Website (http://voidexpanse.com/)
Steam Greenlight (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=290154703) (game is greenlit and will go live shortly)
VoidExpanse is heavily inspired by Space Rangers, and that much is evident after only a quick play. On the surface, at least, it basically is Space Rangers, only in real time. You control your ship EV Nova style (or a cursor-follow style) and join factions, get loot, fight pirates, mine asteroids, fend off the Alien Menace!!! Upgrade your ship with better grapplers, engines, shields, weapons (several different types including mines) etc. Dock at stations to refuel, repair, trade and get missions, etc.
It's all there. Anyone who has played the magnificent Space Rangers will feel instantly at home, other than the real time aspect. You begin with a shitty little shuttle and a single contact on the nearest station who will teach you the barest of basics, get you a slightly better hull, and send you on your way. As with Space Rangers, there's a storyline but you're basically free to do whatever you like.
You pick a class which apparently restricts you to certain skills unless you choose the Adventurer which has no restrictions but no bonuses either. Mining, fighting, trading and all that good stuff will earn you XP which you spend on improving your skills in an impressively large tech tree, split into combat, piloting, engineering and social. The (randomly generated) galaxy is full of other ships doing their thing, with jumpgates leading to other systems which have varying levels of security and tech. Different types of stations will offer different types of loot. The developers have said that adding stuff will not end with the release of the game and they have loads planned. It's also been designed to be easily modded via XML files, if I'm not mistaken.
Look, I could go on, but this game essentially is Space Rangers. Only real time. Based on my initial short test it looks extremely promising. Now is also the perfect time to jump in as the price will increase as soon as it's live on Steam. Right now I believe a single copy is $10, with additional tiers adding a few rewards such as wallpapers and the OST. I'll be playing this throughout the weekend and will be happy to answer questions.
Oh, one last thing...CROSS PLATFORM MULTIPLAYER!
Thanks for the heads up.
It appears that if one gets it from the official website now, you can still get it for 10$ instead of 15$.
I've had this on my Wishlist for awhile.
Just waiting on it to get feature complete and near end of early access. O0
EDIT: No, wait. That was Void Destroyer (http://store.steampowered.com/app/259660), not Void Expanse. :crazy2:
I've seen this around before but wasn't sure about the top-down real-time shooty style. Maybe I should check it out sometime if it has as much RPG to it as SR2.
Well, it's at the end of alpha if that's any good to you. The Steam release marks the beginning of beta, although it's already very stable and definitely playable. I've just had another session and am really, really enjoying it. Considering Space Rangers is unavailable on Linux, this is a very welcome addition to my library. :)
Quote from: Nefaro on January 16, 2015, 07:37:55 PM
I've seen this around before but wasn't sure about the top-down real-time shooty style. Maybe I should check it out sometime if it has as much RPG to it as SR2.
There's RPG a-plenty. Loads of potential to develop your character and a story largely of your own making, as well as a main story to work through. Against the background of a randomly-generated galaxy, how can you possibly resist?!
Been pootling about in this on and off all weekend so far. Still feeling really positive about it. I don't know whether I mentioned it, but this is Space Rangers! I've been taking missions from people on stations, fighting off the odd alien attack, owning pirates left right and centre and selling (or sometimes installing) their loot. I've been talking to brokers to find decent trade routes. I've bought a couple of new ships...I'm now up to a heavy frigate with two tracking energy weapon turrets and a single stationary turret. That stationary turret has a level 2 beam weapon installed which makes mincemeat of pirates but is a lot more difficult to aim since I have to point my ship at my target; quite difficult in the heat of combat.
Trading requires some dedication, as most hulls are combat or engineering focused which severely limits cargo space. Of course there's nothing stopping you owning multiple hulls (you get separate storage space at every friendly station) so you can keep that massive freighter parked somewhere while you go pirate hunting in your sleek fighter. Handily, buying a new hull automatically transfers your equipment to it which saves a lot of effort.
I've jumped into the main storyline a bit, but my first real quest (to join a faction) is proving to be a long one. I picked The Order, whoever the hell they are, and before I can even join I need recommendations from four different officers. I've just completed a mission for number 2 so I'm halfway there. Joining a faction apparently confers bonuses but I have no idea what they might be. The galaxy is divided into territories belonging to the various factions (six overall); wander into the territory of a faction that doesn't like you and be prepared to fight the whole time.
I've picked up some decent upgrades too...I'd say 50/50 between looting pirates and buying. My old fuel tank was a pain in the arse, having, as it did, a measly 300 capacity which meant refuelling very often. I've just bought a new one with 1,000 capacity and I have yet to need fuel for it.
Mining is as it always is in these games...boring and mostly hands-off but a simple and relatively safe way to make money. Actually I've just acquired a nanobot thing which will repair my ship without the need for consumables, but it needs ore to run so I've just found a new reason to mine.
I've done a fair bit of skilling up. Some tech is restricted according to your skills, and some skills are restricted according to your level. So far I've mainly focused on piloting skills which has vastly improved my cruise speed (cruise is a kind of intra-system high speed drive that is essential when you're not fighting or mining) and also some combat skills to improve things like turret tracking speed. The game is generous with XP and I haven't once felt any need to grind so far.
Most stations have characters that offer missions by the way. I haven't ever felt like I have nothing to do yet. Anyway, enough talking and more playing. I'll post more impressions later. Once the game has gone gold (very soon according to the devs) I might start mixing it up on the multiplayer servers. I think it would open up a whole new dimension when there are other players in the galaxy with the same goals. Remember how in Space Rangers it was possible to win the game but with an AI-controlled ranger achieving the actual victory? Imagine that with real people!
It's a pretty fun game.
And much easier to get into than Elite Dangerous.
Ah, you got it Tpek! Nice one. How is your game going? More importantly - how are you making cash? I haven't tried a lot of trading yet but I think missions have been the highest earner for me so far.
When I look at the trailer it reminds me much of S.P.A.Z. , is that a fair observation?
Seems like a very fun game and the fact that you can even host a multiplayer server with all the SP functionality is very cool. I might even be able to setup a persistent server for Grogheads if that would be something people find fun. :D
Don't have the game just yet, but I think I am going to get this. SPAZ and Space Rangers were cool!
Quote from: Yskonyn on January 19, 2015, 02:56:04 AM
When I look at the trailer it reminds me much of S.P.A.Z. , is that a fair observation?
Seems like a very fun game and the fact that you can even host a multiplayer server with all the SP functionality is very cool. I might even be able to setup a persistent server for Grogheads if that would be something people find fun. :D
Don't have the game just yet, but I think I am going to get this. SPAZ and Space Rangers were cool!
SPAZ was fun too. I liked it more for the random system generation and such than the top-down shooter stuff, but no complaints. The sequel should be out early this year.
Damn.. it has multiplayer?
Something like this would definitely require a very long host session. ???
Quote from: Yskonyn on January 19, 2015, 02:56:04 AM
When I look at the trailer it reminds me much of S.P.A.Z. , is that a fair observation?
Well I guess it's fairly similar, although I have to say that I didn't like SPAZ. I can't remember why, so that isn't much help I'm afraid! But I
really like VoidExpanse! There's certainly more to do if I'm not mistaken.
Nef, with regard to multiplayer, I haven't looked into it yet but I assume the servers are persistent. I'll do some research later if time permits.
It has MP for sure.
Never tried it though.
Yes persistent servers are in!
Got the game yesterday evening. Seems like a steal for 9 bucks.
There even is a discount on a 3 pack! *wink
:)
Havent put much time in yet, but it seems like a fun time waster, especially with friends on a persistent server.
Anyone interested in a GH server?
It would be a dedicated server online 24/7. I can run it -at least as a test- for some time.
.
Sounds good Ysk! I have very limited play time Mon-Fri but would definitely jump on when I can.
Ok I have tested the server and it works on my end. :smitten:
Expect to see it online from tomorrow onwards. (have a long shift today, so no time to tweak things right now and we're bound to be running into some trouble at first) :) No password needed.
Its called 'GrogHeads Dedicated' and I've created a fresh new world.
Please report any problems here and I'll work on them ASAP. Also report griefers and the like. If we get a lot of uninvited guests I'll setup a whitelist, but then I'll need everyone to report in here stating their username in game to be added to the list.
Splendid! Thanks Ysk. I'll look out for it tomorrow then.
I LOVED Space Rangers 2! This one is RTS, but is it at least pausable to see what's going on and/or possibly give orders? Or do you have to fly the whole thing in RTS, and any time you spend understanding your enemy is time spent getting shot with no return fire?
When you have ship design and customization, I really like the time to figure out what's going on (at least, at the start) rather than just mashing buttons. Some say that's a character flaw, but I've just never enjoyed non-pausable RTS games...
Quote from: FarAway Sooner on January 20, 2015, 10:29:11 AM
I LOVED Space Rangers 2! This one is RTS, but is it at least pausable to see what's going on and/or possibly give orders? Or do you have to fly the whole thing in RTS, and any time you spend understanding your enemy is time spent getting shot with no return fire?
When you have ship design and customization, I really like the time to figure out what's going on (at least, at the start) rather than just mashing buttons. Some say that's a character flaw, but I've just never enjoyed non-pausable RTS games...
A very big +1....!!
Sounds like it's strictly real-time.
I enjoyed SR2 for it's turn-based system. But if this one has multi-player, it's worth checking out to me. I'd still prefer waiting until it's close to release though.
Edit: Screw it. If it is in decent working condition, I'll get it soon.
Sorry but it isn't pausable real time - I haven't tried it but it just isn't that kind of game. Combat is pretty fast. I recommend watching a Youtube video or something to get a feel for it. All I can say is that combat is definitely manageable for me and I suck at twitch-based games, to the point where I don't bother to play shooters online any more.
Quote from: Nefaro on January 20, 2015, 01:24:08 PM
Edit: Screw it. If it is in decent working condition, I'll get it soon.
It is in decent condition. It's pretty much gold; the developers are in the process of transferring from Greenlight to a live Steam release, at which point they've said they will consider it a 1.0 release. However they've also said that they plan to continue working on it and have plenty of ideas in the pipeline.
I was going to pick it up this afternoon but I'm still waiting on the registration confirmation email. Been an hour - some slow automated email. ???
Yeah, it is unfortunately. Mine took a couple of hours and others have complained. I'm sure it will come through in a while.
Quote from: Huw the Poo on January 20, 2015, 01:55:05 PM
Sorry but it isn't pausable real time - I haven't tried it but it just isn't that kind of game. Combat is pretty fast. I recommend watching a Youtube video or something to get a feel for it. All I can say is that combat is definitely manageable for me and I suck at twitch-based games, to the point where I don't bother to play shooters online any more.
That's encouraging. Is it real-time the way, say,
Diablo is real-time? Or, perhaps more relevantly here, the way
Drox Operative is real time? (although the latter does allow pausing just to mouse-over stuff and issue orders, which is obviously not the case here)
I guess Real-Time with only one character is more manageable. I just don't like not ever being able to figure out what's going on in a battle because I'm too busy mashing buttons!
It is pretty similar to Drox Operative I'd say, although I haven't played very much of that game (to my shame), There are two control methods. One of them is some kind of cursor-follow mode which I haven't tried so I can't comment on. I use the standard mode which is WASD to control the ship and mouse to aim tracking turrets. Stationary turrets just point in the same direction as your ship. So when I fight, I'm using WASD to keep a distance between myself and the enemy (often more than one) while using my mouse to keep my weapons pointing in the right direction. I doubt I'm especially good at it but I haven't lost a fight so far - not one that I could run away from anyway! I haven't met anyone who could keep up once I'd engaged the cruise drive yet.
I still haven't got my login email confirmation. Do they send them out manually or what? :buck2:
Wow. Try messaging them on Twitter? Seems a bit random as to how long it takes. They claim they fixed it but clearly not!
Quote from: Huw the Poo on January 21, 2015, 01:57:58 AM
Wow. Try messaging them on Twitter? Seems a bit random as to how long it takes. They claim they fixed it but clearly not!
No hurry.
If it doesn't show up after a day or two, I'll get in touch somehow.
Mine ended up in the spam folder
.
The Server is UP!
GrogHeads Dedicated Server is its name in the multiplayer server list. Accessible from the main Multiplayer menu. No password needed.
It's currently configured as a 16 player server to see how the loads will be. I don't think we need a bigger capacity anyway unless some of you want to start 'multiboxing'. ;)
I won't be able to provide instant support, but drop all your problems in this thread and I'll get to it ASAP.
If you're making a private server for us groggies,
shouldn't it be password-protected?
I hardly think it would be neccessary. Traffic isnt that high.
Anyway I don't think a password is an option in the config, but we can run a whitelist, meaning people on the list are allowed in, others are not.
I'll monitor the activity. As said, if we end up getting griefers I'll put up the whitelist.
Lurler (the dev) jumped on the server just now. :)
He asked me to relay to you guys - who are waiting on an activation key - that they're having internet problems at the office at the moment. They hope to get it fixed ASAP and then the keys will be sent out first thing.
Not sure if this was answered earlier....is it pausable real time in which you can stop and issue orders or is it real real time, i.e. a clickfest?
Quote from: Rayfer on January 21, 2015, 10:38:30 AM
Not sure if this was answered earlier....is it pausable real time in which you can stop and issue orders or is it real real time, i.e. a clickfest?
Just realtime IIRC.
My login confirmation email finally came in this morning. Purchasing the game was no problem at all after that showed up.
Will give it a spin this afternoon or evening.
I'm on the fence...what to do...what to do...
Quote from: Jarhead0331 on January 21, 2015, 11:17:59 AM
I'm on the fence...what to do...what to do...
If you liked Space Rangers it's a no-brainer. If not or you didn't play it, you can still jump on Ysk's server and gang up on him with me. ;)
Quote from: Huw the Poo on January 21, 2015, 11:46:30 AM
Quote from: Jarhead0331 on January 21, 2015, 11:17:59 AM
I'm on the fence...what to do...what to do...
If you liked Space Rangers it's a no-brainer. If not or you didn't play it, you can still jump on Ysk's server and gang up on him with me. ;)
I never really got into Space Rangers and could never see what all the fuss was about. Its weird though, because on paper, I like the idea of it and all the elements of the game. Maybe it was the humorous approach? I don't know...
Yeah it did have a very specific kind of humour. To be honest I turned the RTS and text adventure bits off; it was the wandering through space doing whatever took my fancy that did it for me. Absolutely full of charm and as wide open as an Elder Scrolls game. It really got its claws into me so I bought VoidExpanse as soon as I learned of its existence.
Hopped onto the Grogheads server for a bit this evening - thanks again Ysk. Nobody about so I just got on with stuff and got up to level 4 or 5. Saw my first Fang, a low level missile boat (four missile hardpoints!). The only missile launchers available said they fire unguided rockets though - anyone know how this works? I thought that you could designate targets for missile weapons, so will they track or not? If not, I don't really see the point of using the low level ones.
I also skipped too quickly through the intro missions this time so now I have no idea where to find the Order recruiter. Maybe I'll join a different faction for the multiplayer game.
Edit: By the way, a note for those on the fence with regard to combat. It occurred to me this evening I fight in VoidExpanse the same way I fought in Frontier - that is, I aim my ship roughly in the direction of the enemy and set off, then just concentrate on aiming my weapons and keeping my ship pointed the right way until the target leaves weapon range, which is when I start moving again. It really isn't that bad at all.
Quote from: Huw the Poo on January 21, 2015, 04:12:38 PM
Hopped onto the Grogheads server for a bit this evening - thanks again Ysk. Nobody about so I just got on with stuff and got up to level 4 or 5. Saw my first Fang, a low level missile boat (four missile hardpoints!). The only missile launchers available said they fire unguided rockets though - anyone know how this works? I thought that you could designate targets for missile weapons, so will they track or not? If not, I don't really see the point of using the low level ones.
Think I saw the same question asked on their forum when I peeked. Hit F1 to see the hotkey list. Something about hitting 'G' to initialize missile lock IIRC?
Not sure if something named "rockets" will have it's own guidance however.
Quote from: Jarhead0331 on January 21, 2015, 11:17:59 AM
I'm on the fence...what to do...what to do...
From what I gathered on the site, the price will be going up when it goes live beta on Steam. Don't know how much though.
I believe it's 10 of those funny "dollar" thingies now but will very shortly (as in the next 24 hours) be going up to 15.
Quote from: Huw the Poo on January 21, 2015, 04:42:00 PM
I believe it's 10 of those funny "dollar" thingies now but will very shortly (as in the next 24 hours) be going up to 15.
It's probably already fifteen funny "dollars" right now. Australian dollars. :))
Ysk the Linux client is a little unstable right now. I'm probably going to wait for the next update (presumably when it properly goes live on Steam) before trying again.
I'm trying my hand a bit at modding this game.
So far I've been unable to find new hulls and such that I've added.
Aww.. I was hoping to put a little time in this weekend. You crashing a lot Huw?
Quote from: Nefaro on January 23, 2015, 07:20:16 PM
You crashing a lot Huw?
I crash into asteroids all the time. :D
It's weird...the client won't load properly if I click the icon, which makes no sense to me because the icon's command is literally just the path to the executable. However if I open a console and launch the executable from there it's usually fine. However this past couple of days even from the console I have to try several times for it to work, and sometimes it fails altogether.
I'll send some logs to the devs, see what they think.
My wife has accidentally switched off the PC, killing the server. I hope nobody was online while it happened.
It'll be online again ASAP. :)
Ooh, I'd say that's a week of washing the dishes at least!
Totally. Ysk will need to apologize to his wife for not telling her that his PC was running and hosting a game, and he'll have to do dishes for a week to atone for that mistake!
^-^
Quote from: FarAway Sooner on January 25, 2015, 12:17:55 AM
Totally. Ysk will need to apologize to his wife for not telling her that his PC was running and hosting a game, and he'll have to do dishes for a week to atone for that mistake!
^-^
LOL.
Yeah that sounds like SOP. ;D
Lol! Yeah that's how it went down. :D
EDIT: Server is up!
.
Moved the server today. So it was offline for 2 hrs or so. Its back up again! O0
I played some single-player for the first time last night. Not sure what to think yet because the controls will take some getting used to. ???
Did you try the other method, Nef? You can change it in the menu or in the hangar screen (where you fit your ship).
Quote from: Huw the Poo on January 26, 2015, 06:15:32 PM
Did you try the other method, Nef? You can change it in the menu or in the hangar screen (where you fit your ship).
I saw it but flying directly at where you're aiming would make for lots of collisions. Didn't seem viable to me.
I can get the controls down with some practice. They just start off rather sluggish. I suppose it gets better if you put some skill points into it.
Yeah - strafing, especially, is very slow to begin with but can be improved by investing some points into it.
I don't know if you guys noticed but you can get a Steam key from the website now. The Steam release is very close - they've stopped updating until it goes live. Apparently the last two patches have significantly improved performance so I have high hopes that it will finally be 100% stable on Linux. As soon as it hits Steam I'll be diving back in. :)
Thanks for the heads-up!
Quote from: Huw the Poo on February 08, 2015, 01:49:09 PM
I don't know if you guys noticed but you can get a Steam key from the website now.
Thanks. That was pretty painless.
We finally have a Steam release date: March 30th. That's the point at which I'll be trying it again in the hope that the Linux client is stable.
Just got released on Steam! I expect I'll try it out (again) this evening. :)
I only played a few minutes but it didn't seem to have as much content variety as Space Rangers. Perhaps I just haven't seen it. *shrug*
Well, if you only played for a few minutes...
Quote from: Huw the Poo on April 02, 2015, 01:59:25 PM
Well, if you only played for a few minutes...
... after the tutorial stuff.
I dunno. Maybe my problem is with the flavor of the whole thing. Or the lack thereof. A bit too generic?
I, too, have found it flavorless. I am tempted to fly to a known dangerous system just to see if it changes my view, but frankly you can fight personality-less pirates as much as you want in any system. Actually, that is a good example where this game falls flat compared to SR2. In SR2, pirates have names, are persistent, and occasionally get chased down by the local security. Here, they are just a nagging obstacle. Probably going to set this down for awhile and see if they add more content. Don't have enough gaming time anymore, sadly.
Yup, I much prefer Space Rangers and SPAZ.
Quote from: amandachen on April 02, 2015, 04:55:53 PM
Yup, I much prefer Space Rangers and SPAZ.
I'm looking forward to see how the improvements in SPAZ 2 turn out.
The first major content patch has been released. (http://atomictorch.com/)
QuoteOur first and largest after-release content update is finally ready and live! As always, you can grab it on Steam or on our website.
But what's new this time? Let's take a look at some major features!
Hacking - long awaited hacking mechanics has been implemented. Now you can find abandoned terminals in space and hack them to receive some interesting loot.
New skills & skill categories - we decided to reorganize all skill trees and add new skill category called "industry". In addition to that we also implemented half a dozen new skills. Some of them are related to newly added hacking or to increase experience from trading if that's the route you would like to choose.
System patrols - now your attacks on civilian ships won't be ignored and system patrols will be immediately dispatched if you decide that "you are a pirate!" :)
More life in space - more traveling traiders and civilian ships in general, system patrols, etc. Simply put the space is a bit less empty now! Especially in faction systems.
New ships, weapons & items - a whole load of new content has been added. That includes several new ships, as well as faction unique ships that you can get by joining a particular faction!
New interactive objects in space such as refuel and repair mini-stations to make long trips easier.
...and a host of other new content and features! You can find detailed list of changes on our forums as always! Make sure to let us know what you think about the update!
But that's not all!
We have another good news for you. Even though the Steam Summer Sale event is over we decided to keep the 25% discount for VoidExpanse for another week! So, even if you missed your opportunity during the event you can still grab the game for cheap from our official store! Naturally, you will also get the Steam key as well.
Full 1.4 patch notes (http://forums.atomictorch.com/index.php?topic=764.0)