[Greenlight + Kickstarter] Void Destroyer - my space sim and RTS hybrid

[chaosavy]

Hey guys I've been coding away at a "game of my dreams" for 4 years now and reached the Kickstarter and Greenlight stage.

 

I got the idea to combine a space sim with real time strategy - with the aim of giving the player a unique gaming experience - so you can be in a dogfight one moment, pilot a cruiser or issue orders to the rest of your fleet.

 

I always thought that in other space sims the player was too low on the totem pole - I wanted to be both the pilot and the commander, and here we are. My other aim was to have the game live as long as possible so I've built the game from the ground up to support modding.

 

 

 

Here's the first trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xb5izYgWsVA

 

 

 

Since this is a strategy related forum you guys might be more intersted in the RTS elements:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBXjhwCeI-U

 

There is a playable alpha demo on the main site here:

https://www.VoidDestroyer.com

 

 

 

Here are some screen shots:

 

https://voiddestroyer.com/screenshots/iter16-1-small.png

 

https://voiddestroyer.com/screenshots/iter16-2-small.png

 

 

Kickstarter: https://www.kickstart.../void-destroyer

 

Greenlight: https://steamcommunit...s/?id=146068036

 

 

I hope that you guys check the project out, post any questions/feedback, and tell anyone who might be interested about the project.

 

 

 

 

 

thanks!

 

 

Paul

[Space Voyager]

Welcome to StrategyCore! Worry not, the game has not gone unnoticed. Thorondor has been keeping us posted about it, but a developer's input is always highly valued.

 

If I may, I'd like to ask why the game has such a low goal to reach? Frankly I find it unrealistic to do what the game promises with so little resources. If the game is mostly made, than one has to ask why go for KS at all.

[silencer_pl]

Is it more like Homeworld or more like Sins of Solar Empire? Would be good if you show more strategical overview of the game not just the battles

[chaosavy]

Space Voyager - thanks!

 

 

Coding wise the game is mostly done - art wise it is about 70% done. I've been coding the game on my own (with some free/open source libraries and of course community help), I've been self funding the art, but a point has been reached where my bank account can't sustain it in the short term - has to be done within 6 months till release - I'd have to space it out over a year at least and cut down on assets and thus slow down development of new features and story.

 

20k is not a low goal, 20k is a lot of money. Keep in mind I'm working on the game nights/weekends - I don't factor in this time towards the cost. You can check out the demo and see the promises in game, also if you check out my project's updated you can see a developer video where I add in mines and a new swarm missile. Adding the mines took less than a day, adding the swarm missile took about 30 minutes, these are small features, but my point is that the game engine is at a state where adding new features is pretty quick.

 

Thanks for the questions! If you have any more let me know!

 

silencer_pl: it is more like Homeworld than SOASE. Sins had more focus on diplomacy and the battles were less tactical/hands on than Homeworld's. Sins also had a greater focus on empire managemetn spanning multiple planets - simultaneously.

 

Void Destroyer is most heavily focused on combat (that's why the videos focus on that - its our strength I believe) and taking over enemy bases. Only action in one "sector' at a time takes place at a time, though the player is able to move (the command ship and fleet) between them (at release).

[Guest hov7]

sry I just checked out this forum for first time.. Where can I find more about this game? thnks

[chaosavy]

check out https://www.VoidDestroyer.com - there's a playable demo you can download which should give you the best overview. There's also links to a bunch of other info on the main page.

[silencer_pl]

Well I rather thought Homeworld as no global "map" rather mission by mission scenarios.

[Azrael Strife]

Well I rather thought Homeworld as no global "map" rather mission by mission scenarios.

 

Yes, that's Homeworld, he's making a contrast between Sins and Homeworld.

 

Looks very nice, best of luck to you.

[chaosavy]

Hey guys! Exciting news - we reached our base goal!

 

 

Now we are pursuing stretch goals of an additional pirate faction (+5K) and 'Privateer' mode (+30K) and a dream goal of FPS elements (+40K).

 

I didn't come empty handed - here is a new trailer:

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6ZhgSywtbw

 

 

This is a warm up trailer for the Kickstarter finale trailer, which by my estimates is... well I don't want to oversell it (ok I do - I'm super excited).

 

I will post it later on this week and then quit running around the web promoting the project.

 

 

 

PS:

 

If you haven't been keeping up with the project's updates, there's been a few neat "how indie games are made" videos added. If you are interested in gamedev/coding etc I hope that you'll find them interesting.

 

Here is a video where I talk through adding mines:

 

 

Here's the end result:

 

 

 

Here's another video where I talk through adding an area of effect missile, this one focuses more on coding:

 

[Space Voyager]

Congratulations! I hope the campaign picks up now that the base is reached you end up adding new and new stretch goals. Loved the mines vid!

[silencer_pl]

Here's another video where I talk through adding an area of effect missile, this one focuses more on coding:

 

 

I once tried to learn game programming but then I realized that my brain isn't that great for such complexity.

 

I must say in this video you look like some kind of genius because you know what are doing.

 

 

One question - what is the status of the AI? How good is it?

[Space Voyager]

Very good question. There are a lot of games that give the player all kinds of cool options, but the AI sucks so much the game is not worth playing. Not much point playing against an unworthy opponent... This is also why so many games of late opt for a multiplayer-only gameplay.

[chaosavy]

Space Voyager - thanks! There is a bit of a pickup at the end in Kickstarters - so I'm hoping to get as much exposure and support while it is still in play

 

 

silencer_pl - everything new seems complicated and difficult - keep in mind that when I first stated my code was an awful mess and adding a mine would take over a week Now that there are hooks/tools/systems in place it might seem like a genius, but believe me I don't feel like a genius.

 

I guess what I'm trying to say is this: in a creative process or any sort of a challenging task - its easy to overlook the struggle - when you see the end result. But if you look at the history of famous/not-so famous achievements the people who get there struggled a lot Including me.

 

 

AI - the AI is not bad - not great. There's this sort of an aspect to it - it shouldn't be too smart - it has to obey orders, The AI does a decent job at combat, but needs more collision avoidance and intelligence when things get too close/colliding. The cool thing about the AI is that I've coded it to be very modular (this wasn't always the case the first few systems were terrible). So its very easy to tweak and add onto. Its made up of these base elements (turn, go, wait, etc) and I can string up to make good sort of systems.

[Space Voyager]

Well, the enemy AI should be as smart as possible.

 

BTW, Total War series has a so called group AI, where you put a group of units under AI control and that group acts on its own from then on, unless you give a direct command. Any way to have such a thing implemented?

[chaosavy]

Yeah - lots of AI work is needed - AI ships already follow their own target selection - I do need to implement the group code right now its just a quick shortcut key, what you describe is the end goal.

 

 

 

 

We are down to less than 48 - so you guys won't be spammed by me any more and I'll have to switch to the liquid form of sleep (caffeine).

 

Below is the final Kickstarter trailer :

 

 

 

I've created a Kickstarter Recap update here:

 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1718477862/void-destroyer/posts/524802

 

Thank you for all of your tolerating these posts, for your time and support!

 

 

Paul

[Guest DoomdarksRevenge]

This game is starshatter TGS with new grapfics, this guy copy the orginal Open source from starshetter. And make a Game and try to seel it?

This is Lame

[chaosavy]

Hello - DoomdarksRevenge

 

 

Void Destroyer has a long documented history of development and changes here: https://voiddestroyer...ewforum.php?f=7

 

Also Void Destroyer has many old videos and blog posts on the main site etc. Void Destroyer also has had publicly available builds since January 2011 showing the slow development of the game through its iterations.

 

Void Destroyer uses the Ogre 3D rendering engine, CEGUI and Bullet Physics (you can see this in the dll files that Void Destroyer uses and file formats). Does Starshatter use Ogre 3D for rendering, CEGUI and Bullet?

 

 

My point is - wtf?

 

 

 

Since I'm here - Void Destroyer reached its funding goal! I'm busy working on the Beta version for Kickstarter backers but the Greenlight campaign still continues if you'd like to help the project please vote for it on Greenlight here: https://steamcommunit...s/?id=146068036

 

thanks!

[chaosavy]

Hey guys! I haven't "promoted/marketed" since Kickstarter... over 60 days I believe. With the recent 100 games being greenlit Void Destroyer jumped up in rankings, we are now in the top 100 (out of over 1300). So I'm devoting some time to get even higher in the rankings.

So - if you haven't yet - please vote for Void Destroyer making it into Steam - https://steamcommunit...s/?id=146068036 (since voting via the web page is somewhat clumsy you can also find Void Destroyer via going to the Steam Client - then clicking Community - then choosing Greenlight and entering in "Void Destroyer" into the search). And if you'd be so kind as to bug your Steam (and other) friends to vote that would be incredibly helpful as well.

 

 

Here is an updated video of updates since Kickstarter:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOrjz1FPlLk

There is an updated demo on the main site here: https://www.VoidDestroyer.com so you can check out the changes.

Here's a vid where I talk about the recent mouse changes and time dilation system:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEc6yLL445U

 

Here's a screen shot of the new repair ships:

https://voiddestroyer.com/screenshots/iter17-3-small.png

 

Thank you!

Paul

[Space Voyager]

Looking really nice! Looking forward to the end results, though I plan to jump in sooner if I can.