Poll: Your opinion on our game idea? (Altru Ego Games)

[El Dwarfio]

The simplest way to explain our game idea would be: Battlefield with SPACESHIPS! You can picture it as being something like the combat scenes from 'Battlestar Galactica' (awesome little fighter ships pulling crazy maneuvers with streams of bullets flying overhead). Add a load-out and progression system similar to Battlefield or 'Call of Duty', and a few massive spaceships to keep things interesting.

I love ship shooters, but personally I can't help but think having players in lots of little ships will just end up like another arcady run and gun, substituting people for ships.

Theres nothing wrong with arcadey run and gun. Making the whole thing a slow, tactical experience is not the best idea. In single player? Sure. In multiplayer? No thanks. Other titles have shown it does not work.

They asked for my opinion, I gave it. Did I ask for your opinion? No.

But thanks anyway friend, your comments were well thought and insightful, they have revolutionised my opinions on gaming.

Sorry buddy, from time to time it happens that someone doesnt agree with you and makes that known, especially on forums. If you cant deal with it, breaking of all interaction with other living beings is a good place to start.

The good advice keeps on coming. I'm so glad their are intelligent people such of yourself to tell idiots like me what we should like and how we should live our lives. Thanks again.

 

[Altru Ego]

Well, as long as it is in space it should work right? Seems like a cool idea, with ambitious people behind it. You have my support!

Though I have to ask, isn't balancing going to be a problem? I'd say Foot Soldier versus Space Ship isn't exactly a fair fight, unless everyone has Jedi powers.

There's are no foot soldiers (atm at least). Just ships and bigger ships.

Have you guys been visiting my head for the last few months?

Goddamn it, I can't have original ideas these days...

I steelz your ideas when you're sleeping...

Sounds awesome , but it'd be cool if there was either a single player campaign, or if that just won't work, local matches where you can play with bots, solo or splitscreen.

Yea, I'm going to bring this one up with the others as I have received a lot of similar feedback regarding SP.

Have you thought about the extra money you will need to develop the multiplayer code and to have your game's MP dedicated servers up and running? ...snip...

We have, we have some limited funding via free office space and some savings etc. You're totally right that it's a bigger risk than alternative ideas. At this point, we're simply seeing how much people like this idea

Snip... Would you be willing to place a demo/alpha of the game up for people to try out once you get it working?

No promises on how all that will go (if we get there) but I'm sure we would have a demo, free trial or free weekend etc etc.

A long as it's not just a empty space with a bunch of fighters shooting lasers. Creative levels, variety of game-play, all that jazz. You could really switch up that game-play with some interesting level design... (snip) ...You can be pretty creative in space, don't waste the potential.

Definitely intend to make things interesting. No empty space over here :3

If you make it top down I will personally hunt down the three of you and slap you. Third person or cockpit view, please. (Third person is probably the better of the two.) But we have SO. DAMN. MANY. indie top down spaceship shooting games, its not even funny.

I promise we wont. 8)

So will it be a simulator, or an RTS? Or another Genre?

Personally I think the simulator will be more engaging, like an Ace Combat game in space!

Also, a singleplayer campaign wouldn't go amiss! I know a lot of gamers who cannot, for various reasons, play online, and I know some would be interested!

Also, huge Kudos for the method of research! I think it's great for a small dev team to come and ask random gamers of our opinions!

Closer to a sim, 3rd/1st person views etc. We are going to take another serious look at the possibilities for SP. And many thanks

Another thing that is a turn off to me is poorly done sense of scale, planets should be huge and not just balls that fly by the window. Oh and while interesting visually, don't make clouds move around a planet at mach 7, normal clouds on a planet are pretty much static.

Scale is one of the elements we really want to get across. We want you to feel small. Also, no mach 7 clouds.

Perhaps frigates could be player-controlled tanks (or docking-station healers), but then who controls their massive array of turrets? Will those be automated, or all fire in the same direction, or maybe players log in just to control one turret?

Atm we intend to have huge 'vehicle' ships like you describe. Keep in mind though that the purpose of this post is to see if there is a general interest in the most basic elements of the game. The details will come later (and possibly some polls to go with them).

I put meh, but not because I don't like space games. I could get on board with the game, but it would rely wholly on the execution. Most PvP space shooter games I've played (although I don't claim to be an expert in this type of game) end up being overly repetitive and the players end up spending most of their time just circling around each other. If you find a way to make the combat engaging and varied then I'd definitely give it a shot.

Of course you're right. It's part of why we want to do this. Note that the only purpose of the poll is to see how much interest there is in the basic concept.

If you can pull it off, and flesh it out more I'm game. I'm kinda lukewarm on the "only multiplayer" idea since I'm not usually a big multiplayer gamer. But if it's like 40 or 30 dollars (U.S.) at launch, I might buy it. depends where it is at completion. Good luck either way and I'm sure we all agree it's awesome that you're taking the time to pitch your idea to the everyday gamer before anyone else. Wish more developers would do that.

We're going to have look at the whole SP aspect. There's a lot of demand for it so we'll have to throw some ideas around. I doubt the game would cost even that much. NO PROMISES - but we are thinking more like $20.
Many thanks, it's the everyday gamer that matters. Not some suits in a boardroom >


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A lot of good feedback!
MANY thanks to all who have posted thus far.

 

[Mr. Eff_v1legacy]

It doesn't sound like my cup of tea, but I think it's something alot of people could get into.
Good luck guys!

 

[Tanakh]

Have you thought about the extra money you will need to develop the multiplayer code and to have your game's MP dedicated servers up and running? ...snip...

We have, we have some limited funding via free office space and some savings etc. You're totally right that it's a bigger risk than alternative ideas. At this point, we're simply seeing how much people like this idea

Well, then it seems not to be an idea cooked over too many beers. If you love it, do it mate! And if you would be so kind as of keeping post in this site about the dev process (your engine of choice, general comments about the writing the code for multiplayer, etc.) i guarantee you will get more traction and fanboys for a eventual kickstart or steam launch.

And yeah, we are overdue a MP space shooter, and if even superniche games like Saturday Night Combat or Rise of Immortals have enough audience to do a sequel/keep going, i am sure that yours will be a sucess if you pour your blood and tears into it.

Also... paraphrasing Notch "dont get into indies hoping to get rich" (note: I kinda dislike Notch). I am a huge indie game fan, and very few of the proyects that start ever get completed, even fewer give millions of bucks, and most take years of the lives of the guys developing em.

 

[Altru Ego]

snip

snip
Also... paraphrasing Notch "dont get into indies hoping to get rich" (note: I kinda dislike Notch). I am a huge indie game fan, and very few of the proyects that start ever get completed, even fewer give millions of bucks, and most take years of the lives of the guys developing em.

Don't worry. We are depressingly aware of that. But this is what we love. The response from the Escapist community has been great. We will definitely keep you guys in the loop and do some more polls or whatever. Once we have a solid idea, something to show and a website, we'll start directing people there for super regular updates etc

 

[Deadyawn]

Sounds cool. If you guys make it i'll be sure to check it out.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

The problem with space combat games is that they inevitably all devolve into jousting matches. Very few games have ever gotten it right.

 

[Altru Ego]

The problem with space combat games is that they inevitably all devolve into jousting matches. Very few games have ever gotten it right.

Absolutely. It's one of the reasons we want to do it. We want to (try to) get it right.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

The problem with space combat games is that they inevitably all devolve into jousting matches. Very few games have ever gotten it right.

Absolutely. It's one of the reasons we want to do it. We want to (try to) get it right.

Well, I'm certainly interested if you manage it. Good luck!

 

[AltruEgo - Art]

Hi all! Lead/Only Artist here, just want to say thanks for all the positive feedback!

 

[Altru Ego]

Well, I'm certainly interested if you manage it. Good luck!

Cheers!

Hi all! Lead/Only Artist here, just want to say thanks for all the positive feedback!

WHO LET YOU OUT OF YOUR CAGE??!

 

[VoidWanderer]

I love/miss space games and I was intrigued by your idea until I saw

"Battlefield with SPACESHIPS!" I find that idea terrifying personally.

And when you mentioned it will be purely multiplayer, I felt saddened by that.

I love Space sim games, my all-time favorite being Freelancer. And if you were to make a Freelancer-esque game with tweaks to it like NOT capping the max speed for all ships, and actually balancing the weapons more; I would be all over that game.

Sure, add a multiplayer function as well, but I am not a multiplayer fan and your idea underwhelms me. However, if you want a story idea for a Freelancer-esque game, I can throw something together. It is going to be a quiet night at work anyways.

 

[BodomBeachChild]

So... it's kinda like EVE Online just without the in-game economy and soverignty stuggles?

 

[Altru Ego]

snip

Unfortunately the game is intended to be MP centric. That said, we have gotten a lot of feedback regarding the desire for SP so we are going to be taking a serious look at what can be done there. With that said, any interesting ideas for a back/story, whether we go MP/SP/SP+MP would be most welcome

snip

Nope, it's more like a high action, coop, competitive, objective based multiplayer game. Eve is on the opposite end of the spectrum regarding interface, controls, structure and feel.

 

[WanderingFool]

The games market always needs more dog fights. Wether it is in space or in the air.

This is true. I like it.
You should add customization of your ship. While swaping different weapon loadouts and such would work for BF and COD games, because we are talking about space ships, you need to allow the player to make their ship unique. I see it as there being something like light fighter (fast and agile, but dont have much firepower or armor), heavy fighters (slower and easier targets, but has massive firepower and can take a beating like nobodies business), and something in the middle. Though something that you can learn from COD, AVOID accidentally making a lightning bruiser type of combination that ends up with everyone using that same ship.

 

[hutchy27]

Sounds like Star wars battlefront's space battles ..... so it depends on what you'll actually be adding on it?

 

[Altru Ego]

snip

That's roughly what we have in mind. Those details are still being dicussed so I can't say anything specific. My OP just gives the general idea of what we have in mind

 

[GraveeKing]

My opinion is probably terribly bias because I support Indie developers and am probably end up as one if I can't find a job within the larger company's in the future!
Anyones on to my opinion

The game is a purely multiplayer game (with the exception of tutorial levels) but very little else is set in stone. There may be a class system (currently intended), or there may not be.

You say it'd be totally multi-player - but are you thinking of including AI as well? Maybe having the larger space-ships duking it out with auto turrets while the players do all the precise work - such as taking out generators and larger cannons etc.
One thing you have to be careful of is not letting AI have too much control - otherwise you end up with games like DOTA and League of legends (nothing against them but their market is done a lot these days). Although considering you mentioned it'd be battlefield like - are you thinking just players alone and AI JUST for tutorials? If that's the case, it's probably not worth the effort designing the AI for such a simple task - it'd make more sense to develop a tutorial where it's a much smaller match-up and for the first 5 or 6 match-ups you against only people of the nooby variety - with constant pop-ups and help.
Similar to how StarCraft does it's first match-ups - a 'Practice' league if you will.


Other than that nit-picking, the idea sounds brilliant and I wish you the best of luck! I'd also request a link to your Blog if/when you gentlemen get one up - I'm always interested to see how progress is going on games.