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Starcom:Nexus, closed Beta invite

justkevin

Novice
Joined
Jun 5, 2014
Messages
15
Years ago I posted a question on RPG Codex about a space action RPG I'd started working on. Anyway, long story short, it's finally entering closed beta. If anyone here is interested in checking it out, reply or send me a message for the download.

What's the game like? It's sort of a modernized version of classic games like Starflight or the Ur-quan masters, with an emphasis on exploration, discovery and story mixed with action. It currently has about 40-60 minutes of gameplay-- the primary goal of this beta round is collect feedback and data and figure out what gameplay areas need work before expanding the content.

More info and trailer: https://store.steampowered.com/app/863590/Starcom_Nexus/

Thanks for reading!
 
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justkevin

Novice
Joined
Jun 5, 2014
Messages
15
Sure, here are main points:
  • Game play is top-down 2D realtime, like Escape Velocity/StarControl/VoidExpanse, etc.
  • Non-procedural open universe. The goal is a sense of discovering a universe with its own story as opposed to wandering randomly generated star systems.
  • Progression is via modular ship building and research trees. E.g., add more turrets to fire more rounds per second or engines to go faster. Research techs to increase weapon range, damage, unlock new modules, etc.
  • Interact with aliens via dialogue or plasma rounds. Some will always be hostile, some will be friendly depending on your choices.
  • Explore planets in search of "anomalies": interactive encounters that can give resources, kill crew, give information or clues, or just are simply weird/interesting.
 

Galdred

Studio Draconis
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Developer
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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.


Starcom is a name I haven't heard since I was a child.

I didn't even know there was a commercial cartoon to go with the toys. :(

Doesn't that make it risky to use this name for your game, from a legal point of view?
 
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justkevin

Novice
Joined
Jun 5, 2014
Messages
15


Starcom is a name I haven't heard since I was a child.

I didn't even know there was a commercial cartoon to go with the toys. :(

Doesn't that make it risky to use this name for your game, from a legal point of view?


Good question. I wasn't aware of the toy/cartoon when I started making the game (or the original Flash game back in '08).

According to the USPTO, Hasbro's trademark on "Starcom" was considered abandoned as of May 13, 2013.
 

Norfleet

Moderator
Joined
Jun 3, 2005
Messages
12,250
Somehow, I don't think they're going to dig that particular thing up in today's political climate, lest it be seen as "Make Space Great Again: The Game".
 

HeatEXTEND

Prophet
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Nedderlent
cf5a79e6c9cf0ed04bd939616534bf10.jpg

i 'member
 

justkevin

Novice
Joined
Jun 5, 2014
Messages
15
The game has started a second round of closed betas. If you're interested in checking it out, here's a temporary link that will be up for the next 24 hours:

(Link expired)

Info/disclaimers/privacy:
  • This is a Windows build.
  • You can give feedback in game by pressing 'F8'.
  • The game will send performance and game event data to a server. This includes general system specs such as CPU, video card type, etc as well as various in game actions. It does not log any personally identifiable information beyond what you enter in the game.
  • It's a Beta, so expect some bugs (although testers are reporting it's pretty stable). It's also not content complete, there's about 2-3 hours of playable content and the game.
Thanks for checking it out!
 
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Norfleet

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Those reviews are clearly all fake shill reviews. I only believe reviews that are negative, positive reviews are always just empty babble devoid of informational content.
 
Joined
Oct 26, 2016
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1,898
For me, the issue is that its missing a couple pieces. At what is does, it does very very well. But it needs a couple more things to give the game some depth. Ship building, and combat, exploration all very good and satisfying. But it needs more. It needs more interactions with the ship and crew itself. Needs more opportunity to be resourceful - after all this is the strongest trait of an adventurer, right. Food for thought for developer.
 

Norfleet

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Jun 3, 2005
Messages
12,250
My fisrt impression of this is that this is easily the most pornographic spaceship game I have ever played. I can't tell if it's any good so far, but I can tell you one thing: The starting weapon is completely fucking useless. The bullets are incredibly slow and can easily be outrun, the accuracy is lousy and shots don't go where you aim them, and it does basically no damage.

But you know what DOES work? RAMMING YOUR ENEMIES. My ship is just this space dong that destroys enemy ships by fucking them to death. Like I said: Pornographic.
 

Sratopotator

Savant
Joined
Sep 21, 2016
Messages
149
The game is not bad. Simplistic, but not bad. Clearly inspired by Star Control (forward base where you perform upgrades/refill crew, collecting resources for upgrades, exploring unknown regions of space - meeting alien races, making discoveries etc).

Note, that the game is not a space-sim per se as you cannot trade commodities, or perform random tasks, and the game is rather linear - you explore sectors in a straight line, sometimes the line branches off into two or three paths (some interconnected, some dead-ends).
Space in itself is open though, in all directions. You can travel without wormholes/jumpgates manually, finding some hidden stuff on the way. I'm wondering how well the game handles this approach. I won't bother checking right now, "manual" flight speed is rather low.

It plays like a linear version of Star Control, with EV combat (combat and travel on the same layer). Linearity is not a big problem, as there are some quests/secrets which require backtracking, but it would certainly be better with more open approach.
Exploration is satisfying and has CYOA elements - writing in CYOA segments is good, but the segments themselves are too simplistic (only 1-3 steps per each "story", and rarely multiple choices are present).

Will post more impressions after i play some more. So far, so good. Really one person made it? Surprising.

EDIT: Oh, and kudos for the notes system! -> You can add manually written notes to each spot of the map. It's helpful as not all content that requires backtracking is noted in your Mission Log.

EDIT2: Damn, one more thing.
It also has a nice modular approach to shipbuilding - you construct the ship using hexagonal 2D blocks. You only have one block forced on yourself - bridge. Then you attach additional blocks - weapons, power plants, engines, shields, survey modules etc.
Your visual representation is identical to the setup of blocks you selected. You start with a one block-wide ship, and finish with something like 10 blocks in width. Feels great and looks good too.
 
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Norfleet

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Messages
12,250
you cannot trade commodities
What? No, you can totally trade commodities, and indeed, you sort of have to, because otherwise you are going to be completely fucking broke as there is no way to get more resources.

or perform random tasks, and the game is rather linear - you explore sectors in a straight line, sometimes the line branches off into two or three paths (some interconnected, some dead-ends).
The map did very much give me the sense of being railroaded when I noticed I was kind of ON A LINE, yes.

Your visual representation is identical to the setup of blocks you selected. You start with a one block-wide ship, and finish with something like 10 blocks in width. Feels great and looks good too.
15 wide. I noticed because I couldn't put any more engines on. Also my ship seems to have evolved into the Klingon Bird of Prey, purely by coincidence: A wide rear section with pointed wing-tip-guns to satisfy the demands for Spaceness and the need to cover the entire rear with engines, and a projecting bulbous head section that I use for ramming. Although now that I have missiles, I don't actually do as much ramming anymore, but having an armored thing that I can use to bump and shove things without worrying about breaking anything I care about is still occasionally handy.
 

Galdred

Studio Draconis
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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
It is really weird to have multiple occurences of the cartoon in the thread, but none of the game trailer :o
 

Sratopotator

Savant
Joined
Sep 21, 2016
Messages
149
What? No, you can totally trade commodities, and indeed, you sort of have to, because otherwise you are going to be completely fucking broke as there is no way to get more resources.
'Trade commodities' as in free-form trading mechanics (stations, long distance hauls for bucks etc). I may have worded it poorly. You can still trade stuff with other entities.

How far are you in the game? Does it expand in any way later on? I'm at 3rd-4th column of research upgrades, and I see that there are some hidden branches there. Any new mechanics? Mucho different modules? Something interesting?
If the game does not expand in any way, I will be really disappointed - the game is really simplistic right off the bat, and gets only slightly more complex during the next few hours.
 

Norfleet

Moderator
Joined
Jun 3, 2005
Messages
12,250
'Trade commodities' as in free-form trading mechanics (stations, long distance hauls for bucks etc). I may have worded it poorly. You can still trade stuff with other entities.
Well, the tradeable entities definitely exist in fixed localities that you definitely haul between. I'm not exactly hung up on the concept of having a specific trade station, so it's all the same to me. There is definitely a trade run involved in trading with these peoples.

How far are you in the game? Does it expand in any way later on?
I'm wrapping up the endgame now. The core game loop doesn't really change in any real way. You fly from planet to planet scanning to find "interesting" things, which mostly involve increasingly unnecessary resources since your ship will have hit max-width by that point, and more research points. I hear some people make their ship even larger, but I can't honestly imagine what I'd put on it, especially since I can't install any more engines once I pass about size 45 or so, so at that point your ship's speed starts to tank massively and the handling becomes unbearably bad. You should regard size 45 or 55 as basically max size, really. MAYBE 65 if you can tolerate it, but that's pretty much the limit at which every useful thing has been installed and the ship is just getting unbearably clunky cuz you max out at 15 engines. I suspect I could reclaim some space if I removed the ram bow from my ship. I mean, I don't REALLY need a big armor-plated nose anymore...

I'm at 3rd-4th column of research upgrades, and I see that there are some hidden branches there. Any new mechanics? Mucho different modules? Something interesting?
You eventually discover some weapons that will finally work better than simply ramming your enemies, at which point you will probably reduce your usage of ramming. Much like oldschool dreadnought design, the urge to continue to equip your ship with a bow for ramming will persist for some time after you cease to actually ram anyone. The weapon progression appears, as I reach endgame, to go from "Ramming" to "Missile Spam" to "Sniping With Your Yamato Gun".

The cannons you start with remain firmly worthless and once you have the point-defense system that will automatically kill all the debris objects for you, or maybe even the Yamato Gun, you will cease to use those stupid things entirely, no longer even carrying the one used to bust rocks, cuz it sure as hell does fuck all to enemies. As I said, it's worse than no weapon at all in a fight: PREPARE FOR RAMMING SPEED!

If the game does not expand in any way, I will be really disappointed - the game is really simplistic right off the bat, and gets only slightly more complex during the next few hours.
BE DISAPPOINT. The story winds up in a cool direction, but the game ends in kind of a whimper. Did you expect things NOT to be shit? Omnia Merdae Sunt.
 

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