Dec 12, 2023

Sea Of Rifts - Alex @ Out Of Bounds Games

Hello landlubbers welcome to our dev log! it is Alex, the captain on the good ship that is Sea Of Rifts. In this first post I thought it would be fun to write about what the inspiration for the game was and how I figured out what should be at the core of the experience.

A CAPTAIN, THEIR SHIP, AND THE CREW

Back in 2021 I was reading the Tales of the Ketty Jay, a fun and pulpy fantasy series about a captain and his motley crew of misfits, that through shared struggles become a family and learn to trust each other. Being a fan of Rimworld, the idea struck me of taking the social simulation popular in story generators, and put it on a ship. Another reference was the Space Western Firefly. Here we also have a captain and his crew taking on odd jobs and trying to make ends meet. Firefly really excels at making the crew feel like a found family under the guidance of the captain, and the ship being a shared home. Therefore having some crew management ala FTL also entered the mix.

The gameplay inspirations for the game

Yes there was also some inspiration from Failbetter’s excellent Sunless Sea but I wanted to lean more into simulation and procedural techniques to create a dynamic world for the player to explore and discover stories in. Being a fan of tabletop role playing games probably also carried an influence there. I thought using the player’s imagination to bring the world to life was very enticing, so I also decided that a lot of the game would be conveyed through text and abstract systems.

THE FIRST PROTOTYPE

But what should this game really be about? What should the pillars be? Even though I decided to prototype the idea for fun, I also wanted to make sure I created something that would stand out among other games out there. One of the first things I made, was therefore this diagram to compare existing games with each other and see if the concept would stand out.

Comparing the concept with existing games

From this it became clear the social simulation of the crew and exploring the world were the most important features. Afterwards I also made this yarn ball of a diagram to get an idea of all the systems and features in the game, and how they would relate to each other.

This was just a sketch of what I thought the game would be at the time so take it with a grain of (sea)salt.

Normally when making games you focus on the core loop, that is the actions the player do all the time, first and keep Iterating until that feels right to play and then you add more systems on top of that. However since the game was going to be so systems driven, I decided to go a different tack and go broad instead. I needed to see how systems would interplay with each other, before I could get a better picture of how the whole game would play. I therefore often only did a single iteration on a system and moved on to the next part of the game even though I knew it wasn’t working exactly as intended.

I’m glad I did it this way because it has turned out that some systems could be quite shallow, but I could only figure that out once they had been put in and started to interact with the rest of the game. After a couple of months I had a ship that could move around, the basic world generation working and a ship inhabited by crew members.

There was crew before there were harbours. No time ashore for these poor sods!

In coming blog posts I’ll explain more about how various aspects of the game works. I think the procedural world generation and storytelling systems for instance are pretty cool, so they will defo get their own posts later on.

If you have made it this far please help us out with wishlisting the game. It helps with visibility on Steam so we can reach more players :)

Dec 12, 2023

Mirage 4000: Ahead of the Game

War Thunder - Blitzkrieg Wulf

Today we’ll be taking a look at the Mirage 4000, an experimental variant of the renowned Mirage jet fighter developed in parallel to the Mirage 2000. Featuring a twin-engine configuration and vastly improved aerodynamics, the Mirage 4000 will soon be arriving at Rank VIII of the French aircraft tree in the “Air Superiority” major update!

Mirage 4000: A Jet Fighter for France at Rank VIII

Features:

Superb aerodynamics!
Twin-engine propulsion.
Versatile arsenal.
Top speed of Mach 2.2.

Meet the Mirage 4000!

As the name already suggests, the Mirage 4000 builds upon the legacy of the Mirage family of aircraft and propels nearly all aspects of it to the next level. A sleek design, more power and increased payloads all make the Mirage 4000 stand out from the competition, but there’s a lot more to it than that! Let’s find out some more as we go into the details below.

The Mirage 4000 is the first aircraft of the Mirage family in War Thunder to break away from the traditional single-engine design and instead prominently feature a twin-engine layout. As such, the Mirage 4000 is powered by a pair of the familiar SNECMA M53-P2 turbofan jet engines. As a result, this jet can accelerate up to a maximum top speed of Mach 2.2! However, it’s not just the top speed that makes the Mirage 4000 stand out from the crowd. More importantly perhaps is the aircraft’s superb agility. Featuring the signature Mirage delta wing design, coupled with controllable canards in front of the engine air intakes gives this aircraft fantastic maneuverability at both low and high speeds. Thanks to this as well as other improvements, this jet can comfortably engage virtually any opponent it meets in the skies.

Interesting: Although the Mirage 4000 never made it into production due to adverse circumstances, its advanced design and superior performance paved the way for the development of the legendary Rafale fighter.

While good aerodynamics certainly represent a good start, it’s by far not what rounds out a fully fledged fighter design. This task would fall onto the armament and the Mirage 4000 has quite something to show for in this aspect as well. Apart from its standard armament of two ventral mounted 30 mm DEFA cannons, the Mirage 4000 can equip up to 8 x R550 in one loadout, or 3 x 530F air-to-air missiles. These loadouts favor aerial engagements, but what if the mission also calls for ground strike capabilities?

In this case, the Mirage 4000 can boast a high degree of flexibility with its arsenal. Namely, you’ll have access to a wide assortment of guided and as well as conventional munitions. Some highlights include the familiar AS-30L Nord AGM, up to 6 x 2000 and 1000 lb bombs, as well as 2 x BGL 1000 guided bombs to name a few. As a result, the Mirage can engage a vast number of enemy ground targets, thus making it an ideal pick to put into your ground lineups!

In your matches by Alex, Aircraft Game Designer:
“On this new aircraft I would advise to play with speed and work with its medium range missiles by trying to stay near to the enemy, two engines and dynamics of this aircraft will allow you to do this. A large number of short-range missiles gives you the opportunity to make even small mistakes in missile launches, unlike other French top planes, where every missile counts. Its wings will also allow you to quickly turn to the enemy, but I don’t recommend engaging in protracted maneuvers, as you’ll quickly lose valuable speed. In ground battles, the choice of weapons is very large, from missiles to guided bombs, my choice here is the AS-30L or a full set of assault bombs.”

The Mirage 4000 will soon be coming to the French aircraft tree in the next major update, “Air Superiority”! That’s this blog wrapped.In the meantime, be sure to follow the news for the latest information regarding the upcoming update. Until then, see you soon!

Dec 12, 2023

UNITED 1944 Available Now on Early Access

UNITED 1944 - Gina Zero

We’re thrilled to celebrate today’s Early Access launch of UNITED 1944, our innovative multiplayer FPS title set in World War II.

Featuring two game modes, three large maps, more than 20 weapons, and over 40 skills, UNITED 1944 is a new twist on WWII action featuring extraction-based survival gameplay and classic domination modes. Players can jump right into the fury of the largest battles of WWII spanning from the French Countryside and Northern Africa, to D-Day France, all while taking part in 16v16 battles of classic domination! Whether you’re scavenging for resources, defending outposts, fortifying bases, crafting your gear, or just fighting the enemy to the last, there’s lots to do and the battles are rooted in realistic but fun gameplay.

In addition to the classic domination mode, players will also be able to jump into the unique extraction-based Survivor mode, where everyone’s an enemy and survival is anything but guaranteed. Look for resources, explore the city, and set up improvised bases anywhere as you fight for survival. Build, raid, kill, steal, scavenge, and destroy as you need for survival. Play for as long as you want, do your best to stay standing, and make it out with as much loot as possible. Do you have what it takes to survive? Catch an in-depth look at how to play Survivor mode in this gameplay video:

This content is only the beginning and there’s a lot more coming to UNITED 1944 starting as soon as later this month and into early 2024. Below you can find a roadmap of what’s to come, including new weapons, a brand new map, new skills, game systems, a game mode update, and more.

UNITED 1944 is available for $29.99 USD / 29.99 € / ￡24.99 and has a 20% launch discount during one week, so don’t miss out the opportunity! Also, a Twitch drops campaign kicks off today for exclusive rewards to Twitch viewers.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2152790/UNITED_1944/

The creation of this game involved the dedication of 75 people over three years of intensive development. Now that it's finally in your hands, we genuinely hope you have fun playing it. Please note that this is an Early Access, which means you might encounter some bugs, and the game is subject to changes as we collaborate with the community to enhance it and bring new content until its final release version.

For any inquiries, we highly recommend joining our Discord server. It's the best platform to connect with us, stay updated on development progress, get technical support, and share your feedback.
We're incredibly grateful for your support throughout this journey, and we truly hope you'll continue to stay by our side as we embark on this exciting new chapter and beyond!

UNITED 1944 - EARLY ACCESS PATCH NOTES

NEWS FEATURES & IMPROVEMENTS

Progression

We're dedicated to enhancing UNITED1944 to provide a richer and more immersive experience. Our latest update introduces an innovative progression system centered around weekly missions. By completing these missions, players unlock rewards to access new cosmetics and diverse customization options, empowering players to craft unique identities for their characters and personalize their arsenal.

French Countryside

We are proud to introduce a whole new map for both game modes, French Countryside, setted in rural France, where military strongholds and old windmills survey vast extensions of open fields scarred by the remains of an airborne assault.

Makeshift SMG

Introducing the latest addition to our growing arsenal of makeshift weaponry: the Makeshift SMG! Following the community's enthusiastic reception of our previous makeshift weapons, we aimed to diversify our collection further. Inspired by the iconic design of the Polish Bechowiec submachine gun, our Makeshift SMG features a distinctive top slide. Good for a cheap spray and pray up close.

Toxicity System in Text Chat

UNITED 1944 thrives on teamwork and effective communication among players. To preserve the cooperative spirit of the game and prevent disruptive behaviors like griefing, a new Text Chat feature has been implemented with an advanced toxicity detection system.

Inverted Mouse

By popular demand UNITED1944 now offers the Inverted Mouse option in the general Game Settings, one of the most requested accessibility options by the community. We aim to make the game enjoyable by a broad spectrum of players, so your feedback is key for accomplishing this vision.

Quality of life improvements, bug fixes & more

We have reviewed usability and interface as well some aspects & features like the brightness, DirectX options, and more. Credits have been added to the game, so now you can check the complete list of people involved in the development of UNITED 1944. We also tackled a selection of critical bugs and issues in our objective to consistently deliver a gameplay experience that's incredibly solid and smooth with every release.

FIXES

Thanks to all the players that have joined previous betas, to everyone that shared their feedback during this road towards Early Access, thanks for your love and support, all our team has been working very hard to deliver the most stable version of the UNITED1944. For this release the following bugs and issues had been fixed:

Fixed several issues with the info of players that reconnect to the same match after leaving the match or closing the game.
Fixed an error that made the players that destroyed an enemy base remain in enemy territory after its destruction.
Fixed several UI issues related to the extraction zones both for Loot & Players
Fixed an error that made the rim light effect on enemies being displayed on allies.
Fixed in match experience and level-up issues after level 21.
Fixed some UI message errors after delivering secret documents in HQ.
Several fixes in characters animation both in first and third person.
Fixed a bug that corrupted enemies outpost kit after continuous inventory transactions.
Several fixes and improvements made to the construction & structures stability system.
Fixed a bug that hides the sniper scope UI aiming down sight while using the Ping UI.
Several fixes in the UI in game options.
Fixed some UI errors in the Headquarter UI after being destroyed.

Dec 12, 2023

Developer Diary | Ages Part One

Millennia - Firefly

Hello! I’m Ben Friedman, a Game Designer at C Prompt Games, and I have the pleasure of presenting the next dev diary for Millennia! We’ve left some of you hanging with our allusions to the various Ages in our game, and now it’s time to go into detail about that.

Something that’s always been at the core of Millennia has been the ability to explore each era of human history and let the player toy around with what you might’ve done if you were there. People get excited talking about big “what-if” moments in history and our vision is to let you play through those possibilities. To do that, Millennia features a range of historical and alternate history Ages that create a sandbox for history. From there, you can explore Ages that involve “What if Rome never fell?” “What if steam power was viable?” “What if AI becomes sentient and takes over the world?”

To put these together, we were at a white board scribbling the most common and interesting “what-ifs” we could think of, coming at it from both what we thought were the coolest themes and also what we thought would be fun to play with. We quickly came up with way more Age concepts than we could build for the initial release so, for now, we’ve only built the ones we thought would be the most impactful and that we could make shine for launch.

Ages, Broadly

The timeline in Millennia is separated into 10 distinct Ages. Each Age houses a handful of Techs that unlock Units, Buildings, Improvements, and more. Unlocking each Age will both progress you through history and potentially expose you to these “what-if” alternate history timelines. The historical Ages have Technologies you’ll recognize, and the alternative history Ages have new Techs unique to that Age. The “What if steam power was viable?” Age has floating airships, steampunk machines, and more, just to give you a taste!

In order to progress from one Age to the next you’ll have to research a certain minimum number of Techs from your current Age and meet any additional requirements the next Age might have, then research the Age you want to advance into. Other players can see your progress on any Age advance research you start, and are alerted towards whatever Age research is closest to being completed. This might give you a chance to see what someone else is doing and race ahead to beat them to the Age you prefer.

In the top-left, the Age progression warning appears

By progressing into a non-mainline Age, you diverge your game away from the historical known timeline, and into alt-history scenarios. We’ve chosen cut-off points in the timeline to break up our Ages that work both historically and are suited for alt-history. For example, if you choose to go into an Age like “What if Rome never fell?” it picks up right about when Rome was in decline, and an Age like “What if steam power was viable?” is right at home in the Victorian period. Due to all of the permutations, every game you play is going to be different because of which ages you link together.

These alternate history Ages take the place of the historical Ages, and that means you’ll sometimes miss out on something important from the main timeline in order to get something else unique from your alt-history Age. This variation leads to some wild games, and the system accounts for that by requiring you to return to the next historical Age after adventuring into an alternate history branch. That way you’re always in a known position when we present the next “what-if” question, and we know that you have the tools to rise to whatever challenge comes next.

However, the past influences the present (and future), so Units, Buildings, Improvements, Goods, and so on that came about because you went into a variant Age can change things farther down the timeline – just because you progress out of a variant Age doesn’t mean it stops having an impact on your timeline.

These Ages are linked together in the timeline

When you research a new Age, you get a suite of Units, Buildings, Improvements, and more, just like any other Tech. By researching the Age of Blood, for example, you unlock the Berserker Unit that’s ready to lay waste to your enemies! (Which you’ll have a lot of in the Age of Blood.) If you’re the first person to enter an age, you also lock in that Age for the timeline. All other players will have to progress through the same Ages as you once the timeline is locked in. That makes the leading Nation an important role to maintain, as you get to choose which Technologies are available in your game.

Each Age also has a set of “Age Rules” that are enforced globally as long as that Age is the leading Age. Entering a new Age will replace the old Age Rules from the previous Age. The historical ages have more tame Age Rules that reward players for following patterns from known history, like building castles in the Age of Kings, but the alt-history Ages are where the Age Rules are more pronounced. The Age Rules for the Age of Blood forces every Nation to be at war with every other Nation, but also reduces the penalties associated with being at war. These Age Rules can make each Age more impactful than just the Technologies available. (So, you might want to pick an Age just because you can leverage the Age Rules in your favor.)

Types of Ages

If you want to diverge your timeline into an Age that you like, you’ll have to compete with all of the other Nations trying to do the same thing. Some Ages are easier to reach, some are harder, and some you’ll accidentally slip into.

Historical Ages don’t have any additional requirements beyond the minimum Tech requirement, and they tend to have more subtle Age rules. These follow a traditional historical route that will be familiar. There is plenty to do if you stay on the “known path,” there are fine strategies that involve trying to progress through the standard Ages timeline, but you’ll miss some of the fun of the alternate Ages.

Variant Ages are the primary place where “what-if” scenarios are explored. These have special requirements to unlock them, but you might meet those by accident because of your playstyle (or you might decide to go out of your way to steer into a Variant). Variant Ages tend to be somewhat equivalent to historical Ages, except their “what if” scenario bends the game, making it play differently. If your Nation is booming in the Age of Iron, it might be wise to push for the Age of Monuments next, instead of Kings, as Monuments offers unique Improvements that can help your Regions grow.

Crisis Ages are Similar to Variants, they have unique Units, Buildings, and other content to help you progress, but they also generally come with some horrible disaster that will challenge every Nation in the game. That isn’t always “bad”, if you’re well-suited to overcome the challenge, you might want to go into the Crisis just to make other Nations suffer (or you might want to go into the Crisis Age for a Unit or Tech you couldn’t get otherwise).

Another difference in Crisis Ages is that you are locked out of other Age options when you meet their requirements. You don’t necessarily have to enter the Crisis Age at that point, if you don’t want to, you could instead continue to research Technologies and bide your time, hoping that another Nation researches a different Age and sets the timeline to something else.

Scary stuff

Victory Ages are the last type of Age. These have a very high bar to meet, but if you can manage it, you gain the ability to win the game. The most common Victory Ages are the Age 10 Victories (every Age 10 option is a Victory Age). There are also some Victory Ages that are available earlier, which we call internally “off-ramp” Victory Ages. These were put in place to let you end a game early if you feel like you’ve gotten a firm lead and don’t want to pass 200 more turns just to see the Victory screen. But be careful when entering a Victory Age, as these just set the specific rules for winning. Anyone who meets the victory conditions can win, so don’t rest on your laurels just yet!

Historical Ages

As mentioned before, after you progress through an alternate Age you’ll return to the next historical Age, which means that at least half of the Ages you play in will be historical Ages. To best walk through what the historical ages are like, here’s a general description of how my games tend to go when sticking to just the historical ages.

(Note: most games will play differently due to the alt-history ages, different National Spirits, and another zillion granular choices you can make.)

Stone c. 10,000 B.C.E.

Despite being the first turn of the game, with only one Region and a few Units to control, there’s lots of decisions you need to make to get the ball rolling. I normally focus on building farms and keeping my Needs met at 200% as much as possible. I use my starting Warband Units to clear the fog of war around my starting area, supplemented by one or two Scouts I’ll build. I try to collect Reward Camps and stomp out any Barbarian Camps I see to hopefully get something helpful to rocket myself into a good position.

Bronze C. 5,000 B.C.E.

In the Age of Bronze, I’ll pick my first National Spirit based on what I think is going to be the most beneficial for me. Most of these National Spirits care about what terrain is nearby, but my go-to (with all factors being equal) is the Mound Builders NS because it helps me grow my population faster. I’m still focusing on keeping my Needs at 200% as much as possible, so I like to chain together my wheat farms with flour mills. Flour is so efficient that I can normally free up a spare worker that otherwise would’ve been on a farm to go work at a clay pit or forester Improvement and get some production flowing.

Iron C. 2,000 B.C.E.

I like reaching the Iron Age ASAP because I can reform my Tribal Government into a new Government. Which Government I pick depends on how my game is going, whether I have a lot of Vassals, or if I’m better off keeping my borders close-knit and just focus on keeping my Regions growing. By the Age of Iron, I also normally have a plan for how I’m going to get ahead of my neighboring Nations. If I’m lucky with the terrain near where I spawned, I can focus on investing in myself, getting my iron mines up and running, and continuing to chain together basic foods into more efficient refined goods. If I’m unlucky, I’ll have no choice but to invest in my military and train some Cavalry to harass my neighbors or try and steal an unprotected Vassal from them.

Kings C. 0 C.E.

In the Age of Kings, I like to upgrade my Outposts into Castles early to get the Age Rule reward for building Castles, and because it protects my Outposts from attacks. (I may or may not get into a lot of wars early on.) I can also found a Religion in this Age, but tend to wait on it instead of rushing in, because meeting the Faith Need is a bit trickier than other Needs, and not meeting the Need will result in an upcoming Crisis Age. The Age of Kings also has the Feudalism Tech which I tend to take first, because it makes my farms extremely efficient, and chaining together the mills and ovens to bake bread means I have loads of free workers to work other Improvements outside of just meeting my Needs.

Renaissance C. 1400 C.E.

Continuing down the path of known history, I arrive at the Age of Renaissance. You get a free Explorer Unit when you research this Age, which I use to go on Expeditions at Landmarks near my Regions. I’ll also upgrade any Scouts into more Explorers to help with the Expeditions. I tend to get the Navigation Tech quickly here, as it allows me to load up my land Units into Deep Water Transports, and send them across the deep blue sea. I want to know what’s going on at the other continents or islands, and I’ll either join a winning battle to steal a piece of land for myself from the losing side, or I’ll instigate conflict on my own now that my territory is safe on the other side of an ocean. Renaissance also reveals the Social Fabric system, which I’ll typically start with a few free points from the National Spirits I’ve taken, and I’ll focus on producing a lot of Domain Points to increase my Social Fabric Score to get the sweet bonuses.

Enlightenment C. 1650 C.E.

In the Age of Enlightenment, the game gives you the tools to really explode your Knowledge production and put it into high gear, but I tend to play it safe because there’s also a Crisis Age coming related to over-doing it and failing to meet the associated Education Need. I use this age as a cooling period to make sure all of my Regions have upgraded Improvements, their Needs are still being met, and I’ll spend my resources where I can to get all of my Regions to be powerful economic machines.

Revolutions C. 1800 C.E.

Knowing what I know about the game, I seek out locations early on in anticipation for the Age of Revolutions. Specifically, I look to claim as much Coal on the map as I can, even though it doesn’t have much use until now. Coal is a really cheap way to generate Power, to meet my upcoming Power Need. Power Needs for a Region comes from building “factory” style Improvements and other advanced Buildings, which I intend to do as soon as possible once I’ve unlocked them. The benefit for doing so is that I can assign multiple workers to each factory Improvement, and my smaller Regions can catch up to my Regions that control much more territory. Revolutions is a really important inflection point in the game, but is also one of the only historical Ages that comes with its own conflict built-in. When revolutionary Rebel units start spawning, I need to be prepared with my military to fend them off, which is why it’s good that I use the Age of Enlightenment to cool down my wars and bring my troops home.

ATOM C. 1920 C.E.

If I’m the first player to this Age, I’ll update my Government to whichever Government benefits me the most, but if I’m late to the party I’ll pick whichever Government allows me to join the most powerful Faction, so that I can ride their coattails and claw my way back into the lead. I also leverage the Space Race whenever I can, as the first player to complete it gets a nice reward for themselves and for their Faction, which can be the tipping point to get a high tier Faction Reward.

Information C. 1980~2030 C.E.

Once I hit the Age of Information, I have to start focusing on how I’m going to win. If I feel like I’m in a safe position relative to the other Nations, I enjoy heading into the riskiest Victory Age: the Age of Singularity. I take the Information Tech that unlocks the supercomputer Improvement, and build an unreasonable amount of them to summon the Rogue AI Crisis to end the game in a big firework final showdown.

Sign-off

There’s plenty more to talk about for the Ages, but this is where I have to end today’s diary entry. We’ll be sure to talk more about the Ages again, so look forward to Part 2! Thank you for bending your ears, err… eyes? We appreciate all of the love we’ve seen for the game so far, and if you like what you’re seeing, and you haven’t already, please wishlist us!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1268590/Millennia/