Planetary Annihilation (Incoming Moon Drops!)

[knorke]

I'm sorry but i dont see anything interesting on their stuff they released, yet (including videos, screens, Mavors blog,...). Hype

I think some stuff like the text about TA graphics engine was interessting: http://www.mavorsrants.com/2012/04/tota ... ngine.html
In the video they talk about such things too sometimes..
It is not super detailed but of course it is targeted at players. I do not know other games where companies give such insight, showing techdemos and stuff.
I did not buy the game but if I had, I would kind of expect such updates, to know that my money is being used

[smoth]

All the detailed units and creative stats I like in TA games start to get supremely simplified partially because at that scale detail is a waste of time and because there is too much to focus on to have a LARGE unit variety.

I have that feel, hmm will they make a TA2 or an improved supcom version. I feel they are going for the more macro styled gameplay, similar to supcom, this is what disapoints me the most, i was kinda expecting a blend of micro and macro, not just plain full macro.

I mean who doesnt enjoy microing samsons and janus on BA, or even the commander EMP in evo, or The commander in XTA, or even the specific unity types of gundam RTS.

I enjoy this kind of micro/macro balance, but i feel they arent going to go this way, its still to early to tell but well see.

precisely. I was ok with the trailer, then they were all "MAKE IT BIG, MAKE IT BIGGER, MAKE IT MORE BIGGERER." Which was pretty lame and blantant hyping. The game's KEY concept is about making seem EPIC not fun. So it feels very much like they created a game around drawing interest to it and were going to figure out the details afterwards.

So then I asked myself, hmm, that is a high level of complexity. How will I control all this shit at once? how will people maintain all control in real time? it isn't turn based. So then I realized that gameplay would have to be GREATLY simplified to make this happen. Then I realized the mockup wasn't far off.

I am not concerned about poly count. Unit complexity as in lots of variety. Except that the variety is going to be asteroid moon etc. Going to feel very RPS imo

[PepeAmpere]

At least one person here with own mind. Nice Smoth.

[luckywaldo7]

At least one person here with own mind. Nice Smoth.

God forbid someone find a developing RTS not done in Spring to be interesting or new.

[SinbadEV]

[...]Except that the variety is going to be asteroid moon etc. Going to feel very RPS imo

Yes... but the "rocks" will be asteroids and moons!

[Google_Frog]

I'm in it for the topology.

I couldn't care less about the immersion of map edges and small planets should be fun. I want to see what happens when you play something like TA on a sphere.

[zwzsg]

I hope long range artillery obey gravity. Could be fun to pour shells into elliptical orbits, or to have arty shoot themselves in the back after missing a target on the antipode.

[Rumpelstiltskin]

I don't see what is so intriguing about it TBH.
I do wonder how they will present the information a minimap usually presents.

[Neddie]

Well, there are a few options. The two that come immediately to mind are either rendering the world again as a sphere with zoom, or performing some sort of real-time projection relative to the position of the camera with or without a fixed distance from the surface.

[zwzsg]

They said in last video : There won't be a minimap as we know it. But other means to keep an eye of what's going on elsewhere.

I guess it's going to be multiple camera views.

[gajop]

I don't see what is so intriguing about it TBH.
I do wonder how they will present the information a minimap usually presents.

You seem to be a fan of wasteland2/new planetscape thing, so I'll make a comparison between that and PA.

The two RPGs mostly feature good storytelling/roleplaying, and they do it in a format people care about. PA obviously has little to no nostalgic feeling about it, and it makes no effort to create a good story or immerse you in its world (I don't even know if it has factions or what those would be).

On the other hand, the two RPGs offer nothing new as far as the technology goes, it's the same old stuff with perhaps a few revisits of some bad design choices (e.g. the part of the NPC dialogue where you are supposed to type in text). Now as far as technology goes PA features a lot of new stuff (3D maps, multiple 3D objects, procedural generation, CSG terrain, webkit GUI, very good replay system, etc.).

Let's just say it's a whole different cup of tea.

PS: minimaps suck, learn to zoom out

[Kloot]

What do you think a minimap is if not a minified (yes, really) special top-down camera view?

PA just generalizes the age-old system to multiple arbitrary views.

[zwzsg]

PA obviously has little to no nostalgic feeling about it

PA clearly plays on the TA (and SupCom) nostalgia. Mavors keeps retelling how he was the tech guy behind TotalA and SupCom engine. The last video really has a TA vibe to it, with the green nanolathe, the commander, the open factory with spinny bits, ...

Even the MOAR BIGGER high tech engine is an appeal to nostalgia, since, in their times, TotalA & SupCom were similarly famed for the same reasons of larger battle and better engine.

[knorke]

What do you think a minimap is if not a minified (yes, really) special top-down camera view?

Top down camera on sphere planet is not so usefull, needs some https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Map_projection to see the dark side of the moon. But then maybe the problems that mapprojectios bring with them? Or maybe those are not noticeable in playing idk.

Multiple viewpoints would kind of suck, at least if you have to have them open all the time. If it is something like those 3d window managers, it might work. Imagine each window/program is a planet and you press some hotkey to bring it up:

People are used to use multiple programs at once, even not super computer techy people open multiple tabs in their browser. It might work in a game too.

[smoth]

At least one person here with own mind. Nice Smoth.

God forbid someone find a developing RTS not done in Spring to be interesting or new.

I think dysis is cool. I think dysis will be an RTS. I think planetary annihiliation will be a shallow 4x.

[Rumpelstiltskin]

Latest version of Dysis is 0.1....
Going kind of slow isn't it?

By the way, Nordic games now has The SupCom License.

[zwzsg]

I think Dysis will be a cool tech demo, while Planetary Annihilation will also have gameplay.

[PicassoCT]

cool tech demos with modfriendly atrtact gamedevs like hookers drunkards..

[luckywaldo7]

PA obviously has little to no nostalgic feeling about it

PA clearly plays on the TA (and SupCom) nostalgia. Mavors keeps retelling how he was the tech guy behind TotalA and SupCom engine. The last video really has a TA vibe to it, with the green nanolathe, the commander, the open factory with spinny bits, ...

Even the MOAR BIGGER high tech engine is an appeal to nostalgia, since, in their times, TotalA & SupCom were similarly famed for the same reasons of larger battle and better engine.

Not to mention those mouse cursors. Yeah, they are making it TA2 in everything but name, plus planets of course.

[Rumpelstiltskin]

Why Don't they just buy the TA license...