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[chrismdp]

Will the demo remain downloadable after the KS ends? I ask because my AV soft is giving me grief at the moment...

Watched the video and I'm really hyped. What are the demo's limitations? I've noticed no combat and lack of advanced missions, but are there limitations, like, I dunno, smaller galaxy or something?

Yes, I'm leaving the demo up and I'll be updating it with latest progress throughout the campaign. (After the campaign ends the demo updates will only be made available to INSIDER backers.)

Limitations are: simple missions and goods, only five planets/moons to visit, no combat yet, no weapons and ship customisation yet.

Thanks! Let me know if you need help!

[MrWiggles]

If I really loved the Escape Velocity series by Ambrosia, would I like this game?
[edit]
Game crashed when I tried to open it.
Crash log: http://pastebin.com/J1mjK5sb

[Zireael]

How do I save/restore the game? Enjoying it a lot!

[chrismdp]

If I really loved the Escape Velocity series by Ambrosia, would I like this game?
[edit]
Game crashed when I tried to open it.
Crash log: http://pastebin.com/J1mjK5sb

Gah - that's really annoying. Sorry about that.

I think it's probably a graphics card issue: the game currently requires 1GB of graphics memory. The other possibility is that this version of SDL doesn't manage to play nicely with OS X Lion's audio stuff - (I'm right in thinking this is OS X Lion right?)

[chrismdp]

How do I save/restore the game? Enjoying it a lot!

Unfortunately there's no way of doing that yet. It *is* a Kickstarter preview demo only

Glad that you're enjoying it thought!

[chrismdp]

Just to let you all know: there's a new demo version out, including the most often requested feature: the ability to fast-forward time until the morning. You can now rent a hotel room for a small fee which allows you to sleep for one night, or you can sleep at home.

All the details are in the latest update:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/852671098/sol-trader/posts/1375609

Any questions or feedback on the new features let me know!

Chris

[puke]

I updated the original post to have a little more bling. 

Sad to see momentum stalling on the KS, hopefully you pick up a little more attention and get a second wind.

If you want to like, totally replace the first post of this thread with your own content, just PM me and i'll paste in whatever you send.

[chrismdp]

It's slowing down, but that's pretty typical mid-campaign. I'm working hard on getting some new features in to the demo: looking at adding proper lighting today for example. Hopefully a few more nice screenshots and movies will help push it over the line!

Chris

[chrismdp]

Quick update: I've been hard at work on some new lighting code, which is now done ready for the beginning of the combat work next week. You can download the new demo now, hit "H" to turn on some test headlights, and head over to a jump gate to try them out!

In the full game, you'll need those headlights out in far reaches of the solar system. The sun's light will be very dim out there and there'll be plenty of dangerous asteroid and debris fields to navigate...

Check out the update here, along with a sneak preview of what it looks like:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/852671098/sol-trader/posts/1377704

[MrWiggles]

With Social Engineering being a large aspect of the game, have you looked at other forms of economy beside scarcity based capitalism?

Such as reputation based gift economies? Which are entirely/mostly dependent on your good will within a given communiy that does not use a monetary exchange medium?

How much of a simulation is there in the game for its economics? Are NPC Agents, exploiting raw resource centers, setting up refineries and manufactories own there own? Or is the game rigged to always cause scarcity?

[chrismdp]

Great questions. At the moment it's rigged for scarcity in order to promote gameplay balance. also the organisations are currently fixed at the beginning of the game: I'd like to have the ability for AI (and players) to start their own organisations, but this will probably be post-launch DLC.

The gift-based economy ideas are very interesting... We kind of already have that with the favour and trust system that's built into the relationships. There's already an alternative relational economy running parallel to the monetary one. I hadn't thought of formalising it, but that may well work in certain contexts. It's also easy enough to do: just remove the market from a location for example and ensure all resource trading is done through conversation end points.... I'll have a think about that one!

Thanks
Chris

[MrWiggles]

Well, I'm going to threw out a grand idea, that is probably more grand then it is actionable. The game gives you 200 years of history, and familiar relationships are important. It seems natural to play as your progeny, let your player retire.

Let the game advance. Population centers grow. Demand grows. More supplies get exploited, and refineries and manufactories get made. And over a couple generations, you get to experience a changing market. The game would naturally grow harder as margins grow thinner, as manufacturing matches and exacts demand, the solar system enters post scarcity. And the game comes to a natural end, where traders are preforming important function of logistics but not because they're motivated by greed but because its what they want to do.

[chrismdp]

I'd love to build something like this. A market that changes over time in response to macro events is really cool and interesting, although I think the utopian post-scarcity economy you describe is unlikely to happen. I'm not sure I'll get there with this game though: I need to stick with focusing on the relational aspects of the game and let that drive the market.

If I get it right, the relational side of the game should be a nod towards what you describe though. It should be entirely possible to trade and make profit without having to use the traders at all, but simply by doing favours for people and bartering goods.

Retirement is likely to be a post-launch DLC option of some description: I have some ideas about that already.

Thanks for the ideas: I love discussions like this as it helps to stimulate my thinking!

[LoSboccacc]

do you have to wait for people to chat with you about someone before being able to ask their whereabouts?

first mission was to bring a package to Ray (lols about that starfleet official delivering stuff officially to a criminal organization hideout)  and went there and that guy wasn't there.

instead there was someone else, which I assume worked for that organization, I randomly friended him because I'm just a nice guy, however never I found an option to ask if he knew the guy I was looking for

(also my wife has children as two dots relashionships, but at least she loves me XD )

[Cthulhu]

Well, I'm going to threw out a grand idea, that is probably more grand then it is actionable. The game gives you 200 years of history, and familiar relationships are important. It seems natural to play as your progeny, let your player retire.

Let the game advance. Population centers grow. Demand grows. More supplies get exploited, and refineries and manufactories get made. And over a couple generations, you get to experience a changing market. The game would naturally grow harder as margins grow thinner, as manufacturing matches and exacts demand, the solar system enters post scarcity. And the game comes to a natural end, where traders are preforming important function of logistics but not because they're motivated by greed but because its what they want to do.

This starts to sound preachy.  Why is that what happens specifically, instead of any of a hundred other possible outcomes?