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Author Topic: Pioneer, a top down shooter rpg released!  (Read 7779 times)
jaychant
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Re: Pioneer, a top down shooter rpg released!
« Reply #15 on: February 03, 2009, 12:43:16 pm »

Yes the ship is rather slow to start with. And yes you can definitely make it faster - quite soon into the story too you get "velocity amplification devices" that you can fit to your ship to increase it's top speed.

It's part of the story that you'll have to increase the speed of your ship Smiley

What about acceleration? Can you boost that? (i.e. it takes less time to get to top speed)
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aymes
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Re: Pioneer, a top down shooter rpg released!
« Reply #16 on: February 03, 2009, 12:50:04 pm »

Currently no Shocked

Although I had always planned to put such an upgrade in and never got round to it. The larger hulls do accelerate faster though so it's worth upgrading to one of those.

I am currently working on an update for this before I start marketing it more, so I'll try to get one in there Smiley
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aymes
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Re: Pioneer, a top down shooter rpg released!
« Reply #17 on: February 03, 2009, 02:45:31 pm »

Just so you know I've uploaded a new version to the same link with the following changed:

 - Text spacing in conversation screens (some people were finding it hard to read)
 - Fixed spelling mistakes in dialogue text
 - Added acceleration module (which you can find once you get to sector 3 hint hint)

The new version should not touch your current save games so you can just install over the old one Smiley
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RTyp06
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Re: Pioneer, a top down shooter rpg released!
« Reply #18 on: February 04, 2009, 12:58:35 am »

Aymes really put alot of work into this great game. I highly recommend for everyone to at least try out the demo! You'll be glad you did.
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Re: Pioneer, a top down shooter rpg released!
« Reply #19 on: February 04, 2009, 01:07:04 am »

I actually want to buy the full game, it's that fun. Plus, I can finally take advantage of my monitor's 1280x1024 resolution (Or 1600x1024, the largest resolution I can go to). Most games I have to use the low resolution (640x480) just so they play at a desirable speed, I guess because the only games at that resolution are usually 3D games.
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aymes
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Re: Pioneer, a top down shooter rpg released!
« Reply #20 on: February 04, 2009, 08:12:53 am »

jaychant, thats great to hear! Cheesy

Yeah the resolution stuff took a bit of thinking out, obviously using a larger res requires a bit more cpu/gpu power. But also in the case of Pioneer it doesn't need that much extrat plus you can see further so it's a gamplay advantage too!
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Lachie Dazdarian
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Re: Pioneer, a top down shooter rpg released!
« Reply #21 on: February 07, 2009, 05:19:17 pm »

This could be an excellent freeware game, but something I would buy…hrm, I don't think so. And indie game I would buy must be one spear above the best freeware games, or have something they don't. Pioneer contains too many graphics design clumsiness (and even some bugs, like when being on a planet collecting minerals), interface incoherencies and few misplaced music tracks for me to warrant it top notch.

Also, the dialogue and story is rather un-imerrsive. The game appears, at least in the beginning, too linear, with other characters only guiding you from point A to point B, and you don't feel like you are really interacting with them.

I will admit that I really liked the pace and mechanics of battles, as well as slow travel speed. It's somewhat hypnotic, and the way that dialogue between Blain and Nova was inserted into that trip to the rebel station…really cool.

Came to the part when racing with Velays. Have to go back to upgrade obviously.
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aymes
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Re: Pioneer, a top down shooter rpg released!
« Reply #22 on: February 08, 2009, 09:00:37 am »

Hey thanks for the comments Lachie, differing opinions are always an interesting read!

Ahhh yes the freeware argument. I'll admit I considered it but I couldn't justify it with the amount of money I had spent on the artwork, hosting, etc... Plus I don't feel it's wrong to ask for something in return for over a years hard work on my part Smiley

I'm actually working on a user interface overhaul right now with my artist. This appears to be the most widespread gripe people have with the game so it's currently my top priority. The reason it didn't get done in the first place is because I ran out of money, people need paying to do things reliably and on time Sad

It was designed to be a linear game (I don't think I ever said it was otherwise?), however if it's successfull I have a sequel planned which will be far more "sand box" than this. It's the testing that takes the time in non-linear games and I didn't really want to spend 3 years or more on this project.

Glad you like the trip to the space station, thats one of my favourite parts!

By the way, what are the errors you're getting with the planet lander? I wasn't aware of any? Shocked

Thanks again for trying it out!
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Lachie Dazdarian
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Re: Pioneer, a top down shooter rpg released!
« Reply #23 on: February 08, 2009, 02:31:05 pm »

When I landed on the planet alien and asteroid sprites were constantly smeared/pasted or like being spawned from the left edge of the screen. Same for a part of the terrain. Odd. I should have taken a screenshot. Will do it if I find an opportunity.

Well, if you paid your artists then it's understandible you trying to get your investment back. The graphics just didn't seem to be anything super-cool to me. I mean, no animated full screen alien dialogue screens for the starts. Maybe some big cinematics appear in full version. I don't know.

I wish people trusted their own abilities more, especially in projects that really don't require special skills. Static alien face images, space ship sprites, planet sprites (really didn't like that in your game => try FlamingPear's LunaCell plugin for PhotoShop)...hrm, not something I would pay for...Game cinematics, jaw dropping space scenes (like for main menu, etc)....that's another thing.
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Dabir
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Re: Pioneer, a top down shooter rpg released!
« Reply #24 on: February 08, 2009, 03:00:41 pm »

Sounds like a texture file or even a whole bit of the planet is missing, the game smears because it doesn't have anything else to put there.
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aymes
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Re: Pioneer, a top down shooter rpg released!
« Reply #25 on: February 08, 2009, 07:22:42 pm »

Lachie - wow, certainly not heard of that planet lander issue - did you try the openGL mode instead? What gfx card are you using and are your drivers totally up to date?

I don't know of many shareware games where there are cinematics? (I can think of one but it's certainly not common?) I can also confirm there are sadly no cinematics in the full version!.

My own abilities created the GUI btw, and I think there's an old thread on here somewhere with an old screenie of my spaceship attempts for the game - you'll soon see why I needed to get help!

The only thing I would say is that this is a niche budget game, not a generic £30 commercial title where you might expect that kind of funding to go into it. I don't feel that the lack of cinematics or animated character screens makes it any less a great game, but if thats how you feel you might be missing out on quite a few other great games out there?

Pioneer obviously isn't for you, but I appreciate the opinions. If people didn't tell me these things I would never try to aim higher! Thanks again!
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Lachie Dazdarian
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Re: Pioneer, a top down shooter rpg released!
« Reply #26 on: February 09, 2009, 07:14:51 pm »

I didn't mean any disrespect with my comments. And the second one was mainly motivated by the fact you paid for those graphics. I was merely speaking from my own perspective. If I would resort to buying graphics, it would have to be something way better than my maximum.

I ran the game once in OpenGL mode, but I seem to have problems with either graphics card overheating or my power unit, as it completed turned off my PC after some 20 minutes of playing. Same thing happened to me with BioShock, but it stopped when I switched to 800*600 resolution and did some switches with virtual memory usage. But this newly experience with your game makes me think I have a serious problem with overheating or my power unit. I suspect overheating more because I played BioShock while the temperatures in my room were quite lower. Anyway, this is rather annoying as I'm making an OpenGL game too. So, no, I used a non-OpenGL mode. I have GeForce 8600 GTS, 512 MB RAM.
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aymes
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Re: Pioneer, a top down shooter rpg released!
« Reply #27 on: February 09, 2009, 11:14:27 pm »

Ah no, I understand I do! And believe me, your comments only want me to improve the quality for the next game I create Smiley Not sure about cinematics, but I'd love to get animated alien screens in next time, hopefully my budget will be larger too!

Yeah that GFX card should have no trouble (I know someone has gone through the whole game with a 6600), on the surface it sounds like an overheating prob, but I'm really no expert!
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chischis
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Re: Pioneer, a top down shooter rpg released!
« Reply #28 on: February 11, 2009, 12:34:46 am »

I signed up here to POST about this game, seeing as I'm a long-time SC2 nut (first played it when I was about 15 I think... my local Blockbuster JUST HAPPENED to have the SC1 and 2 CD collection in store... on a Sunday.  A day of fate...) ... I'm just off to BUY this game now.  It's the closest thing to a spiritual sequel for Star Control 2 I've come across.  It's a rather different sort of game play - asteroids is the major influence - but the story is straight out of the SC2 school of sci-fi.

So I'm not surprised the author has posted here.  Sir, I suggest posting this at http://www.rockpapershotgun.com as well - they appreciate these indie games a lot!

The MOD-doskpop-styled music is getting me all teary-eyed for my SC2-loving youth too  Grin
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aymes
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Re: Pioneer, a top down shooter rpg released!
« Reply #29 on: February 11, 2009, 08:59:14 am »

Whee thanks for the support chischis!

I've written to the RPS guys, but I don't think they've mentioned it yet? I know they're busy people though - perhaps a nudge in a week or so Cheesy

Glad you like the music! Please let me know how you get on with the game!
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