DescentBB

I've been wanting to create a space based shooter for ages now and now that I'm out of school I have that extra bit of free time to start. Last week I began work on a concept I had been dreaming of for years. Cebris is a solar system colonized long ago by humans and now split into three factions the Cybers, Dren and Nomads. The Cyber's sought power through technology and modified themselves with the latest technologies, they are walking computers and often the creators of many of the Cebris systems technology. The Dren looked to other species to perfect themselves. They spliced their own DNA with that of cats, bugs and thousands of other animals in an attempt to gain the greatest advantage and maintain the latest style. With all the money required for a body manipulation such as becoming a Dren or Cyber the Nomads were left. They built large fleets of ships and looked to find create their own civilization alone in the depths of space.

From these three base species hundreds of crosses arose and inevitably conflict. While the lines between the three factions have become so blurred over time, the lines may still be found by those that look and along these lines rifts are forming. Pirates harass shipping lanes and rival companies often sabotage other companies mining operations on the rich mineral deposits of the Asteroid Field.

Anyway, enough story. The game is planned to have both a multiplayer and single player campaign and is largely inspired by Descent as well as other shooters including Warsow.

I plan to have a working multiplayer done sometime this summer and will be opening the game for beta/alpha testing once I get to a playable point. Right now a few things are still a bit rough and I'm still getting the player controls right.



Currently most models are temporary ones downloaded from Turbosquid, but I do have two original ship designs (one may be seen above) and many other models though currently most lack textures. (Update: new picture showcasing new map with custom models and green lasers.)

Anyway, I'm writing here because I am curious if the community has any (reasonable) requests that they want this game to include. While I can't make promises I'll do everything I can to get interesting features into the game.

Planned features include: common game modes (Deathmatch/Anarchy), uncommon game modes (Murderball ), coasting (you can turn while maintaining your momentum), cool graphics effects (HDR, DX11, Bloom and other goodies), and more. I also plan on taking advantage of the power of modern PC's to expand the genre a little if I can. How or what that might be I can't say.

The game is being made with the Esenthel Engine and is planned to support both Mac and PC initially. If you want to see some other projects I've done for PC check out Dark Time.

If you are interested or have questions don't be shy. Octoface I'll post updates below.

Update [12/11/2012]:
I've been doing a lot of work lately and have almost completely rewritten the game by now. These changes, while significantly less visually appealing are a lot better in the long run. Firstly, I have redone the weapons system which will allow me to easily add and change weapons without taking much time, they have also been optimized so that the weapons system now takes less resources. Next, I've worked on player motion, this means adding collision damage, it is now very easy to kill yourself if your stupid and have a fondness for rock walls. As part of this I have added a system that tracks your deaths and kills making it easier to create a scoreboard. I've updated the message system moving messages from the top left to the top center and adding an animation. Updated coasting and braking so they now work better and improved movement in general adding inertia to the ships rotation. I've also reduced the number of lights by a significant amount by removing those that wouldn't make a difference anyway. Finally, I've remodeled the main ship and should have a mesh posted sometime soon so you have something to look at there. Also, networking code has been poked at a bit, though this is probably months in the future. It is my hope that I will have a demo by the end of the year, though it could vary be a significant amount depending on what happens with my schedule. Oh, almost forgot, I've been working on some original music, alas, it's not that good, but it's something.

Update [12/12/2012]:
For now, I'm removing the heavy art assets seen in the screenshot above etc. This will allow me to focus on gameplay over art and will also allow me to better judge changes effect on frame rate.

Update [12/18/2012]:
Demo video of movement: http://youtu.be/XcngYmjqGTM

Update [12/20/2012]:
Well, I'm now done with the semester and have more time to dedicate to this project. I will be setting up a website with more details soon. I have refined the UI a little adding an indicator to the targeting reticle to show you which way is "up". Hopefully this will make getting lost less of a problem. I have also added support for messages for picking up ammo, health, killing players, server announcements and such. I have also implemented a droppable and spawnable items system which will allow weapons to spawn in levels and to be dropped from exploding ships. I should have a modders alpha out by the end of the year unless something unexpected occurs (such as the world ending). This will not include most of the heavier features like multiplayer but will be designed to allow those interested in testing out the game to give it a try and will allow those that want to add content to do that as well. This demo will include a manual on how to create levels for those that are interested in taking this path.

Update [1/1/2013]:
Happy New Year! I will be moving these updates to my site World of Zero. You can check up on updates on Cebris and my other projects at updates.worldofzero.com. Feel free to leave feedback on specific updates on those posts, I'll do my best to respond. Or if you have any general comments or questions you can drop them either here or there. The demo has been delayed due to an issue arising with one of my other projects that had to be resolved. I'll release it when it is ready.

Update [2/16/2013]:
Server is implemented and I am working on connecting the client to it. This is the framework for Multiplayer which will be possible after this is finished.

How did I miss this for so long?
Looks great, nice visuals (at least, I think so)

I have a few technical questions:
1) How are you doing the minimap? Does it build as you go along? It it 2D or 3D?
2) When can I play it? I'm happy to test even if it's crappy, and can possibly create/share some models (from DEEP Space, my own descent project)
(Wish for linux, but doubt I'll get it)


You asked for requests. I'll be interested in what you get, and am very surprised no-one else has commented yet.
Desired features:
1) Customisability. Please support custom ships included with level-sets. This means you can satisfy the descenter and the space-based player.
2) The ability to play on not only the best computers, but also mid-range ones.
3) Free please

Semi-serious requests:
This is a really odd thing that I thought of years back for a multi-player mode. I call it two-up co-op. I have no idea how you would implement it, but here goes. The game only allows even numbers of players, and these get divided into pairs by the host. One player flies, while the other shoots. For this to work you'd also need good communication between players, or just big rooms with lots of enemies. I can see how people would start to specialize as pilot or gunner.
This is just a dream game-type, so I won't be surprised if you throw it into the nearest bin and forget about it.

How did I miss that? It was supposed to notify me of responses. Guess not.

Anyway. Despite my lack of a reply for almost two months, sorry about that, the project is still very much active.

My game is focusing primarily on the multiplayer side, so, as yet, there are no plans for a minimap. A campaign will be added eventually as I have almost 100 pages of stories that describe the environment.

You will be able to play it when it is working. Some features are currently causing issues and as I am the only current member working on this it could take a while to get anything worth playing.

For supported platforms I plan to support both Windows and Mac PC's and will also explore bringing it to Windows RT and Android. Unfortunately Esenthel (my engine of choice) does not support Linux. Initially however, the game will only support Windows, the other platforms will follow later.

To address some of your desired features:
1. Customizing. This is a big thing that I want to emphasize. Cebris has 3 main races, each with their own unique style from organic to cybernetic. This will allow you to customize the design of your ship from different thrusters and color schemes to custom loadouts.
2. The game should support most mid-range computers as I don't intend to limit my audience more than a 6DoF game already does.
3. I plan on making the game free to play and either offer skins for a price to change your ship or use donations. I haven't decided which it will be, but I do need some way of making money from this project as it will be a fairly large time consumer.

Semi-Serious Requests:
Maybe, my currently planned game modes are:
Murder Ball: This takes place in a largely open map with two teams each having a goal. The players must use missiles and their weapons to push the ball into the enemies goal. Players take reduced weapons damage, but also have less shields making the ball a very lethal weapon itself.
Deathmatch: Basic free for all combat.

I am also adding a few unique features to Cebris, these include Coasting. What this does is disable your braking thrusters so you can effectively slide through space. This is effective for coasting past a doorway, launching missiles through it and continuing without losing a significant amount of speed. Other fun features are also being worked on, but I'm not ready for those to come out yet.

Once I have a playable version I'll be sure to make sure that everyone knows.
If you have any other suggestions, let me know. I'll try to have something ready by the new year. Hopefully, that version will contain a basic local multiplayer, but I can't guarantee anything.