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[forsaken1111]

Been about a month now. How are things going there Steve?

I got your PM and responded but since then haven't heard anything.

[dorf]

It seems he's forgotten to update this thread with the .412b update.
Also, they will be recoding the game from scratch using a different technology. In turn, Imperia will look and play better as well as become P2P.

[Retropunch]

Good to hear it's being worked on, and it is probably time for it to move to a bigger and better engine. Whilst I love aurora, that is a clear warning to developers about what happens if you stick with a system not meant for big games for too long.

I also don't mind having to buy it - it doesn't seem like he's trying to squeeze anyone and we've got a good 'demo' in place for people to see how it works.

Good look Steve!

[Texashawk]

Hey guys! Sorry for not updating this thread. Yes, it's true, we're moving the Imperia galaxy to a bigger and less creaky house! Here's my post on the website, explaining my thought process:

So you probably have noticed that I've been gone for a while from the forum. There is a very good reason for that: After much thought, I have decided to take on the large-scale challenge that Imperia has thrown in front of me. I'll explain.

I have been working on Imperia for almost a year now (10 months) and it started out as a single project that I was using to learn how to program. I reached a point in my development where I realized that I actually had (or could learn) the skills needed to create the 5X game I've always wanted to play, which became Imperia. As I continued to work on it, I wanted feedback, so I posted the game to a few forums. Interest grew, and as the game went through version .2, then .3, and .4, more and more people jumped on, to the point where there are thousands of hits a week when I post new info.

With the addition of Pavlos and the creation of the awesome community, I had to at least consider what, if anything, I wanted to do with Imperia. Does it stay a hobby, or do I try to make it fly, follow my dream, and create the game I've always wanted - but with more resources?

After much thought, prayer, conversation, and trepidation, I've decided to jump into the icy pool: I will rebuild Imperia from the ground up and sell it.

What does this mean to you? First, I will release .414 shortly. It has a lot of bug fixes and is very playable at this point, if obviously incomplete. Future VB version releases of Imperia will always be free. I will continue to 'noodle' on the VB version of Imperia for ideas and to quickly test out certain parameters as I work though getting up to speed with my new development system.

Which is what, Steve? Well... glad you asked. I'm going all the way with Unity 5 and C# scripting. This change will allow many benefits:

    Universal compatibility - there will be builds for Windows, Mac, and Linux
    Resolution issues will be markedly reduced
    The engine is more stable and much more supported at this point
    Install dependencies are now much more integrated - one click install, with the flexibility of a full install program
    Better memory management
    Fonts won't suck :-D
    Vastly more potential to upgrade the UI - we are designing a 'holistic' UI where you never leave the galaxy map - you will 'zoom' into provinces (formerly sectors), systems, and planets - all on the same screen, but with different information. I've already mocked a prototype and it's way more beautiful and flexible!

Those are the high points, and I am very excited about having the chance to correct and improve some things about the original Imperia, especially with the interface and some of the complexity of the planet economic system.

So for now, there is no MSRP, no Kickstarter, and no immediate early access plan. As I have said before, I have a lucrative full-time job and do not need to do this for the money. If we do move to some sort of crowdfunding, it will be small and used to pay for assets (music, Pavlos' art, animation, etc). There is also the possibility of publishing though another company, though there is very little I can say about that at this time. Let's just say for now there will be no call for your wallet.

If you are interested in being an actual alpha tester for KatHawk games (the DBA of my company), please let me know. A playable build is frankly 2-3 months off while I wrangle with the Unity system. I wish I had started with it from the beginning, but c'est la vie. There are some of you who have been with us since the beginning and I will personally reach out to you.

If you have any other questions, thoughts, etc. I would love your input. One thing we will be doing soon will be to update and unify the blog, the wiki, and the forum, and create a one-stop page with the usual things: news feed, media corner, development updates, etc.

I am very nervous about this decision, and I did not come to it lightly. I have no idea if Imperia will be as good as I want it to be at the end of the development cycle but I will say this. I've worked on this thing for almost a year, and I'll work on it until it's the best space strategy game I can possibly make, and if you want to join the ride, there's plenty of room on the wagon - the journey's just starting (again): hop aboard!

As far as it not being a money grab, well, it's true. There will be NO requests for donations even, or money, until we have a fully-functional alpha. Here's my post in the 4X games reddit when this topic was brought up:

Love the idea. Definitely going to hold out until release but is there a place we can donate? Didn't see one on the site.

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[–]Texashawk76 4 points 22 hours ago

Thanks Beanchilla! For now, there isn't a place to donate and there is a specific reason for that - I am weary of projects that ask for money before there's an actual functioning product and when they get their money they either cut and run or turn out a half-assed product that might as well be called cutting and running. Not to say that all projects are like this - there are many good developers out there whose word still means something - but there are enough bad actors out there that I want to steer clear of any financial commitments until we have a solid, full-feature alpha that needs some polish and some more professional assets. At that time, we have discussed several funding options, and donations might be one of them. My team is aware of how I feel about this, and I just want to do this thing right, honestly, and ethically, and the only way to prove it is to do it. This is a part-time project and I have a good-paying job so I certainly don't need the money, I am doing this as a passion project and to create the game that I've always wanted to play for almost 20 years, and if by grace I am able to turn this into a more full-time job (or my only job) I will certainly embrace that.

Didn't mean to go off the reservation with my answer to a simple question. I just want to be clear about how I feel about it. If you really want to donate something, tell your friends or gaming groups about Imperia. The more people that are involved in the community, the better of a game it will eventually be, and that would be worth ten times a donation, Beanchilla. :-)

-Steve

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[–]Beanchilla 2 points 22 hours ago

That's a pretty bad ass stance to play.

If you were me, sitting at home gaming for about 2 hours a night, would you say that it's time to dive into Imperia? Or should I hold out?

I'm interested for sure but don't want to get burnt out! Love the concept though.

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[–]Texashawk76 3 points 21 hours ago

Thanks. ;-D I'm not a kid in a basement cranking out code, I'm an almost 40-year old senior manager for a Fortune 500 company. My word means something to me and others.

As far as should you take a dive, I recommend downloading the latest version of the original Imperia (will be .415; coming tomorrow US time) and take it for a spin. It's essentially a testbed and my first real foray into programming a large project. There is a wiki (http://imperia5x.wikidot.com/start) though some of it is out of date, there is still a lot of good info there and on the forums. If what you see is enough of a foundation for you, then come along! The proof is what I've already done. And if it's not, I'd like to know how to make the game you played better for the next crack. Fair?

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[–]Beanchilla 2 points 21 hours ago

More than fair bud! Bookmarked! The minute you have a donation page I am there. Thanks for making the game. Looks fun and hopefully the build tomorrow is enough for me to stick with.

Thanks for responding.

So there's that. If you want to follow the project, the best place is our website (www.imperia5X.com). It's basically a forum right now, but it's going to get a facelift soon, and include a hub to media, the wiki, the dev blog, and all the other stuff people expect from a game web site. :-)

Thanks! And sorry for the lack of posts!

-Steve

[forsaken1111]

Hey Steve, welcome back. Unity? That's awesome!

How far along are you with the port?

[varsovie]

Unity... does that mean possible native Linux? 

[forsaken1111]

Unity... does that mean possible native Linux? 

Possibly! Actually he said so right there in his post.

[Texashawk]

Hey Steve, welcome back. Unity? That's awesome!

How far along are you with the port?

We have a basic build that is essentially the Galaxy UI and system/planet UI as well, as well as a fully-generated galaxy. I had to learn Unity and C#, though one .NET language is very much like another so that was easy. Having said that, I wish I'd started with it all along. Unity is amazing once you understand the workflow and how it was you to do things. There are some screenshots on the website (www.imperia5x.com) with some early test build screeniies.

Steve

[Texashawk]

Unity... does that mean possible native Linux? 

Yes, it does! One consideration from moving from XNA is reaching the widest possible audience, and moving to a Unity 5/c# development environment will make that happen. :-)

-Steve

[pondicherry]

I guess I'll check this cool concept (and good looking) game.

[Texashawk]

I'll be posting a YouTube video next week showing some of the early UI. It will be mostly a developer video blog but I will show off some of the changes from Imperia Classic.

Also remember that the download right now is the classic Imperia. Imperia Unity is still in very early days and while obviously we will be carrying over and adding much more gameplay, they won't be the same.

Check it out soon!

-Steve

[LordArchibald]

I advise against changing engine at this point (from my experience it ends up badly; and overall the desire to rewrite the game over and over again is a common disease among programmers , the game is currently too advanced. Also, Unity3D would make sense if you were to use the 3D capabilities, that's where it shines, and it has trouble with 2D (and Imperia is basicly about 2D), so I'm not sure the switch will give you any benefits (except platform compatibility).

[forsaken1111]

I advise against changing engine at this point (from my experience it ends up badly; and overall the desire to rewrite the game over and over again is a common disease among programmers , the game is currently too advanced. Also, Unity3D would make sense if you were to use the 3D capabilities, that's where it shines, and it has trouble with 2D (and Imperia is basicly about 2D), so I'm not sure the switch will give you any benefits (except platform compatibility).

You're a bit late as they're already deep in the switch, and Unity has native 2D tools as well now fyi but its perfectly possible to build "2D" games in the 3D toolset as well.

[LordArchibald]

I advise against changing engine at this point (from my experience it ends up badly; and overall the desire to rewrite the game over and over again is a common disease among programmers , the game is currently too advanced. Also, Unity3D would make sense if you were to use the 3D capabilities, that's where it shines, and it has trouble with 2D (and Imperia is basicly about 2D), so I'm not sure the switch will give you any benefits (except platform compatibility).

You're a bit late as they're already deep in the switch, and Unity has native 2D tools as well now fyi but its perfectly possible to build "2D" games in the 3D toolset as well.

Possible, by all means, feasible, not really (at least I was unimpressed by Unity 2D capabilities). Anyway, if they are deep into it as you say it's a moot point anyway

[Texashawk]

LordArchibald,

Yes, as forsaken says we're pretty deep into the Unity version. While Unity is a 3D SDK by design, it allows us to do some remarkable things as far as UI. Plus, it's more extensible and stable than XNA, and will be supported for quite a while. The performance boost we are seeing with using Unity and C# is incredible - a galaxy can be generated in less than a second, which is a huge increase from the old game. It will be interesting to see how Unity can handle intense data structures once populations are generated, but early returns are promising. We are also taking this time to revamp some concepts of the game and UI that were either unclear or didn't have the desired effect. We are currently accepting feedback at www.imperia5x.com - we really do listen to ideas and feedback.

-Steve