Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Levi]

I hope we will see the fence in-game.

I hope we get a fence figurine in the collectors edition.

[Knight of Fools]

I just noticed the large list of tags they put with their posts. They're hilarious.

[Gaslamp-Daniel]

About the mining. Would it be possible to build magma-pumps and pipe it to a steam plant (boiler, whatever) and use it instead of coal? And could you use that steam to power a turbine to make electricity.

Generally, yes.

And what would you use electricity for in the game? Is it just for Tesla-coils and the like, or could it be used to power the same things as steam. And if so, what are the advantages/disadvantages over steam power?

Maybe slightly safer in some applications, easier to transport over larger distances, or intentionally more dangerous in others.  Electricity is just another way of storing energy.

And, just for shits and giggles, would it be possible to build a giant thermal powerplant over an active volcano and use it to power the whole continent? (Please say yes)

I very much want to do this, but we have yet to draw up specific design documents for volcanos.

And last question, I swear. Could you, for example, build two powersaw modules on a sawmill to double the production, or build a boiler module on a steel mill to use the heat from the forges to make steam? (Please Say Yes!)

Factories will be upgraded at least in part by upgrading the quality and quantity of their modules, so yes, generally.  The steel mill boiler system, or more generally, a system designed to recycle waste products, aren't actually in the design at this point.  It would be a nice thing to consider, but everything above, including probably the volcano, would be considered first.


Lastly, regarding the early opt-in alpha ala Prison Architect: I'm really intrigued by this idea.  Initially, my (and the other partners at Gaslamp's) reaction to this sort of funding was that it preferentially rewards people for spending money, which we weren't very comfortable with.  But as this becomes more commonplace due to the rising popularity of Kickstarter projects and the like, this sort of thing is viewed increasingly more constructively, which I think is really cool.  Game development is evolving in ways that make it easier to fund games, and that's better for everyone.

As I think I mentioned earlier in the thread, so long as we maintain the capacity to fund this project until completion without needing intervention, early alpha builds will likely not be something we hand out much at all, paid or not, just due to the triage problems of having a huge user base when there are very visible bugs.  I'm not entirely against the idea of paid BETA opt-ins, but I'd still prefer to give out beta invites without a cash incentive, as that way people who aren't huge fans of the project will still try it and give us their honest opinions.  There are ways we could do both, and I'm going to be paying close attention to the projects that are using the paid beta model on our scale closely to see what happens with them.

[Viken]

Up until recently, I'd never been much troubled about early opt-ins and whatnot.  Generally, they're rare; with only a few dozen people chosen per BETA cycle and the like, and I've never personally ahd the experience, until I just had to buy Blockade Runner.

BUT! The reason why most people are so fanatical about alphas and betas is that it gets them closer to having real-time interaction with game developement cycles and actually getting a developers response to some sort of idea, suggest, or critique.  But opening up reguarly scedualed blog posts and the like solves a part of that, because people actually get to know what's going on, and it sates their curiosity.  And that's something almost entirely in the genre of independent developers.  Sad as I am to say, the AAA devs are almost always closed-mouthed about their stuff, even after publically announcing their projects.

In truth, if a developement studio could be set up that had something like real-time videos and whatnot of what's going on, with or without narative, alot of people would be glued to their YouTube channel (or equivalant).  Although that isn't very pratical.  So, once a week updates are alot nicer than what we normally get. 

P.S.: I also like the complexities that can arrise when you have moister/humidity/firtility as regulated values that have to be taken into account.  A highly advanced civilization has ways to deal with it, but a starting colony may not, and thus require much more labor (Haha!) intensive involvement; should you even be bothered to make it a substainable thing.  Atleast, until you get a massive order for several hundred tons of top-grade firtile soil for a gardening project back in the Capitol or something. Hahaha.

[Pnx]

I think it's going to be quite fun to see how this turns out, I can't wait to get my hands on the completed game when it comes out.

[Aklyon]

That is a nice little fence. I like that fence.

[Pnx]

Am I going to have to inform the ministry that they're going to have to clear up a cult that worships fences?

[alway]

In truth, if a developement studio could be set up that had something like real-time videos and whatnot of what's going on, with or without narative, alot of people would be glued to their YouTube channel (or equivalant).  Although that isn't very pratical.  So, once a week updates are alot nicer than what we normally get. 

Yus. Just find an unemployed liberals arts major with a good radio voice, and hire them to do 8 hour a day dev-streaming.

[Aqizzar]

In truth, if a developement studio could be set up that had something like real-time videos and whatnot of what's going on, with or without narative, alot of people would be glued to their YouTube channel (or equivalant).  Although that isn't very pratical.  So, once a week updates are alot nicer than what we normally get. 

Yus. Just find an unemployed liberals arts major with a good radio voice, and hire them to do 8 hour a day dev-streaming.

Technically, Notch tried doing something like that when his team did that three-day game thing.  They set up a Livestream camera so the world could enjoy the sight of five guys sitting nearly motionless at computers for forty eight hours straight, and it was every bit as riveting as it sounds.

[Pnx]

I imagine it would make for incredibly boring commentary though;

"Oh what's this ladies and gentleman, after going to sleep the lead developer has turned his computer back on at 2 in the morning, what could he be up to? It seems... yes... he forgot to add a comment to his code on the trains! What a turn about ladies and gentleman!"

Seriously, although the end result is very exciting, the process of making it all (especially the coding) tends to be very slow and tedious. There's sometimes a few moments which are fun to talk about, but mostly... not.

EDIT: Ninja'd.

[ScriptWolf]

Hey Daniel thanks for the reply.

I see what you mean and for me personally I see it as more of a investment and wanting to give money to a company who are making great games and feel like I helped some what. Being honest your doing one of my dream games in my much loved genre. If you let us preorder right now with no beta or alpha and was not coming out till 2014 and was $60 I would still buy it instantly right then.

Your game has to be one of the few games I have been excited about in a long time, sadly I do find my self hounding your website every Tuesday and refreshing every hour

But I'm not sure if you said this or I got it from the Maia but where you going to start a beta/alpha phase about February, march, April time ?. Alpha testing is a good thing in my opinion because even with a small group of user you catch stuff which is wrong or vital bugs early on before they become more embedded into the game and your getting a honest user opinion while they still know it's alpha

And do you plan on carrying on with it like you did with dungeons and adding more content and expansions ?

Alsoo I remember reading there is also going to be multiplayer, could we play against a friend and use horrible horrible artifacts on him ?

[Oliolli]

Am I going to have to inform the ministry that they're going to have to clear up a cult that worships fences?

Why would we need clearing up? We just like the fence, that's all.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I must take these bits and pieces into a hidden location on the other side of that hill.

To, uh, keep them safe from the... the, umm...

* Oliolli KO's Pnx.

[ScriptWolf]

hey Daniel will there be beta and alpha testing for clockwork empire ?

Definitely!  We hope to have a playable game for people to start trying to crash/break by Feb/March.  I'll keep you guys up to date =)

I found it haha !

I really hope this is still the case and you guys think you will achieve that for that time frame. The way things are going is it still looking this way?

[katwithk]

Wait... what?

I don't beleuve you.

This looks way too cool, I refuse to beleive it.

[Urist McSpike]

New post! http://www.gaslampgames.com/2012/11/15/its-an-odd-world-after-all/

Game terrain is one of those things that can really interfere with enjoyability, I think.  I like to play a lot of builder/sim type games - Pharaoh, Sim City, Tropico, Anno 1701, those types of games, and I think the interaction of game assets and terrain is something that should be given thought.  Some (mostly earlier) games avoid the issue by having flat terrain, like Pharaoh - you can't build on hills, as there really aren't any.  Others, like Tropico 3, require a flat spot for the building.  (Which does & doesn't make sense - look at the ranches; why can't the fences go up & down hills?)  As a matter of fact, I remember spending hours on one Tropico island doing nothing but placing & deleting large buildings simply to flatten out terrain for my planned city.  Hours.  It was not much fun.  So please, if possible, make it so buildings can actually adapt to a bit of terrain variation.

I have had thoughts, idle pondering really, about the type of interactive system that Daniel talks about, and I'm interested in how you guys will continue with it, and how it will work out.  One of the problems of games (especially mmo's) is that the game world is not dynamic or natural - assets are placed because someone made the decision to place them, not because there is any rule set specifying where they should be.  Although if the system could be built as I envision it, it would be usable for science, schools, and about any kind of dynamic game sim around...  Instead of the simple 3x3 matrix, imagine multi-layered databases, pulling data from the ones 'above' to create more detail.  For example, at a 'top' level, you could define the sun's attributes - energy output, visible spectrum, etc.  Another layer for atmospheric data, for air pressure & gas mix.  Yet another for weather modelling.  And below those, a 'world grid', where every 'square' has an x,y,z co-ordinate.  Mixing all of those with a defined sea level, you could find the altitude, pressure, humidity, temperature and solar exposure of every spot in the world.  If you added a plant database which defined the min/desired/max range for all of those attributes, then plants would only be spawned in the places they would actually grow - even if the variables were changed.  This kind of system would be a huge undertaking all in itself. 

But imagine the fun if you could run simulations, say, of the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event in a game environment at high speed.  Higher atmospheric albedo reflecting more solar energy, lowering the overall temperature.  Plants dying off, causing herbivores to die off, causing carnivores to die off.  Plant populations changing in response to changing local conditions... fun.  But a pain to actually make, I'm sure.

Daniel mentioned a grid, for humidity, water level, soil moisture & soil quality, which leaves a lot of room (I hope) for positive and negative effects of resource management & technology.  Mining operations leave unsightly slag, which also lowers the soil quality.  Excess irrigation or use for drinking lowers the overall soil moisture, in overpopulated areas where that is limited.  (Like watering lawns in Las Vegas.)  Slash & burn agriculture, crop rotation, fertilizer, Cthonic artifacts... so many things that could, ah, 'tweak' nature.