thesolarionproject
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0.11 Delay + Discussion about the project
🕑 Added 2020-10-30 16:43:43 +0000 UTCHey all,
Hope everyone is doing well.
Unfortunately I'm still lagging a week behind from the earlier delays in 0.10, and due to bugs and really giving some thought about this project, I've not been able to make that week up yet.
The new release date will be next Friday (6th) and I hope you all will enjoy it. Same as before, if you pledged as a Space Ranger this month, you will receive a message with a link to the build. And I'll also make a post so you know when you should have it.
Also just a reminder, that from November onwards, Space Pirates ($5) will gain access to the 0.12 build at the same time as Space Rangers. However only Space Rangers will have access to next months voting.
Discussion:
I guess I wanted to have a conversation with you all (sorry for the strange phrasing there :P) to give insight into my thoughts on the project, where we're going, and certain ideas or changes I want to make.
Dislikes:
Mechanics - or lack there of:
At the moment, at this point in time, I'm not super happy with the direction of the project. A lot of this comes down to the lack of game mechanics, which I really want to start focusing on. But everytime I do come up with an idea or system, it always feels like it doesn't quite fit,
or it doesn't work, or it simply falls short of being enjoyable and feels more like filler than actual game play.
I'm really open to ideas on what you guys would like to see! So please leave any suggestions or comments below or in the discord.
Current Mechanics:
I'm also very unhappy with some of the mechanics already in play, like the space exploration system. That needs to be ripped apart and started again. This is the main cause of slowdowns / freezes in the game, which I thought my earlier re-architecture would fix. Unfortunately it seems to be the bought assets which are unoptimized and cause these issues. (Mainly looking at the planets for this.)
At some point expect some time out for a big overhaul of this. I may even move over to 2d assets, but I still want to keep the space exploration aspect, but it really also needs fleshing out.
At the moment, it sort of feels like the game is just a run of the mill VN, which I never wanted. And so I will be really focusing on making it something more enjoyable.
Progression - or lack there of:
So, it also feels like progression is quite slow? I was hoping to have moved to 2 progression per month to speed things up a bit. Unfortunately we aren't there yet with that level of support. One change coming however is a better balance of sex / progression. I want to add in more sex scenes per build (which will start with Lillith's level 2 progression). I'm hoping that will get more people on board to help out the project so we can really start going through the crew's progression levels.
I may end up trimming what I had planned if things don't pick up (maybe dropping to 3/4 progression levels instead of 5), as they may present an unrealistic time frame to complete the game.
Likes:
Characters!
I've really enjoyed developing each of the crew mates. And I feel like I've done a good job in making them all distinct, with their own personalities, likes, desires, etc. I feel comfortable writing their dialogue and making sure it's true to the character.
I'm hoping you can all see the results of that as well? I can definitely see some fan favourites appearing if the voting results are anything to go by! :D
Art:
The art Witchking has provided has been awesome to see. I'm very happy with way things look as well in terms of design for the most part, a few things have cropped up, sure, but we have discussed and things will remain at the high quality level you have come to expect! There will be some UI changes / redesigns in the future as well, but I quite like the aesthetic we have at the moment.
Ideas / World building:
I have a lot of character ideas, a lot of story ideas and more to add into the TSP universe! It sucks to think that some of these may never come or may be so far away, but it's always positive that I'm over flowing with ideas on where this game can go in terms of content, especially the spicy content we all enjoy! ;)
The future
I think it's time we talked a bit real for a second. I'm really grateful for the awesome support that you guys have given me. Those who have been willing to contribute large sums of money towards the project to see NPCs of your design in the game!
That said, I will admit that the support levels haven't progressed quite as I'd hope (and there are a plenitude of reasons why that is, some in my control, others not). As I mentioned earlier I was hoping we'd be up to 2 character progression's a month (or close to it, like 2 progressions every other month.)
Being completely honest, as always, I never want a game I work on to be just outputting build after build with no end in sight. I want to make a game start to finish, I also want to make a game that has a clear end date in terms of time spent working on it.
Unfortunately this means that the amount of content that will go into this game will be directly tied to the amount of support it receives. As I mentioned earlier, this will likely mean that content ideas I have will get cut, and overall stories will be shortened to represent this. I don't say this to be dour, or down trodden, but to give realistic expectations to everyone.
The game will of course, have a solid end, a true start to finish experience even if we never make it to the 2 progressions a month. I guess my point is, I don't want this to be a project half a decade in the works! :P
Of course, I may be speaking too far ahead to tell. And it will be interesting to compare this sort of "After 1 year review" to next years! Because it still is a little crazy to me, that this project has almost been in development for a year already.
Anywho!
I've rambled on a fair amount now, and taken up a lot of your time already. I hope you enjoy 0.11 when it rolls around, and of course the all exciting 0.12, featuring Kittenna! :D
Until next time,
- Nergal
Comments
First off your right the characters are the greatest strength of the game. I really enjoy getting to know the various members of the crew and their own story lines. The secondly characters like the Red Queen are also fun and I am intrigued to learn more about the protagonist backstory. And yes the artwork and character designs are awesome. About the Mechanics, it’s not that the concepts of the of them are bad there’s just not much to them at least at the moment. The space navigation thing is fine on first play through but second time around I was fast traveling a lot. There just not really a reason to explore. There needs to some kind of incentive to use other then just travel to quest. You said the combat system you had planned was slimier to X-COM which was fine with me as I really like those games and I like the idea of customizing the crew members with different weapons and skills. Honesty a lot of the ideas you descried on the main page of the game sound great and could make a great game. Integrating them might be other matter. I would say right now just step back take a deep breath and really thing about the kind of game you want to make. Going to into any creative project with clarity of vision can only help. Maybe the final game will be smaller then you hoped, maybe it will even bigger. Just make sure it will be something you can be proud and something you your self would want. Try your best with what you have and don’t stress yourself out. Take care.
Josh
"it sort of feels like the game is just a run of the mill VN" So, here's a big problem. The game can either continue to introduce more unique gameplay elements to further distance itself from the VN structure, or it can fully embrace its story and art elements within a VN structure for a more cohesive and familiar experience (which I would guess is a little easier to program as well). I would suggest this is a good time for a very important poll, but if you've already made up your mind then I think you're going to want to establish these new mechanics pretty quickly to better distinguish what The Solarion Project truly is. I've only ever wanted the game to be a simple (but still engaging and expansive) visual novel, and if the game continues to drift from that direction then you'll likely start to see support from patrons like me going down. In that case, you really need to market the game correctly so you can find the right audience to offer the added support you're looking for.
GamingSavant
to be honest I feel like taking the time to redesign the game after every character gets their first full intercourse scene would be the way to go about it; people want content before a long break for the sake of an overhaul; this way you can focus first on reworking how the game works and then get it to where you can implement stuff like the combat system and minigames from there. That's just my two cents on it.
Maybe redesign the space map to separate federation space from free space. In federation space you can request legal quests with medium payment but no danger, just simple delivery missions for example, while on free space you can request illegal jobs from the red queen and some other people with better payment but it has a high chance of giving you a bounty and sending pirates after you implementing the space combat.
Joel Hernandez
Fits let me say that the game i relly good especially the art style i feel that the space exploration need more so i was thinking maybe add combat to it with some ship upgrade for progression and have a defficulty for each zone, i dont now what your final vision for the game is but i think adding something to do to the space will make it feel less like a chore
