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Sol-Ark [WiP] New devlog (23/07/2015 CheckPoint)

Started by Alex Martial Jan 3, 2015 at 1:35 PM 57 replies 28.5k views
Original Post
Alex Martial
Alex Martial

Name: Sol-Ark

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Genre: «Sol-Ark» - is an indie-project focusing on 2D space faring real-time strategy/sim (RTS) with some Rogue-like and Sandbox elements. It’s an old-school hand-made flash project

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Short description: Sol-Ark is a 2D Space RTS with sandbox and rogue-like components. Expect gameplay mechanics designed with player choice in mind and an immense universe to make those decisions in.

Missions and storylines drift from seriously somber to hilariously violent with every new area explored, and random events punctuate these encounters to create a dynamic experience that’s part procedural generation, part astrotechnic action puzzle battle-scarred deep space handcrafted indie celestial celebration

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A few of Sol-Ark's Features:

Crew morale system
One of the most interesting mechanics we've introduced is a morale system for NPCs, consisting of varying degrees of four moods. These moods affect how any given NPC will perform a task. Ask a happy NPC to switch out a reactor core and they might do it in half the time, whistling all the while. Ask a depressed NPC to do the same task and they may open the airlock and jettison themselves, and other crew members into the unforgiving void of space.

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Random events
The game will feature dozens of events ranging in class and severity. You'll encounter pirates, miners, derelict stations and celestial phenomenon that will alter your crew's mood, send you on quests, and engage you with ambushes, full frontal assaults and other intergalactic shenanigans. Expect naturally occurring lasers to sever your ship, and be wary of the allure and intrigue of alien-infested cargo adrift in space.

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Sandbox Style Construction
You'll be building your ship from frame, to floor, to wall and ceiling. You can shape and build the ship to your own liking and compartmentalize its systems however you see fit. Do you want your ship to look like a massive triangle of death, surrounded by torpedo turrets, lasers and cannons? Go for it. Want your ship to be shaped like a massive cat head? Please give it a shot, and send us some screenshots.

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Last video:

Approximate release date: middle of 2016

Technology: ActionScript 3.0, API - FlashDevelop

Platform: Multisystem

Language: English

Inspirations for developers: “Faster than Light” (FTL), “Dwarf Fortress” (DF), “Ancient Domains Of Mystery” (ADOM) and “Laser Squad” (LS) projects.

Project's beginning: May, 2014

Status of project: pre-alpha version, preparation for Steam Greenlight campaign

Official website

Press-kit

Official blog (devlogs)

Page on Steam Community

Page on IndieDB

Pages in social networks:

Facebook

Reddit

Instagram

Music:
The game has its own OST-kit (examples are used in the demo video). Composer - Eugene Guliugin.

Team:

Main core of the team

Alex Sayenko (Ukraine) - game-designer, producer
Justin Hellstrom (USA) - second game-designer, writer/scenarist
Dmitrii Demenkov (Ukraine) - lead programmer
Eugene Guliugin (Russia) - composer, sound-designer
Eugene Usmanov (Russia) - lead 2D artist, concept-artist

Olga Petrovskaya (Ukraine) - web-designer

These guys help us in their free time
Tomas Seniunas (Lithuania) - second programmer
Luke Bourne (UK) - third programmer
Alexander Horiakov (Ukraine) - community-manager


We are looking forward for your feedback, comments, offers and wishes!

More info about the project you can find on the game website and on the blog with devlogs.

Special thanks (indie helps indie):

HASTE project's team for their assistance and consultations.
Indie Games Developer group on LinkedIn and its creator - Julian Ross for his mentorship

autumnspark
autumnspark

I'm liking how the space battles are coming along, and how unlit areas are creepily dark with the character's flashlights only lighting up small parts of the area. I was wondering what kind of object that red laser came from though. I would have loved to see it slice a character in half :)

Alex Martial
Alex Martial

Thank you very much for your feedback! Yeah, that object was a space maser (it is natural source of coherent light beam, natural analogue of artificial laser).

Alex Martial
Alex Martial

Hello everyone!

We are beginning to publish a series of videos about gameplay process.

Take a look on the first one from them. It is about constructing and mining process.

Enjoy it, follow us and stay tuned for updates.

Alex Martial
Alex Martial

Hello, everyone! Today we added a new video about space flight and fight in Sol-Ark game. Take a look!

Also check our blog with devlogs. There are new screens and a full description of over a week's worth of our team's work. You can see some screenshots here under the spoiler as well.

Alex Martial
Alex Martial

Hello, everyone! Take a look at our new video about possibilities of expansion and customization for your ship in the game.

Enjoy!

Here it is.

[spoiler]

[/spoiler]

Alex Martial
Alex Martial

Hello, everyone! Today we are among top-70 on indieDB. I know that rank is floating but this is still pretty nice!

[spoiler]

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[/spoiler]

Alex Martial
Alex Martial

Hello, everyone!!!

I'm updating our blog with devlogs. Take a look at the latest screenshots and full description of performed work for last week.

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Also take a look at our new video about top-10 unusual ways to die for NPCs in the game. Enjoy!!!

Dmitry Demenkov
Dmitry Demenkov

Nice update, guys! I'm glad to see how everything is moving forward!

Alex Martial
Alex Martial

Nice update, guys! I'm glad to see how everything is moving forward!

Thanks for your support!

Alex Martial
Alex Martial

Hello, everyone! We are starting to publish a series of articles about main gameplay features of Sol-Ark (there are 17 of them) on IndieDB website.

Here is the first article in that list - indirect crew management.

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In Sol-Ark you command the ship’s Virtual Intelligence System which gives commands to the crew. You will appoint the specialization of NPCs, highlight problems and issues, and set their task priorities.

An Engineer will be less accurate (and brave) in battle than a Soldier, and if you send a Medic instead of a Biologist to investigate a new species of alien plant, well, don’t be surprised if they return without a head, or are infested with an unidentified parasite.

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At the helm of the Sol-Ark’s V.I. System you will designate the location for tasks to be performed and relay the commands directly to the crew. Highlight areas to undergo construction, select wall types, solar arrays and other subsystems to be crafted and installed by (hopefully) responsible and trained Engineers and workers.

To know more - check our page on IndieDB website.

Follow us on Sol-Ark's official website to receive the latest news.

Alex Martial
Alex Martial

Hello, everyone!

We want to say a huge thank you for your interest and support to this project! Thanks to you, we've managed to achieve of more than 18,000 views of our pages on the various resources of the World Wide Web in just 1.5 months from the beginning of Sol-Ark's news publications.

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Those screenshots represent stats of views Sol-Ark's page on IndieDB and ModDB websites and on Sol-Ark's official website. During this period we've hit a few times the top-20 among more than 24 000 of other projects on IndieDB. We know, that this rank - is floating. But for our team with zero budget and without any great known name - this is amazing. And this is reality. Thanks to you all!
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We are working and keep working to enjoy you. Thanks a lot for everyone again! Follow us and stay tuned!

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