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Post by contributor on Sept 28, 2017 8:08:58 GMT -5
Interesting thread, at least it adds "Point out clock and time mechanics" to the tutorial list.
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Post by Cory Trese on Sept 28, 2017 13:20:53 GMT -5
Just out of interest, is 1 turn = 1 day = 1 AU moved on the main map? No. |
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Post by Brutus Aurelius on Sept 28, 2017 13:32:10 GMT -5
[quote author=" Cory Trese Design [*] [*] I'd love to come up with an awesome in game explanation. I suspect it has a lot to do with the Captain's influence and authority being personally required for almost all tasks involving grav bureaucratic and officials.[/quote] The crew technically aren't Faction citizens while they are signed on with a Captain. So maybe to go anywhere/do anything they need the Captain's influence and protection |
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Post by Cory Trese on Sept 28, 2017 14:24:56 GMT -5
Yeah it also makes sense because the Captain can literally leave the planet without telling anyone at any time. Captain might have more than one ship, etc.
This Captain may be wildly rich, but cannot be held a line of credit, for as Shalun teaches us: A Star Traders may hold no debts save to their charter.
Without the Captain, nothing gets done.
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Logically, there is a whole other direction we could have gone with the game. We could have gone with being "stuck" on a planet, not being able to leave until things were done. We did prototype this pre-alpha. In this mode you committed to repairs, spice, healing, etc and then pressed go for the time to pass. It was more simulationist but it wasn't fun. And that's the key thing. The current model is more fun, and we spread out and balanced down the turn to action costs so that it would be balanced (and made many adjustments during testing, because we were off by a lot at first.)
I know this design is better -- but the previous version of the interface wasn't providing as much information as it could. Improving that will help people see the minor time vs. major time trade-offs and will make clock management more fun.
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Post by Cory Trese on Sept 28, 2017 14:50:08 GMT -5
Just out of interest, is 1 turn = 1 day = 1 AU moved on the main map? 1 Turn = 1 Week = 1 AU on Map Easy and simple. Also not very complex.
In Star Traders: Frontiers1 Turn = 16.8 Hours (duration of 1 full shift cycle) |
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Post by Sinocelt on Sept 28, 2017 14:52:41 GMT -5
> This Captain may be wildly rich, but cannot be held a line of credit,
You receive invoices for repairs, healing, and spicing: nothing gets done until after you have paid. It shouldn't matter if you don't stay on site.
> 1 Turn = 16.8 Hours (duration of 1 full shift cycle)
Why have made it more complex?
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Post by Cory Trese on Sept 28, 2017 14:53:17 GMT -5
You receive an invoice for the repairs and spicing: nothing gets done until after you have paid. It shouldn't matter if you don't stay on site. Yes, I understand what you're saying. You win -- logically your way is more logical. I wish we'd been able to have this conversation in 2015, I could have shown you the prototypes and proven it is more fun this way. We missed our chance to have you as an Executive Producer -- that is when the core of the design for things like periodic resourcing were really being hammered out. I'm very happy with how it all turned out and I know the focus was on the right part -- the fun! Is just a game, after all! |
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Post by Sinocelt on Sept 28, 2017 14:55:34 GMT -5
I know. But you and Autrelius were having a go at finding a "story logic" to strengthen (or cover) the "game logic." And I think it's a good idea; but when I see a logical flaw, I can't help pointing it out. <shrug>
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Post by Cory Trese on Sept 28, 2017 14:56:12 GMT -5
Yeah. But you and Autrelius were having a go at finding a "story logic" for it, which I think is a good idea; but when I see a logical flaw, I can't help pointing it out. <shrug> It is very flawed. You are correct. |
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Post by Sinocelt on Sept 28, 2017 14:57:52 GMT -5
All right, all right, I shouldn't have mentioned it.
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Post by contributor on Sept 28, 2017 15:00:18 GMT -5
Interesting thread, at least it adds "Point out clock and time mechanics" to the tutorial list.
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Post by Cory Trese on Sept 28, 2017 15:16:47 GMT -5
All right, all right, I shouldn't have mentioned it. Not a problem. This is how we do things here -- we make and admit a lot of mistakes. There are just two of us and 200,000 lines of code. We had limited time, limited budget and big dreams. We made compromises aplenty -- some of them logical, some of them illogical. I don't know where this one falls on that spectrum, but I know we tested the alternatives and picked the best one we could. It can be a bit harder to fall down in public, when on the alpha team is watching, but that is what we do -- we fall down. Over and over, game after game we fall down and get back up and keep going. Our games are far from perfect, but they are made by people who truly care about them being fun. |
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Post by Cory Trese on Sept 28, 2017 15:17:04 GMT -5
Interesting thread, at least it adds "Point out clock and time mechanics" to the tutorial list. My dude. |
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Post by fallen on Sept 28, 2017 15:55:44 GMT -5
Shalun Favors the Brave!
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Post by khearn on Sept 29, 2017 19:20:25 GMT -5
One thing that bothers me regarding the clock. Please zero-pad the weeks. It seems odd that 211.9 comes before 211.10. It would look better if 211.09 comes before 211.10. Or else use something other than a '.' as the seperator. Those of us raised using '.' as a decimal point really expect it to be a decimal point, not a date seperator. I'd be OK with 211/9 coming before 211/10, or 211-9 before 211-10, but 211.9 should be followed by 211.91.
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