V0.9.8 The Dark Cycle Update!
We have added a new 100 territory map! Richard and I decided that we needed something between the 53 territory Micro Spiral and the 200 territory Milky Colossus. We are now using this new 100 territory map as the basis for the story mode. The original map (now called the Micro Spiral) has had years of testing with the Story, but this new map has had maybe a dozen hours. So there may be issues, please report them if you see them. It is scary to make a change of this magnitude this late in the project, but from a high level the 100 territory map seems like the best galaxy size for first time players. For those of you familiar with playing the story mode, a comparison to the old story mode with the smaller map would be great!
We have added a system of rebounding zombies to the Sandbox Mode. This has been an ongoing request from marathon players, that they want ever increasing challenges. Well the rebounding zombies should fulfill that and then some. Here's how it works... Under the “Zombe War” section of the Sandbox Tuning menu you can now activate “Rebounding Zombies.” One important note, we made it so that you can even activate Rebounding Zombies in old sandbox saves, so you don't need to start from scratch to bring the zombie menace back! Rebound strength is based on the zombie generation. The sliders show how bad the next incoming generation will be. This means the values on the sliders will increase as the generation increases, but you are still able to fine tune how bad each next incoming generation will be (until it arrives) You are also able to turn off rebounding zombies as long as the dark infection count down has not started for the next round. So, if you are fighting the zombies and need a breather between outbreaks, you can turn off the rebound for a while. It is kind of a “self serve apocalypse.” Rebound Level Increase: For each zombie generation this is how much higher level the Zombie Alpha will be than you when it arrives. Note, this is multiplied by the current zombie generation. So if 10 levels at generation 1, then 20 levels at generation 2 and 100 levels are generation 10. Extra Underlings: This dictates how many of the AI controlled captains will instantly become infected on the next outbreak. This is also multiplied by rebound generation. How this works is that the weakest captains will fall to the new infection. They then have their levels buffed to somewhere between your level and the Alpha's level. So this means there will be a continuum of nasty zombies to fight and the weakest captains from the Galaxy now become highly relevant conflict wise. In general the weakest captains will be the neutral captains, so the factions will take less of a hit than the neutrals, until you run out of neutrals... Filthy neutrals. Extra Territory: This is how many territories the zombie outbreak will spread to on a new infection cycle. The territories are picked such that they will try to take empty territory first, but will spread into faction territory if they have to. This is also multiplied by the rebound generation. Timer Decrease: This is how much shorter the zombie arrival timer will be for the next rebound. So the rebounds can come faster and faster based on the current generation. Minimum Zombie Time: This sets some minimum time for rebounds, so you don't end up with zombies respawning every 10 seconds (unless you want them to)
This month we also made big strides with our localization system. We have hired translators for French, German, and Russian versions of SPAZ 2. It took some time to get the translation pipeline in order, but now the translators are busily localizing the 30,000+ lines of text. Going forward we hope to release a system that will allow fan translations of SPAZ 2 using a system like Steam Workshop. This current round of official translation is a test bed for that future fan based system. So if someone someday wants a Latin version of SPAZ 2, then they will be able to make one by editing some XML files.
Well, 300 voice auditions later we have our Elsa, Carl, and Jamison. 8 years we have worked with these characters and they finally have voices! Casting was a huge learning experience for us, because in our combined 28 years of video game development experience, we have never directly handled acquiring voice talent. Now that we have the cast, we are excited to put on our director hats :) We will be keeping the option to use the old Text To Speech version of the cast as well for posterity, but we think that once you hear these voice actors that it will be really hard to go back to TTS. We love you TTS, but these professional voice actors are just so, so... much better.
This next update will be about tuning and bug fixing for v1.0. Schedule permitting, we will also be recording and adding the new voice acting. We also hope to have the French, German, and Russian translations completed. VR wise, we will be getting the motion controllers working and finalizing as well so it can be tested for hopefully a parallel release with version 1.0. So we are really really close now. Thank you all so much for taking this 13 month Early Access ride with us! Andrew (Blorf) and Richard (Narlak)
[ 2017-06-14 20:50:19 CET ] [ Original post ]
Hi All,
The goal of this update was to sneak in a couple final features before 1.0 code lockdown as well as to get a start on our remaining Early Access goals, voice acting and localization.
We need to get the build as solid as we can for the v1.0 release, so going forward we will be focusing on tuning and bug fixing to ensure a great 1.0 release. After 1.0 we will again be able to look at new features, and we will hopefully see a lot of new faces joining the community with great ideas.
In this update we have added a new 100 territory map “The Clockwork Void,” as well as the “Dark Cycle,” a system of rebounding ever increasing zombie infection for the sandbox mode. Behind the scenes, we have now cast our voice actors and begun localization.
Now for the details!
The Clockwork Void:
We have added a new 100 territory map! Richard and I decided that we needed something between the 53 territory Micro Spiral and the 200 territory Milky Colossus. We are now using this new 100 territory map as the basis for the story mode. The original map (now called the Micro Spiral) has had years of testing with the Story, but this new map has had maybe a dozen hours. So there may be issues, please report them if you see them. It is scary to make a change of this magnitude this late in the project, but from a high level the 100 territory map seems like the best galaxy size for first time players. For those of you familiar with playing the story mode, a comparison to the old story mode with the smaller map would be great!
The Dark Cycle:
We have added a system of rebounding zombies to the Sandbox Mode. This has been an ongoing request from marathon players, that they want ever increasing challenges. Well the rebounding zombies should fulfill that and then some. Here's how it works... Under the “Zombe War” section of the Sandbox Tuning menu you can now activate “Rebounding Zombies.” One important note, we made it so that you can even activate Rebounding Zombies in old sandbox saves, so you don't need to start from scratch to bring the zombie menace back! Rebound strength is based on the zombie generation. The sliders show how bad the next incoming generation will be. This means the values on the sliders will increase as the generation increases, but you are still able to fine tune how bad each next incoming generation will be (until it arrives) You are also able to turn off rebounding zombies as long as the dark infection count down has not started for the next round. So, if you are fighting the zombies and need a breather between outbreaks, you can turn off the rebound for a while. It is kind of a “self serve apocalypse.” Rebound Level Increase: For each zombie generation this is how much higher level the Zombie Alpha will be than you when it arrives. Note, this is multiplied by the current zombie generation. So if 10 levels at generation 1, then 20 levels at generation 2 and 100 levels are generation 10. Extra Underlings: This dictates how many of the AI controlled captains will instantly become infected on the next outbreak. This is also multiplied by rebound generation. How this works is that the weakest captains will fall to the new infection. They then have their levels buffed to somewhere between your level and the Alpha's level. So this means there will be a continuum of nasty zombies to fight and the weakest captains from the Galaxy now become highly relevant conflict wise. In general the weakest captains will be the neutral captains, so the factions will take less of a hit than the neutrals, until you run out of neutrals... Filthy neutrals. Extra Territory: This is how many territories the zombie outbreak will spread to on a new infection cycle. The territories are picked such that they will try to take empty territory first, but will spread into faction territory if they have to. This is also multiplied by the rebound generation. Timer Decrease: This is how much shorter the zombie arrival timer will be for the next rebound. So the rebounds can come faster and faster based on the current generation. Minimum Zombie Time: This sets some minimum time for rebounds, so you don't end up with zombies respawning every 10 seconds (unless you want them to)
Localization Begins:
This month we also made big strides with our localization system. We have hired translators for French, German, and Russian versions of SPAZ 2. It took some time to get the translation pipeline in order, but now the translators are busily localizing the 30,000+ lines of text. Going forward we hope to release a system that will allow fan translations of SPAZ 2 using a system like Steam Workshop. This current round of official translation is a test bed for that future fan based system. So if someone someday wants a Latin version of SPAZ 2, then they will be able to make one by editing some XML files.
Voice Acting Casting:
Well, 300 voice auditions later we have our Elsa, Carl, and Jamison. 8 years we have worked with these characters and they finally have voices! Casting was a huge learning experience for us, because in our combined 28 years of video game development experience, we have never directly handled acquiring voice talent. Now that we have the cast, we are excited to put on our director hats :) We will be keeping the option to use the old Text To Speech version of the cast as well for posterity, but we think that once you hear these voice actors that it will be really hard to go back to TTS. We love you TTS, but these professional voice actors are just so, so... much better.
Additional Fixes/Changes:
- Changed minimum armor repair rate to 0.1% for Sandbox mode. Setting 0% was causing armor break-off updates to be skipped, preventing parts from ever breaking off.
- When ramming, less of the damage is transmitted through the skeleton of the ship so fewer parts will break off that weren't directly impacted by the ram. So your engine won't break off when you ram with your nose anymore.
- Lowered the reflected back damage to the rammer when ramming by 20%
- Fixed connection helper arrows remaining on when the part being connected is destroyed due to being used to smack other ships.
- Made tractored parts less likely to be destroyed when they hit enemy ships while being tractored.
- Fixed VR zooming on the starmap when pressing RB with the controller
- Added Vertical menu offset slider for VR
- Added menu distance slider for VR
- Reversed combat zooming in VR mode with the controller
- Custom part price multiplier slider for sandbox mode.
- Fixed the auto deploy button on the tactics panel so it wouldn't be disabled when a strike craft is currently active.
- Fixed controller not being able to advance dialogue in the final mission.
- Fixed case where the level set dressing asteroids could get too close to the play area and look like intractable asteroids.
Going Forward:
This next update will be about tuning and bug fixing for v1.0. Schedule permitting, we will also be recording and adding the new voice acting. We also hope to have the French, German, and Russian translations completed. VR wise, we will be getting the motion controllers working and finalizing as well so it can be tested for hopefully a parallel release with version 1.0. So we are really really close now. Thank you all so much for taking this 13 month Early Access ride with us! Andrew (Blorf) and Richard (Narlak)
V0.9.8 The Dark Cycle Update!
We have added a new 100 territory map! Richard and I decided that we needed something between the 53 territory Micro Spiral and the 200 territory Milky Colossus. We are now using this new 100 territory map as the basis for the story mode. The original map (now called the Micro Spiral) has had years of testing with the Story, but this new map has had maybe a dozen hours. So there may be issues, please report them if you see them. It is scary to make a change of this magnitude this late in the project, but from a high level the 100 territory map seems like the best galaxy size for first time players. For those of you familiar with playing the story mode, a comparison to the old story mode with the smaller map would be great!
We have added a system of rebounding zombies to the Sandbox Mode. This has been an ongoing request from marathon players, that they want ever increasing challenges. Well the rebounding zombies should fulfill that and then some. Here's how it works... Under the Zombe War section of the Sandbox Tuning menu you can now activate Rebounding Zombies. One important note, we made it so that you can even activate Rebounding Zombies in old sandbox saves, so you don't need to start from scratch to bring the zombie menace back! Rebound strength is based on the zombie generation. The sliders show how bad the next incoming generation will be. This means the values on the sliders will increase as the generation increases, but you are still able to fine tune how bad each next incoming generation will be (until it arrives) You are also able to turn off rebounding zombies as long as the dark infection count down has not started for the next round. So, if you are fighting the zombies and need a breather between outbreaks, you can turn off the rebound for a while. It is kind of a self serve apocalypse. Rebound Level Increase: For each zombie generation this is how much higher level the Zombie Alpha will be than you when it arrives. Note, this is multiplied by the current zombie generation. So if 10 levels at generation 1, then 20 levels at generation 2 and 100 levels are generation 10. Extra Underlings: This dictates how many of the AI controlled captains will instantly become infected on the next outbreak. This is also multiplied by rebound generation. How this works is that the weakest captains will fall to the new infection. They then have their levels buffed to somewhere between your level and the Alpha's level. So this means there will be a continuum of nasty zombies to fight and the weakest captains from the Galaxy now become highly relevant conflict wise. In general the weakest captains will be the neutral captains, so the factions will take less of a hit than the neutrals, until you run out of neutrals... Filthy neutrals. Extra Territory: This is how many territories the zombie outbreak will spread to on a new infection cycle. The territories are picked such that they will try to take empty territory first, but will spread into faction territory if they have to. This is also multiplied by the rebound generation. Timer Decrease: This is how much shorter the zombie arrival timer will be for the next rebound. So the rebounds can come faster and faster based on the current generation. Minimum Zombie Time: This sets some minimum time for rebounds, so you don't end up with zombies respawning every 10 seconds (unless you want them to)
This month we also made big strides with our localization system. We have hired translators for French, German, and Russian versions of SPAZ 2. It took some time to get the translation pipeline in order, but now the translators are busily localizing the 30,000+ lines of text. Going forward we hope to release a system that will allow fan translations of SPAZ 2 using a system like Steam Workshop. This current round of official translation is a test bed for that future fan based system. So if someone someday wants a Latin version of SPAZ 2, then they will be able to make one by editing some XML files.
Well, 300 voice auditions later we have our Elsa, Carl, and Jamison. 8 years we have worked with these characters and they finally have voices! Casting was a huge learning experience for us, because in our combined 28 years of video game development experience, we have never directly handled acquiring voice talent. Now that we have the cast, we are excited to put on our director hats :) We will be keeping the option to use the old Text To Speech version of the cast as well for posterity, but we think that once you hear these voice actors that it will be really hard to go back to TTS. We love you TTS, but these professional voice actors are just so, so... much better.
This next update will be about tuning and bug fixing for v1.0. Schedule permitting, we will also be recording and adding the new voice acting. We also hope to have the French, German, and Russian translations completed. VR wise, we will be getting the motion controllers working and finalizing as well so it can be tested for hopefully a parallel release with version 1.0. So we are really really close now. Thank you all so much for taking this 13 month Early Access ride with us! Andrew (Blorf) and Richard (Narlak)
[ 2017-06-14 20:50:19 CET ] [ Original post ]
Hi All,
The goal of this update was to sneak in a couple final features before 1.0 code lockdown as well as to get a start on our remaining Early Access goals, voice acting and localization.
We need to get the build as solid as we can for the v1.0 release, so going forward we will be focusing on tuning and bug fixing to ensure a great 1.0 release. After 1.0 we will again be able to look at new features, and we will hopefully see a lot of new faces joining the community with great ideas.
In this update we have added a new 100 territory map The Clockwork Void, as well as the Dark Cycle, a system of rebounding ever increasing zombie infection for the sandbox mode. Behind the scenes, we have now cast our voice actors and begun localization.
Now for the details!
The Clockwork Void:
We have added a new 100 territory map! Richard and I decided that we needed something between the 53 territory Micro Spiral and the 200 territory Milky Colossus. We are now using this new 100 territory map as the basis for the story mode. The original map (now called the Micro Spiral) has had years of testing with the Story, but this new map has had maybe a dozen hours. So there may be issues, please report them if you see them. It is scary to make a change of this magnitude this late in the project, but from a high level the 100 territory map seems like the best galaxy size for first time players. For those of you familiar with playing the story mode, a comparison to the old story mode with the smaller map would be great!
The Dark Cycle:
We have added a system of rebounding zombies to the Sandbox Mode. This has been an ongoing request from marathon players, that they want ever increasing challenges. Well the rebounding zombies should fulfill that and then some. Here's how it works... Under the Zombe War section of the Sandbox Tuning menu you can now activate Rebounding Zombies. One important note, we made it so that you can even activate Rebounding Zombies in old sandbox saves, so you don't need to start from scratch to bring the zombie menace back! Rebound strength is based on the zombie generation. The sliders show how bad the next incoming generation will be. This means the values on the sliders will increase as the generation increases, but you are still able to fine tune how bad each next incoming generation will be (until it arrives) You are also able to turn off rebounding zombies as long as the dark infection count down has not started for the next round. So, if you are fighting the zombies and need a breather between outbreaks, you can turn off the rebound for a while. It is kind of a self serve apocalypse. Rebound Level Increase: For each zombie generation this is how much higher level the Zombie Alpha will be than you when it arrives. Note, this is multiplied by the current zombie generation. So if 10 levels at generation 1, then 20 levels at generation 2 and 100 levels are generation 10. Extra Underlings: This dictates how many of the AI controlled captains will instantly become infected on the next outbreak. This is also multiplied by rebound generation. How this works is that the weakest captains will fall to the new infection. They then have their levels buffed to somewhere between your level and the Alpha's level. So this means there will be a continuum of nasty zombies to fight and the weakest captains from the Galaxy now become highly relevant conflict wise. In general the weakest captains will be the neutral captains, so the factions will take less of a hit than the neutrals, until you run out of neutrals... Filthy neutrals. Extra Territory: This is how many territories the zombie outbreak will spread to on a new infection cycle. The territories are picked such that they will try to take empty territory first, but will spread into faction territory if they have to. This is also multiplied by the rebound generation. Timer Decrease: This is how much shorter the zombie arrival timer will be for the next rebound. So the rebounds can come faster and faster based on the current generation. Minimum Zombie Time: This sets some minimum time for rebounds, so you don't end up with zombies respawning every 10 seconds (unless you want them to)
Localization Begins:
This month we also made big strides with our localization system. We have hired translators for French, German, and Russian versions of SPAZ 2. It took some time to get the translation pipeline in order, but now the translators are busily localizing the 30,000+ lines of text. Going forward we hope to release a system that will allow fan translations of SPAZ 2 using a system like Steam Workshop. This current round of official translation is a test bed for that future fan based system. So if someone someday wants a Latin version of SPAZ 2, then they will be able to make one by editing some XML files.
Voice Acting Casting:
Well, 300 voice auditions later we have our Elsa, Carl, and Jamison. 8 years we have worked with these characters and they finally have voices! Casting was a huge learning experience for us, because in our combined 28 years of video game development experience, we have never directly handled acquiring voice talent. Now that we have the cast, we are excited to put on our director hats :) We will be keeping the option to use the old Text To Speech version of the cast as well for posterity, but we think that once you hear these voice actors that it will be really hard to go back to TTS. We love you TTS, but these professional voice actors are just so, so... much better.
Additional Fixes/Changes:
- Changed minimum armor repair rate to 0.1% for Sandbox mode. Setting 0% was causing armor break-off updates to be skipped, preventing parts from ever breaking off.
- When ramming, less of the damage is transmitted through the skeleton of the ship so fewer parts will break off that weren't directly impacted by the ram. So your engine won't break off when you ram with your nose anymore.
- Lowered the reflected back damage to the rammer when ramming by 20%
- Fixed connection helper arrows remaining on when the part being connected is destroyed due to being used to smack other ships.
- Made tractored parts less likely to be destroyed when they hit enemy ships while being tractored.
- Fixed VR zooming on the starmap when pressing RB with the controller
- Added Vertical menu offset slider for VR
- Added menu distance slider for VR
- Reversed combat zooming in VR mode with the controller
- Custom part price multiplier slider for sandbox mode.
- Fixed the auto deploy button on the tactics panel so it wouldn't be disabled when a strike craft is currently active.
- Fixed controller not being able to advance dialogue in the final mission.
- Fixed case where the level set dressing asteroids could get too close to the play area and look like intractable asteroids.
Going Forward:
This next update will be about tuning and bug fixing for v1.0. Schedule permitting, we will also be recording and adding the new voice acting. We also hope to have the French, German, and Russian translations completed. VR wise, we will be getting the motion controllers working and finalizing as well so it can be tested for hopefully a parallel release with version 1.0. So we are really really close now. Thank you all so much for taking this 13 month Early Access ride with us! Andrew (Blorf) and Richard (Narlak)
Space Pirates And Zombies 2
MinMax Games Ltd.
MinMax Games Ltd.
2017-11-07
Indie Strategy RPG Adventure Simulation Singleplayer
Game News Posts 36
🎹🖱️Keyboard + Mouse
🎮 Full Controller Support
Mostly Positive
(2671 reviews)
http://www.spaz2.com
https://store.steampowered.com/app/252470
The Game includes VR Support
Oculus
1
SteamVR
1
Gamepad support
1
Seated
1
SPAZ2 Linux 64 Bit [772.66 M]
In SPAZ 2 you must survive in an evolving post apocalyptic Galaxy. The zombie threat is defeated, infrastructure has collapsed, fuel is scarce, and scavenging means survival.
Initially the Galaxy contains hundreds of fleets, each trying to survive. AI captains do everything the player can. The player is not special and is not the center of the Galaxy.
As resource scarcity becomes critical, ships come into conflict just to survive. Factions may form for protection or split due to starvation. Old friends must become fodder.
Stronger factions establish and defend territories, set up resource hubs, and establish star bases. Weaker factions may resort to banditry. Each captain is unique, persistent, and shapes the Galaxy.
When factions meet, combat is usually the result. While the strategic side of SPAZ 2 is about exploration, territorial control, and faction building, the action side of SPAZ 2 is about ship construction, tactics, and salvage.
Combat creates damaged ships and dead crew, but it also provides new salvaged parts. All the parts in SPAZ 2 are modular and randomly generated. If you see something you like, break it off an enemy, grab it with your tractor beam, and connect it to your ship. Ship construction can be done live during battles, though sometimes beating an enemy to death with their broken wing is also fun.
Back on the star map, battles will attract other captains looking for salvage. Take your new parts and run. Upgrade, repair, and prepare to fight another day, for darker threats are about to emerge.
Key Features:
Initially the Galaxy contains hundreds of fleets, each trying to survive. AI captains do everything the player can. The player is not special and is not the center of the Galaxy.
As resource scarcity becomes critical, ships come into conflict just to survive. Factions may form for protection or split due to starvation. Old friends must become fodder.
Stronger factions establish and defend territories, set up resource hubs, and establish star bases. Weaker factions may resort to banditry. Each captain is unique, persistent, and shapes the Galaxy.
When factions meet, combat is usually the result. While the strategic side of SPAZ 2 is about exploration, territorial control, and faction building, the action side of SPAZ 2 is about ship construction, tactics, and salvage.
Combat creates damaged ships and dead crew, but it also provides new salvaged parts. All the parts in SPAZ 2 are modular and randomly generated. If you see something you like, break it off an enemy, grab it with your tractor beam, and connect it to your ship. Ship construction can be done live during battles, though sometimes beating an enemy to death with their broken wing is also fun.
Back on the star map, battles will attract other captains looking for salvage. Take your new parts and run. Upgrade, repair, and prepare to fight another day, for darker threats are about to emerge.
Key Features:
- Two hundred persistent Captains that are able to do everything the player can, including forming dynamic factions, building structures, controlling territory, and going to War.
- A true living galaxy that is not player centric. It will develop differently each game through the interactions of the agents.
- Build your own faction from nothing.
- Randomly generated modular parts. Build the mothership that suits your play style, on the fly, in seconds. Every part has its own unique stats that contribute to the mothership. Every part has its own hull integrity and damage states. Every part is a real, working, ship component.
- Strategic ship building. The mass, location and shape of parts all matter. If a part blocks a turret, it will not fire. If a ship is too long, it will turn slowly. Too many engines will mean too little power for weapons. Every design choice counts.
- A fully physics based 3d environment where everything is destructible, takes damage from impacts, can be grabbed and even thrown at enemies with the tractor beam.
- Natural movement and controls. Movement is on a 2d plane and screen relative, much like an FPS. The combat feels like huge pirate ships battling on an ocean. Focus on tactical positioning and manage system power to unleash hell at the right moment.
- Epic ship to ship battles. Tear the enemy apart piece by piece over minutes, instead of seconds.
MINIMAL SETUP
- OS: Ubuntu 16.04 LTS or SteamOS
- Processor: 2.6+ GHz Quad coreMemory: 8 GB RAM
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics: OpenGL 3 Compatible GPU with 1GB Video RAM
- Storage: 4 GB available spaceAdditional Notes: 64 Bit Only. Other Linux versions should work but are not officially supported. VR not supported
- OS: Ubuntu 16.04 LTS or SteamOS or newer
- Processor: 3.1+ GHz Quad coreMemory: 8 GB RAM
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics: OpenGL 3 Compatible GPU with 2GB Video RAM
- Storage: 4 GB available spaceAdditional Notes: 64 Bit Only. Other Linux versions should work but are not officially supported. VR not supported
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