Aurora 4x
C# Aurora => Development Discussions => Topic started by: umbrellacorpman101 on March 10, 2025, 06:09:27 PM
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Hi All.
So I am curious...
Is there a development roadmap anywhere for Aurora ? I tried it a good while back and gave up but its been some time and I'm curious to see how development has progressed.
Like is the UI going to forever remain the same or will this ever get a rebuild? For example, something a bit more graphics friendly buy building with the Unity Engine?
It is just that although the game has an amazing amount of depth.. you really are stuck with using your "imagination".
Should there be a pause in game development and maybe do work on UI and user friendliness?
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There is no roadmap. Steve is extremely unlikely to switch to Unity or any game engine as that would mean completely rebuilding the game. Also, he is a hobbyist programmer and has no means of creating art assets. He would have to outsource them and that's a whole can of worms. Steve usually fixes bugs and adds new features because he finds them interesting or several players request them and he thinks it would be useful.
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The 'development roadmap' is a few notes at the end of whatever AAR I am currently writing, plus an occasional trawl through the suggestions thread, plus the very occasional immediate implementation of a suggestion on the day I read it. The level of planning is minimal to none and subject to change without notice, based on my latest whim :)
The available development time is affected by how much free time I have at the moment, modified by whatever else is distracting me. Last year it was a nine-month trip in a motorhome. Currently, it's RogueTech, which is a great game that I have kept going back to over many years.
Prioritisation is based on whatever I like from the suggestions thread, identified bugs, any generally accepted problems, my current level of enthusiasm and whatever would make the events in my current AAR easier to handle. Occasionally, someone crafts a brilliant proposal backed by evidence, which catches my imagination, and it ends up being a major change to the mechanics.
The UI is usually bodged to accommodate the desired changes with as little modification as possible, although I do sometimes completely revamp certain areas when the level of 'Required Bodgement' gets too high.
Graphics are a low priority and the need for imagination is intended. I use Windows Forms and GDI graphics because that is the fastest and easiest way to implement the mechanics. Aurora is about building an Empire based on the vision you have in your imagination. It is as much an RPG as an exploration and combat game. The more in-game graphics you add, the more you constrain players in that vision of their Empire and their space/ground forces (and the more effort required on non-gameplay elements).
If that sounds like amateur hour, it is! Aurora is one of several different hobbies and its just for fun. It's not in any way a professional, or commercial game. I'm not trying to sell it, or maximise the number of players. I often get suggestions along the lines of: "If you simplified X or made Y automated, or added better graphics, it would attract more people". That is probably true, but the whole point of Aurora is that it is a very niche game for those players who want something that isn't available in commercial games. I created Aurora because I wanted a specific type of game that didn't exist and I ended up sharing the result. There are plenty of options for 4x space games with much better graphics and simpler mechanics
However, if you have specific UI or graphics suggestions that would make the game better without sacrificing the core principles above, or requiring me to spend a lot of time on UI/Graphics - which aren't much fun, please lay out those suggestions and they might be added to the game.
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The available development time is affected by how much free time I have at the moment, modified by whatever else is distracting me. Last year it was a nine-month trip in a motorhome. Currently, it's RogueTech, which is a great game that I have kept going back to over many years.
As in the modpack for HBS BattleTech? Recently got into the base game myself and have been trying out BEX.
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The available development time is affected by how much free time I have at the moment, modified by whatever else is distracting me. Last year it was a nine-month trip in a motorhome. Currently, it's RogueTech, which is a great game that I have kept going back to over many years.
As in the modpack for HBS BattleTech? Recently got into the base game myself and have been trying out BEX.
Yes. I enjoyed the original game on Steam, but RogueTech (which is a complete replacement mod) adds a huge amount of complexity and variety (and difficulty). It's a very steep learning curve but there is an extensive Wiki. There are still regular updates, including a new major update this week.
I haven't tried BEX so can't provide a direct comparison, but I believe there such comparisons online if you search.
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I believe Roguetech is the most complex option for Battletech mods. I spend quite some time with the base game and some of the mods. But in my opinion the game is rather slow (turns, loading times...) even in vanilla and with mods it gets quite a bit worse.
So at the end I returned to old MegaMek with MekHQ, which is direct transition of tabletop to digital. They recently added stratcom to MekHQ with planetary maps, so it is possible to deploy lances to specific location and scout for enemy forces and installations. Last update also added supply convoys that can be intercepted and next update should add prisoner management and Losttech hunting.
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Yes, RogueTech is slow at times - but not VB6 Aurora slow :)
The new major update is mainly about performance improvement and missile changes. I haven't tried it yet though.
We were planning to be back on the road in two weeks, but my part-time job just became full time, so now we are looking for a house and a car.
That will reduce time for Aurora in the short-term, but it also means my desktop will be back in play, which should reduce the time until v2.6 is out. Of course, if we can't sort a long-term home in the next two weeks, we are on the road anyway until we find something. Life is never dull :)
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As in the modpack for HBS BattleTech? Recently got into the base game myself and have been trying out BEX.
Yes. I enjoyed the original game on Steam, but RogueTech (which is a complete replacement mod) adds a huge amount of complexity and variety (and difficulty). It's a very steep learning curve but there is an extensive Wiki. There are still regular updates, including a new major update this week.
I haven't tried BEX so can't provide a direct comparison, but I believe there such comparisons online if you search.
I ended up choosing BEX for the timeline running from 3025, both because I like the feel of level 1 BattleTech and to play through IS history in a long-running campaign. My understanding is that BTA starts in 3062, which is a completely different era but follows BEX quite naturally, and RogueTech runs from 3050 through the 3100s. Both are probably good options to follow from a BEX playthrough if I make it that far.
I'm not attached to the tabletop mechanics, though, so for me the lore option with BEX was more appealing. :)
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As in the modpack for HBS BattleTech? Recently got into the base game myself and have been trying out BEX.
Yes. I enjoyed the original game on Steam, but RogueTech (which is a complete replacement mod) adds a huge amount of complexity and variety (and difficulty). It's a very steep learning curve but there is an extensive Wiki. There are still regular updates, including a new major update this week.
I haven't tried BEX so can't provide a direct comparison, but I believe there such comparisons online if you search.
I ended up choosing BEX for the timeline running from 3025, both because I like the feel of level 1 BattleTech and to play through IS history in a long-running campaign. My understanding is that BTA starts in 3062, which is a completely different era but follows BEX quite naturally, and RogueTech runs from 3050 through the 3100s. Both are probably good options to follow from a BEX playthrough if I make it that far.
I'm not attached to the tabletop mechanics, though, so for me the lore option with BEX was more appealing. :)
With RogueTech, you can customise the era you play during the install. I tend to have it up to the Clan era. Although I might extend that for future campaigns. There are also a lot of high-end options that I don't use, such as Superheavies and nuclear weapons, but again might do at some point. Let me know how BEX works out.
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Yes, RogueTech is slow at times - but not VB6 Aurora slow :)
The new major update is mainly about performance improvement and missile changes. I haven't tried it yet though.
We were planning to be back on the road in two weeks, but my part-time job just became full time, so now we are looking for a house and a car.
That will reduce time for Aurora in the short-term, but it also means my desktop will be back in play, which should reduce the time until v2.6 is out. Of course, if we can't sort a long-term home in the next two weeks, we are on the road anyway until we find something. Life is never dull :)
Steve, I stopped playing Aurora many months ago because at the time I believed 2.6 was behind the corner and I do not like playing while I know there's a huge update coming.
Then, with Christmas, new year, the forum down etc. time passed and we are in March.
Are you willing to say that 2.6 will be released by mid-April?
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Yes, RogueTech is slow at times - but not VB6 Aurora slow :)
The new major update is mainly about performance improvement and missile changes. I haven't tried it yet though.
We were planning to be back on the road in two weeks, but my part-time job just became full time, so now we are looking for a house and a car.
That will reduce time for Aurora in the short-term, but it also means my desktop will be back in play, which should reduce the time until v2.6 is out. Of course, if we can't sort a long-term home in the next two weeks, we are on the road anyway until we find something. Life is never dull :)
Steve, I stopped playing Aurora many months ago because at the time I believed 2.6 was behind the corner and I do not like playing while I know there's a huge update coming.
Then, with Christmas, new year, the forum down etc. time passed and we are in March.
Are you willing to say that 2.6 will be released by mid-April?
No, I can't commit to a release date. There is too much uncertainty. For example, if we don't find a suitable house in the next couple of weeks (when we need to leave our winter let property), we might decide to go back in the motorhome for a month or two and travel in the UK, then return to the island when a suitable property is available.
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It's interesting that you're so committed to RogueTech whereas I'm a big fan of BEX, but based on the number of posts on the BT Reddit, BT Advanced is the most popular of the big three modpacks.
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I'll put in a plug for Megamek since I have recently gotten into it in the past several months. Megamek is literally the closest thing to scratching the Aurora 4x itch out there for me.
MM is comprised of three packages - Megamek, MekLab, and MekHQ. Megamek is the tactical component that replicates the Battletech board game and in that it does I think a pretty good job. The AI offers a decent challenge though it does occasionally do a 'computer thing'. The MM team is constantly making improvements to the AI and even in the year I have been playing, I have seen improvements. MekLab is the designer component where you can spend all sorts of time making new variants or new mechs altogether. Its a good tool.
MekHq is where it really shines because it allows you to build out a mercenary unit and take it through any period of the timeline from the Star League era all the way up through the Succession Wars, Clan Invasion, and up to the current timeline. You can control Mechs, Tanks, Infantry, Aerospace Fighters, Dropships, and even Jumpships. You can absolutely go down deep rabbit holes because it models economics, logistics, technical support, dependents, births/marriages, education including which colleges you send kids too, prisoners...and they are constantly adding more stuff to it.
You can play out the MekHq battles in MegaMek or they have recently added two tools that allow you to automate/sim the battles so if you just want to play Battletech as a management game, you are perfectly able to do so.
They currently have some major features upcoming but the one I am looking forward to this year is the ability to modify the universe state including planet ownership - right now you essentially fight but you have no ability to modify the timeline. The Inner Sphere changes on the historically accurate dates from the lore. But the system editor will allow you to create alternate BT universes/timelines and they have some secret plans right now for strategic play which they haven't released yet.
BL, I am kind in a holding pattern on playing Aurora because I REALLY want to play with the new changes in 2.6 but Megamek has definitely filled the campaign management/build you own story place in my heart while I wait.
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It's interesting that you're so committed to RogueTech whereas I'm a big fan of BEX, but based on the number of posts on the BT Reddit, BT Advanced is the most popular of the big three modpacks.
We play Aurora, we all know that what's popular is rarely what's best - and vice versa. ;D
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It's interesting that you're so committed to RogueTech whereas I'm a big fan of BEX, but based on the number of posts on the BT Reddit, BT Advanced is the most popular of the big three modpacks.
I haven't played either BEX or BTA, so I can't really do a comparison. RogueTech is just one of those games, like Civ V or Valheim or Skyrim, that I keeping coming back to.
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The 'development roadmap' is a few notes at the end of whatever AAR I am currently writing, plus an occasional trawl through the suggestions thread, plus the very occasional immediate implementation of a suggestion on the day I read it. The level of planning is minimal to none and subject to change without notice, based on my latest whim :)
The available development time is affected by how much free time I have at the moment, modified by whatever else is distracting me. Last year it was a nine-month trip in a motorhome. Currently, it's RogueTech, which is a great game that I have kept going back to over many years.
Prioritisation is based on whatever I like from the suggestions thread, identified bugs, any generally accepted problems, my current level of enthusiasm and whatever would make the events in my current AAR easier to handle. Occasionally, someone crafts a brilliant proposal backed by evidence, which catches my imagination, and it ends up being a major change to the mechanics.
The UI is usually bodged to accommodate the desired changes with as little modification as possible, although I do sometimes completely revamp certain areas when the level of 'Required Bodgement' gets too high.
Graphics are a low priority and the need for imagination is intended. I use Windows Forms and GDI graphics because that is the fastest and easiest way to implement the mechanics. Aurora is about building an Empire based on the vision you have in your imagination. It is as much an RPG as an exploration and combat game. The more in-game graphics you add, the more you constrain players in that vision of their Empire and their space/ground forces (and the more effort required on non-gameplay elements).
If that sounds like amateur hour, it is! Aurora is one of several different hobbies and its just for fun. It's not in any way a professional, or commercial game. I'm not trying to sell it, or maximise the number of players. I often get suggestions along the lines of: "If you simplified X or made Y automated, or added better graphics, it would attract more people". That is probably true, but the whole point of Aurora is that it is a very niche game for those players who want something that isn't available in commercial games. I created Aurora because I wanted a specific type of game that didn't exist and I ended up sharing the result. There are plenty of options for 4x space games with much better graphics and simpler mechanics
However, if you have specific UI or graphics suggestions that would make the game better without sacrificing the core principles above, or requiring me to spend a lot of time on UI/Graphics - which aren't much fun, please lay out those suggestions and they might be added to the game.
Steve question for you..
DO you have a Discord server for Aurora?
If not would you consider creating one. ? Or is the forums here just the way of things?
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Steve question for you..
DO you have a Discord server for Aurora?
If not would you consider creating one. ? Or is the forums here just the way of things?
I didn't create it, but there is a very active Aurora discord.
https://discord.com/channels/314031775892373504/402321466839793664
There is also a reddit.
https://www.reddit.com/r/aurora/
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Off Topic!
There is also a reddit.
https://www.reddit.com/r/aurora/
OK, this is funny:
I knew there was a reddit, had been there during the recent outage.
on reddit there is a sidebar of "related topics" on the right,
and since this game is named after an atmospheric/space phenomenon, all the related topics there are about aurorae, not Aurora 4x.
Sometimes the topic titles are truncated, so when I saw: "Space Weather Update 12/11 & Do we really know Aurora?...and Who the hell is STEVE? W..."
I said "If you don't know who Steve W is, then you aren't paying attention!"
STEVE stands for "Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement."
My WTF meter immediately went off scale high.
link : https://www.reddit.com/r/SolarMax/comments/1hcasdm/space_weather_update_1211_do_we_really_know/ (https://www.reddit.com/r/SolarMax/comments/1hcasdm/space_weather_update_1211_do_we_really_know/)
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Off Topic!
There is also a reddit.
https://www.reddit.com/r/aurora/
OK, this is funny:
I knew there was a reddit, had been there during the recent outage.
on reddit there is a sidebar of "related topics" on the right,
and since this game is named after an atmospheric/space phenomenon, all the related topics there are about aurorae, not Aurora 4x.
Sometimes the topic titles are truncated, so when I saw: "Space Weather Update 12/11 & Do we really know Aurora?...and Who the hell is STEVE? W..."
I said "If you don't know who Steve W is, then you aren't paying attention!"
STEVE stands for "Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement."
My WTF meter immediately went off scale high.
link : https://www.reddit.com/r/SolarMax/comments/1hcasdm/space_weather_update_1211_do_we_really_know/ (https://www.reddit.com/r/SolarMax/comments/1hcasdm/space_weather_update_1211_do_we_really_know/)
Steve is, indeed, an aurora (https://archive.ph/Lre2h).
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If that sounds like amateur hour, it is! Aurora is one of several different hobbies and its just for fun. It's not in any way a professional, or commercial game. I'm not trying to sell it, or maximise the number of players. I often get suggestions along the lines of: "If you simplified X or made Y automated, or added better graphics, it would attract more people". That is probably true, but the whole point of Aurora is that it is a very niche game for those players who want something that isn't available in commercial games. I created Aurora because I wanted a specific type of game that didn't exist and I ended up sharing the result. There are plenty of options for 4x space games with much better graphics and simpler mechanics
So basically the same as Dwarf Fortress, right? ;D ::) ;)
(https://i.imgur.com/FfnRal4.png)
https://steam-revenue-calculator.com/app/975370/dwarf-fortress
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Not at all like Dwarf Fortress. My understanding is Dwarf Fortress was done for commercial profit from the very beginning. The Adams' were receiving donations for over a decade before Steam release and my understanding is that was their main source of income.
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DF also had a bigger player base and was/is lot more famous than Aurora.
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Not at all like Dwarf Fortress. My understanding is Dwarf Fortress was done for commercial profit from the very beginning. The Adams' were receiving donations for over a decade before Steam release and my understanding is that was their main source of income.
Not really "commercial profit" as opposed to just "covering living expenses". The game released in 2006 after starting development in 2002, but it wasn't until 2008 where Tarn quit his job and dedicated himself full-time to working on the game, living on those donations. It was never really the intent of the game as much as it was that Tarn just wasn't enjoying his work at all.
Also, if you check the forums, he's been extremely forthcoming as to how much money he's made from this. He posted the donation totals for every month up until the game going for sale on Steam. The only reason for that was a health scare with his brother Zach which made them very concerned about what they'd do if there was a very large expense (such as medical bills) that ever came up.
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I'll provide some more background on why I don't want to make Aurora a commercial game.
Firstly, there is a major difference between creating a commercial game vs a hobby game. For example, if I was trying to make money from Aurora I would make it much simpler, so it would appeal to a wider audience. I would spend a lot more time on graphics and UI than mechanics, because its easier to sell something visual. Once money becomes the primary goal, rather than mechanics, the resulting game would not be Aurora in its current form
Secondly, I think one of the disconnects here, and why the topic comes up regularly, is that not everyone places the same value on a higher income vs other considerations. I've had periods of low income and high income and been pretty happy throughout. The high income is usually because I find something interesting that happens to pay well :). My last job lasted 12 years and was in the eGaming industry, which followed playing poker professionally for 6 years. This was very enjoyable, especially working with a great team, until 2021 when the company was taken over. The new management was not interested in evidence that contradicted their own opinions, so it was frustrating from that point onwards.
I was made redundant in late 2023, which was not unexpected, and spent most of last year travelling with my wife while working about 12 hours a week remotely. My income was a fraction of the previous year and yet I enjoyed it far more. We had the time and freedom to go where we wanted, when we wanted, and spend that time mostly outdoors in scenic places. It was a very full life, despite the low income. I've just agreed to go full time with the same company, still working remote. We spent the last few weeks looking for a house and a car, so we could return to a 'normal life', with me wondering if I had made the right decision despite tripling my income. Last week, we decided to try to have the best of both worlds, so in 10 days we are back on the road with me working 5 days a week. We will see how it works out :)
Thirdly, going back to Aurora, you might think that working full time on a game would be enjoyable and I could do it for that reason, rather than any money I might make. However, I have had previous hobbies that became jobs. I used to play keyboards and started working as a musician at 15 in clubs, providing backing for singers in the days before backing tapes. They turned up with sheet music and the drummer and I would play. No sounds checks, no rehearsals - just five minutes to look at the sheet music and then on stage for two 40-minute sets. Definitely character-building :) I went full time, but within a few years I quit. When being on stage is a job and you are checking the clock, it isn't fun any more. These days, I hardly ever play. Playing poker was a hobby. I went full time and made a good living from it, but in the end it was just another job. Now I hardly ever play.
Programming was originally a hobby that turned into a job in the early-to-mid 1990s, but over time as I moved into the management side, it was more of an occasional novelty and so it has returned to being a hobby. Besides, Aurora is really more about game design and enabling AARs. I spend more time playing, writing and researching than programming. It is also entirely enthusiasm-driven, which is why more boring work, like improving the UI, doesn't happen often. If I went full time, Aurora would become a job. Generally, anything you can choose to do is fun. Anything you have to do is work. If I went full time and got bored, or started to resent having to do it, that would be the end of Aurora. Besides, I am really happy with my life as it is right now.
So in summary, there isn't really a choice to make Aurora a commercial game. If I did, due to the commercial-driven decisions that followed, it wouldn't be Aurora any more and it wouldn't last very long anyway. Once it was a job, the enthusiasm would disappear and I would eventually resent it. I know that is a very long explanation, but now its written down, I can point people to this post when they ask in future.
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I could have sworn you wrote this down somewhere already, but good to have it on paper at any rate.
The way I have seen Aurora is that it's a game made by Steve and for Steve, and sometimes he'll take suggestions, but ultimately it's a game with a target audience of one, and he just lets the world play it.
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Good for you Steve. Stay happy!
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Do a job you love and you will never work a day of your life is a bit of a catch 22. I have a fair number of hobbies such as gardening but I'd never want to be a farmer so I totally understand Aurora staying a passion project.
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Was a very interesting read, thanks Steve for the background