'Unknown' Space themed server [Information/Hiring]
 

Unknown will be a space themed server that focuses on PvP and the struggle for dominance between the existing Empires. The space portion should dominate gameplay, but there will also be ground based aspects.

Planned Initial Features:

• • 4 systems-3 Empire owned, 1 neutral
  • o More can be released with time, as they are "discovered"
• • 3 Main Empires competing for control
• • 'Dynamic' economy to allow trading
• • Full loot
• • Space & Planet based resource mining
• • Control of stations in neutral systems are constantly fought over for control:
  • o Able to build defensive structures to allow safer travel/mining
  • o Able to build resource collectors for much slower but automated gathering in the area
• • Control of planets in neutral systems are fought over for control in special events
• • Special events that allow Empire home planets to be attacked to steal funds if successful(but not take over)
• • Orbital strikes of planets
• • Multi-person capital ships:
  • o Carriers/Battleships/Freighters/Corvettes
  • o Can be boarded by enemies
  • o Components can be destroyed and crew need to repair to keep the ship in top condition
  • o Require vast amount of resources by Empires and have maintenance costs
  • o Can enter hyperspace on their own
• • Personal craft:
  • o Fighters
  • o Bombers
  • o Trading Ships/Mining Vessels
  • o Support Ships
    •  Buff allies' shields
    •  Heal allies
    •  Cloak for scouting
  • o Can upgrade various equipment such as engine, shields, weapons and powerplant using a combination of weight and slot restrictions for combinations of weapons.
  • o Require the use of jumpgates to travel between
• • Variety of missions(quests) ranging from infantry to fighter/bomber to multi-person requiring a capital ship
• • Events(it wouldn't be Graal without 'em)

Demonstration video of movement, weapons & capital ships:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0alzw...ature=youtu.be

I have been developing this by myself, and using placeholder art(if you haven't noticed, I'm not an artist). I believe that there is now a good framework in place, and that I cannot really move forward implementing new features without actual graphics artists. I would like to be able to start integrating game play mechanics directly with the artwork now and actually begin development towards becoming a hosted server.

Development Plan:
Primary development will focus on the Space PvP & Empire control mechanics first.
Then we will develop the crafting and ship constructing mechanics.
Following that, we will develop ground based combat.
PvE missions and gameplay will be the last area to focus on.

Current Staff:

• Blah64 - Manager/Scripter

Unknown is currently hiring development positions
Graphics Team (GAT) - This is the most needed position at the moment. Tilesets, GUI/HUDs and all space based graphics need to be created.

Levels Team (LAT)-Not needed quite so urgently, but getting a head start on level development will be a great help.

Sound Effects & Scripting Teams (SFX/NAT)-Not necessarily needed at the moment, but I wouldn't turn away eager talent.

Application:
Send an email to [email protected] with the following information:

• Graal Account Name
• Development position(s) you are applying for
• Previous space games you have played
• Any suggestions you may have for the server
• Examples of your work

Sage ended up joining me and is making graphics for 'Unknown'
Here's some progress that has been made on the server:
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/g...oto/inside.png
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/g..._photo/HUD.png
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/g...oto/Firing.png

And here is a short video of us testing some basic fighter combat. Values for weapons/ships/shields etc. aren't indicative of how balanced weapons will be. These were just set to make the video nice and short.



Basic fighter combat is actually pretty fun even at this stage in development.
(Sage isn't very good at aiming or dodging :D, I keep winning pretty easily in our duels)

Looks interesting.

Sad it'll go no where though. Hope you prove me wrong.

Looks good :D

This is the kind of thing that just doesn't work on Graal. Really, why would anyone want to play a game like this with 20 fps? The entire genre is based on high speed action.

I'd have to agree with this as well. But hey, prove us wrong. Graal needs a relatively fresh idea like this. Pick a new name too. Good luck.

"Unknown" is a hell of a lot better than 100% of the names currently on the server list, and actually would hold some meaning (what are the far reaches of space if not unknown?).

oh! You're good.

I think that an RTS MMO is the only real way of succeeding with a space combat themed server. As mentioned above, straight up space combat would need to be fast paced to be really appealing. With an RTS, slower paced combat is more of the normal.

Time for another update:

Sage appears to have gone AWOL on me, so I'm back to using coder art for the time being.

Some new features that have been added include:
-Asteroids and mining
-Some events and an event system
-Factions and stations that can be captured
-Very basic npc turrets for station defenses and some PvE
-Capships now have breakable components and weapons
-Radar system - range is equipment dependent
-Map system - only shows location of players in your faction
-Starter sector planned - a small 4x4 level sector for tutorials
-Neutral sector is being planned out (a 52x52 level sector for RvR)

Here is a little video demonstrating some of the features:



The Capital ship shown in the video is a long range missile cruiser. It has 2 long range missile launchers that have 90 degree frontal firing arcs that will be great for supporting pushes and taking down structures/capships. In the final version, it will have no launchable fighters or anti-fighter weapons, so it will fall pray to enemy bombers pretty easily without support.

____________________________________

Some Plans:
Some time after Thanksgiving, I want to try and host a combat test with some actual players. I would like the test to consist of 2 teams. One team is at a station they own and can launch bombers and fighters. The other team has a capship that can launch fighters. The team with the capship should try and capture the station from the defending team without losing their capship.

In the mean time, I will be taking a break from development. I am away for Thanksgiving, and IP restrictions won't let me log on anyways.

I like it, couple things though:

The projectiles look really lackluster (mainly because they're so slow) and the sound effects get really annoying after a couple minutes.

Your menu slide effect should be a lot faster as well.

I like sage but he has never ever finished job

This was mostly my comment of the day.

The server looks cool, as most do, but how long will it be before your update posts turn into server shutting down because _____ posts?

Time will tell, I wish you luck. And <3 sagey.

:D! Went on vacation to NY.. forgot to tell Blah. XD

haha cool, like an escape velocity on graal :p

although you might consider the limitations of graal before attempting to finish this :p