Freebies are fun

This won’t be a huge news post today, as the news is on the light side. Firstly, the demo version of OreSome, Shipyard Mode has been updated to v0.9. This brings in all the graphic, efficiency and feature improvements that the Alpha version has had for a while now. Should be a nice jump for those that want to try the free version rather than the main Alpha.

Coming soon will be general improvement, along with a few specifics for the multiplayer component. Ore pickups and projectile syncing is first on the agenda, with planets, debris and stars following soon after. That should leave the experience feeling a little less bare bones once those changes are in and the stability is patched up a touch. Hopefully, this won’t be long in coming. A fractional improvement has already been added, as mentioned below.

v0.51
Added Lidgren auto port forwarding, may reduce issues caused by port 14242 being closed
Fixed minimisation in multiplayer not being retrievable
Fixed various issues with IP text entry

Well, this time was brief, but with luck there will be more soon. So, see you later curious androids… but not too much later.

It LIVES! Multiplayer LIVES!

Well, as mentioned, coming soon was multiplayer. When is soon? Now! Don’t expect a miracle of a new game, this will require some tweaking before it works well. Several bugs have already been spotted and many features present in regular campaign mode are currently absent from multiplayer mode.

Also of note, previously it was mentioned the test would be LAN only – that has proved not to be the case. IP connect is available, though no server browser. You’ll need to ensure port 14242 is open to be connected to if you wish to connect over the internet. LAN connections should work using the default ‘Auto’ in the IP field. There is a dedicated server option, but it is far less tested that the Client-Server version and may not work as well. Up to four player are supported – but testing has largely taken place with 2. More may prove more buggy.

With that disclaimer out of the way, some lighter news. OreSome is now available on GamersGate as well as Desura. Hopefully more services will follow in the future – Steam Greenlight still remains one possibility.

As to the future, multiplayer will be expanded over the coming weeks, along with efficiency and bug fixing. As the game becomes more stable, new features will be brought back to the fore, including new missions and the last couple of missing research upgrades. The most important of these will be ‘Plan Mode’, which will let players drop whole ships in campaign mode if they have the resources. It may or may not contain some automation and AI options, though that is as yet undecided.

v0.50 (Version Number Jump)
Added EXPERIMENTAL MULTIPLAYER. Currently allows up to 4 players, with access to all bots and frames from the single player. The rest of the items in the game will be added over time. You’ll find that this first version is buggier than a vast bugs’ nest of giant bugs all bugging out together, but that too will change rapidly. LAN play certainly works, and internet based IP connect may work for some, depending on player’s PC and router settings. Updates should be back to being more frequent from now on.

Go forth, meet each and burn one another’s optics out with lasers, curious androids!

Welcome, Player 2… And Others

So, you may have noticed a brief break in patches – that’s for a reason – the game hasn’t been sucked into a black hole or anything. In point of fact, coming soon is the first prototype multiplayer for OreSome. It will be, to begin with, LAN only and only cover Bots and Frames – no enemies or terrain. Up to four players is the current line of thinking. This mode will grow over time to encompass the normal singleplayer game world. There may or may not be other game modes depending on ease of implementation and on demand.

The other thing you might have spotted is the new trailer – the old teasers were looking a touch dated, and this one gives a much better idea of the current state of the game.

After the basic multiplayer component goes in, most likely there will be another short round of bug fixes and efficiency improvements, before finally some new missions and content can be added. Since the last news post, there has been just one patch, detailed below.

v0.36
Added Cooldown for bonder bot grav missile to prevent accidental discharge
Added Journal text for several undocumented features
Improved OreStruck sprites
Fixed Yellow tech tree journals
Fixed Refinery framerate when many refineries in use
Fixed Crash when physics body is dropped inside another physics body
Fixed Bots in active control channels correctly turn towards mouse
Fixed Rare crashes

Laters, curious androids!

A More Refined Game

So, for the first time in a while, OreSome has a new frame – by community request, I present the Refinery.  

The Refinery Frame allows the player to convert unused ore into higher level ore at a rate of two to one, when it is powered. For example, two green becomes one blue (or yellow to red, red to cyan, etc.). Any ore can be refined besides top level white, which still must be found to be utilised. Keeping an eye on the refinery is necessary if you want to ensure you get the ore you want – it’ll keep converting so long as the power lasts, so beware losing all your low level ore. Losing power while converting loses the current ore, so ensure to keep the contraption constantly powered to avoid ore loss. 

Here you can see the green ore arriving on the conveyor belt, in the process of transmutation and finally exiting as blue ore on the other end. 

A number of performance improvements have been going in lately, which should result in a much more smooth gameplay experience for all. The job isn’t yet done, but it’s lightyears better than it was.

v0.35
Added Refinery frame
Added Asynchronous (partial) sector generation
Added Asynchronous saving – no more massive hitch when autosaving
Added Drifter explosion effect
Added Canister identification improvements to the map screen – hover over a sector to show canisters discovered
Balance Yellow tech tree reordered and condensed
Fixed Waypoint arrow visual bug
Fixed Shields causing massive stutter
Fixed Main quests skipping first Badlands quest

v0.34
Added Allowing easier building. Frames can be picked up and rotated with build circles.Hold left click for a short time to grab
Added Probes rotate when in frames to match entry orientation. Can be used to set up eternally spinning devices or similar
Added Tracking of total population killed for future story purposes
Changed Black hole particle effect to be more obvious
Improved Particle effect efficiency
Improved Low level bioform AI efficiency
Fixed Waypoint indicator zoom issues
Fixed Purple flash on game start

v0.33
Changed Reduced shop aggressiveness
Changed Increased yellow nebulae cycle rate
Changed Increased anchor frame stopping power
Changed Increased planetoid deceleration
Changed Increased weld joint ridigity
Changed Initial access to first connect frame – part of future changes to make early frames more accessible
Balance Command, Battle, Freighter frame pricing tweaked
Fixed Camera smoothing
Fixed Drill free floating ore collected
Fixed Removed non essential debug messages
Fixed Buttons needing two clicks initially
Fixed Minimise making gui transparent

As you can see, a number of improvements to making the early game more accessible and less punishing have been made. A frame is now unlocked by default and frames can now be moved even after they have been built – so long as they remain inside the build sphere. Work on a new trailer has begun, which ought to show the game off better in its current state. Anyway, go forth and refine, curious androids!

To Multiplayer, or not to Multiplayer

Basically, multiplayer is more than a possibility for OreSome, but significantly less than a fact. At this point, some of the basics are in (code libraries and such), and game instances will communicate with one another. Bots are synced up, mostly – though nothing else is.

The reason for mentioning this now is that getting this working properly is now a matter of time – in the sense that getting it to work is entirely possible, but will leach a fairly large amount of time away from other features, like more missions and whatever else you might care to think of. No decisions have been made yet on which direction to pursue yet, so sound off in the forum or comments on which you think might be best.

v0.32
Added Options menu is accessible in game
Added Controls menu screen entries glow when being editted
Added Load slot shows date for easier identification

v0.31
Added Superweapon steam, star charge, stasis effectsBalance Research levels for orange, purple, cyan, pink take far fewer kills to achieve – 1 for Level 1, then 3, 9, 27 and 81 for following levels
Changed First main quest has a selection of new frames to be grabbed, making it easier to get an early ship together
Fixed Bonder sinkhole ability bug
Fixed Breaker bots triggering music
Fixed Wall beams moving weirdness

In other news, a new trailer may be forthcoming soon, the current teasers probably are no longer good enough. However, if anyone is willing to help gather good footage for one, that’d be a great time saver on this end. So long curious androids, maybe you can see each other in game soon enough!

So, about that stuff.

Community member theguywhogamesalot posted a video – this news post is a bit late so it’s a touch out of date now, with some of the issues fixed, but he’s kindly said he may do a few more videos in future showing off new features as they come. In other news, the wikia continues to grow and progress via patches continues unabated.

With only cosmetic particle effects left, efficiency and stability improvements are in progress. Also, the first tiny hooks to build multiplayer with are going in – depending on how difficult this proves to be, the mode may arrive sooner, or later. In any case, there’s lots more content still to come.

v0.30
Added Superweapon effects (just a few cosmetic effects left now)
Added bioform beam and attack effects
Fixed Binder bot beams now correctly removed when target bot dies

v0.29
Added Many new particle effects for bioforms
Added Moving eyes for bioform bosses
Fixed Asyncronous save corruption

v0.28
Added Lidgren networking library for eventual multiplayer
Added Option to allow drill to fire straight – holding mode modifier key (shift by default) allows the previous turning ability
Added EM convert particle effect
Changed Tutorial text changes to make it clearer how to do certain tasks
Changed Made a command frame available to be found early on to teach players about controlling frames
Changed Planet shadows more pronounced
Changed Ore graphics more subtle, less neon
Balance Probe price reduced to 10 Green 1 Pink ore from 10 Pink
Improved Swarm bot efficiency
Fixed Death screen alerts when a save cannot be loaded instead of displaying default text
Fixed Tentacle physics bodies not being cleared up on death
Fixed Swarm bots don’t overshoot their target

v0.27
Added New Wormhole flash and first few bioform particle effects
Fixed Weird catapult parts physics jiggle, better hit recognition
Improved Experimental change to region generation method, hopefully should be smoother
Improved Star and planet particle speed improvements

As always, much more to come. Maybe it won’t be long before curious androids can meet one another in multiplayer? I wouldn’t bet too much on it though… We’ll see.

Wiki Magic

Community member svleur has been busy creating some new media, including the brief Let’s Play shown below. Another nice early game showing for the new player. Continuing that theme, we now have a wikia:

Oresome.wikia.com

There’s lots of good stuff there, including guides to using some of the basic kit. If you feel like helping out, there’s plenty more that can usefully go on! Thanks to svleur for setting it up and ataaron for other additions.

There’s been a bunch of new patches, mainly to bring in the new particle effects, which are mostly prettier now. Some are still a work in progress and a handful remain to be readded, but that’s coming soon. More urgently though will be efficiency improvements and major bugfixes and these are coming sooner.

Changelog:

v0.26
Added Super frame particle effects, only a handful missing now
Balance Reduced tractor beam movement and explosive wall cost to 2% (!) of previous
Fixed Several binder bot visual bugs
Fixed Rocket abilities destroying themselves when the builder is moving fast
Fixed Quests and other items spawning too close to start location
Fixed Sound death loop
Fixed Particles not updating properly in some circumstances

v0.25
Added New frame particle effects – only super frames and bioforms left to replace
Fixed Command hardpoint disconnect crash
Fixed Grav frame repelling black holes when attempting to farm ore from them
Fixed Sound effect loop bug when entering menus

v0.24
Added New particle effects for flash, bridger bot, solar frame
Fixed Crash due to too many particles
Fixed Region generation crash in some parts of The Edge
Improved Hitches should be less frequent and severe. More performance increases to follow shortly

v0.23
Added MAJOR Particle Engine Changes – majority of effects are converted, but some remain to be readded or improved over the coming days. There may be a few new bugs here and there for the moment, but this change will allow much greater efficiency and stability in future. Many effects look nicer too, though this is not yet universal.
Added Override for XNA graphics card check – may allow those older graphics cards to play where they previously couldn’t
Fixed Save graphic scales with zoom properly
Fixed Game no longer restarts upon resolution change
Fixed Blaster bot should target enemies more effectively

Now go be memorised by the new pretties – but don’t head into the light, curious androids!, it’s probably a sun and they burn.