Distant Star - An Old-school 4x space game

[Doches]

@ConraDargo As it sits now (1.7), Distant Star is nowhere near complete. What we've done is try to create the core gameplay on which we'll be expanding in the next few months. It's important to us to get it into players' hands as soon as possible, though, so we can find out what people like and where we need to focus our work. Trade? Diplomacy? Tactical ship combat?

All of these things are on the table, at this point -- how people react to 1.7 will determine what we do next. What would you like to see?

[hsthompson]

Originally Posted by Doches

Trade? Diplomacy? Tactical ship combat?

All of these things are on the table, at this point -- how people react to 1.7 will determine what we do next. What would you like to see?

Started, but haven't finished a few games, but here's a few notes:

- audio feedback when I tap
- let me view planet properties after I send a probe (for example, I can only get size of the planet if there is a shipyard it seems)
- turn off music, keep audio feedback option

As for new additions, I'd probably work on combat - perhaps allow retreat before engaging...not sure if you have orbital bombing of enemy occupied planets, but that might be cool too. I note you guys have additional races to add, that'll be a nice addition too.

Major changes from the previous version, and all for the better! Great work!

[Doches]

Thanks! Combat is definitely a priority, but we're actually looking at building in a streamlined tactical combat game (a la Steambirds or Crimson: Steam Pirates). Not sure if we're going to go with that idea or not, right now...

Audio/music separation is done; it'll be out as part of the next release. That literally hadn't occurred to me -- I tend to play iOS games on mute, so it just wasn't an issue personally. Good call! Similarly, the ability to view planet information without colonising is on the list for the next update.

[Ziekke]

Originally Posted by Doches

Thanks! Combat is definitely a priority, but we're actually looking at building in a streamlined tactical combat game (a la Steambirds or Crimson: Steam Pirates). Not sure if we're going to go with that idea or not, right now...

Audio/music separation is done; it'll be out as part of the next release. That literally hadn't occurred to me -- I tend to play iOS games on mute, so it just wasn't an issue personally. Good call! Similarly, the ability to view planet information without colonising is on the list for the next update.

I think it could also be nice to see combat in a style similar to a mix of Advance Wars battle screens and Gratuitous Space Battles. Where the dice roll in the background and you watch the battle play out (if you choose).

Also, something that seems confusing to me... once a ship is built, how can we tell what class the ship is? Also.. is there a way to cancel ship orders (say to travel to a planet)?

This game seems excellent.. but there are some details that appear missing to me that make it difficult to keep involved.

I really like the style of the game, though.. hopefully you keep at it and make it as great as it's potential.

[ConraDargo]

Originally Posted by Doches

@ConraDargo As it sits now (1.7), Distant Star is nowhere near complete. What we've done is try to create the core gameplay on which we'll be expanding in the next few months. It's important to us to get it into players' hands as soon as possible, though, so we can find out what people like and where we need to focus our work. Trade? Diplomacy? Tactical ship combat?

All of these things are on the table, at this point -- how people react to 1.7 will determine what we do next. What would you like to see?

Thank you for replying, but most of all - thank you for rolling out the huge update! The game has "already" become much more enjoyable and you've definitely taken a step in the right direction The new UI looks good, the tutorial has been slightly improved and I appreciate some of the new graphics.

Most importantly though, the game's core feels a lot more solid now and consumer friendly. I felt that there were just so many things available to me as a player in the initial release that you as a know-it-all developer didn't really bother with explaining and it overwhelmed me (like the sheer number of ships available right from the start O_O).
As fun as it may seem to be thrown into a cockpit with all them buttons to press and levers to pull, if the plane is in actual mid-flight and you don't have a clue on what you're doing then all that fun suddenly turns into horror once you realize that you don't have a friggin' idea what you're playing with and how to keep yourself from plunging down into the ground.

I'm still having trouble orienting myself on the iPhone's small screen, though. First of all I'd like to be able to zoom in even further, because as it is now I often find it hard to direct my ships to other planets because of how hard it can to distinguish one fleet from another when they're close to each other. Also, the screen usually locks into position when I have selected a fleet, so unless the planet I wish to send them to is already within eyesight then I am unable to dispatch them there (not sure if this is a bug or just a restraint?).

Now, going back to the tutorial - I said that it's been "slightly improved" and I do hope that you intend to include more directions in the future. Not that I'm too stupid or lazy to work things out on my own, but it'd be nice if you were to explain things like how combat is calculated (the more ships the merrier and that's it?) and help players conquer their first planet because while I do appreciate how the different ship types now seem to be something you need to make some research on in order to unlock, I was a bit shocked to find out that the probes available right from the start don't seem to actually do much... they're just, well, probes. Naturally. Hence the name; they're a cheap way of scouting planets. But as far as I can tell, they didn't really provide me with any information regarding the planets to which I sent them (?). All it did was add a layer of graphics to an otherwise colorless sphere. I seem to recall how the early tutorial (before patch v1.7 I mean) talked about different levels of how habitation friendly a planet could be?
Perhaps you've made it so that planets need to be "probed" before a colony ship can go there and colonize the planet? 'Cause that would make sense (maybe this was even the case pre 1.7 but because I haven't been playing since then, I forgot all about it).

Glad to hear that you've got some thoughts on combat as well. I myself also prefer to have a streamlined system to make for quicker play sessions, but I still feel that something could be added to it as combat stands now

Again, thanks for the update and I'm really looking forward to seeing this game grow because it has such huge potential and patch 1.7 really shows that.

[Tenebrious]

Howzit guys and gals.

@Ziekke We love GSB too so hopefully we'll manage to squeeze some of that awesome into our combat module.

We are re-looking at how ships are displayed and hopefully you'll see a marked improvement in the coming updates!

You can change a ships destination mid flight by tapping on the ship and selecting a new target destination.

@ConraDargo We are conscious of the steep learning curve the game presents at the moment and are actively redesigning the tutorial as part of improving the new player experience as well as stream lining the way players interact with the game!

thanks again for pointing what you guys are liking/disliking about the latest version. feedback is priceless

[Royce]

I was not previously aware of this game, but I just saw this under price drops, and it looks pretty good. However this thread has me questioning whether I should get it. It sounds like people are saying it's an incomplete game. Is that still the case? I see there have been a handful of additional updates since the last post in this thread.

[syntheticvoid]

Originally Posted by Royce

I was not previously aware of this game, but I just saw this under price drops, and it looks pretty good. However this thread has me questioning whether I should get it. It sounds like people are saying it's an incomplete game. Is that still the case? I see there have been a handful of additional updates since the last post in this thread.

wondering the same...