still intact or can be repaired quickly enough, some of the assaulters can be shot to pieces before reaching the ship.
The boarding usually starts only when enemies have also disabled your emergency escape warpdrive. If you are able to repair the warpdrive beforore it or the ship command bridge is captured, you can warp to safe distance from the combat. Any enemies inside Mothership at the time of escape will remain there and will have to be neutralized.
As mentioned in the previous post, much more nastier creatures can creep into the Mothership as well. Certain space organisms have the cozy habit of secretly infesting your ship with their eggs, cocoons, or larvae.
Needless to say, when the little guys hatch, they will start eating your crew and laying more eggs. The space parasites will be hard to discover if the player does not realize that crewmembers are regularly going missing or that the engine malfunctions are the result of aliens getting stuck in there. I'm sure Ellen Ripley would approve this design choice :)
I aim to continue blog updates more regularly now (twice a month, perhaps). Your feedback and comments are what motivates me the most, so please keep them coming! :)