We have a great time designing missions for Siege of Centauri. There is a lot of design work to do to get the pacing right. To much and it's overwhelming, to little and it's boring.

One of the lessons I have learned is that even though its fun to have a variety of challenges, large maps, multiple entrances, unpredictable movement, etc, it gets overwhelming very quickly. Unpredictable movement in particular can make someone want to drop kick their monitor when they setup defenses and enemies totally ignore them and go a different way.

In general I like these different threats because when they are used very specifically it provides a new challenge to tackle. For example I love Rul. It is a small map with one entrance, but there is no indication where the enemies are going to go when they enter the map. It isn't overwhelming because it is the challenge factor, everything else (enemy strength, etc) is all relatively easy. Most opponents don't even come for your colony first.

But the "unpredictable movement" tool in our toolbox is used very sparingly.

Likewise I really loved multiple entrances for forcing players to make decisions about deployment and not going down the same path every time as you may notice in other TD games. But it can also be overwhelming when you are completely unaware of an army as it sneaks past your defenses and sacks your colony and you didn't even know it was there. Having to make a calculated strategic decision is good, losing because your weren't monitoring the minimap closely enough isn't fun (and isn't the game we are trying to make).

It seems to feel better in larger groups. So instead of having enemies coming in form the East-West-East-West-East-West it feels better to be East-East-East-West-West-West. That way you are able to focus on a region as part of a larger war that is going on. Knowing you won't have anyone coming through the east entrance for the next 405 waves gives you time to leave that be and worry about other areas of a larger map.

It is a lot of fun. And soon you will be able to have that fun too. Siege will have the ability create and share your own missions with the community, as well as downloading and playing the missions other people have created. If you want to create a mission where There is barely any places to place towers you can do that. If you want nothing but endless rivers of reapers coming at your colony that never ends until you kill 1,000,000 of them, you can do that.

I'll provide a full modding guide for Siege later but for now this is a little sneak peek.

First we have a map editor that allows you to select the size, environment, terrain, buildings, effects and cosmetic values you want. Decide where to put your colony, outposts, fission reactors, metal refinery's and energy cells. Draw out your paths and place plateaus where you want the player to be able to put towers and basins and mountains where you want to block movement. Put your metal refineries in a great defensive location, or put them right by an entrance so they come under immediate attack.

I enjoy making maps, but you can also use one of the existing maps in the game if you want to jump right to planning the attack.

Everything for designing the mission script is in XML. We use the scripting functionality from Ashes of the Singularity, with a lot of new features for Siege. At a very high level you have Waves:

Which tell you what is to spawn and when. It includes the rush bonus for each wave (in case you want to play with those) and the timer for the main wave (Wave3 Timer=55 means that wave 3 will spawn 55 seconds after wave 2). As well as delays for parts of that wave. Just because there are 6 Punishers spawned in Wave 5 doesn't mean they all have to spawn at once (though they could), in the above they spawn 2 seconds part from each other.

You also need to define the paths. These give you complete control over where the units will go. You select where a spawn using this path will begin and where it will travel on its way to your colony. There is an option in the map editor to show positions so you can see exactly what points you want your enemies to travel to.

The third major piece is the Spawns themselves. These are what are called by the waves and you can see that they all have a path assigned. So you can see that if a wave called for a spawn of "Air-Spawn" it will create a Unit_Air (which is a Punisher group) on the path Path-Air for player 1 (the bad guys).

That's all you need to make it work. But if you really want to have some fun there are a lot of trigger you can play with. You can give the player some metal, spawn a specific enemy if a player put a tower in a certain region, make something happen when a particular enemy dies, send in some help for the player, and on and on. All of the missions in Siege are open (you can look through them with any text editor) so you can see how we do it for your own scenarios. And I'm excited to see what all of you come up with.

I came from the modding community so I get a lot of pleasure out of putting these sorts of tools into the game, and I look forward to playing your creations soon.

We're putting the touches on v3.8.  From here on out, a lot of our effort is going to be on features that improve the game experience, polish and usability.  They're not sexy features but they're much needed imo.

Starting with 3.6, we began work on improving the modding experience.  This is something that's been being further developed in 3.8 and will get more attention after as we try to "unify" the experience further so that people can eventually pass around mods and know they'll "just work".  

We still have the general challenge in that you have Crusade and "base" GalCiv III v1.x.   Crusade changes the economic system to a citizen based system so that's a big challenge in reconciling in terms of mods.

There won't be any more expansions for GalCiv III.  Future gameplay improvements will be made to the Cruade base (i.e. as long as you have Crusade these will work).   But we do have new DLC coming over the coming year.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask them here. Cheers!

It's been an exciting Summer so far for fans of Star Control. Last month we re-released the classic trilogy on Steam, posted a major update to the engine to improve the visuals, and now we are busy working on chapter 3 of the Earth Rising expansion.

For those of you who have played the game or will be buying the game in the near future, let's talk about the galactic scene today.

Star Control takes place in the not-so-distant future. The stars are real stars, and in Origins they're placed based on their actual relative distances from Earth. We even have the known exoplanets in there.

The part of the galaxy we are in is known as the "Mid Spur," which refers to Orion's Spur (sometimes called Orion's arm), in a single sector called the "Scryve Sector". 

The Scryve sector contains hundreds of stars with thousands of planets. We travel between stars, skipping slightly above our dimension, through what is called Hyperspace.

Hyperspace isn't truly FTL travel (though you are traveling at near relativistic speeds) in the sense that your ship isn't itself going faster than light. Rather, Hyperspace exists in a dimension that warps space in incredibly intricate and really impossible to understand ways.



Traveling through hyperspace requires two key components: a Hyperdrive (which allows a ship to enter hyperspace), and a Hyperspace map to tell you where the stars are. Without the map, a ship would quickly get lost in Hyperspace. It is only through the map that the sensors of a ship can detect other star systems. 

What this means is that only stars that have been mapped and given Hyperspace coordinates can be found. This becomes obvious when you travel to the edge of "the map". The better question is: why is the edge so fixed and arbitrary? For instance, why is Earth placed where it is? These are all mysteries that Star Control players will gradually discover over the coming years.

For now, we hope you're having a good time playing and welcome any feedback, suggestions or requests for what you would like to see next! 

If you're new to Star Control, welcome to the galaxy!

Heat of Summer

Happy Friday! We hope everyone is staying cool during these summer months and drinking copious amounts of H2O. All of us here at Stardock have come back from vacation and are working on some exciting new things that are coming your way soon!

The Horizon

The Turinium Cup 2019

             The what: A 1v1 round-robin style tournament for Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation
  The when: Rounds begin August 12th and the Finals conclude on August 18th
                                   The where: Users must have the Steam version of the game in order to join lobbies and participate
The why: Why not? Join us for some fun and a shot at fleeting internet fame!

Sign Up for the Tournament here!*
*The tournament signup page is powered by Toornament and is not affiliated with Stardock

After you have signed up on Toornmament, make sure you join the main Stardock Discord server.
Send a direct message to Schism Navigator to ensure you have been assigned
the proper access for the tournament channels.

Tournament Details

Map Pool

• Mirach
• Urich
• Ross 128
• Italia
• Merga

Rules

General Rules:

• The map for each match will be chosen at random, selected from the map pool.
• No 15+ language allowed to be used during matches.
• No death threats or similar personal threats.
• Any attempts made to cheat will be cause for immediate removal.
• You agree to have matches you participate in streamed and recorded.

Attendance Rules:

• Players are expected to allow 15 minutes before official match start.
• Failure to attend a match will result in an automatic loss and possible elimination.
• Failure to attend 3 matches will result in automatic elimination from all future matches.
• All participants must have a Discord account and joined the main Stardock Discord server.

Game Settings:

• Metal Income: Normal
• Radioactive Income: Normal
• Quanta Income: Normal
• Map Visibility: Revealed
• Capture Speed: Normal
• Air Units: Enabled
• Juggernauts: Enabled
• Orbitals: Enabled
• Build Speed: Normal
• Defensive Bonus: None
• Neutral Creeps: Normal
• Victory Points: Map Default
• Supply Lines: Required

Continue Reading...

Super units are a controversial topic in RTS; some people love super units while others hate them. Some RTS games handle super units well, while in others they’re obnoxious. RTS vary a lot in their focus, and by extension, so does the implementation of super units. There’s no singular right way to handle super units, but there are some universal ways on how to bugger it up and have them end up annoying, cheesy or feeling unfair. First let's start with some definitions so we're on the same page. I define an RTS super unit to be a singular end-game unit with massive power or impact compared to regular units. There’s a distinction to make between super units and heroes, heroes are generally available and weak in the early game but scale up in strength over time. A super unit is something like the Redeemer in Command & Conquer 3, the Baneblade in Dawn of War and Tiger Tank in Company of Heroes. I’d also consider experimentals/juggernauts in Supreme Commander/Escalation to be super units despite the lack of a unit cap because of their huge cost and power relative to standard units, unlike a Battlecruiser in StarCraft.

First of all, why should an RTS even bother with super units if they may come off as frustrating? Simply, players love controlling cool big flashy toys. We enjoy the power fantasy of unleashing massive carnage and destruction and that’s why super weapons like Nukes are also a common part of the genre. According to Brandon Casteel: “I like super units in RTS more than superweapons because it forces you to work within constraints like unit caps, and because it’s often something you have to risk to use well.” Superweapons are fun for the player using them, but never for the player suffering from it. Fun in RTS games should never come at the direct expense of the other player, (unless that other player is the AI then go nuts!) it should be a mutual collaboration of interaction and counter-play. Super units, if done properly, are a way of enabling the destructive power fantasy but while also leaving room for other players to respond. “Damn I almost destroyed that Baneblade” feels much fairer and generates tension compared to “My entire base just got deleted by a Nuke.”

 

So how do we ensure super units are fun and not frustrating? Most importantly, they should play by the same rules as other units in the game. Super units can have unique qualities and quirks, but they feel unfair and “cheap” if they have odd exceptions to things that define the game or even the genre. Breaking game rules happens when super units are free, don’t take up population cap or have no counters in a game of hard counters. This frustrating design can be seen in Dawn of War 3 where Super units (and all other elite call-ins) do not cost the main resources of Requisition and Power. Whenever something is free in cost or population it removes the entire decision making process of whether or not you should deploy them at the expense of regular units. Free units, especially super units, also deliver sudden and massive power spikes.

Company of Heroes has also been guilty of some free or low-cost super units. In Company of Heroes 1 heavy tanks only cost Requisition and not Fuel. The lack of fuel cost is frustrating for the opponent because despite deliberating starving the enemy of fuel and keeping them pinned in their base, a King Tiger can still show up out of nowhere and push you back. Super units “not playing by the same rules” can also be done in gameplay mechanics, such as if Tiger Tanks were immune to mines or had free repairs without needing Engineers. It’s about meeting expectations and ensuring skillful play is rewarded; the Hexapod in C&C3 can be cheesy and frustrating because it may get caught out of position, only for it to instantly teleport out. It’s a delicate dichotomy to manage but you want super units to be unique while playing by the same rules as everything else, some judgement is needed to do it properly. Think of it this way, you can give super units new abilities and quirks but not take away vulnerabilities, or instead give them a new vulnerability. Heavy tanks in Company of Heroes can crush through forests and tank traps, Juggernauts in Ashes of the Singularity have infinite veterancy levels and some experimental units in Supreme Commander are mobile unit factories.

C&C3 is a great example of super units (aside from some of the Hexapod cheese) as they still fit into the rock/paper/scissors(RPS) interaction by being weak against masses of Rocket Infantry. However, the super units can be garrisoned to give them powerful turrets to shut down infantry, or grant other attack types and bonuses depending on the type of unit garrisoned. The customization is a cool mechanic for a few reasons, but its potential to break RPS of super units means they’re primarily countered by another means, EMP abilities. Every faction has access to some kind of EMP unit such as Raider Buggies and Grenadiers, and I love the mechanic because utilizing EMP makes engagements tactical and climactic. EMP unit upgrades was introduced into the Kane’s Wrath expansion pack alongside the super units, so instead of having super units with no counters or a regular counter, they made them more interesting by widening the counter system to include a new mechanic. I love EMP because it’s not just a pure RPS counter, EMP works against any vehicle but the massive size of super units makes EMP’s easy to land on them. Another great example is the Colossus in StarCraft 2, it’s more of a tier 3 unit rather than “super” but I love how it’s countered by anti-air weapons. One caveat is that no matter how well designed you think super units are, some players are probably just going to hate them regardless. Give players the option to disable super units in their skirmish & multiplayer games!

If super units have counters then it’s crucial that they can be scouted like anything else. The most common method of scouting super units is a specific production structure required to produce them, this also creates a vulnerability that can be destroyed to prevent the unit from spawning. Giving players some warning also makes their arrival feel fairer and less frustrating. C&C3 has a map-wide announcement when one is built: “The Redeemer has risen!” Or gracefully from the Scrin’s Hexapod: “BLERRRRRGHH!” I personally find the global announcement over the top as it means players generally don’t have to scout since build/upgrade times are fast in C&C3. (Unlike StarCraft 2 where scouting is critical because of long tech transition times). A better approach is in Company of Heroes where every vehicle has an engine noise that can be heard approaching through the fog of war. Heavy tanks like the Tigers are especially loud and distinct, which gives attentive players several seconds to retreat or reposition, rather than a global notification give a minutes notice to build a counter. The engine noises are fun because it’s immersive and intimidating, this could also be done with loud THUDS or shaking as a giant walker is approaching.

A personal frustration of mine is all-or-nothing situations that can occur. If a super unit barely survives with 2% health it shouldn’t just then immediately kill you and end the game. As cool as the experimentals are in Supreme Commander are, they have very annoying qualities. Not only do they have very fast regeneration, but they get massive flat health spikes with veterancy where suddenly ~10,000 health is gained. Escalation does juggernaut veterancy better where the 5% health gain is affected by missing health, so there’s very small combat heals. Even more radical approaches can be taken, I love the design of the Bloodthirster in Dawn of War 1. Once the Bloodthirster is built it takes damage when it’s not in combat, your only choice is to throw it into the meat grinder until it's destroyed! The Hexapod in C&C3 gains resources from nearby destroyed units which encourages the player to use it aggressively. Adding elements of risk/reward can be a lot more interesting than playing ultra-safe with super units. Why not only have temporary super units? There’s a lot that can be done with super units to make them more interesting than just a very big tough unit. Though it’s fine to have simple anti-everything super units so long as that’s normal for the game. Aside from air/anti-air/artillery, Supreme Commander and its experimentals have no counter system because it’s a game about economic and production management

Super units don’t have to just be about raw power. C&C Generals have Commandos which are very fragile but have devastating utility with stealth. The Black Lotus has no attacks but can capture structures and disable vehicles, while Jarmen can snipe infantry and decrew enemy vehicles, allowing for capture with friendly infantry. The non-lethal vulnerability states of these Commando abilities is a lot more tactical, and the micro emphasis is consistent with the focus of the game. Super units have so much more potential than simply tough attack-move units, but they shouldn’t make regular units obsolete which Jarmen is guilty of. Avoiding overlap is crucial, the more viable choices you have at all times the more exciting a game is to play. Immediately rebuilding a super unit every time it dies is not interesting, which Generals is also guilty of since Commandos are not very expensive.

In summary, super units provide a fun power fantasy through which players unleash massive destruction. Unlike super weapons such as nukes, super units, if designed properly, are interactive, risky, generate tension and are still fun for the opponent to deal with. Super units should not be a no-brainer, they should be a strategic decision and investment as much as anything else. If one exists, super units should fit into a counter system allowing players to properly deal with them. Super units can have additional quirks and features to make them unique, but they should play by the same game rules as regular units and not have less vulnerabilities. They should be priced to reflect their power so the opportunity cost is fair, unless they’re overly cost-efficient to compensate for some other weaknesses. Avoid all-or-nothing situations when super units have fast regeneration/heals and make sure super units aren’t just being used in boring ultra safe ways. Super units can be about utility rather than just raw power, especially if the game focuses on micro and utility. Ultimately, fun in multiplayer RTS games should never come at the expense of the other player. Always think about how will this super unit be fun and fair for all players, not just the player wielding it.

I love the juggernaut design in Escalation and have a lot of thoughts on them, I may do another Dev Journal all about them. What do you think of the juggernauts, and what are your favorite super units in RTS?

Cheers
-Callum

Plutus offers a very defensive position for your colony. Multiple long plateaus provide the perfect place for turrets. But there are multiple locations outside of this defensive ring that you will need to make hard choices about. That Fission Reactor provides valuable energy. There was a Metal Refinery on the map, it was destroyed by the transport dropping scarabs beside it. And an Outpost in a vulnerable position.

You don't have to defend them all to win, you only need your colony to survive. But you will need to make some hard decisions. Should you upgrade that Metal Refinery to increase its output? Can you keep it alive long enough to make that investment worthwhile? Are you willing to spread out your anti-air to protect your resources, or do you consolidate them around your colony? Do you deploy Milton to guard your Fission Reactor, or keep him to block a choke point and maximize the damage the surrounding towers do?

That's all part of what makes it interesting and I am always surprised when I see players approaching it with different strategy, towers and upgrades than I have (often they are much more successful than me).

It's also worth noting that we have updated the icons and particle effects for the next beta and you can see some of that here. Lot's of great stuff is on its way.

We have a long list of new units, towers, upgrades and missions coming for you. But I wanted to talk about one of my favorite enemies that we have been playing with, the Hive.

The Hive is a heavy unit with formidable defenses and shields. But what sets it apart is that it produces flying "Wasp" units that take off and head toward your colony. Since they are flying, they ignore the terrain and had directly for you while the Hive follows the path.

The most strategically interesting part of the design is that the Wasps flight paths change based on how far you let the Hive get. You either need to take out the Hive quickly, or build air defenses along their changing path.

Flak cannons are great at destroying the individually weak air units they produce, but in the next update we have differentiated the Icarus Missiles and Flak Cannons from each other by dropping the cost and range of the Flak cannons and giving Icarus Missiles greater range and cost. I tend to go with Icarus Missiles because the greater range helps against the changing paths, but that only works as long as there aren't enough Hive's to overwhelm them.

I'm going to be posting more about other new units, towers, upgrades and missions. But for now I could use some feedback from you. We added a new unit, the Hooded Turbine. It is a fast shielded unit that rushes toward your colony. I love the art and the mechanic, but I kinda hate the name. Any suggestions?

Star Control Settlement, Game Updates and Strategy Guides

Have a suggestion for articles or content submissions included in a future edition? Leave it in the comments below or as a direct message on Discord.

The Horizon

Star Control: Origins v1.4 Update Improves Visuals and Increases Performance

v1.4 is here with significant visual improvements, including updated planet visuals, adjustments to creature colors, and improvements to planet terrains.

Planets are now far more detailed than it was in the game’s previous versions thanks to enhanced terrain textures and lighting. Improvements to the terrain rendering system have also allowed for better frame rates and performance. Textures on props found on various planets like tentacle plants, mushrooms, bones, and more, have also been improved for more visual appeal.

Community requests have been addressed regarding bugs with the particle sorting and crashing. The game’s lore has also been updated. The aliens previously known as the Observers will now be canonically called the Arilou, and the ships they pilot will be renamed accordingly.

Read the full post for the changelog.

This latest update is available to all owners of Star Control: Origins for free!

Continue Reading...

Star Control: Origins v1.4 Update Improves Visuals and
Increases Performance
View the complete changelog below!

v1.4 is here with significant visual improvements, including updated planet visuals, adjustments to creature colors, and improvements to planet terrains.

Planets are now far more detailed than it was in the game’s previous versions thanks to enhancing terrain textures and lighting. Improvements to the terrain rendering system have also allowed for better frame rates and performance. Textures on props found on various planets like tentacle plants, mushrooms, bones, and more, have also been improved for more visual appeal.

Community requests have been addressed regarding bugs with the particle sorting and crashing. The game’s lore has also been updated. The aliens previously known as the Observers will now be canonically called the Arilou, and the ships they pilot will be renamed accordingly.

Star Control: Origins is available on Steam, GOG, or Stardock for $29.99. For more details, visit the forums or www.starcontrol.com.

v1.4 Changelog

Visuals

• Updated planet surface textures to be more detailed.
• A small improvement of the terrain rendering system to improve the frame rate.
• Improved lighting of the planet surface
• Improved the textures on many props (glowing tentacles, glowing mushrooms, bones )
• Make the Bull critter appearance a bit brighter
• Improved the lander texture to make the windows stand out better
• Updated the magma hazard visual effect to improve performance

Bugs

• Listener orientation is no longer backward in a true 5.1 setup
• Fix for some particles not being properly aligned to the surface
• Fix for particle sorting and disappearing issue
• Fixed several crashes related to the particle effects trying to escape the bounds of known reality.  

Lore

• The "Observers"  are now known as the "Arilou"

Stardock, Paul Reiche to Team Up on Next
Star Control Game and Beekeeping

Dispute settlement paves way for new games, new DLC, and lots of honey

Plymouth, MI. - June 11, 2019 - Game Developers Stardock Entertainment, Paul Reiche and Fred Ford have amicably settled the dispute concerning the tangled intellectual property rights that surrounded the 30-year old game franchise.

In a statement released by Paul Reiche on their website, Mr. Reiche wrote, "Paul and Fred have offered to volunteer their own creativity to Origins by teaming up with Brad to create some new aliens and plot lines for Stardock's future Star Control games."

The settlement agreement, while itself confidential, expressly makes the terms available to the public.

"Paul and I both insisted to the lawyers that the terms should not be confidential," said Brad Wardell, CEO of Stardock.  "We really wanted to make sure the fans didn't have to speculate on how we came together on this and that it was genuinely something that resulted in both sides getting what they wanted out of the situation."

The dispute revolved around the murky dividing line between what trademarks cover and what copyrights cover. Stardock claimed the trademarks to the classic series and Paul Reiche claimed the copyrights. The issue came to a head when both parties announced new games that appeared related to Star Control.

After a year of litigation, the dispute was ultimately solved by Reiche calling Wardell directly, bypassing the lawyers, and the two finding a lot of common ground on a wide range of topics ranging from game design to beekeeping.

"The magic trick to resolving this was just picking up the phone and calling each other directly," said Reiche. "Brad suggested this back in 2017 and it worked! By talking directly to each other, we were actually able to put something together that we both liked before all the legal mumbo-jumbo got in the way."

Once the two talked about what each really cared about, coming to a resolution was swift.

"We figured out what we wanted in just a couple hours of talking," said Wardell. "The rest of the time was the lawyers smithing out exact, agonizingly precise, verbiage. That took much longer. Usually these things claim to be amicable but it's just both sides trying to spin things. In this case, it really was amicable."

The agreement itself, in true Star Control fashion, includes a substantial amount of levity.

"We added a section in which I'll be working with Paul on beekeeping. He's going to send me some meade, I'm going to send him some honey," said Wardell.  "I don't think the lawyers were particularly enthusiastic about us incorporating some of this into the agreement. I did a tutorial video on beekeeping I was going to send over but got stung in the video, so thought better than to actually send it."

With respect to the specific terms, the classic Star Control games will return for sale on Steam and GOG as they were before, along with the alien music DLC that had been removed while the teams resolved the IP questions.

In addition, the trademark and copyright questions were put to rest with the agreement spelling out the copyrighted IP that Reiche and Ford care about along with the trademarks that Stardock cares about, with each party agreeing to respect these boundaries in their use in the future.

Star Control: Origins is available on Steam and GOG for $29.99. The expansion pack, Earth Rising, is due to be completed this Fall. Stardock and Paul Reiche plan to begin work on the new Star Control game together this Fall.

More information and details will become available in the near future as Brad, Paul and Fred will be hanging out at E3 together and meeting with the press to discuss the future of games, the fascinating yet unintuitive way the legal system works, and anything else that comes up.

To read the full release, visit here.

The homepage for Star Control is www.starcontrol.com