First news on ModDB, here is an introductory article on Naumachia Space Warfare, an upcoming independent PC game that is under development by AureaSection, an Italian team also responsible of the well known Half-Life mod 'The Specialists' Moddb.com.
From October 2008 we opened our website, Naumachia.aureasection.com.
First of all we've chosen "Naumachia" as the name for our game because it fits perfectly its spirit. Just a little browsing from the Wiki should clear the origin of this name En.wikipedia.org; in few words our game puts players into a sort of multiplayer space arena where space warfare is simulated.
The game allows a player to decide whether to enter the game as a fighter pilot or as a commander on the deck of a capital ship. During these months we've shown off, apart the teaser you can see in the videos section, several details about ships, customization and weapons.
All of these news can be browsed easily, even by unregistered users, in our forums Forums.aureasection.com.
Here is a sum of our game's main features and gameplay:
- Fighter simulation: players can pilot and customize fighters of various classes, engage close dogfights, issue orders to AI wingmen while in combat.
- Capital-ship simulation: it's possible manage the ship and its crew, send engineers to repair turrets or damaged engines, engage other capital ships while offering a support to the units under control as well as to the allied forces.
- Tactical simulation (RTS): players willing to focus only on a wider view of the battlefield can deploy the assigned units and issue orders to them with more control than those players choosing to give their best commanding a vessel, like in a real time strategy game.
- Newtonian physics: directional and primary engines work for real, their disposition affects fighter movement; fully equipped ships weight more and are less agile than the same craft with a lighter setup and more.
- Ship customization: several selectable weapons, armors, engines, avionics, counter-measures and more.
- Three different factions: Free Colonies Alliance (FCA); The Coalition; third faction is planned to be released later on for free.
Gameplay
The game is planned to be an online multiplayer experience; later on we plan to add a single-player campaign. The player can chose to play as a fighter pilot, as a capital ship commander or to manage the assigned AI forces from a perspective view like any other RTS.
The main game mode is a team-play, round based match. These rounds are focused upon a capture&hold system: each team will have to hold or capture a certain number of strategic points displaced within a battle area. A team will win if it has held more control points than the other one at the end of the match's time limit or all of them; when the reinforcements of one of the two factions will be depleted or the remaining forces without reinforcements are wiped out.
We'd like to evolve this modality into a multiplayer story-mode campaign in future releases, along with more game modes. From now on we will take occasion to upload news here on ModDB, along those coming on our website.
Awesome! Any chance that multiple players can take different positions on a capital ship? Or is the crew all ai?
Not for now, you will be able to manage capital ships with enough ease. Plus, you might not want people to mess around your own ship.
Really really looking forward to this.
Really interesting. I'll be watching this one closely.
This the best looking,and coolest indie game i ve ever seen, so i hope that it will come to a full free release soon.
Best looking space combat sim I have seen. Will be brilliant to have a Freespace2 replacement. Even tops EVE from the short video... Looking forward to this one...
HOLY **** THATS ******* AMAZING!!
I've waited so long for something like this, Watching.
Damm i just wet my pants...
Can't wait.
Are you guys sure thats alpha?
Siete i meglio!!!!! Finalmente una produzione videoludica italiana di qualità eccellente!!!!!! Posso partecipare all'alpha o alla beta?
very very neat. Going to buy it immediatly (if it doesn't suck completely) the moment you add a good single player experience.
And since I am designing Space Combat Game missions myself, I know that it actually isn't all that difficult if you have the necessary talent and follow some basic rules.
sb remove this damn double post please.
crap, replying doesn't work. Please remove this post too.
Looks amazing, will there be any destroyer class vessels or other "small" capital ships, i have always favoured speed over armor.
Dream game in a nutshell.
One comment I have:
You say that your Newtonian Physics model means that heavier ships are less agile than lighter ships, due to their weight and the size of their thrusters etc. The thing is, there is no gravity in space. Weight is meaningless when it comes to a ship's speed and maneuvaribility. In Star Wars, for example, the Death Stars should've been outrunning the TIE fighters.
The justification for limiting maneuverability is, of course, the crew can only survive so many gees for force, as well as the materials used for constructing the spaceships coming under too much force as well (although if you can stand a missle then you could probably stand going at several dozen gees). The engineers may have possibly programmed in hard limits.
Of course for gameplay purposes you can suspend our disbelief, and damn the game is looking good anyway, but I'm pretty anal about physics, so bear with me :p
Any word on when it is going to be released?