First gameplay video - space flight!

Aurelius

Made a video showing off space flight (though just space flight, not combat or anything similar) that you'll definitely want to watch!

https://youtu.be/x4o0zy5xfWQ

DPierre

Nice! will there be a starmourn browser gamespace like the other IRE muds? I'd like if I didn't have to download a program to play.

Aurelius

Yep, you're thinking of our Nexus client and yep, it'll certainly be available.

yamamushi

Will the client be geared towards mobile as well? Or will there be a mobile client available perhaps?

Aurelius

Nexus works on any platform a browser runs on, fear not.

Aurelius

That said, it's virtually impossible to fully play a MUD from a phone. You can do some subset of activities that aren't too spammy, but it is not a good primary platform to play MUDs on, partly due to the fact that the keyboard, which you use constantly in a MUD, pops up and makes your screen space even smaller.

kay

Gotta admit, was kinda hoping you'd crash into the star at the end, just because. That said, it looks interesting, and even with that being the most agile ship, and probably with a good liner drive, it's still quicker than I was expecting. A good thing, considering that it's one of the core features of the game.

Qitorien

Love love love!

Retherian

Wait combat is going to be on that map style?

Pollivar

It reminds me of Star Control's combat style, if so.

I absolutely loved Star Control, especially The Ur-Quan Masters. Inertia and all.

bairloch

Huh, I was hoping spaceflight would be a lot slower...

Tecton

bairloch said:

Huh, I was hoping spaceflight would be a lot slower...

As mentioned in the video, that particular ship is one of the more agile and zippy ships around!

bairloch

oh, I meant slower as in Firefly type of travel. couple of days to move from system to system.
yeah, I know, I'm probably the only one who thinks wandering around your own ship, doing crafting skills, etc. for a few days is fun, but that's just me.

Aurelius

bairloch said:

oh, I meant slower as in Firefly type of travel. couple of days to move from system to system.
yeah, I know, I'm probably the only one who thinks wandering around your own ship, doing crafting skills, etc. for a few days is fun, but that's just me.

You'd find yourself incredibly bored after 2 or 3 trips like that.

Aurelius

Retherian said:

Wait combat is going to be on that map style?

Spaceship combat is, yeah. Avatar-based stuff looks like a traditional MUD. 

Kalrig

This is looking awesome! Great job Matt and Team!

jari

When in a fight can you move and attack from different positions or is it more a flee north type of deal?

Aurelius

jari said:

When in a fight can you move and attack from different positions or is it more a flee north type of deal?

I'm not sure what you're asking. You'd be flying around just like in the video, but locking onto other ships, triggering various weapons, etc.

Oogah_Chakha

Aurelius said:

jari said:

When in a fight can you move and attack from different positions or is it more a flee north type of deal?

I'm not sure what you're asking. You'd be flying around just like in the video, but locking onto other ships, triggering various weapons, etc.

I'm kind picturing combat looking like asteroids...will there be visual representations of the attacks? Like dots/dashes indicating incoming missile fire or trajectory of ballistic attacks?

Aurelius

Oogah_Chakha said:

Aurelius said:

jari said:

When in a fight can you move and attack from different positions or is it more a flee north type of deal?

I'm not sure what you're asking. You'd be flying around just like in the video, but locking onto other ships, triggering various weapons, etc.

I'm kind picturing combat looking like asteroids...will there be visual representations of the attacks? Like dots/dashes indicating incoming missile fire or trajectory of ballistic attacks?

No, that won't be possible with our very low frame rate.

Cen

I'd assume it would be text message responses to the attacks on different levels. Some for just those involved, like system failure messages for the person being hit, target being hit for the attacker, and possibly an area message for the bigger things, like explosions or whatnot.

bairloch

Aurelius said:

bairloch said:

oh, I meant slower as in Firefly type of travel. couple of days to move from system to system.
yeah, I know, I'm probably the only one who thinks wandering around your own ship, doing crafting skills, etc. for a few days is fun, but that's just me.

You'd find yourself incredibly bored after 2 or 3 trips like that.

You might. Most probably would. I'd be fine.

Sairys

I think days, even in the typically sped up 1 rl hour ~ 1 ig day, would be a bit much. GWSE had something like that and I never ran into another player when I played.

But from experience with LOTJ, the feeling of distance to some regions of space is also pretty nice and immersive.
It gives a little down time to orgnise bits and pieces, craft if you have the facilities, or just chat.
But I'm thinking in the realms of like... at most half an hour for really distant stuff.

Also adds an inherent element of danger in travelling further away, cause help becomes further out of reach.


--------

As for other thoughts, given the discussion about ship combat on the discord a week back, the mention of it potentially being as complex as persona combat is I guess a bit concerning and trying to think of how that might work is kinda overwhelming.

bairloch

Again, I said I was likely the only one. I know the video was sped up, but it seems very "actiony" to me and that's not my preferred style. I prefer the commanding from the cockpit style to a top down, but I haven't put in any thought as to how that would be displayed.
Again, my preference. I'm well aware my tastes are uncommon.

Indi

@Aurelius
Cool vid. Frustrating tease too, of course. 
Can we assume that targeting another ship is done by name, similar to avatar combat, rather than some kind of 'shoot in direction X' mechanism? 

If so then how do we know the name/ID of the other ship?  typing in that name looks like it may be difficult while concentrating on moving the ship around. I understand that it is bearing + speed and doesn't need input for every 'room' but still...

I can see myself controlling ships via GUI and being slowed by that need to transition momentarily to the keyboard. 

There may be no way around it - or maybe there is. 

Aurelius

bairloch said:

 I know the video was sped up, 

It wasn't sped up at all! That's the speed we're aiming for people to be able to move at.

Aurelius

Indi said:

@Aurelius
Can we assume that targeting another ship is done by name, similar to avatar combat, rather than some kind of 'shoot in direction X' mechanism? 

If so then how do we know the name/ID of the other ship?  typing in that name looks like it may be difficult while concentrating on moving the ship around. I understand that it is bearing + speed and doesn't need input for every 'room' but still...

I can see myself controlling ships via GUI and being slowed by that need to transition momentarily to the keyboard. 

Shoot direction X would never work here. You'll acquire a target, with the time to lock on dependent on the size of your ship vs the size of the other ship vs your sensor array's power vs any defensive countermeasures on the target ship. Smaller ships take longer to lock onto, bigger ships take less time. Then when you trigger your weapons, they'll target that ship, assuming it's in range and in your target 'cone' (not something demonstrated in that video).

You'll not be controlling your ship via any kind of GUI. I just mapped something like "ship bearing <dir>" to the numpad and that's how I fly around. 

Indi

Cool, thanks for the extra tidbits there. I like the targeting sensor idea. I would have assumed it would be only accuracy, but the lock-on concept is great. 

I suppose I could dig up a numpad but really, what else are touch screens for if I'm not going to make my own gui in mudlet? 

Aurelius

Well, you certainly can bind the movement commands to whatever you wanted, from a button to keypress macros, etc.

mindw0rk

I hope you wont limit movement to numpad keys. Some of us have keyboard without numpad

Tecton

mindw0rk said:

I hope you wont limit movement to numpad keys. Some of us have keyboard without numpad

Certainly not, we're just allowing you to do it by default in Nexus