Devlog update: Resources

Devlog:

• Payer has better overview of their resources (located in upper left corner of the screen)
• There are now 4 new resource types in the game 
• Mothership layout updated
• Crafting mechanics design is ready, will be implemented in the future
• Research mechanics design is ready, will be implemented in the future

Crew 

Necessary for operating modules, extinguishing fires, fighting boarders, planetary missions, etc. Includes pets. You lose when the last crewmember dies.

Organics

A complex mix of partially alive organic compounds.

Needed as food for crewmembers & biological ship modules. Generated by various biosynthesis modules. Can be also harvested from planets with life.

Fuel 

Needed for most of ship actions, most importantly moving and warping. Regularly consumed by engines, reactors and warpdrives. Harvested from gas giants. Also, it is the most commonly sold resource.

Explosives 

Consumed as ammo by larger projectile weapons. Also used to bomb enemies from orbit or detonate strong barriers. Often used as currency by pirates or warlike civilizations. Found on rare gas giants, or civilization ruins. Can be bought but are quite expensive.

Metals

Basic building material for most crafting projects. Also consumed when repairing modules.

Synthetics

Basic building material for most crafting projects. Also consumed when repairing modules.

Exotics

Ultra-rare compounds necessary for crafting more advanced modules. Very expensive to buy, but can be found from remains of dead warplife.

Data Credits

Intergalactic currency. All valuable information can be converted into data credits on the spot. 

Fate points

Earned by ethical choices or winning combats. Can be used to buy perks that make the next run easier.

October update, great news

New landing page, yay!

Heyy! We are happy to reveal our next step in reaching out, in the form of a minimalist landing page for easy demo sharing. Please sign up if you want to try out Rogue Ambassador when it becomes available. If you are feeling particularly generous, please share the new page also with your friends :)

Mothership internal view with module lights

In the above picture, you can see the next iteration of the Mothership, complete with pseudo-lights and crew buzzling about. The nondescript purple-ish module In the upper left corner of the ship is the Materials Convertor. If we decide to incorporate it, it will be a sort of "crafting module", where the player can combine resources & fuel to create cannon ammo or things like nuclear missiles. We cannot promise to convertor yet because completing the public playable build is still the key priority for us.

I left the greatest news last. Namely, we have just successfully completed an Estonian crowd-investment campaign, raising 403% of the funding we minimally asked for. I'd rather not post more details about it here, but the main point is that this grants us the freedom to keep working on the game without worrying about things like how do we buy the next kilogram of rice or pay the studio rent. If you happen to be one of our nanoinvestors, then thank you once more! We won't starve to death because of you :)

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! :)