New game?

[Lurler]

While we are working on VoidExpanse it might be a good idea to start planning for a new game that we might do in the future. Design documents are not made in a week, sometimes it takes months or even years to come up with something good. Even in case of VoidExpanse it took almost two years until we were satisfied with the idea. Well, it might not necessary translate into a good game, but at least it gives more chances, rather than doing the design document in a rush after a spark of some random idea. So, the bottom line is - I think it is a good time to start planning for another game that we _might_ start doing in half a year or a year so from now.

We have a few ideas ourselves, naturally. Even a few prototypes done long time ago. And we did some market research. It seems that open world and survival games are very popular now and will most likely stay that way for a few years. At least that is my opinion. On the other hand I can also see that there are some very niche games getting mainstream popularity, which seem like another option.

But what would you guys think would be a good idea for a future game? Naturally we'd like to continue with something similar to VoidExpanse in a sense that we don't want to be making another angry birds clone or some such nonsense We'd love to do some big, interesting and innovative game.

[MenschMaschine]

Just don't jump onto the hyped pixelated train 
I am ooold and had to live through that time, i do not want to suffer again.
Retro-graphics isn't fun, it is just plain ugly.
[Whimpering mode off]

One idea would be to create a new game within the lore of the old game.
Like... A roleplaying game based inside the Expanse,
or at a time before it all happened (a prequel so to speak)

We fly around in early versions of the ships we know plus some "new" ones,
then actually land in stations and on planets, disembark and run about with
characters we created and also some who joined us, solve quests and puzzles and
do tactical combat. Which is done in a roundbased system, everything else is in real time.

Perspective is topdown so it would be in line with existing (and new) assets, resources and
won't alienate so easily the existing community.

The ships we use to travel cannot be customized so much anymore, because they are more or less
only a way to travel now, instead we can find (or mine) resources from planets and asteroids and
built items for our characters from that.

Combat could also be in real time, then you could probably keep the whole movement-system and
just enhance it for walking mode or so. This would be though a storydriven game where we talk
to many people so the dialoguesystem should be solid.

And the name of the game will be "void not yet expansed" 

[kyokei]

Hmmm this made me think - and I am not really sure how I can answer this. Making a survival game seems to be very difficult as there are tons and not all are a success.

I would like to get some more information from you. What are your constraints? Staying with Unity? does it need to remain in the space sci-fi theme? does it need to remain 2d?
I'd like to know what the specifics of AtomicTorch are.

Funny enough, I am a succour for pixelated games as it brings back so many memories of when I started gaming. I also love love love rogue-like games as they give a sense of intense adventure (I do suck at them most of the time though).

If you guys would go survival and you would stay in the theme of sci-fi then you would have as competition Grav (which I last heard was doing great). I don't know of many 2d survival games that have been a success a part of Project Zomboid.

So now you have done a sci-fi/space RPG game, if you make a new game it would either be a successor of a previous game or a new game of a new genre (I think). This means the choices are quite limited.

I think what I would like to see the most from you guys is a space/rogue-like game in the likes of FTL. I know that there is one that is in early access (Space Rogue)at the moment but I am sure you guys can do much better.
Of course it would need to have a major twist that would make the game different.

The only other genre I would think off would be more in the likes of Prison Architect, RimWorld. Where you create a base, gather ressources and build to advance and survive.

The only other advice I want to give is that it might be wise to do a short Early Access launch when the time comes (EA launch with a timed plan, and stick to it) and please for the love of god support Mac and Linux

ky0

[Ohfive30]

I don't really have any specific suggestions for you, all I can say is that what I really enjoy in a game is the progression side of things, that is to say.
unlocking stuff and/or leveling up. It's really this element that I enjoy. but then i guess that's really the basic concept of reward, once upon a time
it was a high scores in space invaders, these days, it's a tier 10 tank in World of Tanks, or a completing a level 45 Greater Rift in Diablo 3.

Combine reward with giving the player a sense of achievement and you've probably got a winning combination.

Having said that, it's always a fine balance between progression and just grinding out the next bit of XP which can burn a player out rather quickly.
I find I suffer a bit from this in both World of Tanks and War Thunder. there are stages, usually higher tiers where the grind to get the next tank/plane etc.
is just a looooooong process even though it's rewarding to get there in the end.

Anyway, not necessarily much help there, but i just thought I'd throw in those couple of thoughts on games.

[necavi]

Personally I would love to see AtomicTorch do basically Mount and Blade in space, while not a unique idea at all, it could be extremely fun in my opinion, get some nice diplomacy, levels/xp/upgrades and some story line thrown in to boot.

[Lurler]

Just don't jump onto the hyped pixelated train 

That was actually one of the idea. Not for the sake of pixelation, but stylistically and to reduce budget. But oh, well

One idea would be to create a new game within the lore of the old game.
Like... A roleplaying game based inside the Expanse,
or at a time before it all happened (a prequel so to speak)

That was another idea! To create a "metroidvania" game in VoidExpanse universe. Similar to the actual Metroid on GBA. But again, just an idea.

Perspective is topdown so it would be in line with existing (and new) assets, resources and
won't alienate so easily the existing community.

Yeah, about that. We are not going to make the same game again for sure. New game has to be substantially different.
We might do VE2 some time in the future, but definitely not for the next game.

I would like to get some more information from you. What are your constraints? Staying with Unity? does it need to remain in the space sci-fi theme? does it need to remain 2d?
I'd like to know what the specifics of AtomicTorch are.

Yes, Unity, since we have a large code base and components repository that we can use already which would make development of any new games much faster.
As for theme, idea and perspective - it could be anything.

Funny enough, I am a succour for pixelated games as it brings back so many memories of when I started gaming. I also love love love rogue-like games as they give a sense of intense adventure (I do suck at them most of the time though).

I am the same. But if we decide to make something like that it has to be actually a viable idea as there is no point otherwise
I'm not so sure these minimalistic "artsy" games sell that well. Maybe one in 100.
But making a NORMAL game with simple graphics might be possible.

The only other advice I want to give is that it might be wise to do a short Early Access launch when the time comes (EA launch with a timed plan, and stick to it) and please for the love of god support Mac and Linux

Eearly Access - this time for sure. If we are going to be releasing a game that can be expanded upon after the initial release - then early access is a must!
As for Linux and Mac - definitely! But this time NOT together with the Win release As about 95% of all bugs were on these platforms and it destroyed our rating on Steam. So, next time linux and mac will come slightly later (month or two down the road after the initial release).

...

You are right with these points. We learned a lot from our experience with VE so next time will be (should be) better

Personally I would love to see AtomicTorch do basically Mount and Blade in space, while not a unique idea at all, it could be extremely fun in my opinion, get some nice diplomacy, levels/xp/upgrades and some story line thrown in to boot.

Not quite yet
As I mentioned next game HAS to be about something different. We just can't/shouldn't do the same thing twice.

Anyway, thank you everyone for your ideas and suggestions!

We will surely come up with something good that you and many other people will enjoy!

If you have more ideas - please don't hesitate to share it with us!

[loudent]

I'm wondering if you ever played the game "Sentinel Worlds". The game was an RPG that had sort of two types of gameplay. A top Down space exploration/combat (surprise you already have that !) and then you could land on asteroids, stations and/or planets and you'd get a top down view of your party. Your party had equipment. Some of it helped fly the ship but some of it was melee or ranged weapons. Sometimes you'd land in a hostile environment and have to fight  your way through (typical of RPGS)

There was a story to play through but  you could just fly around and land on a planet or asteroids and just find some old tunnels/ruins/alien nests to battle through.

You've got a huge chunk of it done already. You'd have to expand the "character" to be 2-6 characters each with their own skill tree and possibly special abilities. The skill tree itself would have to be expanded to include ground combat skills and, or course, you'd have it implement the actual ground based gameplay.

This idea lets you leverage what you've already built. If you have procedurally generated ground "dungeons" you could extend the gameplay without having to create each individual ground "area"

[kyokei]

As for Linux and Mac - definitely! But this time NOT together with the Win release As about 95% of all bugs were on these platforms and it destroyed our rating on Steam. So, next time linux and mac will come slightly later (month or two down the road after the initial release).

All I can say for this is booooo

I do get it though - I hope you won't do like other companies and release mac/linux after the 1.0 release. Because those things make me sad. In early access I can understand it. Hey!, but AI is now a pro at making linux builds! so pff to that comment actually! <3

I've been thinking about this post some more and I think you guys are in a really tough spot, I seriously can't imagine what genre you should make your next game. There seem to be 1001 survival games in early access. Roguelikes don't sell super well that often, unless it's sublime. The only other thing I could come up with which are types of games that people love are city building/simulation/strat games.

[Lurler]

Yeah, this time it should be much better with the experience we got from this game. So it should be okay

As for what idea to choose - that's the thing. It's really tough to come up with something fresh...

[jeeplaw]

I'm wondering if you ever played the game "Sentinel Worlds". The game was an RPG that had sort of two types of gameplay. A top Down space exploration/combat (surprise you already have that !) and then you could land on asteroids, stations and/or planets and you'd get a top down view of your party. Your party had equipment. Some of it helped fly the ship but some of it was melee or ranged weapons. Sometimes you'd land in a hostile environment and have to fight  your way through (typical of RPGS)

There was a story to play through but  you could just fly around and land on a planet or asteroids and just find some old tunnels/ruins/alien nests to battle through.

You've got a huge chunk of it done already. You'd have to expand the "character" to be 2-6 characters each with their own skill tree and possibly special abilities. The skill tree itself would have to be expanded to include ground combat skills and, or course, you'd have it implement the actual ground based gameplay.

This idea lets you leverage what you've already built. If you have procedurally generated ground "dungeons" you could extend the gameplay without having to create each individual ground "area"

One of my favorite games of all time. Sentinel Worlds: Future Magic

[loudent]

One of my favorite games of all time. Sentinel Worlds: Future Magic

Ah, nice to meet another fan. I really think that a game with both the space combat of void expanse and the ground combat based on SW could really be something we haven't seen in a while.

-Loudent

[kyokei]

I've had a short discussion with AI about this - but I think something that could be a big hit is a Medieval/Fantasy kinda XCOM game.
I know Massive Chalice is out there but the storyline of that game puts me off.

Maybe think of something along the lines of Wasteland 2, in a fantasy setting

[Tchey]

I'd love to see a space Hulk VoidExpanse Hallway Xcom game.

Keep the universe, move the lore to +1000 years.

Have an overall view of a space sector, have a broken ship, instead of building a base like Xcom you fix your ship, to travel further in worst condition.
Can travel real time on the global map, similar to VoidExpanse.
When boarding a destroyed ship or abandonned station, turned based, and global map paused.
No new recruits, only a limited amount of scavangers you have to take care of.
They can evolve, equip... get hurt... die. You can fix them with robotic or other parts and limbs. You must take care of the mind, it's easy to turn crazy when your body is not yours anymore.

Something like that...

[Silberspeer]

It sounds impressive but a little bit too much of ":Let's put everything we like in" for my taste. It becomes hell when you need to design all of those things and after that balance them to be playable. So this idea is great for bigger company and for some distant future, but not for now.

[MenschMaschine]

*grins* What did you expect, Silberspeer?
This is what happens when you ask People about their Dreams and
Opinions instead of Reality and Achievability.

It was a bit of an unfair start anyways,
similar to a Magician asking a Person from the Audience
"Which Number do i think of right now?"

You are of course correct. After all, in Gamedesign there is no Place for Democracy.
You create, We play. And if you are smart, You allow modding the Game so We
can add some Stuff and, much more important, keep it alive after you moved on to
other Projects.

And so far, especially compared to the Hundreds of hyped-up Steam-Games
that are left to die after a few Months you are doing a bang-up Job, i'd say.