Holiday Update

[Accurus]

"We are dead!" "Omg 2019 is almost over!"

The above are probably the short and sweet summation of comments on the forums. The first post comment would be incorrect and the second would be correct. 2019 is almost over, but we are still alive.

So what the heck has happened? Lots...

Last winter/spring we were developing some of the late game features in Lord of Rigel. Including having a functional AI and beginning to get espionage and tactical into place. A few things happened that made us slow down and practically grind to a screeching halt. First was the number of bugs being found by play testers. One of the biggest issues with the Lord of Rigel code base has been developed by numerous coders. Ace and I as the two creators have never been versed in code. We have been reliant on others to implement our vision. The second is that because of this the code base has had lots of fingers and mindsets in it. What became clear last spring is that we did not have code that we felt comfortable in completing and that led to some disillusionment with the project. Additionally we got hit with a second realization. Unity licensing.

Lord of Rigel had been developed in Unity 4 and then upgraded and locked into version 5. Unity has changed their licensing system from being one time pay to a subscription service. After talking with the Unity team about our situation and trying some experimental porting of the game to Unity 2019 it became clear that the game would once again need to be fixed and secondly that we would need subscriptions. Neither was a road we wanted to go down. We have had continued issues with Unity over the years and had grown tired of half implemented and broken features. This has cost us months of work over the years. The other issue was the $600 or more a month in licensing fees we would need to finish the game for a game engine we have spent years fighting with.

For some time Ace and I have looked into developing a side project alternative using the Unreal engine. We really thought that this may be an option for us given Unreal Engine's licensing system, visual effects quality, robustness, and visual scripting. In particular the visual scripting seemed like an interesting feature and I spent a few months looking around the internet at tutorials and wrapping my head around what was possible in Blueprints (Unreal's visual scripting system).

After debating the pros and cons of trying to finish in Unity vs starting new in Unreal we made the call in June 2019 to move to Unreal. That made some waves and we lost of dedicated folks working on the project, but some really possible things have come from this decision.

1. Visual Scripting aka. I can code now
2. Enhanced visuals: Including full 3D colony scenes
3. A better licensing system
4. A far more robust and stable game engine with room for future expansion

All of these things are huge leaps for us. As one of the creators in LoR I have typically been involved in game design and testing but have not been apply to get deep into the code. For the past 6 months I have been learning to develop and have made significant progress in developing the Unreal version of LoR. Ace has also been able to make better visuals and is picking up visual scripting as well. We have far more control of our destiny now that we have ever had before.

So what does that mean for LoR's release? Well for once I truly feel confident that we are going to have a product to ship to you. So far as we have developed the game things are so much more stable and the game behavior consistent in Unreal than our Unity builds. Already we have numerous galaxy generation features implemented in Unreal that were still not implemented in the last version of Unity.

So far we have had an internal Build 1 out to some testers for their feedback and it includes galaxy generation. We are currently working on Build 2 which is a foundational build for the game. It involves player generation and colony management for player homeworlds. We are hoping to have that done by mid January and then move to build 3 which will include ship movement and colony management for other player worlds. We are looking at maintaining a 30 day build cycle for each build and ideally around 10 to 12 builds.

I know for many folks this isn't entirely the news of "game release imminent" that everyone including the development team was wanting. And we do feel like this move to Unreal was a much needed and now after making the leap a very long and overdue change that should have happened 2 years ago.

Below are some in game screenshots. Everything pictured below is running in game and coded with the exception of the last two tactical test scenes. Those are setup scenes are designed to help us test out shaders, map design, etc.They should give some indication as to the base quality of the models, etc. in game.


https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1946851318

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1946852821

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1946854590

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1946857702

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1946858798

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1946859912

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1946860751

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1946861541

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1946862407

[Reriser]

I didn't expect such a quick response, thank you. It's sad that you will have to make a game from scratch on a new engine (if I understand the translation correctly), but this information is still better than none! :) So we reserve patience and wait... :)

[Vasquez]

Looks awesome.
Merry Christmas .

[Accurus]

@Reriser I was in the process of typing a post when I responded to the other thread and then saw your post. Just good timing.

And yes you are correct we are starting with a new engine, but it looks much better as you can see.

[Reriser]

I think you need to make a platform under the buildings (on a planetary view). When building buildings, always level the surface under them. Just now it seems that buildings are floating in the air (but this is my opinion 😏).
P.s.: I'll be honest - I liked the planetary view and the view of the galaxy more from the old screenshots. I understand that this is the initial build of the game and everything can change and that's why I Express my thought. Not for the purpose of offending or criticizing! 👍

[Accurus]

@Reriser We are still working on graphics. There is a lot of clean up work we are doing. Right now we are just trying to get systems going. I agree with you only the colony view and it is something we are working on. Right now we are having to build the colonies from scratch so we are refining our process.

[Reriser]

I made a mistake with the graphics on the galaxy map (revised screenshots - it's better here😃). The eye catches a clumsy, small interface (I think it's just an outline of graphics, but before the interface of the galaxy was better. Or maybe I just don't really like minimalism). I wish you success with the game. And I will wait for further news. 👍

[SuperSolid64]

Don't know if you see this message, but.
I was playing a lof of Master of Orion 2, which is considered by many gamers the most iconic space-oriented 4X to be made. Some games came along, such as Stellaris and Endless Space, but they were their own thing while not being able to fully top MoO 2 in many things. Your project peeked my interest as a sort of love letter and proper remake of MoO 2, which I was being waiting for a long time.
Espionage. Tactical combat. Ship designer. Economy. Research. I hope you stay on the path of this sort-of remake of MoO 2, and while you are on it, maybe you can slightly improve the formula?
While basic formula of MoO 2 works fine even to this day, some things were done in other 4X's to expand upon it, such as event and questing system, for example. Those does not need to be necesseraly in your game, but I think it wouldn't hurt for LoR to look upon other 4X's to see what you can adapt and learn from, depending on your vision.
You may be a small studio, you may face problems, but gamers out there wait for proper heir to MoO 2, even now, after almost two decades of release.

Take your time to deliver, because there were other 4X's that were subpar at best, and you probably don't want that. Take notes, consider options, and spread the world around. You need some publicity besides some posts on the discussion section. Maybe conctact some good journalists, if there are still out there, and maybe change the release date on steam page.

With that, merry Christmas, happy incoming New Year and good luck.

[Ace]

Good points SolidKeeper, one issue with a lot of current 4x games is trying to do a laundry list of 'must have' features without thinking about their mechanics or integrating it into the core game. So one thing we're doing is starting with the core game and systems such as quests really need to be integrated into the game and not something tacked on for flavor or just there because someone else did it. :-)

One of the big diversions from the MOO2 formula is the switch to real time tactical, but we've been looking at how that has and hasn't worked in other games and so things such as facings for armor/shields and positioning should be important.

[Ostam]

Thanks for the detailed update, much appreciated.

[Plintok]

I for one welcome the news. From the screens above it looks much better and I'm happy to wait for the finished result. Assuming you won't go bankrupt please don't rush it. I'd much rather have a properly finished Moo2 style game rather than another half-baked imitation :)

[gli†ch.Lord]

This looks awesome and it was a much needed statement regarding the development status. Thank you and take your time. I'm looking forard for this.

[Papanourson]

I hope you'll be able to give us some news every month. This is really great for following the project and build up a community !
Good luck!
Screenshots look really great !

[the mighty whatever]

I'm keeping this on my wishlist, best of luck, see you in a year.

(unless space empires 6 gets made before then!)

[Reriser]

Originally posted by the mighty whatever:

I'm keeping this on my wishlist, best of luck, see you in a year.

(unless space empires 6 gets made before then!)

Is Space Empire 6 in development?

[Patton]

If possible you should adjust the release date to simply read: TBA, then take as much time as you need so that the game, when eventually released, isn't a rushed shadow of what it could be (or yet another empty shell that gets slowly improved via tedious years of Early Access).

Although your 12-build plan seems good on paper you've already experienced how easily wrenches can get tossed into gears. Expect and plan for more setbacks, more returns to drawing boards and more internal conflict. A TBA release date will insulate you somewhat from community pressure to release ASAP.

Good luck!