StarMade Active Development Timeline

[Blaza612]

A freind asked me if there will be planetary invasion in the game(once planets are big enought).
Will there be planetary invasion?

I assume you're talking about NPCs invading planets, and to that, I'd assume it's a yes.

Though players invading planets? That's already in. Throw some missiles at a planet and destroy it's faction block, done. :p

 

[serge1944]

yeah I was talking about npc.

true about planets with missles,I got sent to the void of space because the planet go destroyed buy th enemy.

 

[nightrune]

Hey Bench,

I thought navigation was going to get an overhaul at some point, specifically how warpgates function. Most people hate the line between gates since it draws attention to themselves and everyone can see it. Is that overhaul still planned and where does it fit in, in the overall timeline?

 

[Bench]

Hey Bench,

I thought navigation was going to get an overhaul at some point, specifically how warpgates function. Most people hate the line between gates since it draws attention to themselves and everyone can see it. Is that overhaul still planned and where does it fit in, in the overall timeline?

It is planned and it falls earlier in the development timeline.

 

[serge1944]

Will the npc be this type of npc that always know where you are(kinda can see throw walls) or will it be the npc that has acctualy a field of view.
Because if one day my crew turns againts me I would like a hiding room with a ship that allows me to escape.

 

[Hander]

In multiplayer mode, while logged off, in order to keep your stuff "protected" from other PCs/NPC , you could implement a trade protection system, I mean, you pay (resources or whatever) to a Faction (traders/pirates/whatever you implement), so this faction will send their ships to protect your planets, the more you pay the better protection you get, so if you log for a long time make sure you pay a decent amount. I think thats much better than just the " you can´t interact with that" message which breaks the immersion and gameplay. If youre allied with the choosen faction you get discounts, if you attack any other PCs planets/stations that are protected by your allied faction also will slightly impact in your reputation rating with them.... etc... Will make the game feel much "alive" in the long run watching battle ships patrolling planets regularly. Of course you could still make "untouchable" the main base and a few ships (make a block that will prevent any harm in their radious range and make sure its small enough so you will need to still defend your other stuff).

 

[Tainis]

As far as the economy goes will there be an increase of shop count because i fail to find any in my games

 

[Lecic]

As far as the economy goes will there be an increase of shop count because i fail to find any in my games

Well, for starters, there's tons of shops. Did you mess with your configs at all?

Secondly, I think trading in general is supposed to be further revamped in the future to better facilitate trading between the player and the AI TG.

 

[pietrko]

Is there a place for modding API in the development shedule?
I'm somewhat concerned - don't get me wrong this is amazing game and has such a potential (I've bought it).
However this was said about many games before.

There are many spaceship building games currently being developed - how does Schine hope to compete with them given small team?

 

[DukeofRealms]

Is there a place for modding API in the development shedule?

One is planned. There are no plans to start work on one until beta.

 

[MrFURB]

There are many spaceship building games currently being developed - how does Schine hope to compete with them given small team?

This is all speculation on my part, but I don't think that Schine pays a lot of attention into competing with other games in the genre. Of course when it comes to marketing and statistics and all that, the recent popularity of space sandbox games plays it's part, but I think that Schema himself has other more personal motivations for working on Starmade. Maybe he had a vision and didn't like that nobody else was delivering. Maybe he finds programming fun. But I know for a fact that Schine's goals aren't short term, and they aren't focused on 1-uping other games.

 

[Madman198237]

*snip*
they aren't focused on 1-uping other games.

They aren't?


Maybe they're just too good at what they do.

 

[jstenholt]

They aren't?


Maybe they're just too good at what they do.

They don't have to 1-up other games, they already have the best one.

#schemagod #praisebench #panderpocalypse.

 

[Criss]

To be honest, we see a flaws in similar titles and we see where they stand out, for sure. So far we have yet to come across anything styled similarly as ours, or anything that has the scope that we want in StarMade. They reach far in some areas, but not many.

 

[pietrko]

but I think that Schema himself has other more personal motivations for working on Starmade. Maybe he had a vision and didn't like that nobody else was delivering. Maybe he finds programming fun. But I know for a fact that Schine's goals aren't short term, and they aren't focused on 1-uping other games.

That and the fact that game does not provide modding API concerns me.
In unlikely scenario that Schema will lost his interest in development it would be hard for anyone else to continue.

One is planned. There are no plans to start work on one until beta.

OK, well this seem risky from project managment perspective.
As I said code written by one person without proper interface introduced early on (no modding API till beta) is super hard to use.
But this is dark scenario!.

 

[Criss]

That and the fact that game does not provide modding API concerns me.
In unlikely scenario that Schema will lost his interest in development it would be hard for anyone else to continue.




OK, well this seem risky from project managment perspective.
As I said code written by one person without proper interface introduced early on (no modding API till beta) is super hard to use.
But this is dark scenario!.

Schema has ensured throughout development that a modding api will be easily integrated when he gets to it.

 

[Bench]

Updated active timeline with the following...

[ now in-game ][ Unique Block ] ADDITIONAL LOGIC BLOCKS
New logic blocks including a randomized block and sensor block.

[ now in-game ][ Unique Block ] DISPLAY MODULE UPDATES
Improvements to display modules to enable them to be copied, modified, and manipulated using logic.

[ now in-game ][ User Experience ] GRAPHICS IMPROVEMENTS
Improvements to lighting shaders as well as to thruster and cannon visuals.

[ now in-game ][ User Experience ] RADIAL MENU
New Radial Menu added to improve quick access to menus and sub-menus.

[ now in-game ][ Universe ] FOG OF WAR
Fog of War naturally hides area in the galaxy map, making exploration a lot more compelling.

[ now in-game ][ Unique Block ] SCANNERS
Update scanner system to be utilized to clear fog of war for a time, and possibly in the future as part of station creation to make more permanent lookout stations.

 

[Shaker]

Next : EXPAND ON SOME FACTION ABILITIES
______________________________________________

How long till this? Are you able to expand on what will be in this set?

 

[MacThule]

Bench
Any chance you could share some information regarding the current status of development of the "Mission System?" As in, does the team have a concrete plan for this already, has coding work already been done towards this or is it still in the research & development phase?

I had some ideas that I wanted to share with you guys about killing 2 birds with one stone with a 'sandbox' contracting logic system that players could use very flexibly and capable of easily resolving sandbox level contracts through push-button 3rd-party player arbitration & public records of rulings. Such a system would open a contract sandbox/simulator within the game as simple yet dynamic as voxel gaming itself, and would easily still facilitate simple, boilerplate contracts from/to NPCs (and even between players assuming players had access to the same contract library as the NPCs), which at their core is what all "Missions" for NPCs are - contracts.

The library of available standard contracts and clauses would then be able to grow over time through applied player development rather than purely under theoretical planning and implementation, opening the potential to eventually result in an extremely robust in-game contracting system (something that, developed as a stand alone Object, might at some point be marketable for use under other games, particularly large-scale MP games because I don't know of any such thing out there, although there are non-game related contract simulators employed by other professions).

Instead of 5 or 10 or 20 canned missions players could run for various NPC factions, which would quickly become dull until Schine developed and implemented new mission types, players would constantly be developing new mission types and sub-types, and best of these could be added to the NPC-available library even by servads, similarly to ship designs now.

I believe it really comes down to little more than the central logic of it (contract dynamics are pure logic, made confusing only by issues of definition/language, which in this case would be an end-use issue, not something a developer would have to deal with at all) and a workable interface in the end.

If plans/work for the mission system are already substantially locked in it would be redundant here. If it's still relatively amorphous, I will present detailed overview in the suggestions forum.

 

[Who am I?]

If you guys don't mind, I would like to ask a few questions about some things that seem to be overlooked;

1. It is mentioned in the timeline that there will eventually be heat shielding so that we may get closer to stars. Is this because there will also be resources that are very valuable in them, so that we may destroy them, so we can admire them, or for any other reason?

2. I've seen a few places marked for citizens/citizen updates. Is this referencing the ability to "become a citizen" of a civilization, the possibility of jobs, or implementation of the registry/forum data into the game?

3. Very sparsely, I've noticed some story points to be added. I'm not asking for any major spoilers, but, will the story follow a single person, a group of people, several groups, or will it be a "general history of the universe?"

4. And finally, I'm not sure if it's at the end of Alpha or later Beta, but I noticed that a new game mode was planned. Any hints as to what it'll be like?