TrueSky
Creation in the Clouds
The world was consumed in a nuclear war. Or maybe it was ground up by some Orcish death machine. Or maybe its actually still there. Who knows. Fact is, regardless, the sky is simply better. As a new refugee from the surface, you must pilot your small hot air balloon ever onward, in search of resources, which, needless to say, are less than abundant in the great blue nowhere.
And just as somehow, you finally salvage enough to turn your zeppelin into a flying citadel of cascading glory, you are very suddenly made aware of a very important fact: you are not alone. The Orcs scale your walls, sabotage your engines, and laugh maniacally as you fall from the sky, laying claim to your resources as you look down in horror at the quickly approaching veil of clouds that hides only certain doom below. Desperately, you look to the Elves for help, but they know the best way to survive is to flee, which they do with a certain elegance that only serves to exacerbate your mood.
So what's your story? An Elven vessel of nimble tact and maneuverability? An Orcish titan of impenetrable material? Or an eclectic mix of odds and ends that only a Human would concoct? The sky is yours - for as long as you can stay above the clouds.
Project Status: Early Alpha
Engine: 100% original
Changes day to day - but a basic world with multiple ships and building capabilities. Still a ways to go, but I'm hoping to share that journey here.
Have a very early look-see, you can expect this to be updated on a very regular basis as when I'm not at work, this is pretty much my life.
As you can see, I borrowed some BDCraft textures for now - thanks to BDCraft.net
Of course, these will be replaced long before a release. As of right now, it plays a lot like a minecraft clone, only minus the world. As you can see in the screenshots, there are multiple platforms, each one with their own attributes. These were taken before I implemented engines, however the platforms are capable of movement. Collision is going to be a nightmare that I'll have to address shortly. The block you target is rendered with a negative effect for now - hence the oddly colored target blocks. And of course, the end result is not going to be nearly so blocky - I just haven't had much time to work on meshes yet.
I guess I can summarize the goal of gameplay as heavily influenced by MineCraft - but very different at the same time. For example, "crafting" is not done in a grid with items, but by modifying placed components with the correct tools. Resources are gathered by either purchasing them from Ports, taking them from your victims, trading with your allies, or claiming resource nodes. Resource nodes work a lot like "capture the flag" type of a setting - you find and claim one, and it will ever-so-slowly but continuously generate resources for you. Leave it unguarded, and someone WILL be taking it from you. (I'll likely implement a natural "timeout" as well to stop monopolization.)
One of the biggest questions I'm currently facing is whether or not to allow vessels to "bank" while turning. Seems fascinating, if possible. And I've considered I could limit banking by size, because obviously a flying "city" shouldn't be able to simply flip over. But if I say no to them, and a small and quick fighter vessel wants to, why shouldn't it be able to? So size will play a factor in it. But then there's the harder question: How the hell do I setup gravity to support that, in say, a 1 block wide hallway?
There are limits to engine capacity - both in total weight, and in distance you can build from the engine. Each player is limited on total number of engines they can place, however you can contribute any number of those to your "guild", so guild vessels have the potential to become absolutely massive.
The y axis (altitude) provides resistance - so you'll need more (or more powerful) engines to move higher. Only guild vessels will be able to reach the outer atmosphere, and of course, there are special resources located there for the few that are qualified.
There are three playable races - Humans, Orcs, and Elves, each with their own tech trees and bonuses. Of course, they can acquire parts from other tech trees through salvage or trade, but the effects they will be able to utilize may vary.
Had some fun with the "windmap" concept. You'll need to be sheltered from the wind (in the direction your vessel is moving) in order to move with the ship - otherwise you'll quickly be thrown off, unless something is holding you on.
The actual vessel itself is not automated - you'll either be using a lot of parts manually, or having to learn to wire it up using the engineering system (it's a lot like MineCraft's "redstone", but with far more components to choose from, and several different signals that can be transmitted through a wire instead of simple binary logic). So the less engineering inclined will be manually stoking fires, while the MIT grads will be plotting coordinates for their autopilot system.
And don't forget weapons - combat is a big part of this game. However, it doesn't take place hand to hand. All you can do physically is push. You'll have to rig up your vessel with defenses - both internal and external - to assault, defend, or even purge, depending on your needs.
Also, the starting vessels are just random scattered blocks at the moment - I didn't bother to map out an actual hot air balloon yet - so don't mind the hideous constructions in these screenshots! Haha.
Anyhow, screenshots. More to come.
Engine: 100% original
Changes day to day - but a basic world with multiple ships and building capabilities. Still a ways to go, but I'm hoping to share that journey here.
Have a very early look-see, you can expect this to be updated on a very regular basis as when I'm not at work, this is pretty much my life.
As you can see, I borrowed some BDCraft textures for now - thanks to BDCraft.net
Of course, these will be replaced long before a release. As of right now, it plays a lot like a minecraft clone, only minus the world. As you can see in the screenshots, there are multiple platforms, each one with their own attributes. These were taken before I implemented engines, however the platforms are capable of movement. Collision is going to be a nightmare that I'll have to address shortly. The block you target is rendered with a negative effect for now - hence the oddly colored target blocks. And of course, the end result is not going to be nearly so blocky - I just haven't had much time to work on meshes yet.I guess I can summarize the goal of gameplay as heavily influenced by MineCraft - but very different at the same time. For example, "crafting" is not done in a grid with items, but by modifying placed components with the correct tools. Resources are gathered by either purchasing them from Ports, taking them from your victims, trading with your allies, or claiming resource nodes. Resource nodes work a lot like "capture the flag" type of a setting - you find and claim one, and it will ever-so-slowly but continuously generate resources for you. Leave it unguarded, and someone WILL be taking it from you. (I'll likely implement a natural "timeout" as well to stop monopolization.)
One of the biggest questions I'm currently facing is whether or not to allow vessels to "bank" while turning. Seems fascinating, if possible. And I've considered I could limit banking by size, because obviously a flying "city" shouldn't be able to simply flip over. But if I say no to them, and a small and quick fighter vessel wants to, why shouldn't it be able to? So size will play a factor in it. But then there's the harder question: How the hell do I setup gravity to support that, in say, a 1 block wide hallway?
There are limits to engine capacity - both in total weight, and in distance you can build from the engine. Each player is limited on total number of engines they can place, however you can contribute any number of those to your "guild", so guild vessels have the potential to become absolutely massive.
The y axis (altitude) provides resistance - so you'll need more (or more powerful) engines to move higher. Only guild vessels will be able to reach the outer atmosphere, and of course, there are special resources located there for the few that are qualified.
There are three playable races - Humans, Orcs, and Elves, each with their own tech trees and bonuses. Of course, they can acquire parts from other tech trees through salvage or trade, but the effects they will be able to utilize may vary.
Had some fun with the "windmap" concept. You'll need to be sheltered from the wind (in the direction your vessel is moving) in order to move with the ship - otherwise you'll quickly be thrown off, unless something is holding you on.
The actual vessel itself is not automated - you'll either be using a lot of parts manually, or having to learn to wire it up using the engineering system (it's a lot like MineCraft's "redstone", but with far more components to choose from, and several different signals that can be transmitted through a wire instead of simple binary logic). So the less engineering inclined will be manually stoking fires, while the MIT grads will be plotting coordinates for their autopilot system.
And don't forget weapons - combat is a big part of this game. However, it doesn't take place hand to hand. All you can do physically is push. You'll have to rig up your vessel with defenses - both internal and external - to assault, defend, or even purge, depending on your needs.
Also, the starting vessels are just random scattered blocks at the moment - I didn't bother to map out an actual hot air balloon yet - so don't mind the hideous constructions in these screenshots! Haha.
Anyhow, screenshots. More to come.
While I wouldn't go as far as to say I'm recruiting, I wouldn't turn down some help from someone familiar with one or more of the following:
- Intermediate OpenGL
- C++ Programming
- Shader Authoring
- Texturing
- Modeling (VERY low polycount)
- Music Composition
- GUI Design
- Gameplay Tuning
Any feedback is welcome.