Hello there,

Few days ago I've started writing my own game. Its space simulation/strategy game, but a bit different than most of those on market -> instead of standard shooting/trading game with minor ship ugprades options its fully about starship management. Player will become captain of the ship, he will be moving around it, like Sheppard on Normandy in Mass Effect, or Player on Ebony Hawk in Knight of the Old Republic, and only decide where to fly, and what to do (not piloting it himself) with a lot of crew management, storage management, rich research tree, and upgrade possibilities, but only with limited space (Player cannot enlarge the ship). Trading, Ground missions etc will be only an events which player can trigger, and manage, but not take part in them himself.

I've started making this game using Ogre3D engine and C#, already did the moving character (without textures yet), and a research console where i started writing of research engine (it will be quite uniqe).

I would llke you guys and girls if you ofcourse could help me, to draw a basic blueprint of a ship (it doesnt need any technical skills, just a bit of imagination - it also doesnt need to have exact sizes - just overall idea where is which room, and how to travel between them. Below i wrote all rooms that will be required. Game will be freeware and opensource, so for the author of blueprint that i will use in a game i cant offer more than beeing listed in game credits, but I hope someone will help anyway

Rooms required:

Control Room (bridge),

Generator,

Engine Room (or more if f.e. engines will be on both sides of ship),

O2 Recycling Room,

H2O Recycling Room,

O2 Tanks,

H2 Tanks,

Fuel Tanks,

Ship enterance,

Infirmary,

Cantine,

Captains Quaters,

Crew Quaters,

Toilets,

Storerooms (at least 8, and at least one must be large enough to fit a shuttle later in a game).

If it will be more than one level ship, than also stairs or/and elevator. Please dont do more than 3 levels of a ship - I don't want it to be too large.

If someone don't want to draw a ship, but want to make some addition what kind of room is not listed here and can be required at a starship or any other suggestions, i also would be grateful for sharing..

Regards and sorry for my English,

Zennoya

Hello Zennoya,

I advise you check this out:

http://www.starshipcorporation.com/

This project is pretty much in line with what you're describing above.

It may be a good source of info, but I'd also recommend to do differently :)

Hello Zennoya,

I advise you check this out:

http://www.starshipcorporation.com/

This project is pretty much in line with what you're describing above.

It may be a good source of info, but I'd also recommend to do differently

I've seen this before, but my game is very different -> here youre designing and selling ships. At my game You will have only one ship all the time, and You will be captain. You wont be able to change rooms location, but You will be able to change what they are used for, store/research/develop equipment that will help You to find a way home (something like story in Star Trek: Voyager).

I think your idea lacks "wow factor". I also recommend checking StarshipCorporation, note that Orymus3 knows that game and I know that game too, ask yourself, why we know about that game? What made us remember it? You need to make people, quote your game, just as (some) people quote S.Corp. I mean, when I have read your first post it did not made me "wow, I want to play it".

It's your game of course and I'm saying this only because you said you are at the very start of the project so you still can change your design decisions. I recommend reconsidering.

Tell me - did You knew this game, and know if it has "wow factor" when all you knew about it was only a few sentences of an idea how it would look like? Imagine that someone tells you "I would like to make a game about some animals maybe, where you will use them as an ammo and shoot to building" - You would probably think "it sux, there was some short game like cat-a-pulp and it was stupid", and after some times "Angry birds" appears which nearly everyone knows.

I'm sure my game won't be as popular as "Angry birds", but i dont care - I mostly do it for myself, because i want to learn using Ogre3D, and improve my C# skills (Im ABAP developer, but I always wanted to learn some more C# than just a simple Windows application), but at this moment full concept is only in my head, so until there will be something to show its just "another space sim" and nothing special.

Im very gratefull for Your advise and waiting for more, and Im sure that if I do some more work, present it do others and it still wont have that "wow factor" than I will change it, but now im not trying to advertise it or sell the idea to someone, rather to gather ideas and make them live

But ofcourse if You want, i can write a full concept which I have in my head.

Tell me - did You knew this game, and know if it has "wow factor" when all you knew about it was only a few sentences of an idea how it would look like? Imagine that someone tells you "I would like to make a game about some animals maybe, where you will use them as an ammo and shoot to building" - You would probably think "it sux, there was some short game like cat-a-pulp and it was stupid", and after some times "Angry birds" appears which nearly everyone knows.

Actually the developer painted a very vivid portrait of the gameplay he wanted to create. He's been creating this game largely to depict a very specific scene in the movie "Alien" (original). Because he was precise, focused and highly determine to bring a very niche experience to the player, the mood he was trying to capture made a lot of players react to this idea.

I don't think your idea lacks Wow factor per se, but I would say it lacks focus and scope. As an indie, you need to be extremely precise about the experience you seek to represent, so that players know you're clearly distanciating yourself from what's been done. If there's already a game like yours, then, chances are you'll be the underdog and won't easily catch the attention. On the other hands, if you game is, say, about building blocks and killing zombie (minecraft's original description circa 2009) you'll end up with a lot of followers wondering exactly what treatment you'll do to this idea to turn it into a fun game. Your focus on gameplay will distanciate you from bigger developers, and they'll forgive you for lack of polish, so long as you stay true to your original vision.

Starship Corporation is exactly that. There's decent artwork now (better than originall) and the UI has come a long way, but its not a AAA by any stretch. What makes it interesting and keeps me curious as to its alpha is the vision the lead developer has regarding the actual gameplay. It plays out like an hybrid of several genres, but it really feels different. Players seeking that specific experience will be amazed by this game. You need to find the people that want to feel the thing your game will offer, and reach out to them by explaining how/why it will be a memorable experience to them.

For example, I'm working on a 4X game right now, and looking at the staples of the genre, I found that I was revulsed by the current implementation of technology trees in these games. I've quickly established that my game would deal more with logistics than scientific advancement. To some, managing fuel, availability of techs and ferrying resources can be more appealing than researching new technologies and outfitting your fleet with the best weapons there are. I cater to my crowd by trying to convey that I intend to keep these niche-gameplay-elements the focus of my game.

Regarding your specific idea, you need to be able to convey your description more vividly, and tell the player exactly how this "manage from bridge" will feel for the player. How will they interact with the other rooms if they're not allowed to move to them? through menus? on-screen representation? by talking with the engineers in charge of retrofitting the rooms' purpose? etc.

I'd suggest dropping most of those rooms for now. Instead why not think about the two or three core game play elements that are central to your game and have only rooms directly related to that for now. Once you've got that working then you expand on it adding more rooms and features. Taking on too much too early will only lead to failure.

You seem keen on the research element so why not focus on that first. You could have a simple display that has days to home, days of food remaining and power remaining. The player has to research different technology and improvements to let you get home before they all die.

Once you have that working which will be a lot more work then you are probably expecting you can add new features and challenges.

Also you might want to think about learning a more mainstream engine like unity3d or UDK.

You could have a simple display that has days to home, days of food remaining and power remaining. The player has to research different technology and improvements to let you get home before they all die.

Indeed, just from the above, I can see how, for example, improving engines might help, or how running out of fuel could become lethal, etc.

Starting with your basic "resources" is always a great place to start.

Most of my projects start with a hand-drawn graphic that represents the core gameplay elements and how they interact together (ex: I need food to have crew, I need crew to operate systems, I need fuel to power engines (a system that requires crew) etc.)

TechnoGoth's approach is definitely more straightforward.

As fans of Starfleet Battles tabletop tactical game, my friends and I developed a shipbuilding system for it. What I learned from the process is that ship design is very fun if you have creative control over it. Taking that control from the player by only having one ship would be a mistake.

I propose that you have base classes of ships with "pods" that can be attached or replaced as the player gains money. Starting off, the captain gets a "freebie" vessel which he can use solo or with 1 additional crew member. Crew demands pay based on their skills, so this other member will also be of a starting level. As the captain and crew gain experience and money, pods can be sold/upgraded/swapped out, the base ship hull can be traded in like a used car for a down payment on a larger hull that can accommodate a larger crew size, more pods, better engines, etc... Yes, the game just got more complicated.

If you want to start with a single-ship design for demo or proof-of-concept purposes, that would make sense. I'd start with a smaller vessel like the Normandy from Mass Effect and work my up to what you have in mind. Feature creep will eventually happen.