July Update - Space battles

Space combat will be the central aspect of Rogue Ambassador, and envisioned to work out like the one in Faster Than Light (pausable real-time, top-down view), with extra depth and extended options for the player.

We've made the big decision to make almost all modules destroyable. This will mean that the player regularly finds new modules from unexplored planets and looted ships, but also loses some every now and then during battles or ingame events.

This also implicates that players wants to ideally damage, but not destroy modules aboard enemy ships to get them for themselves as loot. Mereley damaging the modules however will allow enemies to repair them during combat.

General combat mechanics:

Shooting a weapon requires that there's a operating crewmember and power supply to the module. Additionally, projectile weapons need enough explosives (consumed as ammo with each shot).

Player has the option to either target enemy ship hulls or individual modules inside the ships. Needless to say, it is easier to hit the entire ship than an individual module, leading to hopefully interesting and original choices for the player.

Damaging the enemy radar for example makes the enemy hit you less often. Then again, the player could opt to attack enemy weapons, reactors (which might render the enemy ship completely comatose) or just go directly for the kill and skip picking off separate modules altogether.

In another piece of news, we've partnered with Ember Quality Services, an experienced Estonian QA company.

We are nearing the singularity where the new generation battle becomes fully playable, at which point we can start next level balancing of all game aspects tied to battle.

September update, good news

We've had a bit of radio silence here because so much has been going on. We worked most of the summer to prepare Interactive Fate for investments (the legalities involved were a challenge, but we solved everything) and turn the late alpha version of Rogue Ambassador into a very early beta.

This means we have all the major features of the game engine ready and we can soon dedicate ourselves fully to creating content: more space ships, exotic planets, quests, alien species, artifacts, and all the other cool stuff in the game. We are actively communicating with our potential publishers again and all signs so far are very positive =)

Another big news is the battle mode. After careful game designing and planning, we decided to make the RTS-style combat (as in Starcraft or Warcraft) more similar to FTL-style combat, which can be played both in real time or by turns.

The Mothership versus hostile pirate fleets

Click on image to see the full-sized picture

To attack, the player selects individual weapons directly from ship (or from the list of modules) and targets them at individual hostile ships seen on the right.
Combat sensors, jammers, nukes and tactical fighter ships are used the same way.

Internal combat versus boarding teams (or alien parasites)

Click on image to see the full-sized picture

The common aim of space pirates is not to destroy the Mothership, but destroy all its weapons and capture the ship and its cargo. Pirate assault  pods will be launched at the mothership, full of armed aliens ready to breach the hull and kill or enslave everybody inside. If any weapons are still intact or can be repaired quickly enough, some of the assaulters can be shot to pieces before reaching the ship.

The boarding usually starts only when enemies have also disabled your emergency escape warpdrive. If you are able to repair the warpdrive beforore it or the ship command bridge is captured, you can warp to safe distance from the combat. Any enemies inside Mothership at the time of escape will remain there and will have to be neutralized.

As mentioned in the previous post, much more nastier creatures can creep into the Mothership as well. Certain space organisms have the cozy habit of secretly infesting your ship with their eggs, cocoons, or larvae.

Needless to say, when the little guys hatch, they will start eating your crew and laying more eggs. The space parasites will be hard to discover if the player does not realize that crewmembers are regularly going missing or that the engine malfunctions are the result of aliens getting stuck in there. I'm sure Ellen Ripley would approve this design choice :)

I aim to continue blog updates more regularly now (twice a month, perhaps). Your feedback and comments are what motivates me the most, so please keep them coming! :)