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Contested Space: Build an interstellar culture in an online sandbox

Discussion in 'Works In Progress - Archive' started by Haralovich, Apr 4, 2014.

  1. Haralovich

    Haralovich

    Joined:
    Oct 24, 2012
    Posts:
    9
    Hello, my name is Zon.

    Contested Space is an online space sandbox I've been working on where players can design their own ships and stations. Players compete for locations in orbit where they can place their stations and show off what they've made.

    $Blue Capital 940.jpeg

    Here's a video previewing combat.



    And, a video previewing the ship designer.



    Finally, I've created a web site to promote the game. I'm hoping to Kickstart after the game gets a little bit of exposure.

    http://www.contestedspace.net/

    Contested Space is made with Unity, uLink, and NGUI. It runs on top of a "lobby" service responsible for managing the game's data and it's instance servers. The lobby is written with Spray and Akka actors.
     
  2. indiegamemodels

    indiegamemodels

    Joined:
    Jan 25, 2012
    Posts:
    269
    The ship designer seems to be pretty powerful!

    The combat is looking cool too, but the fact that the spaship is turning and the camera is weird feels a bit weird. Maybe you should include both camera systems?
     
  3. Haralovich

    Haralovich

    Joined:
    Oct 24, 2012
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    The controls are a bit unconventional. First, I wanted to be able to look at anything quickly like in a FPS. I didn't want the camera lagging behind the mouse like in does in some space combat games. Looking around should be easy so players can have good situational awareness. Second, I wanted the ship able to move at full speed in any direction relative to the camera. WASD makes the ship turn and accelerate forward, left, back, or right relative to the camera. That way you can kite and orbit opponents instead of just strafing. Third, I'm a bit stubborn about the thruster animations. The thrusters stop firing when the ship gets to maximum speed, because there's no air resistance in space. So far everyone I've playtested with gets the hang of things pretty quickly, but it's true the game looks a little unusual.
     
  4. Haralovich

    Haralovich

    Joined:
    Oct 24, 2012
    Posts:
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    A lot has been happening lately. I've let this thread fall behind.

    The Contested Space Kickstarter was launched a few weeks ago. The campaign is 43% from it's goal with 9 days left to go. I still have a lot of promotion left to do, but things have been slowly accelerating. Victory is still within reach.



    I also managed to add beam weapons during the slow part of the campaign.

    $battleship-lasers.jpeg



    That's what has been happening for the last month. I'll try not to let this thread become outdated again.
     
  5. HeadClot88

    HeadClot88

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  6. Haralovich

    Haralovich

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    Oct 24, 2012
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    Thanks a lot.
     
  7. Haralovich

    Haralovich

    Joined:
    Oct 24, 2012
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    The Contested Space prototype has been made available for anyone to try. You can download the prototype from the Contested Space website. Right now you can design a ship, fly it around, and blow stuff up.
     
    Last edited: May 14, 2014
  8. GregMeach

    GregMeach

    Joined:
    Dec 5, 2012
    Posts:
    249
    1st - huge congrats on your kickstarted launch - I've got a reminder so I don't forget

    2nd - huge congrats on the public (alpha) release!

    3rd - question: did you write your own "patcher/updater" or did you purchase a pre-made one; if pre-made, can you tell me which one you selected? <-I'm still in the (late) design stages and and wrapping up what patching solution to use.

    4th - thanks for your (Dev)Log; I'll be scouring it.

    PS Good luck on the kickstarter!
     
  9. Haralovich

    Haralovich

    Joined:
    Oct 24, 2012
    Posts:
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    I wrote my own simple game updater. It wasn't very hard. My updater is very basic, but I'd be happy to share the code with you if you're interested.
     
  10. GregMeach

    GregMeach

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    Dec 5, 2012
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    Love to see what you ended up with - thanks!
    Just backed @$30.00 - good luck again

    PS Protect your family and get an LLC (or something) setup :)
     
  11. Haralovich

    Haralovich

    Joined:
    Oct 24, 2012
    Posts:
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    I'll message you the code.

    Contested Space already has an LLC. They are pretty easy to set up. That's why the Kickstarter campaign is run by Contested Space Corporation. I just promote the game as myself.
     
  12. ENNEMMEE

    ENNEMMEE

    Joined:
    Apr 4, 2012
    Posts:
    32
    Hi there,

    this is really great... just downloaded and tried it, and it looks really like a lot of fun. The funny thing is, that I have just started a similar project: space ships made of voxels, different voxel shapes (ramps etc.) for making it all look more realistic, and so on... but it will be much more of a hardcore simulation... I just thought "damn, there's others doing the same" ;) but ok, it's not the same, really ;) but yours is really good!

    Keep up the good work! Wish you all the best for your project!

    Aaaah, almost forgot: when registering signing in there is a problem I ran across: the email comparison seems to be case sensitive -> couldn't log in after registering because I wrote the email in capital letters
     
  13. Haralovich

    Haralovich

    Joined:
    Oct 24, 2012
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    You should check out Space Engineers. It's more of a hardcore space and physics sim. They also have a more detailed aesthetic. Space Engineers uses similar sloping blocks so it's often compared to Contested Space, which I consider a compliment.

    You're right about email registration. Thanks for the bug report.
     
  14. ENNEMMEE

    ENNEMMEE

    Joined:
    Apr 4, 2012
    Posts:
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    Yep, I already know Space Engineers ;) well, I actually meant 'hardcore tactical battle simulation' ;) it will focus a lot more on the tactical part and on the (micro-)management of the ship itself... more or less like a mix of Dark Souls (difficulty), FTL and Eve Online...

    Do you plan to interact with planets? Landing, flying in the atmosphere, etc.?
    And how about preventing thounds of 'phallic designs' flying around - you have plans on that or do you simply accept that? For me, as soon as I see the first flying dildo it will kill a lot of the atmosphere of a space sim :(
     
  15. Haralovich

    Haralovich

    Joined:
    Oct 24, 2012
    Posts:
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    You won't be able to land on planets. I'll be focusing on making the space environment as interesting as possible.

    Phallic ships are common everywhere, even in real life or games with static content. The question is whether they are tasteful or not. That's another problem with player created content. People will make things that just don't look good. I'll be moderating extremely offensive designs, but I also hope to incentivize people to make good designs in several ways.

    Ship and station designs won't just be trivial purely aesthetic things. Designs will have a progression as they are upgraded with new technology. Players will be required to adjust their designs slightly with each upgrade. Upgrades are an opportunity to make better aesthetic choices. I hope long term investment in a design will motivate people to take the process seriously.

    There will also be a social incentive to make good design decisions. Well designed ships will sell better, and it will be easier to make alliances if you're good looking. I'm sure there will be some players who will reject good taste and identify with others who do the same. Different parts of the universe will have different aesthetic values, and wars will be fought over these differences.