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Post by Cory Trese on Jul 8, 2016 18:50:20 GMT -5
For the people who love Explorers, Merchants and harvest specialists in ST RPG, you're definitely going to dig ST2's wild zone mechanics.
The player will have the ability to select named Crew for the expedition, train them in specialist jobs, learn Talents that help with exploration, buy gear and trinkets from your Contacts, as well as discovery previously unexplored Quadrants and worlds.
This will represent a major upgrade to the ST RPG Exploration system I first coded in 2010 ... six years ago we built a game for Android devices ... a game that had to run in less than 100M of RAM, be smaller than 25M and get by with 500Mhz CPUs.
Our hardware minimum has improved dramatically and that will open up a lot of new ground for people who loved ST RPG to explore.
Looking forward to releasing it!
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Post by redartrats on Jul 8, 2016 18:56:19 GMT -5
I've only played ST RPG so far, and I like it a lot. What stood out to me the most is: (1) the replayability value: there are just so many ways you can play, so many directions you can take your captain, that every game is pretty much unique. (2) The open-ended mechanics: you're not forced to do anything in a specific sequence or specific way, but you can pretty much forge out your own way through the Quadrant however you like it -- as long as you can figure out how to survive. (3) The amazing amount of depth worked into the game: something sadly very lacking in many so-called AAA games out there these days. It's almost at the level of detail of Nethack in terms of interesting reactions the game has when you do something unexpected that's nevertheless still within the rules of the game. (4) The lack (or low levels) of eye-candy: believe it or not, I rather have fun gameplay over eye-candy any day. Too many games out there these days have lots of eye-candy but little gameplay value. Too many RPGs just devolve into mindless grindfests (they took Professional Development 101 at Heroes College  ), eye-candy or otherwise. ST RPG, in spite of being relatively primitive in terms of graphics, provides extremely interesting gameplay that never becomes boring. I'd even consider the lack of eye-candy as a plus, because it means (a) I can focus on actual strategic gameplay instead of gawking at the eye-candy, and (b) it doesn't needlessly drain my phone battery. As far as the setting goes, it's serviceable, I guess. I know most people here love the setting, but what draws me to ST RPG is more the above points on gameplay rather than the setting. I'm hoping ST2 will also have the same great gameplay, setting or not.  |
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Post by redartrats on Jul 8, 2016 18:59:18 GMT -5
Cory Trese Haha, you said that I might find other games better suited to my taste for exploration, and then you just went ahead and described how exploration in ST2 would be so much better, which in fact, is the kind of thing I'm looking forward to in ST2.
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Post by Cory Trese on Jul 8, 2016 19:03:50 GMT -5
1) We're going to deliver in spades on replayability I think. Not only will you be able to play so many ways, you'll also be able to play on a procedurally generated map. Maybe you want to try a sprawling Galaxy with many distant stars (Explorer?) or a tightly packed set of Quadrants teeming with Faction politics and conflict.
2) I think by adding Crew and individual Contacts as mechanics, we're going to really deliver here too. The open-ended mechanics of ST2 will include multiple types of competing strategic AI that you can play with, against or around. This will make the Factions, the Princes and even the Spice dealer more interesting.
3) A lot of the depth in the game comes from deeply integrating the setting into every rules choice we made during the design of ST RPG -- a process we're painstakingly recreating for ST2.
4) We will try to strike a balance here. One of the most common complaints about ST RPG is that the graphics are not sophisticated enough. We will be very sensitive to battery use on mobiles though -- that isn't something we are willing to compromise on.
I suppose the ability to ignore the work that went into the setting is an advantage for some players -- and we certainly won't do anything to beat people over the head with it. ST2 will feature rich (but optional) character-driven storylines that involve the player deeply in the setting (most common request in ST RPG: setting-centric storylines.)
But at the same time, if people want to play the game and imagine they're in Firefly, Star Wars or Star Trek universe we won't do anything to make that impossible for them in ST2 ... it was certainly something that people did in ST RPG.
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Post by redartrats on Jul 8, 2016 19:26:28 GMT -5
Yeah, the procedurally-generated universe is one thing that caught my eye about ST2. It holds the promise of endless exploration fun that doesn't become boring because after the 25th game you've already memorized all the locations of the planets. Well, memorability is not necessarily a bad thing; in ST RPG I'm finding that the more I learn about the Quadrant the better I can plan my routes -- which route to take for safest travel, which alternate routes to take to avoid embargoes, where indy planets are that can serve as emergency backup if things go wrong and I'd rather avoid faction worlds for whatever reason, etc.. So it cuts both ways. For certain playing styles (and I've tried them) a static map is actually advantageous. But there have also been times where I found myself wishing for endless exploration of new worlds and new quadrants. So we'll see how this pans out in ST2! And as far as settings go, perhaps "serviceable" is too harsh a word to use... I do appreciate the amount of work it took to make everything in the game -- mechanics, flavor texts, etc. -- consistent with the setting. It prevents crimes against mimesis. So I do enjoy the setting in the sense of how deeply it is integrated into the gameplay and how it makes the game feel well-integrated and consistent, even if I'm not "sold" on the setting in the sense of liking it as a thing unto itself, if you understand what I mean. That is, in the sense that some people would say "I like X because X is in the Star Wars setting and I love Star Wars", whereas for me I wouldn't say "I like ST RPG because I like the ST setting", but rather "I like ST RPG because of its play value and its setting that makes it feel coherent and consistent". |
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Post by resistor on Jul 8, 2016 19:43:01 GMT -5
Yeah, the procedurally-generated universe is one thing that caught my eye about ST2. It holds the promise of endless exploration fun that doesn't become boring because after the 25th game you've already memorized all the locations of the planets. Well, memorability is not necessarily a bad thing; in ST RPG I'm finding that the more I learn about the Quadrant the better I can plan my routes -- which route to take for safest travel, which alternate routes to take to avoid embargoes, where indy planets are that can serve as emergency backup if things go wrong and I'd rather avoid faction worlds for whatever reason, etc.. So it cuts both ways. For certain playing styles (and I've tried them) a static map is actually advantageous. But there have also been times where I found myself wishing for endless exploration of new worlds and new quadrants. So we'll see how this pans out in ST2! And as far as settings go, perhaps "serviceable" is too harsh a word to use... I do appreciate the amount of work it took to make everything in the game -- mechanics, flavor texts, etc. -- consistent with the setting. It prevents crimes against mimesis. ... Pretty sure I've seen Cory say somewhere before that you'll be able to save maps that you like and replay them with a new captain if you want, so you can still have it both ways. Also, what is a mimesis? |
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Post by redartrats on Jul 8, 2016 20:22:23 GMT -5
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Post by bookworm21 on Jul 9, 2016 4:59:45 GMT -5
Well it was going to be the ship design and customisation options, but thinking on it now its probably the possibilities of immersion that come from the dynamic character relationships, proc-gen (yet replay able) world's and a more advanced economy that will hopefully make the world of ST2 feel alive.
In regards to visuals, i do love beautiful graphics but only if they are there to enhance solid game play. I shouldn't have any problems on that front though, based on previous releases.
Looking forward to the alpha!
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Post by Cory Trese on Jul 9, 2016 8:40:20 GMT -5
resistor is correct -- you'll be able to use the Map Generator separately from New Game. Even in my early play I've generated about 5 different maps, and played several Captains on each. So for people who want the more ST RPG experience of a fixed, easily learned (and shared with other players) experience that will be there. For people who want endless variety, that is there too.
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Post by bookworm21 on Jul 9, 2016 9:38:39 GMT -5
Let's not forget trying to find the system/planet/city that we submitted names for Bring on the Explorer! |
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Post by Officer Genious on Jul 10, 2016 10:10:25 GMT -5
Stop selling hype and GIMMIE DA ALPHA ALL READY! ðŸ˜
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Darth Cthoras
Star Hero
For the Sith, the Cadar, and the Xenos!
Posts: 557 
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Post by Darth Cthoras on Jul 10, 2016 10:54:18 GMT -5
Stop selling hype and GIMMIE DA ALPHA ALL READY! 😠The Cadari second this notion and back it with torps. All the torps. |
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Post by ntsheep on Jul 10, 2016 14:05:19 GMT -5
I know the TB's want to have a great alpha release, but I do worry about the current state of the Queen's health. Last night I heard some very strange noises and the directional tracker said it was coming form the upper east coast near New Jersey. I live in the mid west mind you.
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Post by Cory Trese on Jul 10, 2016 19:20:00 GMT -5
We definitely learned a lot about the quality of Alpha we want to present from Templar Battleforce. ST2 will alpha just as soon as it is ready.
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Post by bookworm21 on Jul 11, 2016 1:32:27 GMT -5
Can we have a hidden/easter egg difficulty that doesn't let us buy water-fuel?
Call it 'Classic Mode' 😂😂😂
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), eye-candy or otherwise. ST RPG, in spite of being relatively primitive in terms of graphics, provides extremely interesting gameplay that never becomes boring. I'd even consider the lack of eye-candy as a plus, because it means (a) I can focus on actual strategic gameplay instead of gawking at the eye-candy, and (b) it doesn't needlessly drain my phone battery. 
