Early Inspirations for Starcom
Do you remember the first video game you ever played? I used to think mine was Zork, played on our family’s home computer. I remember unwrapping it on Christmas and […]
Meet Thalia Williams, Your First Officer
The first officer aboard [YOUR SHIP NAME HERE]. Character portrait by Hardy Fowler:
What Goes Into Making a Game, Besides the Game?
Most people, game devs and players alike, realize that creating a great game is a lot of work. They may not realize just how much work, but they know it’s not […]
The Sentinels
Meet The Sentinels. They don’t hate you, but your continued existence is against their programming.
Technology Tree
As the player explores the universe of Starcom: Nexus, they will become more powerful, able to tackle greater threats and dispatch earlier enemies more easily. The game features two progression mechanics, both […]
Alien Worlds, Part II: Interaction
In the last post I explained how the game generates endless interesting looking planets of various types. Game play-wise, I want planets to be a little like treasure chests in fantasy RPGs: […]
Alien Worlds, Part I: The Visual
No game about space exploration would be complete without planets. The original Starcom Flash game had them, but they were purely ornamental landmarks. There were a half-dozen or so bitmaps with […]
Orienting the Player in a Large 2D World
In a 2D world, whether top-down or side-scrolling, as soon as something moves outside the screen’s bounds, it’s gone. In a large universe where the player can freely move in […]
How to Manage a Very, Very, Very Large Contiguous Universe
This is a technical post on managing a large universe is Unity geared mainly towards other developers. As always, features described are about a work in progress. The finished game […]
Havok Defense
In the original game, there was a “Havok Defense” passive upgrade that could shoot down incoming missiles and fighters, but was a fairly minor effect. In Starcom: Nexus, the Havok […]