The systems are hand-crafted in the same location. But starting conditions (economy status, faction fleet sizes, pirate raid priorities etc) are randomly generated every new-game. I've got plans to expand it after the PC launch, two key features on my top list: 1. Option for player faction, ship production, multiple fleet command with a conquest campaign map. 2. Fully procedural generated sectors. After that's done, I want to move onto the next game. I'm still undecided, two key games i want to make (& play!): 1. Think Star Nomad 3, but set in Mad Max post apocalyptic Earth setting, a survival free roam open world trade and combat sim, mix of Fallout, Caravan etc. 2. A Rune Factory (Harvest Moon spin-off with A-RPG gameplay) style game, because I really miss Rune Factory since Natsume went bankrupt a few years back, we just don't have good ones to play anymore.
Happy to share, it's on Steam with a release soon: http://store.steampowered.com/app/414950 I've been thinking about the UI changes as well as control mechanic changes to make it a good port to iOS. The active pause will be critical for the squad control as well as a time-out, it'll be a big hidden button like the spacebar, on the bottom middle of the screen (invisible, but touch and it will toggle pause).
Can't wait for this I love the first game and am very excited about your future projects they all sound wonderful. You can always count on my supporting all your endeavors
For those who are interested the Steam version is out and is fantastic. I would love to see it on mobile. http://store.steampowered.com/app/414950/
Just reporting in, the iOS porting is going good so far. I'm pleased to say that it looks like it is VERY playable on the iPhone 6 Plus screen size. I was so worried that my PC-centric UI would not function on a smaller screen but with adjustments and a huge increase in text size, it's easy to use and works well. I haven't finished optimizations yet but performance is excellent even in huge battles, 60 fps on iPad Mini 2 with native Full HD resolution. It's designed to scale flawless between the 16:9 and 4:3 aspect ratios too. I hope to finish up porting this month then submit to Apple for validation in early next month.
Yes, just optimizing currently. It's native 1080p resolution (with properly scaling for 4:3 ratio, full-screen no black bars) so it's pretty high, no low-res rendering and then upscale. The real-time flight AI is really complex so it takes CPU power, but I wanted it to be smooth flying rather than stepped-updates. The background economic sim & AI conquest also takes CPU cycles. It's still a PC-quality game at heart, just with customized UI for mobiles. However, it runs great on iPad Mini 2 and the battery life is very good. In testing, it is ~15% to 20% battery per hour of play. The pad is slightly warm. But it really kills the iPhone 6 Plus battery life, ~30% per hour and the phone runs really hot. It's almost as if it wasn't designed to be fully loaded as the slim profile can't keep it running cool. When its hot, it drains more battery. I don't know if that's acceptable, whether I should restrict the game to iPad only because of that. Thoughts?
Oh, the port is finished. All UI elements adjusted for iPhone 6 Plus and iPad Mini 2+, went through some optimizations already. The control scheme I am pleased to say, is much better than I had hoped for and gameplay quality-wise, its on-par with the PC. It's got all the extra polish, features and content additions of the Steam build, which received many updates since release. I'm currently play testing, and seeking to optimize it further so it runs 60 fps while using as little CPU/GPU resources as possible, and in major fleet battles, it's still fluid.
If you need another tester I can test on iPhone 6 and iPad mini 4 just say the word and I'll message you my apple email. I think it would not be unacceptable to release it on iPad only and then maybe release on phone later?
I'll do a 2 weeks test before launch, it's when I'll send out keys for reviewers and content makers too. I'll PM you a key when its ready. I'm going to try to optimize it further, reducing CPU load. See how it goes.
What happened to this wonderful game? I am so excited for release! I hope all is well and things are still moving along
Would love to beta test I have done many major games lately like pixel starships and crash lands since the start of beta testing?
The port is finished and plays excellent on my devices. I'm waiting for some engine updates as there's some strange bugs on recent iOS versions (Apples loves to change things in their updates!) relating to audio. Sorry for the wait. I hope to submit it to Apple for review soon. ps. I didn't want to release it in that state because on the latest iOS, sometimes music plays, sometimes not. Just waiting for engine updates to fix compatibility with changes in iOS.
All iOS related bugs fixed. The game uses a polished Steam build with a lot of bugs fixed during the PC release, as well as added content/features. It's optimized as much as I can squeeze out of it for now. I get close to 6 hours play on the iPad Mini 2, hopefully it's acceptable. On the iPhone 6 Plus, it also runs quite well, and the duration depends on how many apps folks have in the background (a lot of CPU & memory hog background apps, especially social ones). I've gone for an adaptive full-screen that's suitable for both 16:9 and 4:3 ratio. Some screenshots. On iPad Mini 2: On iPhone 6 Plus: I tried to get the beta keys but I did not know, to get beta access for other users, you have to pass the review first. Either way, I've submitted it to Apple for review already.
