The beginning

A blog about just another video game that nobody will probably play.

I'll blog here and there when I'm tired of writing code. 

What is the game?

It's another MMORPG but the genre is a bit old school. Not too heavy on graphics, it's a game about space exploration. To be honest, I'm stealing a little from my favorite game of all time, Exodus Ultima III, also Odyssey the Complete Apventure,  Elite and Taipan. 

What do you do? 

Mostly explore space and live through my fairly warped way of looking at space travel as something that is not as simple as boarding a ship, clicking "launch" and then zipping around space without any concern about the reliability of the ship you are in, amount of fuel you have on hand and the capabilities of your crew.

Is the game hard? Hard to say, I want the game to be approachable. In my initial build I could barely take off from a planet because I kept forgetting important things, like turning on the life support system or making sure my ship wasn't overloaded with cargo causing a fatal accident a minute into the flight. But the more recent builds make it simpler. If you don't play through a tutorial or two, you'll die, over and over again. As you advance in the game, it actually gets harder because the more advanced you get, the more you can do and the easier it is to screw up.

Is there crafting? Yes, the game is built around crafting, mining, trade surveying and exploration. Everything in the game can be crafted by a player. Loot items will never be as good as high quality player made items.

Is there combat? Of course. It's not 3D, first person fly around shooting laser combat. It is real time, turn based (no that's not a contradiction) combat that requires strategy to win battles. Or if you can't win, run away or try and bribe your way out. Stay and fight to the end? Sure, but perma death is real and an experienced crew can be tough to recreate.

When will the game be released?

Not simple to answer. I plan to have a game that plays as a space exploration game by winter 2014. This will be more like Taipan without the pirates. I plan to introduce crafting before combat. If all goes well, the game should be complete with combat, exploration and crafting by winter 2015. 

I plan to post at least monthly on the progress. Up until now I've spent the past year writing the story line, proving a few concepts and settings up a lot of the game engine. I plan to wipe out and rebuild the galaxy on a smaller testing scale and rebuild the crafting engine in the coming weeks.

Please comment if the game is of interest.