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Work in Progress / Starlord Omega: 4X Sci-Fi Turn Based Strategy Game

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IBOL
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Posted: 28th Sep 2005 07:50 Edited at: 28th Sep 2005 08:23
Astrum Erus: Starlord Omega
is a sci-fi turn-based strategy game
under development for 3 years now.
Starlord Alpha was completed and released in october 2004 as a programming test.
Starlord Omega will be orders of magnitude better, and is scheduled for release
Summer 2006. Many important aspects of the game are programmed at this time,
and all have at least preliminary mechanics models.


THINGS THAT ALREADY WORK:
you can build scout ships, warships, and colony ships. you can explore new star systems. you can colonize new worlds.
you can research new technologies from over 800 available. you can design your warships. you can adjust your
planet's economies, to favor a certain type of output. AND THE AI CAN DO ALL THESE THINGS ALSO (and well!)

populations grow, resources run out, and planets get polluted over time.
over 40 random events can occur, and mysterious alien technology waits hidden on uninhabited worlds,
to be found and researched. The human player can terraform the atmosphere, climate, and gravity of
planets (the AI can't do that yet).

THINGS STILL TO COME:
-starship combat -planetary invasions -espionage -treaty negotiation -trade
-custom race creation -native life on planets

here is a compilation of 4 screenshots from the game development:






Here Are Some Links To Related Threads And Downloads

Here Is The Team Request Thread:
http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=61673&b=1

Link to the DB Forum page about the Starlord Omega Tactical Starship Combat Simulator:
http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=61122&b=5
Direct download of the demo:
http://omega.astrumgames.com/downloads/Tactical_Combat_Simulator_Demo.zip
please note here that this is basically a test to see if people
like it and can deal with it as the combat model for the game.


link to Starlord Alpha DB Forum Page:
http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=44054&b=5
Direct Download of Starlord Alpha Full Game:
http://astrumgames.com/downloads/AESLA_DEMO.zip
please note: Starlord OMEGA will be almost entirely different from this game. do not base any negative judgements on it.
note also that Starlord Alpha is not an "alpha release", as in being before a "Beta release". NOT.




Bob
manherringbone1@hotmail.com

http://astrumgames.com
completed games: Astrum Erus, Centipoid, Hero Of Garaven, WarpFlight, Higher Ground , Circular Breakout
Peter H
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Posted: 28th Sep 2005 17:06 Edited at: 28th Sep 2005 17:07
wow

good to see this finally off the ground!

"We make the worst games in the universe."

Heckno
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Posted: 29th Sep 2005 08:21 Edited at: 29th Oct 2005 00:26
here is an alien head if you want, i have the uv map as well



man French's poser pictures look nice...sigh....

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IBOL
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Posted: 2nd Oct 2005 23:13
heckno, i replied on the other thread, but here it is again:
thank you, yes, i can use that. it's great to actually see that the
idea will work.
bob

Fneep
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Posted: 3rd Oct 2005 08:29
This reminds me heaps of the game Master of Orion. But it is even more like its prequel called... Star Lords. Hmm... I wonder if there is any connection?

Anyway, this is way better then Starlords. I mean, Star lords, i mean, I'll just stop talking now.
Still, it looks awesome!

IBOL
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Posted: 3rd Oct 2005 10:28
darnit.

every combination of "galaxy" or "space" and "civilization" or "empire" or ANYTHING I COULD THING OF
has been taken!

i guess that's just another one...
i never played the original MOO, never ever *heard* of the prequel...
oh well. thanks for telling me.

bob

Jeku
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Posted: 3rd Oct 2005 11:46
Wow, this looks incredibly indepth. I love these types of games, but hate them when they don't have great tutorials. If you create a great interactive tutorial, something along the lines of Advance Wars for the GBA, then I could see myself losing many hours over this

Undercover Steve
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Posted: 3rd Oct 2005 17:42
very nice, but I hope the menu, planets, and ships look better by the end.
Hawkeye
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Posted: 3rd Oct 2005 18:07
Very nice indeed. HAve a kiwi

IBOL
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Posted: 3rd Oct 2005 19:37 Edited at: 3rd Oct 2005 19:37
@hawkeye & jeku,
thanks a lot. yeah, this is definitely gonna need a tutorial.
i don't know the game you're talking about, or even have a GBA,
but when the time comes i will work at it a lot...
@jr noober,
the "look" of things is why i have this non-locked team request thread:
http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=61673&b=1
i'm not a graphics guy. i am a designer and programmer. graphics is
my #1 stumbling block. if anyone can help, i would be forever grateful.

thanks,
bob

French gui
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Posted: 3rd Oct 2005 20:15
Hi Ibol, your project seems really good, it remind me Master of Orion (which I love!). Just a question: why your aliens ,humans or robots need to be 3d models? What are the use of it? Are you interrested by bitmap of their heads?

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IBOL
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Posted: 4th Oct 2005 01:28
french gui,
2D was originally the way i wanted to go, but no one seemed keen on
doing it that way, so i switched to 3d models. with 3D you can
scale and texture the models, but with 2D i can not.

if you can produce me enough good quality alien pictures in 2D
i would very happily switch to that format. this goes to anyone.
BUT if 1/2 people were working on 2D and half were 3D it would be BAD.


thanks all,
bob

French gui
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Posted: 4th Oct 2005 02:04 Edited at: 4th Oct 2005 02:05
Yes but I still think that for diplomacy part (which is surely a bit static correct me if I'm wrong!) you can use 2d. Under is an example of what I can do (I work with Poser and Photoshop). Tell me if you're interested.



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Undercover Steve
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Posted: 4th Oct 2005 02:10
opinion: go with that. I use poser, and if he can create things like that, he can create many more wonderful results.
IBOL
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Posted: 4th Oct 2005 02:48
YOU YOU YOU!
i am interested very very much.
that is awesome!

can you also make some really non-human looking things?
like with two heads, or 5 horns, or 7 eyes, or
lizard or octopus, any number of crazy things?

we can talk about this over email if you like,
i am at
manherringbone1@hotmail.com

thanks,
bob

Bizar Guy
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Posted: 4th Oct 2005 04:43
...wow.

Make some of the aliens arthropods...

French gui
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Posted: 4th Oct 2005 13:53
I can make them very ugly ,with horns, but they will
look humanoid.(with 2 eyes, 1 mouth) I can do also humans (with hair, beard
clothes etc....) and sci fi backgrounds.

I have to know how many pictures do you want, size (width and height) and
which format (bmp, jpg, png).Also have you a 'deadline' for your project?
How many time have I for making theses pictures if you're interested?

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IBOL
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Posted: 5th Oct 2005 07:40
here's a little preview of French GUI's contribution:

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Undercover Steve
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Posted: 5th Oct 2005 17:20
these are all nice, even by poser standards. Good work French GUI.
Peter H
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Posted: 5th Oct 2005 21:25 Edited at: 5th Oct 2005 21:26
sweet pictures!!!

it would be really cool if the attitudes of the races reflected the character's in those pictures!

"We make the worst games in the universe."

Bizar Guy
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Posted: 5th Oct 2005 23:22
Wow.
I mean... WOW!!

Even though they're all bipeds, it's amazing how alien they look.

IBOL
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Posted: 11th Oct 2005 07:45
thanks to this thread, i can offer a new screen:
prototype race relations screen:

while trade and treaty negotiation has been prototyped,
it has not been incorporated here yet; it's still separate.



bob

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Posted: 12th Oct 2005 06:12
@ french GUI: I want to know: where did you get the textures and models for poser for those pics? I mean those are very AMAZING!
Maleck
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Posted: 12th Oct 2005 22:14
IBOL,

Really glad to see this is going well. i have been workign on my project a little too, but life has really got most of my time.

I like the 3D that you have added in for hte ships. I have primarily been working on new models and design utility for setting up maps, ships, and components for use.

I do like the improvements from the Alpfa version, and hat off to you on the shear number of technilogies to research and random evens. I only hope i can come up with something decent and ever remotely as good at this is shaping up to be. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help with my limited time.
IBOL
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Posted: 20th Oct 2005 03:13 Edited at: 20th Oct 2005 03:14
here is a screenshot from Planetary Bombardment Screen.
not much to look at really, BUT the implications!

you can now attack (and destroy) enemy planets!
you even have to fight the ships in orbit first.

unfortunately it's currently all a statistical, not graphical, model.
but of course that will change...

i'm working on a gameplay demo release



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Undercover Steve
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Posted: 20th Oct 2005 03:24
wow! I must ask: How did you do the sitrep? I tried arrays, but just not the same as other sitreps.

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IBOL
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Posted: 20th Oct 2005 05:50
jr noober,
tell me what you are trying to do,
and tell me what your project is ,
and maybe i can help you out.
bob

Undercover Steve
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Posted: 20th Oct 2005 05:57
Well, as with you I am making a turn based strategy game, but What my project is is to basically do what your project does, but in different graphics, manners, and assortments. Now, What I mean, is that when you click end turn, and all events process for next turn, they are put on a main event screen telling you if you "destroyed an empire" ect, but I dont know how to mark them or read them. I tried Arrays, but only 5 variables, and plus what about random events. So I was just asking what you used for the sitrep, like in MOO3 sitrep. lol.

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IBOL
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Posted: 20th Oct 2005 08:13 Edited at: 20th Oct 2005 08:17
i haev included a pic of my sitrep screen. it's nothing special to look at at this time, but like everything else,
it will get better. but it works. i haven't even used them Picture-showing capability of my array&function yet,
but it's already prepared for when i get good pictures.

some of this might be new to you, but it's
a great part of DBP...

i use a TYPEd array. every time something happens that you want the player to know about,
you create a report. every report can have 4 things: two lines of text, the star system that the event
occurred in (not always relevant), and a Picture that is associated with the event. there is a
function that creates reports. it sends all theinformation and stores it in the array every turn.

then there is another function that just lists all the items in the report on the screen.
right now it's just text and lines, but it totally works...you can make it how ever you want.




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Undercover Steve
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Posted: 21st Oct 2005 02:40 Edited at: 21st Oct 2005 03:57
Cool! I would never had figured that our, so thanks. It will help a lot. haha. Love the humor too. Seriously, thanks. This is much better than what I had. I can easily make this work with my stuff. Plus all the media I have made for it, this is perfect. If you get your graphics up a little, then this would be sellable. Sorry I cant help, no time + I am working on my game, when I have a few minutes to burn. Really Wish I could help though. Very sweet game.
edit: Darn. I dont. It is nearing the end of the code that I dont though. lol

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Undercover Steve
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Posted: 21st Oct 2005 04:21
TYPE REPORTS
A AS STRING
B AS STRING
Q
Pic
ENDTYPE

doesnt work:p

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IBOL
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Posted: 21st Oct 2005 12:04
jr noober,
you have to be more specific...what doesn't work?
and what does it do? crash, error, do nothing, etc?
and do you understand HOW it's supposed to work?
and have you ever used User Defined Types before?
try a type that is less complex.
what DBP version are you using?
bob

Undercover Steve
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Posted: 21st Oct 2005 16:15
sorry I should have editted. It was my lack of function knowledge that made it fail. I should have put the function at the bottom, but I didnt, so it dudnt work. Thanks now. I have set up a windowed sitrep, and turn/year system.

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Undercover Steve
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Posted: 22nd Oct 2005 08:11
hmm. I like the code, but it gives me:

attached is what it gives me

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IBOL
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Posted: 22nd Oct 2005 09:05
you need some overall structure in your code.
DB can only recognize certain things in certain order...



god, why do i care so much?
bob

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Posted: 22nd Oct 2005 21:15
I know. I am so sorry. How is your game going? Any progress?

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IBOL
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Posted: 22nd Oct 2005 21:25 Edited at: 22nd Oct 2005 23:23
there's no need to be sorry. it's my choice whatever i do, and for
some reason, i feel like helping you. seriously though, that
structure should help you.

tons of progress. in a game today, i managed to kill 2 weak races, then decided to
take on the strong guy and he destroyed all my ships and planets in a couple turns.

PS: hotmail problem fixed.

Undercover Steve
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Posted: 22nd Oct 2005 23:50
it will. I will probably work on this game for a long time. And cool. I find ai the best part of the game. It makes it to where you could have unlimited possibilities to do anything.

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Undercover Steve
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Posted: 23rd Oct 2005 00:58 Edited at: 23rd Oct 2005 01:05
better? lol.


all of it works exept when I press esc and I try to go to the menu, and I havent tested options yet, and Sitrep doesnt list the report

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Sergey K
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Posted: 23rd Oct 2005 01:14
waaa! nice one..


BlueLight Online, improved version of MorningOnline
Undercover Steve
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Posted: 23rd Oct 2005 01:39
waaa? nice one?!?!? what the heck do you mean0.o

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IBOL
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Posted: 26th Oct 2005 22:12
well, i've got rudimentary politics and combat prepared for a
very limited demo i'm making for someone who is going to do
wonders for my GUI / buttons / etc.

since it's not looking good,
and i know how much emphasis people on this forum put on looks,
it's not going to be a public demo.

but one will come.

IBOL
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Posted: 10th Nov 2005 07:38 Edited at: 10th Nov 2005 07:39
here's a screenshot of the galaxy map with some changes,
including new UI.



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Sergey K
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Posted: 10th Nov 2005 10:17
@Undercover Noob: i just wanted to say something


BlueLightOnline Coming Soon. (93%)
Fneep
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Posted: 29th Nov 2005 11:12
Oh my god...

Hey, there is a great 4X Space strategy that I think you should check out called Anacreon 2: http://www.neurohack.com/anacreon/index.html

It is a remake of one of the greatest 4X games of all time...

ANACREON!!!

Yes, well

Anyway, I wanted to ask you, how are you going about the enemy ai. When it comes to strategy AI, im clueless. Im cool with FPS and RPG enemy AI, but strategy...

IBOL
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Posted: 30th Nov 2005 10:28 Edited at: 10th Jan 2006 05:03
AI is definitely my favorite part to write...

[david you are not allowed to tell aaron about this unless he wants to hire me!]

i think my AI research strategy is the best.
each AI has different research priorities (they evaluate tech's
in real time according to their effects),
and their priorities change over time.
like, if their planets are over-polluted, their need for
pollution control technologies increases...

it's all math...
and i don't mean all complicated a^b * [x(1)...x(99)] / sqrt(q)
you just think of what you want done and create a number system
to emulate it...

bob

IBOL
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Posted: 9th Jan 2006 04:36 Edited at: 31st Jan 2006 20:09
ok, gearing up for the next major coding session here:
finalizing politics, getting espionage done,
allowing ground combat, integrating space combat system from simulator,
updating the tech tree, and adding new features.

found a possible name for the game, since everything is already taken:
PAX GALAXIS
any opinions?
EDIT: unfortunately, pax galaxiA is taken, so forget that

bob

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Posted: 10th Jan 2006 04:16
Your ai sounds awesome...

I think you should post a public demo anyways. People here are obsessed with graphics because an emphasis is put on screens, and few people want to put pics of their game that look bad. Therefore people grow accustomed to seeing an emphasis on graphics, and those who don't program here often expect the coders to make their games look slick.
Then there are those who have more talent in art than programming, and end up with something that looks good before it’s playable, or develops at the same pace.

And Pax Galaxis sounds alright, definitely good for a project code name if nothing else. It'd probably make a good name, but something more outlandish would be better for catching people’s attention. I dunno though. Could turn out to be an amazing name. I'd like to try the game and see how it 'fits'.

IBOL
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Posted: 31st Jan 2006 20:13 Edited at: 31st Jan 2006 20:14
[was going to attach a video here but forgot and hit 'post']

IBOL
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here is a sneak peak of the planetary combat model in the game.
this is how it will look when you are trying to invade enemy planets.
attached is a movie. there's no demo yet.

the entire ground combat program was written by my now good friend laurent ("french gui")
i haven't played it yet but this movie should show you why i'm excited.
we talked about how it should be done, shared ideas, but he really brought it to life.
he is also the person who provided me with so many great alien pics.

thank you laurent, everyone enjoy,
bob

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