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Work in Progress / 4X turn based space strategy game DEMO

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IBOL
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Posted: 8th Oct 2004 08:14 Edited at: 10th Dec 2004 17:56
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similar to space empires, reach for the stars, master of orion
programmed in DBPro, it's called

ASTRUM ERUS: STARLORD ALPHA

BREAKING NEWS!!!
FULLY FUNCTIONAL RELEASE HERE:
http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=44054&b=5&p=0
CHECK IT OUT!!!

i've been working 8 months now on this project,
and here is a fully playable demo,
though it is not done.

the biggest thing that is not done is the GRAPHICS.

not for the faint of heart,this is a ~20MB download,
and the instruction book is 30 pages long
(NO JOKE!) it's a word document.

DOWNLOAD HERE:
[no longer available]

info here:
http://astrumgames.com/gpage2.html

anyone who plays it,
let me know what you think.

thanks,
bob
[email protected]

http://astrumgames.com
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zircher
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Posted: 8th Oct 2004 11:03
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Nifty! I'll have to give this game a try. More feedback when I have it.
--
TAZ

"Do you think it is wise to provoke him?" "It's what I do." -- Stargate SG-1
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IBOL
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Posted: 8th Oct 2004 12:02
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yeah, hey, zircher,

i created all my models in DOGA, which you introduced me to,
and i actually use a 1024x768 image i found in a 10-pack of space backgrounds created by you.

so thanks a lot.
hope you like it...
i know you're actually into this sort of thing.

bob
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IBOL
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Posted: 11th Oct 2004 09:10
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just last night, i finished the last major programming hurdle...
the AI players can now INVADE other player's planets.

all that's left is minor code touch-ups, optimisation,
and all the graphics (which is no small thing...)

bob
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Neofish
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Posted: 11th Oct 2004 09:13
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sounds promising, im going to test it out on this laptop

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IBOL
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Posted: 11th Oct 2004 15:08
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hey, dude, let me know if it works on the laptop...
bob
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Lord Aramus
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Posted: 11th Oct 2004 16:09
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I'm gonna test it out as well. It looks promising

Ack Thpppppt!

High quality models and graphics, low prices. Graphics for the rest of us.
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IBOL
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Posted: 12th Oct 2004 18:43
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i know its such a huge thing,
but i am DYING to know what you guys think...
i need some playability-type feedback.

thanks,
bob
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Lord Aramus
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Posted: 15th Oct 2004 05:00
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The user interface can definitely use help. and so could the graphics, but the concept is interesting definitely.

I haven't gotten very far, but I like how the star travel occurs.

I'll mess around with it more and give you some better feedback.

I do believe it has potential!


Ack Thpppppt!

High quality models and graphics, low prices. Graphics for the rest of us.
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zircher
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Posted: 15th Oct 2004 05:25
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Well, I'm guilty of downloading, installing, reading the docs, and running right into a brick wall due to lack of time. (fingers crossed) I hope to get some gaming time in this weekend and post some feedback.
--
TAZ

"Do you think it is wise to provoke him?" "It's what I do." -- Stargate SG-1
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IBOL
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Posted: 15th Oct 2004 09:52
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hey, thanks guys!

yeah, i used 3 or 4 different styles of user interface...
especially towards the end of programing,
with the "new game" screens...
need to settle on one thing.
and yeah, i know the graphics currently hurt your eyes...
iv'e finally got someone working on that.

any further comments greatly appreciated when you have them,
thanks so much,
bob
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Ilya
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Posted: 15th Oct 2004 11:10
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It confused the crap out of me and I don't want to bother to read the readme - make an ingame tutorial.
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IBOL
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Posted: 16th Oct 2004 05:47 Edited at: 10th Dec 2004 17:59
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hey man,
i wrote a 30 page instruction book.
you don't want to read it, that's fine,
but think about that...how many games on here have a 30 page instruction book? it's going to be a little confusing at first.

i'm thinking about making an in-game tutorial for the real game,
but this is a pre-beta demo.

bob

hey ilya, i did add in game help... it's not a tutorial,
but your smarter than that anyway, right?

BREAKING NEWS!!!
FULLY FUNCTIONAL RELEASE HERE:
http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=44054&b=5&p=0
now with in game HELP FILES
CHECK IT OUT!!!

http://astrumgames.com
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zircher
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Posted: 19th Oct 2004 02:22
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Ilya does have a point, there is that 'attention span of a gnat' generation of gamers out there that will never read a manual. Hey, my son is one of them, and I consider him a rather clever kid. Some kind of on-line tutorial or help system would be a good idea for the full version.
--
TAZ

"Do you think it is wise to provoke him?" "It's what I do." -- Stargate SG-1
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Snipa Masta
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Posted: 19th Oct 2004 04:19
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Looks cool, but next time, turn off CapsLock.
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IBOL
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Posted: 19th Oct 2004 09:57
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hey, man,
are you talking about the instruction manual
(which is definitely guilty of caps lock)
or in the actual game?

i personally think that caps look best in most places
in the game, but that's my opinion...is that really an issue
in the game itself?

attention span:
yeah, this type of game is for the kind of person who has
almost an obsessive/compulsive attention span...
i played space empires IV for about 10 months straight,
to the exclusion of most other things. not saying that's
the way to be, just how i do it.

bob
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Benjamin
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Posted: 20th Oct 2004 00:04
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Ignore Snipa masta, hes just very arrogant. I would download the game but on my connection it would take ages .

AKA teh great Pet Rat.
Peace sells...but who's buying??
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Mind Storm 101
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Posted: 20th Oct 2004 16:11
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BREAKING BENJAMIN! *cough* sry...

Yeah Ingame tutorials would be nice, like little pop ups to tell you what everything does the first time around, or mabey even a training mission.

"Think what you like, You'll all be mine in the end."
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Benjamin
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Posted: 20th Oct 2004 22:22
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Breaking benjamin??

AKA teh great Pet Rat.
Peace sells...but who's buying??
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Mind Storm 101
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Posted: 21st Oct 2004 09:40
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dont worry about it, there a really good band.

"Think what you like, You'll all be mine in the end."
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IBOL
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Posted: 20th Nov 2004 12:46
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new info page here, at my new web site:
http://astrumgames.com/gpage2.html
bob

http://astrumgames.com
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Maleck
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Posted: 25th Nov 2004 04:54
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You beat me to it! I am also working on a game that is similar. I was basing mine off of Stars!, but adding features that I would have liked in that game.

I had one game of that going for over a year, so I am the same when it comes to drawn out strategy games.

I do have a question, as the demo is not available any more: How are you handling battles? Are they real-time, or turn based. I am working on the interface and mapping system as well as ship models, but I am stuck on the engine side as I am not 100% sure how I want the battles to take place.
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IBOL
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Posted: 27th Nov 2004 02:39
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battles are real time.

the two fleets fly towards eachother, trying to achieve their desired firing range, or to escape. fleets have maximum speed and acceleration based on that of their slowest ship.

in this version, the biggest ships are the most dangerous, so they are always targeted first, therefore you don't control targetting...
they just try to kill the biggest ones. you control the movement orders.

i wanted to do true newtonian movement, but it's just too much.
like lots of sci fi books talk about ships accelerating for weeks to reach high speeds...that would be pretty boring.

This game was a practice run on a larger and much more detailed version. i am still working on graphics and finishing, so it won't be done for a long time.
i should put another demo up sometime though.

thanks,
bob

http://astrumgames.com
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Maleck
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Posted: 28th Nov 2004 11:25
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Sounds cool. I am trying to figure out how much control the player has on the battles and how much is controlled with battle directives with the AI. I have several of the models in the works (about 30 models completed so far, but many more to go) but I am working on the texturing now and the utility that will configure them for use in the game.

I will post a demo when I am at that stage. Good luck with your game, you are ahead of me so far.
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IBOL
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Posted: 28th Nov 2004 14:09
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i would really like to see anything you have, when you're ready.

i can't find a demo of stars! too bad, i never heard of it.
my first 4x game i played was imperium galactum (~1983 release,
NOT galacticA). i missed a lot of those games between then and now)

my game is 99% programmed, and is totally playable with no crashing bugs. my major stumbling block is graphics.
what programs are you using for modeling and texturing/UV mapping?
i need to get some good things for those areas.

good luck,
bob

http://astrumgames.com
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Maleck
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Posted: 29th Nov 2004 13:33 Edited at: 29th Nov 2004 14:30
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Cool. I use Rhino and JTEdit for the modeling. The texturing is a new area I am getting into. I have been working for a couple weeks trying to get the whole thing down, and have found it is a quite time consuming thing (as I plan on having LODs for all the models). I think I have settled on purchasing Ultimate Unwrap 3D (only $40). There is a demo of it that I have played with and it looks like it will work for me. I was playing around the free version they had (LithUnwrap) and it functions, but has a few glitches (it sometimes saves the model weird and cannot load it again, but Unwrap 3D does not have that problem).

I will see if any of my old Stars! links still work that may have a demo available and will post it.

Thanks for the encouragement. I will see about posting some pics of a few of the models I have been working on (pretty high poly for DBP with many ships on screen at once, but like I said, I hope to have LOD implemented).

[EDIT]
I have found the demo for Stars! if you are interested. Please email me and I can send it to you.
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IBOL
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Posted: 29th Nov 2004 15:05
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yeah, ultimate unwrap is one of the things on my vague 'need' list.

are you talking about the $895 rhino? the results i saw on the page were fantastic, but that's quite an investment...is there another different rhino? i'm downloading the trial now...we shall see...

i tried jtedit a while back and was frustrated with it.
i've never been taught 3D modeling. i use doga cga.

glad i can encourage you. take care,
bob

http://astrumgames.com
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Maleck
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Posted: 30th Nov 2004 00:38
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Yeah. It is the same Rhino. I have been playing with it since version 1.0. You can do some seriously cool things with it, but I don't use most if it, mainly cubes, polygon, extrude, boolean subtract, and control points. I happen to think it has the best UI of all the modeling apps I have tried (JTEdit, Blender, Milkshape, ppModeler, Wings, anim8tor), but it is personal preference.

I also have several Unwrap 3D tutorials that are what finally got me working with UV mapping if you are interested.
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Maleck
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Posted: 1st Dec 2004 01:49
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One more question: Do you know when you plan to have another demo available?
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IBOL
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Posted: 1st Dec 2004 05:31
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i guess you didn't get my email... too bad...
it said it was 'delayed'...

anyway, i'll post the gist of it here:

i am interested in the stars! demo, thank you.

i had offered to make the demo of my game available to you, if you wanted it. apparently you do

WARNING: the instructions are 30 pages, and there is no in game tutorial. the graphics are not good, and some of the screens are
just functional (like the load game screen: bad but usable interface)

if you still want it, i will put it up
(that 30 pages includes quite a bit of pictures, so it not like a novel. of course i could answer any questions big or small by email to [email protected])

bob

http://astrumgames.com
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Maleck
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Posted: 2nd Dec 2004 03:31 Edited at: 2nd Dec 2004 04:16
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Thank you. I'll send an email with the Demo. How large of an attachment can you accept? If too small, I can ohst on my web server for you to download.

I took me a little bit to find as some of my old links were dead, and it appears that the official Stars! site was down the other night when i was looking, and most sites linked to the demo there.

The issue with my email is probably that it is listing my email account running on my mail server at home, and there are some ISPs that will not send or accept email from a cable internet connection. I hope to be switching to DSL, which I think is a little better about this issue, and hopefully I can afford a business line, which has a different IP range than residential, I think.

The email I send will have an email address yo ucan reply to. Thanks for the help.


[EDIT]
I also forgot that my internet was down most all weekend and my email server has been down since then. It is workign now, so emails may work from you now. -Thanks.
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IBOL
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Posted: 2nd Dec 2004 04:28
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yes, i finally got an email that said that my email to you was
undeliverable. my account says that i can send email attachments
<=10MB, so i would gues that i can also receive of that size.
bob

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Maleck
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Posted: 2nd Dec 2004 05:22
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Cool. Will send to you shortly. The demo is only like 2 MB, so it should not be a problem.

Thanks.
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IBOL
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Posted: 2nd Dec 2004 08:32
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ok, so public notice:

a new version of the demo will be made available shortly...
bob

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IBOL
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Posted: 10th Dec 2004 17:57 Edited at: 10th Dec 2004 18:07
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breaking news!!!
fully functional release here:
http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=44054&b=5&p=0
now with in game HELP FILES
check it out!!!

(the 3D galaxy map)

the only thing left out is 8 of the 12 shipsets.
the demo is <7MB !
and now:
In Game Help Files
woo hoo!

http://astrumgames.com
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Maleck
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Posted: 13th Dec 2004 12:22
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Looks pretty promising. I have just started playing with it and am eager to check out the battle sequences when I get that far.
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IBOL
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Posted: 14th Mar 2005 16:03
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the omega version is underway.
strategic ground combat, tactical space combat,
updated graphics, espionage, planet climate & stability,
polution, 35 different weapons, actual treaty negotiation,
and your tech tree will never be the same twice!
ETA: 1 year.
this will be a comercial-grade release when it happens.

bob
astrumgames.com

http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=44054&b=5

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