A big thanks to everyone!

While we did not always respond to every post, we did read them and put it all together.

We learned a lot of very important things that we will try to throw some of into the alpha build.

Problems:

1) Distinct lack of interactivity.
In our desire to get rid of pop-ups, the game engine has far too little interactivity. We are going to put in OPTIONAL (but on by default) pop-ups that will present news and information of new ships and improvements built in your civilization and then take you to those planets that built them.

2) Need to be able to name star systems.
This was planned but dog gone it, we need this in alrady.

3) Can't look at planet surfaces. We are going to add a feature where if you click on a planet in the planet select screen that a picture of the planet surface is placed in the bottom right event window so you can see what the planet is like.

4) AI will not all be at war with each other at the start. This is just silly and takes away even basic strategy. I need to program this in intelligently.

Many of these suggestions weren't specifically made but I can assure you that it was you guys that have caused us to add them. Thanks to you, the game will be much better.

So next week we should have a new alpha out with a few of these things in. Then the beta is due on April 1 which will be available to a much wider audience but not the full Drengin list.

How are we going to pick beta testers? Drengin users woh are *active* here. We want people who are going to interact with us, talk to us, brain storm with us. As far as we're concerned, you guys are co-developers with us. You're part of our team.
273 views 17 replies
Reply #1 Top
Honored of beeing part of it, even if I (we?) think to have done very little.
Thanks to you and the team. It's not usual to have this kind of opportunities.
I would have loved to partecipate/test much more but I got into minor surgery ... :(
and a daughter is coming at the end of the month... :)

Personally I'd like to know what you think about:
1) ship commands (yes I really don't like this...) :VOMIT:
2) Fog of News
Reply #2 Top
fog of news. I like it. and I think it's something NEW. this could really add depth.

1. the closer an enemy system is to one of yours, the faster you learn about things happening.

2. more spies decreases time to news

3. more enemy security increases time to news

4. democracies decrease your security value

5. communisms increase security value

6. certain technologies affect news speed and security levels.
Reply #3 Top
What kinds of ship commands?

In what specific ways did you have fog of news in mind?
Reply #4 Top
I do not like those mouse ship commands and all those round circles that mark the target square.
I do like more the OS/2 one. Please review the specific subject about the graphical interface. It's deeply discussed. :)

Again, it's widely discussed in a thread. Summarizing, presently you receive a news (sharply defined) and have clearly in front of you all the positive and negative elements for whatever decision you take.
I'd like to add FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) to those news (parametric with the points outlined perfectly by jlegere) by providing:
- the basic news with...
- ...different subtle hints hidden in the message or the movie or the image
It should no more be easy to calculate pro and cons. You should build a feeling of what happens during the game and this general trend of moods could help you then...
You could take a decision with current elements or have your NSA (or WSA World Security Agency ;) ) review the issue to take a decision later (if possible).
Comments? :)
Reply #5 Top
A lot of the issues that occurred in the OS/2 version required an immediate response (perhaps
all of them did). In the real world the required response time varies with the issue and/or
situation. Would this be possible in GalCiv? I have the impression that only an immediate
response to an event is practical.

Cheers,
Jack
Reply #6 Top
(:( this means I am prolly gonna miss the beta too, because my account e-mail is lost. :sniff!:
Reply #7 Top
If you could make the ships have more "realistic" textures/skins, I think that would help a lot with the "feel" of the game. Or else go completely the other way and use "markers" such as the HQ used on battle boards, little toy ships, planes, tanks, etc. Either way they have to seem really wonderful, I think. They are the "tokens" you're moving around the "board".
Reply #8 Top
Personally I don't like Fog of news. I think it's a good idea just not for gal civ. Gal civ is much to epic for something so small. I could see it for a world war 2 game or something.
Reply #9 Top
Could you give me an example RHB of what you mean? Like an image of a 64x64 top down view of a ship that looks the why you think our ships should look?
Reply #10 Top
Alex,
I actually like the idea of 'fog of news'. It could be very interesting to build a number of news sources into the game. The robot is your standard imperial news source, but depending on your stance (nice or mean) and on your technology and on your press freedom (related to senate) you could have access to the other sources.
There are two levels to this. Biased news and foggy news.
The idea of getting biased information because you have a war party ruling in the senate is very appealing. You may get the exact same information as another source but from a one sided view. This sort of variation to news stories would definitely add to your epic approach to the game. It would hawever take a lot of extra graphics work.
Foggy news is even more interesting but harder to implement. How do you know that you are getting the correct information? How do you know WHEN you are getting the information. A variation on the accuracy and on the timing on when news stories appear would add to the fog. Admittedly this would be better implemented to the intelligence gathering (spying) aspects of the game.
For example, being informed that the Dregin empire is gathering a 10 ship invasion fleet in a certain sector is important information. Not knowing if 10 is the correct number or if the correct sector was given or when this fleet will be ready, forces you to send a scout ship or spies to determine this information. Or you could choose to ignore it and hope the fleet is not intended for you. This kind of fog most certainly adds to the epic nature of the game.

Paul.
Reply #11 Top
I like how Paul writes. ;)
It could even be the start of a magazine article on FON LOL
Good work.
Reply #12 Top
I like Paul's imagination too.

But... lets remember that this is a _NEW_ GalCiv, re-written from the ground up. Some things
are going to have to come later, else GalCiv will never exit the building. Brad has built a
schedule for development and shipment. He _MUST_ contain the design in order to meet that
schedule.

1). Let's continue to give new ideas --

---BUT---

2). Let's not expect them all in the first release.

Cheers,
Jack
Reply #13 Top
I like all the praise for my imagination :)

My head is swelling by the minute!

I totally agree with Jack that all these ideas need to be balanced against the time and effort required. As Brad has said though, GalCiv will be an ongoing project and these ideas can always be implemented at a later stage.

Paul.
Reply #14 Top
If the game can be fun without the diplomacy in, then that is good. All parts of the game it seems to me should be fun to play.
Reply #15 Top

OK, my third - and I promise, last - message
today that mentions Stars!, I don't intend to
start a flame war :( I just think if someone
in a (closely) related game has thought of an
interesting approach to solve a problem it's
worth a look.

Stars! used to make the player work through a
long list of "event messages". There was a basic
filter to disable certain types of messages,
but that was it. No searching or prioritizing
was possible.

In the sequel currently under development,
all events for a turn get compiled into an
HTML page, with links back into the game
to the particular event/planet/ship/battle
in question. Plus there is filtering according
to topic. Messages can be exported as HTML
pages, i.e. for archiving or putting up on
game-related web sites.

Then there is a "Galactic Gazette" that spreads
news (and rumors) to all players. I think the
idea above, to modulate word of an event by the
type of government and physical proximity is
a perfect complement to something like that.
First, rumors of a battle, heavily denied by
the government; followed by "reports from
survivors"; followed by the ugly truth (or
the government's spin on it).

> If the game can be fun without the diplomacy in,
> then that is good. All parts of the game it seems
> to me should be fun to play.

I'm a bit puzzled by this statement - do you mean
there is no diplomacy in GalCiv? Or just that there
is none in the current alpha/beta?

Diplomacy, especially if you're planning to have
an online multiplayer universe must be built into
the game from the start, including with the AIs.
That is one of the big flaws of Stars!, that all
the multi-player game's diplomacy had to happen
outside of the game and there was no way to arrive
at treaties (and enforce them) within the game.
Please tell me I misunderstood...

- Thomas
Reply #16 Top
Oh, don't worry about Diplomacy it's going to be in there and to be frank I am scared. We are going add that in after the core game is almost done. This way we can really see if it works in our universe, Diplomacy is a MAJOR part of the game may be even bigger then combat in some ways. I don't even want to get into the Wnited Planets.
Reply #17 Top
DOH!!! United Planets..