[WIP] Space Co.

Working on some procedural space makin'.

Currently controls are limited. You can make the little ships explore around until they have reached every planet and consider it "discovered". This will be become far more complex in the near future.

The seed that is supplied is a good example since it seems to contain all elements of the current design procedure, nicely balanced. If you change it you will get different results.

Let me know what you think. :)

DOWNLOAD

<img src="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/604141/space%20promo/SpaceCo-1.png" border="0">

*EDIT*

Currently, the background is "borrowed". It was for a proof of concept, so I will be adding my own background(s) soon. Until then, thank you random artist.

~Sol

Lately like everyone are making some sort of space sim...

thats quite demotivating^^

Especialy if i see something as cool as this and wonder can i catch up ._.

Great work Sol!

can i ask you some questions? some are in-depth.

Looks awesome. And don't worry Funny Guy, nobody can ever get tired of space.

People can get tired of 1st levels with green grass and blue skies though-- but space? There's so much you can do with it.

i hope so. because i am no competition for Sol heh

this guy pops something and its epic already.

That's pretty slick looking, man. Glad to see you're still working on stuff <img src="smileys/smiley4.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

Might check out Arsonides plug Grid tree.

FunnyGuy

Sure, ask away... and I doubt I will be "competition" as such, since my game is taking a very unusual twist for game-play. It's not going to be what you think. Also, it was pure accident that I started this... I didn't realise everyone else was making space stuff too haha. Must be something "in the air".

Aldo

You're right. How can space ever get boring?

deadeye

Thanks mate :D How's life treating you anyway? Haven't spoken to you in AGES!

newt

Cool Newt I'll check that out closer after lunch. Looks like a bit of a read. Not sure if I will need something as complex as that for this project, but it may come in handy for other stuff as well :D

Glad you guys like it so far. I will be adding some more conditions of creation... so the procedural "generator" has some other details to mess with, then I will move on to the next map view phase.

The in-between previews are given out in chat, so join in to chat if you want to see more, and even sneak a look at the .cap :D

~Sol

Thank you!

1. Background nebulas blicking

How you did that?

2. Stars are made out of 2 flare spirites and about 4 cloud sprites. Flare are rotating one clockwise and the other counter clockwise.

Em i correct? didi you used any Effect on them?

1. That is a whole layer, a sprite object set to a light gray colour with multiply effect is covering the whole layer. On top of that is a greyscale sprite set to additive, and it is set to fade behavior. The additive object is created randomly and set to destroy on fade.

2. The rays/flare is made of one object repeated about 20 times. The cloud is the same... I used greyscale images and used the tint effect as well as additive effect.

~Sol

1. That is a whole layer, a sprite object set to a light gray colour with multiply effect is covering the whole layer. On top of that is a greyscale sprite set to additive, and it is set to fade behavior. The additive object is created randomly and set to destroy on fade.

2. The rays/flare is made of one object repeated about 20 times. The cloud is the same... I used greyscale images and used the tint effect as well as additive effect.

~Sol

Can i ask you to make a .cap tutorial for this? <img src="smileys/smiley4.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

sorry for being such a pest.

But the effect you achieved... just woah.

You can just look at the cap for what I have already... just keep in mind it's a closed project (at this stage) really so please don't share it around.

I will PM you a link.

~Sol

so please don't share it around.

its too good to be shared >:3 i am keeping this.

After next 10 years, when you Sol will be already very rich, famous, and publish hellload of games that will gain you a fortune - i shall return!

with this little alpha-sketch which i will then sell to rich collectors <img src="smileys/smiley4.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

Haha ok, well... I'm not 100% sure as to what do with it yet, since I am partially using it to "get back into things" but I DO have an objective. Whether or not I finish it completely is another story, since ultimately this game is not any "intended goal".

Having said that, I want to see what happens before I go giving stuff away... a little like "TONKS".

~Sol

Anyone who has been playing with this, may have realised it's not actually persistant. I realise I made an error somewhere in the "nebula storm" events that is causing some weird inconsitency.

I will rectifty this tomorrow most likely.

Also, if you notice any bugs please post them here... I am aware of one at the moment, where orbiting bodies will sometimes switch between foreground/background in an unusual manner if travelling in a (mostly) vertical trajectory. It's hardly noticable though, so the effort required to fix it is currently being over-ruled by the fact you probably wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't mentioned it.

Thanks in advance!

~Sol

well i think you would have to look at the planets/roids orbit leight. Sometimes it is set very long. yesterday one planet was "orbiting" thru half of my screen hitting nearby solar system lol