Shallow Space - a 3D Space RTS Game - Now on Indiegogo + Free Demo

It's finally here!

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/shallow-space-insurgency/x/4890565

Demo only for PC?

The Mac demo is uploading now.

We didn't have enough time to test a Linux version, but we're gonna have a Linux version within the next week or two.

If I contributed, and paid without selecting any perk, how can i select it after that? I reloaded page and missed that it's unselected :/

Free demo? I JUST SHUT DOWN MY DESKTOP!

*frowny face*.

Finally here! Been waiting a whole year for this

Brian is the new Brad XD


I miss Brad

PM me your email address and I'll look into it.

I will be backing this.
As soon as I get back home to play the demo.

We've added Mac and Linux demos, as well as given the demo an update.

http://www.indiedb.com/games/shallow-space/downloads

I'd love to know what y'all think!

Game looks awesome, all graphic stuff is cool. I like how it looks right now.

But I'm not sure about camera controls. I don't like that mouse wheel is not moving camera into what we are pointing (zoom), but it just move up and down. Also scroll speed is linear, when everything is far away, and we want to see more by move camera away then we need to scroll many times. There should be something to give player control over camera speed. Usually when there is standard zoom in and out, camera speed is based on how much camera is zoomed out.
I like how it worked in Homeworld. You can rotate camera, and zoom in-out. Everything is based on camera focus point. It can be moved on XZ using WSAD or arrows, camera rotate around it, and zoom to it. To change Y you can use Focus function (F button) to move Focus Point on hight of that unit. You can also add buttons to move camera Up and Down (Maybe shift + mouse wheel ).

Please add Focus on selected unit when pressing F. This will help orient camera.

In latest version when I drag-select all units from 2 groups, and then order them to move, only one group moves.

When mouse pointer is over scrollable UI it should scroll it with mouse wheel, instead moving camera.

When camera is rotating units strategic icons are updated with lag. You should check if icons are updated in LateUpdate(), after camera controls.

Something is wrong with UI fonts and icons. You use new unity UI? It looks different on other resolutions. Maybe will be better to do this with fixed size?

HAVE A BIG FAT LIKE! hells yeah!

Thank you very much for the feedback. I especially like the "f" to focus on the selected unit(s).

I'll pass this along.

Is the camera set to be like this or subject to change?

it really need a ship-satellite camera like that of homeworlds (center of camera joint inside center of focused ship). Right now my input is too slow because it just takes me too long to get my ships within view to issue orders to them.

alos left click - right click move isn't working for me, should be left click - left click.

lastly the scroll for up and down is as bizarre as one can imagine. I can't see myself ever getting used to it.

If I may

I'm the creator/lead dev on Shallow Space - just wanted to say I really appreciate the feedback in particular from OZONEXO3, really helped me out thanks!

It's really hard for me to play Shallow Space from a users perspective you see (I instinctively play around the bugs and am used to the dev camera controls!) So it's nice to recieve objective feedback from someone who has a bit of a clue about these sort of things.

OZONEXO3 if you're interested in the game and wish to continue influencing its development please head over to 'forums dot shallow dot space' and signup - if you let me know your username I'll let you in to access the closed builds. This is exactly the sort of feedback I need but sadly am not getting at the moment.

In response to your comments OZONEXO3:

But I'm not sure about camera controls. I don't like that mouse wheel is not moving camera into what we are pointing (zoom), but it just move up and down.

> I tried your suggestion, it works much better than I expected and invites the player to get zoomed in on the action more - I'll carry this to 0.7.03D for closed testing, but i'll likely implement this as standard.

Also scroll speed is linear, when everything is far away, and we want to see more by move camera away then we need to scroll many times. There should be something to give player control over camera speed. Usually when there is standard zoom in and out, camera speed is based on how much camera is zoomed out.
I like how it worked in Homeworld.

> Yep, totally agree - had already written this mechanism in but it was disabled, re-enabled for 0.7.03D

You can rotate camera, and zoom in-out. Everything is based on camera focus point. It can be moved on XZ using WSAD or arrows, camera rotate around it, and zoom to it.

> Yep, also agree with this - now implemented for 0.7.03D

Please add Focus on selected unit when pressing F. This will help orient camera.

> Yep, like, added in 0.7.03D

In latest version when I drag-select all units from 2 groups, and then order them to move, only one group moves.

> The Flotillas and Wings system makes grouped moves difficult - I plan to write in a 'Battlegroup Formations' system which will allow you to move more than 1 Flotilla dynamically using the drag selection box or UI but it's involved and a little further down the road.

When mouse pointer is over scrollable UI it should scroll it with mouse wheel, instead moving camera.

> Mouse over UI now disables scrollwheel interaction with the camera in 0.7.03D - further work to be done on this.

When camera is rotating units strategic icons are updated with lag. You should check if icons are updated in LateUpdate(), after camera controls.

> This has now been fixed in 0.7.03D, had been chasing that one for a while (despite having it working properly in several prototypes!!!) Thanks for the pointer it was exactly as you described.

Something is wrong with UI fonts and icons. You use new unity UI? It looks different on other resolutions. Maybe will be better to do this with fixed size?

> The optimal resolution for the alpha is 1080p - textures/fonts have not been optimized yet for other resolutions.

In response to your comments TATSUJB

it really need a ship-satellite camera like that of homeworlds (center of camera joint inside center of focused ship). Right now my input is too slow because it just takes me too long to get my ships within view to issue orders to them.

> You can press TAB to fly the camera between Flotillas, you can double tap the number keys to fly the camera to a Flotilla directly. you can CTRL + Click on a ship to activate the orbit camera mode but you'll need to break out of this mode to use the movement selection system effectively.

alos left click - right click move isn't working for me, should be left click - left click.

> Left click changes the active selection, right click initiates a context sensitive shortcut (over empty space: start movement command, over enemy: attack the enemy) once the movement command is active, right click cancels the order and left click picks a spot.

It might not be working for you but it is an entirely logical system and so I'm reluctant to change that.

Cheers for the support guys!

Everything is subject to change right now. There's still tons to be done.

We actually have an orbit cam in the game, but it's taken a back seat. Maybe we should make it easier to get in and out of.

here is fast example how I think controls should work

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3-uxEes9Za3TUpsaXQtalNhNjA/view?usp=sharing

Only thing that is not working here is zooming in where mouse cursor is pointing, and unit selection (to show focus) but right now camera focus on units when we click on them.

attrocious.

mmb for rotation can't work for like 90% of people.

me included because my mmb sends two clicks when you click it which is why it's been driving me up the wall that that's what they took for panning. For other people it can just be the mmb "rolling away" factor.

as for view focus it shouldn't be on first click. why? because you need to be able to select other ships from another ship's view.

in homeworld you can do it by clicking on it to select it then mmb to home in (this works for me because the amount of clicks is irrelevant).

and other way is alt-click or alt-dragbox. The latter of which is fantastically useful because it creates a invisible object that is the center of all these ships that updates even when they're moving which makes for magically well placed cameras in the hart of battle.

@brianpurkiss i don't get it. why is it that everytime someone gets to developing their own game they have to spit on other games years of playtesting and ..well playtesting! you know that glorious time where game companies had an extra year before gaming and they hired a bunch of lambdas to play their game behind closed doors to publish out perfectly the UI, interface balance and blablabla?

now people don't have as much time or money. they kinda skip this phase. What I really don't get is considering all this WHYyyyy, why ingod's name do people take a poo on other's past experiences and discoveries? And selectively too! I mean, you're fine with their written papers on implementing said graphic library for example, fine with the advances to programming languages and using those in general?

But UI? Balance? Fuckk no!

why?

Time to reprogram your mouse. Two clicks? What the actual golf balls?

not reprogram.


its a very frequent issue seeing the number of vids on this on youtube.

either way still would find this uncomfortable because of the "rolling away" factor.