Aurora 4x
Other Games => Pulsar 4x => Topic started by: Rod-Serling on January 31, 2015, 08:37:12 PM
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Hey guys, I decided that this subforum is a little too dead, so I'm here to liven it up with a development status update!
We're not completely dead! Although progress is slow, this is a project that nobody is getting paid to make. If Coca-Cola would sponsor us, I would work full-time on it...
Since Alpha 3 Release we've added the following features:
Industry Tab is working! You can queue jobs and it looks just like Aurora!
Mining Tab is working! You can see how much Duranium is on a planet! Yay!
JumpPoints exist! And you can jump through them, generating new random systems! No Jumpdrives yet, but luckily we've put a Jumpgate on each JumpPoint, just for you guys.
And we've started to work out some of the coding gremlins that have been hiding down there for some time. Hopefully with fewer gremlins, we can push more features faster!
Also, I plan to start doing monthly development progress updates, mainly to try to keep myself honest. I'm hoping to push out Alpha 4 before February is over, but no breath holding! (Nathan will probably hate me for saying that)
Our main goal for Alpha 4 is to have a functional player empire, that can mine, build ships, colonize, and explore. We still have a LOT of work to do to get to that point however.
If you're interested in Pulsar, and specifically helping us do some of this crazy development, please don't hesitate to drop us a line.
Fair winds, and following seas my fellow space-addicts.
Also, wanted just a little shout-out to my BAE Engineer buddy. :)
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Thanks for the update, and it looks like things are going well, even if slowly.
I'll be sure to have a talk with Coca-Cola ;).
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Awesome. Keep up the good work.
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I wish you guys luck!
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I would like to contribute, yes, but both backbone and UI coding will pose very difficult for me, especially in a general sense. What needs to be done, or what other assets could be desired at the time? Also, how do I compile the source, can I just toss it into codeblocks?
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Also, how do I compile the source, can I just toss it into codeblocks?
Run the premake before doing that, I don't know if it will work on codeblocks. on the windows side of things we started with VS2010 C#.
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Code::Blocks is a C/C++ and Fortran IDE. Not a C# IDE.
Try SharpDevelop (http://www.icsharpcode.net/opensource/sd/) or maybe MonoDevelop (http://www.monodevelop.com/) for a free C# IDE, though if I remember, a Visual Studios Express edition may be able to compile as well.
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I would like to contribute, yes, but both backbone and UI coding will pose very difficult for me, especially in a general sense. What needs to be done, or what other assets could be desired at the time? Also, how do I compile the source, can I just toss it into codeblocks?
Most of the current work requires a good deal of programming knowledge. As for other assets, we could use better Icons. If you download the source and look in Pulsar4x.UI/Resources/Textures, you'll see the current icons in use.
We currently only have icons for TaskGroups, JumpPoints, and Planets/Stars. I would like the JumpPoint icon re-made correctly (I did it in 5 minutes in paint by flipping the TG icon upside down, cropping it and adding a gradient) as well as a new icons for Lagrange points, Missiles, and explosion detection. As with the current icons, they should be white to allow us to recolor them easily.
Beyond that, our main requirement is more programmers to dive in and get dirty.
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We're not completely dead! Although progress is slow, this is a project that nobody is getting paid to make. If Coca-Cola would sponsor us, I would work full-time on it...
If you are interested in changing that, ( and have some of the people involved interested & committed enough ) perhaps it can be worth the effort to think about a crowd-funding campaign like kick-starter later during the year if the game is in a playable shape where you can distribute a proof of concept pre-alfa version to show it off?
It is a longshot and will take some time to prepare, but if a simple cardgame about exploding kittens can raise this much money... why not give it a shot?
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/elanlee/exploding-kittens
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If you are interested in changing that, ( and have some of the people involved interested & committed enough ) perhaps it can be worth the effort to think about a crowd-funding campaign like kick-starter later during the year if the game is in a playable shape where you can distribute a proof of concept pre-alfa version to show it off?
It is a longshot and will take some time to prepare, but if a simple cardgame about exploding kittens can raise this much money... why not give it a shot?
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/elanlee/exploding-kittens
I'm not sure if that would be legally ok, and I'm not particularly comfortable about promising anything about Pulsar 4x either.
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I'm not sure if that would be legally ok, and I'm not particularly comfortable about promising anything about Pulsar 4x either.
Depends what kind of deal you have with Steve and how much you are "copying" from his work, but for most art and software I think you are normally legally allowed to take pretty heavy inspiration of something else and redo it with your own tweaks and still call it original work ( at least according to most European law ).
But as long as you ask for (and receive) Steve's approval prior any legal issues should be pretty much moot point.
You are right though that it's crucial all developers on-board would need to be committed and feel comfortable promising to be able to deliver something though, and that is something you can only decide for yourself.
I do believe in you and would pledge you money at least for what it's worth ;D
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Eh, in its current state, Pulsar is just too early to bother with it. Currently the audience is too small, developement too slow (as in, for this specific purpouse, uou guys are doing a good job for what you got!), et cetera.
What needs to be done first is expanding the audience, expanding the outsource developement participation, come up with head developers and determine who are the leading contributors, and THEN kickstarting can be considered. Doing it now would generate a whole lot of hype and can likely hinder chances of a more stable community later on.
As it is currently, you may be better off directly contributing donations to those actively pulling code for now, if you want.
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Code::Blocks is a C/C++ and Fortran IDE. Not a C# IDE.
Try SharpDevelop (http://www.icsharpcode.net/opensource/sd/) or maybe MonoDevelop (http://www.monodevelop.com/) for a free C# IDE, though if I remember, a Visual Studios Express edition may be able to compile as well.
Visual Studio Express works fine. I'm using 2012, though I expect 13 should work as well, not sure if the premake scipt thing would need to be tweeked for it though.
I guess I should jump back in and look for something I can do. it's been months since I've done *anything* programy.
don't suppose you guys want to move to IRC instead of skype?
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Visual Studio Express works fine. I'm using 2012, though I expect 13 should work as well, not sure if the premake scipt thing would need to be tweeked for it though.
I guess I should jump back in and look for something I can do. it's been months since I've done *anything* programy.
don't suppose you guys want to move to IRC instead of skype?
we're not really that active on Skype(and probably wouldn't be that active on IRC either), though I could probably idle on an IRC channel when I'm working on Pulsar.
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ok, I've registered #Pulsar4x on freenode.
freenode even have a webclient if you don't already have an irc client installed.
http://webchat.freenode.net/
type a nickname into the nickname field
put #Pulsar4x in the Channels: field
click connect.
I've added the channel to my auto connect list so if I'm online I'll likely be in there.
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ok, I've registered #Pulsar4x on freenode.
freenode even have a webclient if you don't already have an irc client installed.
http://webchat.freenode.net/
type a nickname into the nickname field
put #Pulsar4x in the Channels: field
click connect.
I've added the channel to my auto connect list so if I'm online I'll likely be in there.
alright I'll check that out tomorrow.
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Trying to connect via mobile app, and getting blocked out of freenode due to something called SASL. No idea what i'm doing, eh.
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Trying to connect via mobile app, and getting blocked out of freenode due to something called SASL. No idea what i'm doing, eh.
freenode is probably being overly paranoid.
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Eh, in its current state, Pulsar is just too early to bother with it.
Possibly. I only mentioned it as a suggestion to think about for later on since at least one of the devs seemed to want to "work full-time on it..." if there was money and resources available. :)
Regardless of the devs plans and decisions I with you guys the best of luck.
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Possibly. I only mentioned it as a suggestion to think about for later on since at least one of the devs seemed to want to "work full-time on it..." if there was money and resources available. :)
Who wouldn't want to get a full-time salary to work on their hobby, even if it never panned out? ;]
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Who wouldn't want to get a full-time salary to work on their hobby, even if it never panned out? ;]
Me :)
Done that three times with three different hobbies and each time the hobby was a lot less fun once it was a job. That's why I don't try to sell Aurora. It's going to stay a hobby this time!
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it's also a massive headache with how you might want to remunerate those who want to work on it irregularly. there's no way to do it in a fair manner. its just... far too much of a stress and potential for upset.
nah keep trucking as we are, and hope we get some people who know what they're doing when it comes to some of the stuff that we're not so good at (art, UI design etc) interested. just gota watch that we don't get too far out of scope.
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I'm starting to get back into development myself.
In regards to setting up for development all you need to do is run the premake4.exe file, this will generate the solution files for the project. After that you should be able to open them using SharpDevelop/MonoDevelop Or Visual Studio 2010/2012/2013. If your on windows I'd recommend using the new Visual Studio 2013 Community Edition (http://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/news/vs2013-community-vs.aspx).
In regards to icons I have often thought it'd be nice to have the ability to set specific icons for different Ship/Hull types or task groups for use on the System Map (and maybe of the Galaxy Map as well). Something like the following would be nice:
(http://i.imgur.com/Nvh1Rx4.png)
If someone where to make them I'd defiantly add support :D
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There's kind of an infinite number of hulltypes though...
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There's kind of an infinite number of hulltypes though...
The Aurora approach seems good. Support a limited amount of basic types and leave it open for users to define additional types using by adding text and art that match the same formats.
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The Aurora approach seems good. Support a limited amount of basic types and leave it open for users to define additional types using by adding text and art that match the same formats.
This is exactly what I had in mind.
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What if you had an simple icon designer... Basic shapes and mash them up.