This is our second news for the final MotY voting phase and as with the last piece we give you more gameplay footage and information. Thanks again for your votes and please keep voting by logging into your MODDB account!
Dynamic Hyperspace Travel Concept
Our hyperspace travel concept has been established since a long time, however we never got to the stage of actual implementation. That has changed. The travel concept makes use of two known Freelancer gameplay mechanics, tradelanes and jump gates. But since we don't like to cater to the limitations of the Freelancer engine we created dynamic versions of the two for a more interesting travel gameplay. Next to the static hypergates and hyperlanes it will also be possible to plot a manual course by setting a waypoint, in-system or inter-system. Suns and planets cast gravity wells which limit your choice of possible paths and creates chokepoints for players. The following picture shows a nav-map with visualized gravity wells and possible hyperlane paths:
Also, creating a dynamic hyperlane or gate will make you very visible for other players and there will be significant build-up and cool-down times so that spamming hyperlanes and gates will not be possible. The actual gameplay limitations and restrictions will be subject to change throughout our open beta, but here is an early ingame video showing off the technology:
Movement Improvements
Next to hyperspace travel we also work on improving some of our issues with overall movement which are due to limitations of the Freelancer engine. We improved capitol ship spinning by limiting the change in angular velocity. That means, cap ships are no longer be spinning uncontrollably after a collision with a tiny fighter. Also, we improved the netcode by updating ship positions more often. This results in a more fluid gameplay and, since network speeds have improved, is well worth the additional bandwidth.
Call for Testers and Open Beta
As already mentioned, we will have an Open Beta. Since we have a bad track record of meeting deadlines, we will not give a release date. We want to release the mod sooner than later and are hard working on getting the core features finished so we can start public testing early next year.
We are still looking for some dedicated testers with plenty of time on their hands to work out some of the critical bugs of the mod. To apply, please send a MODDB personal message to our development group.
---
If you like what you see, and have been playing, please don't forget to tell your friends, your communities you frequent and social sites like REDDIT/Twitter about this mod. Player word of mouth goes a long way and we'd appreciate any of the support we can get for this mod of ours! Thanks everyone!
Awesome job guys!
Thank you!
**** i pressed the wrong button...sorry
Ok, getting back old fast and (not so) reliable internet, so i will definitively be applying for open beta, but i would like to ask, is it possible to block inter-hypergates against hostile factions, or is there a limit to how close they can be?
On a last thing, is it still possible to disrupt hyperlanes, or at least the normal ones?
There will be a few ways to disrupt hyperlanes/gates by creating artifical gravity wells. But this is still a work in progress. We will play with a few concepts in the open beta. Oh and btw. you dont need to apply for open beta, since it is open (meaning public) ;)
Ya, there are a few ideas floating around. Big ones are that players will need to be free of any gravity wells to use the feature. These wells would include planets and interdictor class vessels.
I have been really curious about one thing: were you guys just accumulating all the new stuff, to release during the MOTY voting period?
Actually, most of the stuff only got ready within the last month. We have been pretty dead over the whole summer due to various real life reasons. But yeah, we also saved up a little for the MotY voting but I doubt it really gives us an advantage, sadly..
That's part of it. It's a great time to reveal all the things we've been up to as it gets more publicity for the mod. This means, more players for you to play with come release. This is a fan-made project. We get no funds/money or monetary gain for this, so getting more votes is really important to make sure there are more people playing come release.
Sushi, thanks for being honest. Got my vote ;)
Don't you ever stop developing this beauty. Seriously. Worth every single vote I gave you guys.
thanks!
Ur gunna have to do the same thing for Star Citizen when it comes out Sushi heheh
Read that little paragraph under the picture, hurray no more cap ship spinning! :D
Yup. It's solved :D
Great solution. And most importantly; it's pretty! ;) -Deanus
Will there be factions in beta or will it just be FFA?
In the video you showed us that planets and Stars will have gravity wells, making Hyperspace flights thru them impossible.
How about attaching this effect to a ship? :D Talkin' about Interdictors ;)
It's already planned ;)
The goodies never stop coming, this is some expert stuff going on.
Really good solutions to Star Wars specific prerequisites such as the hyperspace jumping and drop-dead gorgeous modelling by the team.
Definition of awesome.
I just want to applaud you guys for this great engineering piece of work.
I can imagine what's needed to make it happen - and it's impressive.
Spread the word! :D