[Project Dump] Liquid Skies

Nuclear_Mosquito

Hey Guys

I've started playing around with ideas for a project that I wanted to get started on for quite a long time. I decided to work on very small parts of the game as I learn how to make them and post the interesting bits here. So this is probably going to end up being a very slow development blog.

The Game:
So far the game idea is a very simple one: I want to make a game based off Sub-Culture and Freelancer. I really enjoyed both of them and would like to take ideas from both of them and bring them together in a single game.

My First Share:
The one thing that was really fun about Sub-Culture was how the submarine handles underwater, so I'm going to try and make that first. To do that I'll need a model of a submarine. I decided to make it myself, as I have a little bit of experience with Blender. I'm still no artist though.

Here is a composite image of the sub that I made. Note: I got the background image from here




Mining Sub Movement:
After wrestling with the Unity unity physics engine I finally have my first submarine controller system. (See the test movement file) I've only included yaw and pitch controls to make the sub controllable via keyboard. You can also thrust vertically on the global y axis and thrust forward/backward in the direction you're facing.

I still need to do a few things:
* Design a proper control system for limiting the pitch so that it doesn't oscillate at the limit
* Ensure that the net thrust (Vertical + Horizontal) doesn't exceed the capability of the engines
* Make the ship's pitch and yaw controllable by mouse (Perhaps a system like in Freelancer). This is just to see how the mouse controls handle compared to the keyboard controls. Then I can decide on the best control method for the game.

I'll try and post something every now and then. I'll probably also use this for all my stupid questions.

Feel free to let me know what you guys think...

Project Log:
2015-04-10 - Changed project name from "Watery Skies" to "Liquid Skies". Thanks @Gazza_N for the suggestion.

dislekcia

Nuclear_Mosquito said:

To do that I'll need a model of a submarine.

Nope ;)

To do that you need a box and a scene and lots of time to spend on tweaking your control behaviors and trying different approaches. A detailed model actually makes your job harder because it makes it more difficult to drastically change how your simulation might work: A box can move any way you want it to, but a submarine that's flatter than it is tall is going to roll slower than it yaws, so that will constantly push you away from testing what fast rolling might be like... Maybe that's a good thing, but the chances of that helping you really find a great movement mechanic are pretty slim. You're going to be more constrained by a detailed model and less likely to try random ideas from left-field.

There are a lot of movement assumptions in your model: Everything from it having 4 engines to the cockpit being downward-facing at the front. I'm sure you have other assumptions about how you want the movement to feel as well, all I'm saying is that time spent making a thing look right should happen after you know what it NEEDS to look like to behave the way it does.

Nuclear_Mosquito

@dislekcia: This is exactly what this post is for. To get that experienced feedback. Thanks BTW :) I'll stay away from importing the model until I have my block swimming about in exactly the way that I want it to.

Sonicay

The game sounds cool, if its done i might even play it if your gameplay idea is good, i like how the trade mechanic works and stuff, you should do what @dislekcia said and work on your other mechanics first you dont need your models straight away, get the coding right and the game itself, you can make your character a block and then make 2 tradeposts to test trading and then you need to make the currency go up and down with the amount of resources a planet has, remember freelancer made it balanced with the amount of NPCs they created to also "trade" without you knowing so that the trade price will never be high for everything, because while the "planet" is consuming the resources you can just stand outside the planet and then go back in it to sell all your good when they are exhausted. So making a minor income for a planet will help. But there are a lot of things you need to think about because i see both those games made it fun with the trading part, because that is where everyone starts to get the weapons to be able to fight :)

If you sell to your planet all the resources then you must not just let the currency drop for the material needed, you should also make planets or economies "Thrive" and if they get a certain amount of goods in each resource, then they start consuming more because its a bigger economy.

But i wish you the best of luck, will be interesting to see what your plans are.
Keep us also updated on your progress and ill gladly give feedback because i played freelancer for a really long time :)

Gazza_N

I love fantasy vehicle sims. I love six-degrees-of-freedom. I love Elite/Freelancer-style games. I loved SeaQuest DSV. In short... SOLD. Please post a prototype quicklike. :D

Also, might I suggest "Liquid Skies" as an alternative title? Not that the title is of much importance at this stage of a project. :P

Nuclear_Mosquito

@Sonicay That trade system is going to be very difficult, but if I can nail it I'm going to jump through the roof. I'm going to see whether I can get an economics student to help me with that. I also know that I probably have the mathematics knowledge to simulate such a system, so I just have to study up. Does anyone have suggestions for books or material I can look at?

@Gazza_N I was struggling with a name, so if you don't mind, I'll use your suggestion :) Thanks for the improved idea

EDIT: I've added an update in the OP about the movement system.

Second Edit: Seeing as the Ludum Dare is right around the corner I might try and make the trading system as a separate game and then incorporate it into Liquid skies and tweak it from there. Theme allowing of course.