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WILL
25-06-2011, 06:27 PM
I'm diggin' that you are all coming together on an acronym so I'm going to follow along too. ;)

Though both Stoney and myself are running the challenge and are judges, we can't officially compete, but we still wanted to work on something. So here is our automatically disqualified entry concept so far.

Galactic Xenocide is going to be a strategy game based off of a game made for a contest where you could only use one button called Pax Britannica. (try it out here (http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=10831.0)) We'll be using a few more buttons than just the one and making it more of a smart strategy than a button mash though.

The core game mechanic of timed smaller ship building was Stoney's, but I wanted to have different alien races you could choose from. I've always loved Ascendancy and there is about 21 races you can choose from in that game. So I'd love to have that diverse set of races, but for the 3-week time-frame we will only be doing 2 so we can get it done in time. Each race would have it's own unique ships and abilities that we would have to balance while play-testing.

We are planning that you start out with 3 motherships on each side that will build the smaller ships. We want to do 4 types of smaller ships that you can build, but for the 3-week timeframe we'll only have 3 to help save us some time again to get it all done.

Of the alien races you can hope to see, amoung them were originally; the Greys, the Reptilians and the Insectoids. I've decided to take from the same universe as my back-shelved 'Invaded' project. (an XCOM remake replacing squad-based combat with real-time simulated instead) So I'm pretty happy to be able to revisit some of my old ideas from a past concept. More aliens will follow post-mini compo, but for now you only get 2. ;)

The neatest thing about this game will be that the only thing you really directly control is the timing and choice of what you are building. We are hoping to have a map you can explore with your motherships and find and destroy all other alien races on the map. You'll start off by your own homeworld/planet to build up before the fight.

Once we get some actual working engine/game prototype going we can post screenshots.

code_glitch
26-06-2011, 07:44 AM
Sound like some nice stuff. As for the PGDmC, that might be my fault - believe was the first one to complain about having to write 'Pascal Game Development Mini Competition' out repeatedly...

Looking forward to it, as I do with most games of course :) Oh, and I diggs that killzone 3 ps3 banner in the sig too :D

Traveler
26-06-2011, 09:16 AM
I don't know about the acronym being such a bad thing. I like it.

But more to the topic, participating with your own game is a great idea WILL. And on top of that it looks like your have a great concept as well.

WILL
26-06-2011, 07:10 PM
Thanks guys! I hope to post some screenshots or some concept art and what-not once we get going a bit more. Stoney is getting the prototype ready to try out soon. Hopefully this weekend we'll have a proof of concept and we can start coding the game mechanics into it.

WILL
27-06-2011, 08:47 AM
Here is a little teaser of what the graphics will look like for the game. Motherships by Stoney and Planets and starfields by myself. :)



450

Traveler
27-06-2011, 09:31 AM
Looks great! However, it appears as if the nebula is located in front of the planet instead of behind it. I have altered your screenshot to show the alternative. You can do this by making a circular selection around the planet, and then applying a radial gradient. Set the layer to Soft Light.

451

Ñuño Martínez
27-06-2011, 11:01 AM
I hope it will not lay in the "Beautiful Start-menu" syndrome. :D

Ingemar
01-07-2011, 07:57 AM
I hope it will not lay in the "Beautiful Start-menu" syndrome. :D

Just because I had such plans too... but I won't have time for that.

Strategy game, that's nice! Straight and simple strategy games, easy to learn but fun to play, that would be a good ambition.

Traveler
01-07-2011, 09:14 AM
Any updates on this?

WILL
01-07-2011, 11:16 PM
Well I've been working on assets while Stoney is working on the game engine/code. I'm planning on releasing some background information about each alien race as I write them up... I've also been working on the soundtrack too.

I may hop on some of the code should Stoney need some help. The first version might not be overly fancy or as detailed as we might hope, but it should give an example of the direction we are going in. :)

WILL
09-07-2011, 09:03 PM
Well I've been letting those down whom I told I'd release information as I develop it a little so here to make up for it is a sampling of the music that *may* appear in the game.

Enjoy...

Galactic Xenocide on SoundCloud (http://soundcloud.com/jason-mcmillen/sets/galactic-xenocide)

NOTE: I'll be updating and replacing older version as new ones come out so if you want to post comments that'll last, please put them in the set instead.

Winwardo
09-07-2011, 09:18 PM
I gotta say, I love the name of the game, it's clever.
And you wrote the soundtrack? It's sounding great, got a very isolated spacey feel to it :)

Looking forwards to pictures and hopefully even a playable version of this!

paul_nicholls
09-07-2011, 10:02 PM
Well I've been letting those down whom I told I'd release information as I develop it a little so here to make up for it is a sampling of the music that *may* appear in the game.

Enjoy...

Galactic Xenocide on SoundCloud (http://soundcloud.com/jason-mcmillen/sets/galactic-xenocide)

NOTE: I'll be updating and replacing older version as new ones come out so if you want to post comments that'll last, please put them in the set instead.

Wow! That is awesome music! It sounds like you paid an orchestra to do the music...how did you make it sound so good?

cheers,
Paul

WILL
10-07-2011, 03:53 AM
I'm using Garage Band '11 to make the music. I'm able to take existing loops and mix them kind of like an oldschool tracker program would allow. I've been learning how to play the keyboard, but I'm not good enough to write music yet. :)

EAch race will have their 'theme' and there will be a couple of tracks for general gameplay. I want to model the music like how it was done in Ascendancy to give each race a sort of culture of their own. Each planet will have their own distinctness.

I've taken the same universe for an older game project of mine, Invaded and am using it here. So technically Galactic Xenocide is a prequel to Invaded. :D

WILL
11-07-2011, 04:08 AM
477479478
The Greys were once a strong bi-pedal species cunning and strong. Over time, through repeated wars among their race's various factions they nearly wiped out their entire race and devastated their home world. Eventually hostilities ceased, but not before it had became apparent that they could no longer continue on as a race. With hope that they could one day repair the damage they had caused themselves, they devoted their efforts exclusively to science and research.

They temporarily overcame their population problem by adapting cloning technology to help them reproduce their numbers and repopulate their world. Over the generations their bodies gradually became smaller and weaker. They have however managed to increase their natural lifespan, living longer and able to learn more.


The Greys are now a curious race obsessed with all things technology. They continually seek out new worlds and technologies of which they can learn from. Unfortunately they still harbor an aggressive nature and their experiments tend to go well beyond what other races would consider proper and often declared harmful scientific practices.


Their greatest asset due to their high intelligence and knowledge is their ability to quickly repair damage to their ships. Due to the complex nature their ships, however they don't have the same armour as some of the more warrior-type races.

The Greys Music Theme (http://soundcloud.com/jason-mcmillen/the-greys-ver-1/)

paul_nicholls
11-07-2011, 04:43 AM
Nice! Good going Jason :)

cheers,
Paul

WILL
11-07-2011, 05:00 AM
Thanks Paul! :)

More details on the game's development at the Red Ant Games (http://www.redantgames.com/News/Entries/2011/7/9_Galactic_Xenocide.html) website!

paul_nicholls
11-07-2011, 05:17 AM
Any chance of larger screenshots of those concept drawings? :)

cheers,
Paul

WILL
11-07-2011, 12:12 PM
Yeah, I noticed that they were kinda small after updating the site. I'm starting to get annoyed with iWeb. It's sort of the weakest of all the iLife tools. Guess it was really meant for uploading you site to MobileMe instead of making your own nice looking site.

I'll fix the images later on today I think.

Ingemar
14-07-2011, 07:02 PM
Yeah, I noticed that they were kinda small after updating the site. I'm starting to get annoyed with iWeb. It's sort of the weakest of all the iLife tools. Guess it was really meant for uploading you site to MobileMe instead of making your own nice looking site.

I'll fix the images later on today I think.
The iLife package isn't very impressive. A bug hive. Have you tried RapidWeaver or SandVox?

WILL
14-07-2011, 10:15 PM
I actually really like iLife. The probably I find is that iWeb lags WAY behind the other great apps like iPhoto, iMovie and Garage Band. I believe iWeb was designed exclusively to make quick/nice looking websites for MobileMe, which is half the problem. And this is something that Steve Jobs himself is admitting kinda sucks. Most of the effects that the app offers don't really show up on current-day browsers, ie. Shadows, from what I can tell so I have to modify the hell out of all the site I made just to get them to look nice.

I've heard of RapidWeaver, but not SandVox. I'll likely switch, but not right now. It works for the most part, once I have need of a proper portal, I'll see about properly replacing Dreamweaver. :) Which I assume is what RapidWeaver is trying to do by it's title.

WILL
14-07-2011, 11:08 PM
481482
Evolving on a planet covered mostly in swamps and jungles, the Reptilians have fought their way into a strong warrior race. Having eaten their way to the top of the food chain on their home world, they have developed a global society that respects strength. Their culture recognizes that to ensure their own survival it is necessary to destroy all other powers that could stand to harm them. Their leaders have developed ships to take them to other worlds to expand their strength and defend against all other threats.

Reptilians were not interested in space or the rest of the galaxy until they made first contact with a peaceful race who landed on their world as refuges in a damaged ship from their own destroyed world. These peaceful aliens wished only for sanctuary on their planet and offered their knowledge in return for a new home. Fearing that this could be the sign that other aliens might want to visit their planet as well, the Reptilians captured the ship and space-fairing visitors and forced them to teach their own people how to make their own space craft and reach the stars.


The Reptilians eventually learned to create huge and powerful ships capable of taking lots of damage before being destroyed. The alien prisoners eventually died while in captivity after the Reptilians learned all that they wanted from them. The technology they learned was focused mostly on armour and weapons rather than propulsion and navigation.


Reptilian ships can take a lot of hits and offer plenty of damage, but aren't very fast nor do they build very quick either.


The Reptilians Music Theme (http://soundcloud.com/jason-mcmillen/the-reptilians-ver-2-wip)

paul_nicholls
14-07-2011, 11:11 PM
Nice! Who is doing the aliens artwork for you? It is very good :)

cheers,
Paul

WILL
15-07-2011, 01:17 AM
I'm using parts from assets I've purchased from Poser model stores. I've purchased the rights to the Grey alien and Raptor alien (used to represent the reptilians) for my Invaded project from before. Just reusing them here. Same universe, different game. :)

I have however done some filter and effects work in Photoshop to tweaking colouring and lighting and such. The backgrounds are from free domain images I've found on the net.

Actually one of the aliens, you haven't seem them yet, I manually generated using different filters and effects. I think they turned out pretty good. Hopefully I'll have their description written and I can post them as well.

paul_nicholls
15-07-2011, 01:34 AM
Cool! Keep em coming :)

cheers,
Paul

WILL
24-07-2011, 07:35 PM
Thanks for all the feedback on our mock entry! :)

We kinda flopped our timings for this one so we wouldn't have made it even if this were a legit entry into the Challenge competition. But we do love the core game we were designing and I've spent enough time (among 2 seperate game projects) with this alien universe I've created so I've become quite attached. I'd like to develop this game further and make for a multi-platform release on Windows, Mac and iOS. :) Android and Linux depend on Stoney's ability to make good stable versions of them as I have not the hardware or setup for either.

We'll post more late after the competition scoring and once we've gotten something to show off.