The goal of this thread is to coordinate development on our project codenamed HighSpace - a mod for Freespace 2 that will be a mashup between it and High Fleet. A description of how the mechanics of the two games could be combined is available in the first thread.
Who we have
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@FCfromSSC - 2D/3D artist
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@netstack - developer, tester, and suggester of great ideas
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@Mantergeistmann - writer
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@Southkraut and @RenOS - didn't formally join the team, but in appreciation for their feedback I am granting them the rank of Consultant
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Me - developer
Who we need
The more the merrier, you are free to join in any capacity you wish! I can already identify a few distinct tasks for each position that we could split the work into
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developers: “mission” code, “strategic” system map code
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artists: 2D (user interface), 3D (space ships, weapons explosions)
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writers: worldbuilding/lore, quests, characters
What we have
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An official Highspace Github Org and Repository
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An official Highspace Wiki
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Concept art for several ship types, curtesy of @FCfromSSC
And we've made some attempts to import them into the game, just to see how they'd look:
- Interceptor: Mission Editor, In-Game
- Cruiser: Mission Editor, In-Game
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A proof of concenpt for “strategic” system map we jump into on start of the campaign. It contains a friendly ship and 2 enemy ships, you can chose where to move / which enemy ship to attack.
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A somewhat actual-game-like workflow. Attacking a ship launches a mission where the two ships are pitted against each other. If you win, the current health of your ship is saved, and you can launch the second attack. If you clean up the map you are greeted with a “You Win” message, or “You Lose” if you lose your ship.
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A “tactical” RTS-like in-mission view where you can give commands to your ships.
Updates
I didn't have as much time to work on the mod as I would like this month, but I managed to update the System View. It now has camera movement and zoom, but more importantly it is now a view of an actual solar system (our's to be precise).
Neither the sun, nor the planets currently do anything - they don't move, they don't block your movement, you can even fly right into them - but they do look cool in my opinion. I also added ship grouping (separate from the idea of merging fleets into Battle Groups) in case the zoom-out is so big, the icons start running into each other. It's still a bit glitchy, but it gets the job done.
What's next
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I'd like to continue working on the System View. @netstack wanted to add real-time ship movement, with pausable/fast-farwardable game time, and planet movement feels like a natural extension of that. I'd also like to add orbit calculation and movement for the ships. After that, I'd implementing various forms of obstacle mechanics - you won't be able to fly into, or through the planets,
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If I get tired of the System View, I might work on the Tactical View improvements I mentioned in the last thread: subsystem status, beam cannon charge status, and a handier way to give advanced commands. The scripting API also allows you to add objects to the background, so I'd like to calculate the appropriate positions for suns and planets, based on your location in the System View.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
What's your feeling on "arms" or stub-wings? Something to attach weapons to, or a way to put thrusters further away from the center of mass to increase agility?
Sounds like a good plan.
Good feedback, I'll get it done on the next pass. I need to add some more guts inside the truss skeleton as well.
Given the way the design has evolved, I think superposition might just be the best and easiest solution; for what it's worth, this ship is heavily optimized for "front toward enemy", and in their current configuration the turrets can rotate 60 degrees to the opposite side from centerline. That's not a pure broadside, but this ship doesn't want to be doing broadsides in any case; you massively increase your profile to incoming fire, and massively decrease your armor's effectiveness. Superposition means you can shoot over the shoulder, which is a significant advantage when running away.
A lot of what I'm hearing now is that they can't legally enforce it, so it's a list of things that aren't gonna happen. I dunno. My studio's decided we're gonna keep using it, at least for our current projects. I've installed Unreal, but haven't had the guts to actually dig into it yet.
Were you thinking just a big, rectangular brick of a hull?
Absolutely fine, but that's just not how wings on fictional spacecraft are usually used. As long as the wings actually do anything, I don't complain. Though given that Freespace launches all of its fighters from carriers, the wings may need to fold up or be removable for storage.
Makes perfect sense, and if it fights purely in a nose-on-target attitude then the side-by-side turrets aren't a problem. Still, I'd say superposition gives additional advantages if the layout allows for it.
Yes, because that fits my preconceptions. Cylinders and spherical elements in the rear, and a giant monolithic rectangle in the front, is how many of the ships I designed look (and I use "design" in a very loose sense). But that's just a weird inclination of mine; not at all a request or recommendation.
Sensible. For me, the spell has been broken - Unity being that thing that just works and I needn't think about what goes into the sausage. Now it's that thing that's barely holding disparate components together with spit and duct-tape, that's billions in debt and cursed with incompetent leadership, has always had a bad reputation among gamers and is now hated by developers as well. Objective reality may not have changed, but my perception sure has.
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