Aurora II

[Cheese]

If we're talking about making the game more realistic, would it be possible to have realistic communications of some sort? It could be optional, like maintenance supplies and fleet crew training.  It would basically require you to give ships communications systems which would have a certain range.  There would also be the ability to set up communication networks, so you can relay messages through a series of communication arrays on ships and colonies.  The communications could be transferred between systems through some sort of specialised system, which might have a higher EM signal than normal sensors or only be able to transmit to and receive from other systems outside the jump limit/jump point(Or whatever interstellar travel method you decide use).

This would provide interesting scenarios and create a necessity for communications networks to be set up, kind of like how Steve often has jump ships sitting on jump points to send messages between systems in his fiction.

[Father Tim]

In a sense, such things are already included - it's just up to the player to roleplay it that way.  The only improvement I would suggest is a 'send-message-to-myself' window that automatically calculated the speed-of-light lag for a message from the designated fleet to reach the homeworld.  So if my exploration ship encounters a hostile alien, I can send a contact message to my homeworld and the event window will alert me when it arrives, so I can mobilize the Punishment Fleet for a little payback.

[Narmio]

In a sense, such things are already included - it's just up to the player to roleplay it that way.  The only improvement I would suggest is a 'send-message-to-myself' window that automatically calculated the speed-of-light lag for a message from the designated fleet to reach the homeworld.  So if my exploration ship encounters a hostile alien, I can send a contact message to my homeworld and the event window will alert me when it arrives, so I can mobilize the Punishment Fleet for a little payback.

That message might take a while to arrive. If you turn on the 'show distances' option in the galactic map you can see there are typically several light years, if not more, between each system.

[Ziusudra]

According to the tooltip, that number is billions of km, not light years. (1 Light Year = 9,460,730,472,580.8 Kilometers)

Edit: And I think it's the travel distance using jump points from the star of the selected system to the star of the destination system.

[UnLimiTeD]

Well, Steve wanted to go from JPs to Hyperspace travel.^^
In any case, this stuff can't be implemented into the game that easily because the player is ultimately one person.

[sloanjh]

Well, Steve wanted to go from JPs to Hyperspace travel.^^
In any case, this stuff can't be implemented into the game that easily because the player is ultimately one person.

One of the things which SA had and which was taken out of Aurora (I) was the ability to send a message with a particular time delay.  Many of us used this to build a "chinese wall" - we would calculate the time it took for a message to arrive at the command center where we wanted to react to it, then send ourselves a message with that delay saying "ok, now you can act on the information you already know".  In Aurora, Steve assumes superluminal communication, but it's a role-playing thing.  Those of us who would like to have a house rule restricting in-system communication to light-speed would REALLY like to have this sort of thing back.  I know I've put it on the suggestion board in the past, but it's one of those things that just never made it into the game (probably because Steve never stubbed his toe on it because he's not using this rule in his games).  I assume that this is what Father Tim was talking about.  In the context of Aurora II (assuming no JPs at all), it would be used for in-system communication.  For example you'd give a command "send light-speed message from ship X to object Y".  The game would record the timestamp and location of X when the message was sent, then every update would check whether it had arrived at the current location of Y (and what the ETA was in case it needed to shorten a pulse).  When the message arrived it would pop up as an event and the player would only then give Y orders reacting to the event.

John

[Teiwaz]

Steve: will Aurora 2 use a database?

I know one of the major feature changes was that Aurora 2 was going to keep all the game state info in primary memory in order to speed up the game.  If you're doing this, is there any particular reason to keep using a database to store the universe's state over just serializing everything out to a file?

I ask because the database, I believe, is the single worst thing about Aurora 1, and stops me from playing it as much as I'd like. (I'm actually kind of afraid to touch it right now.) I get a *lot* of database errors while playing the game - missing fields, invalid data, install errors, etc. And most of my campaigns end because the database gets corrupted. I'd much prefer a conventional savegame system with autosaves at key points which I can restore to if something gets corrupted.

Also, you've been talking about using C#. Have you considered XNA? (MS' game development library, which is written in C#) Its content pipeline is great, and it handles a lot of boilerplate stuff for you so you can worry about the fun stuff. The nice part is it's open enough that you can go back and tinker and replace their stuff, without running into any walls.

[Thiosk]

OR...

you could like, start a company, and work on aurora full time.

I'd totally buy an aurora2

[Amadeus]

OR...

you could like, start a company, and work on aurora full time.

I'd totally buy an aurora2

Absolutely second this !

...and I would even invest a few hundreds euros in that company of yours   

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

Absolutely second this !

...and I would even invest a few hundreds euros in that company of yours   

The idea of selling Aurora as a commercial product is something that crops up occasionally. I'll try and explain why I don't

I have regularly turned hobbies into jobs. I used to play keyboards for fun and eventually became a professional musician. Definitely a lot less fun when you have to to be in a certain place at a certain time and play certain types of music. Sounds glamorous and it certainly has its moments but in the end it becomes just work.

I learned programming for a hobby and wrote SFB Assistant and eventually starting working as a C++/Windows 3.1 programmer. Once I was working as a programmer, I did very little at home because I was programming all day. It become a job rather than fun, although I did start looking at VB3 which led to Starfire Assistant. Once I moved into management, I starting programming for a hobby again and it was a lot of fun (still is!).

Then I learned to play poker for a hobby and that eventually became my job. It can still be fun and you have the freedom to do things like write Aurora but when you have to play virtually every day and you have to earn a certain amount per month, it does take on many of the aspects of a job. Also I enjoy playing poker tournaments but there is a huge amount of luck involved. For 'work' purposes I have to play cash games where skill is far more important and I can generate a steady income.

I really enjoy creating Aurora and writing the fiction and I very much enjoy the community aspects of the game. If it became my 'job' I am really concerned that it wouldn't be as much fun. I would have to make a certain amount of money, which would probably involve 'dumbing it down' so it appealed to a wider audience. At the moment, the game appeals to a very small percentage of people who want this level of detail and can't find it in other games. That isn't really a commercially viable strategy. I would also have an obligation to be responsive to people who paid money for the game and while I hope I am responsive now, no one can complain too much if I am not . Making the game free also opens it up to a lot of people who may not want to pay for it because if the extensive learning curve.

The summary is that I have a lot of fun with Aurora and I don't want to risk losing that fun aspect. One possibility is that I might try and write an Aurora-related novel and try to sell that, or at the least make it available on Lulu or something similar.

Steve

[Amadeus]

Hi Steve,

I get your point there and I should say it is a very good one !

I agree hobbies should not become full-time jobs indeed, keep the fun going on instead.



Best regards

[UnLimiTeD]

From my own experience I can tell that making games as a job can be tremendous fun, but sadly the games aren't necessarily.
Hey folks, you can still donate!
Every dollar steve doesn't have to earn with Poker frees up more time for us!

[HKZ8]

Hi.
I would like to ask whether there is any news on Aurora II.
Seems to me that this could be even better than Aurora I.

[Jacob/Lee]

An Aurora-related novel, that sounds pretty cool, actually.

[Xkill]

OR...

you could like, start a company, and work on aurora full time.

I'd totally buy an aurora2

You know, the amount of people seeing this game isn't ALL that low, 3000 Forum Members is a acceptable number for a free indie game, not counting the dozens of guests that ocasionally appear during a day.

Now about the Money/Purchase question, you guys are forgetting about the other half of players: The ones that don't have much money, but like to play good games. (Like me)

Sure, selling Aurora would get more cash for Steve to spend somewhere else and would give him more free time to spend on the game, but Aurora huge complexity, steep learning curve, almost complete lack of graphics (Not that I care for it, but some people judge a game entirely by graphics, not gameplay or depth) and all those famous bugs and corrupt files would shy people away from the game.

Hell, most of my campaigns don't reach even the 2nd year
That's just my opinion anyways.