During our last blog, we shared a first look at the remastered gameplay of Battlestar Galactica: Fleet Commander. One of the things that we didn't cover was the effort spent reproducing the effects seen in the reboot series. The cherry on the cake was doing it while optimizing performance. To be more specific, Homeworld Remastered uses multiple layers of effects on top of each other, creating a feel of depth for explosions, tracers, and more. On our end, we've reduced that number for each effect to just one.
Good hunting Commander
One would say that immersion in video games essentially resonates within a couple of specific elements, such as the graphics, the setting, the music, and the gameplay. Despite having a couple of non-cannon ships and missions, the Classic version of Battlestar Galactica: Fleet Commander did a fantastic job setting the immersion. With that in mind, it's no surprise we had to take this further, especially as we've decided to stick to cannon content exclusively. This made things more challenging, but if there's one thing for sure now, it's that when we say good hunting commander, it's for good reasons.
Even though the flak system isn't fully operational yet, as some of you may have noticed in this video, most of the explosion, lighting, and displacement effects are finished. We hope we'll be able to fix the flak soon enough despite the Homeworld's engine limitations, running on OpenGL 3.3. Fortunately, our team successfully set up specific modifications by ensuring the game loads the mod exclusively. This saves between 800 MB to 1.2 GB of RAM for a game limited to 2 GB at maximum.
Our current goals are to finish the Flak System by fixing it entirely or by finding an alternative that's not at the cost of in-game performance, which is more demanding. Once we have a final solution, we'll be able to present it to you in a video, and why not, with a different Battlestar.
Our team is currently working on many different things. While our co-project lead Joshua "Bings" is busy polishing the flak system, our design lead Lucas "Lad" is working hard on getting the Battlestar Galactica and the Commissioned Jupiter Class Battlestar ready. The Galactica and the Jupiter Class are iconic, and we understand how much the community loves these ship designs. It's no surprise to anyone. We can't wait to show you our brand-new and updated Battlestar Galactica. It will be iconic, whether you play solo, online, or in full campaign mode, which will evolve over time with more damage on the hull, just like the show.
Blood & Chrome content
On another end, we've noticed recurring questions from the community regarding Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome content, asking whether we would implement ships from that era. We love this period and think it deserves more recognition, especially in games like Homeworld Remastered.
Even though the campaign will be focused on the reboot series, solo or online game sessions will grant you access to a plethora of Blood & Chrome ships, all cannon. Some appeared in both series; others were limited to Blood & Chrome, such as the Viper MKIII.
We can't wait to see all the battles that will occur thanks to these ships. We hope seeing Battlestar Galactica in its glory will bring joy to the many fans who will get to play the mod this December 2023.
So Say We All.
