A freeform space-based realtime strategy game where the player controls groups of starships and fighters.
The game is built around a starmap which the player must rid of all enemy ships, while completing storyline and side missions. During this quest, stations around the map can be used to purchase ships, weapons and modules.
The enemy will be trying to seize control of your stations, and take the sector for themselves. Through a variety of missions, you must capture stations and push forward until the Dust Zone is safe once again.
I've been making steady progress on Dust Fleet since the last blog - I really should post more of these, I love looking back and suddenly realizing that I got a ton of exciting stuff done. Recently, I released the second trailer for the game, and I'm very happy with where it's at now and how it looks.
If you like the look of it, you can now add it to your Steam wishlist:
I'm also planning a gameplay trailer and a walkthrough of the mission editor.
And there's more new stuff to see!
2019 was quiet in terms of development blogs, but super busy on the development front. Features got prune, and new ones added in the name of tightening up the gameplay loop and making for a cohesive gameplay experience. Let's take a look.
Now that there are story missions sprinkled throughout the starmap, we need to keep the player on their toes. The game would be too easy if you could bide your time and build up a fleet, so enter the Threat Meter.
Every time the player takes a turn on the starmap, the threat increases. As it goes up, the likelihood of an enemy fleet spawning increases. The player can lower the threat meter by 3 points by doing a storyline mission, or by 2 points by defeating an enemy fleet.
Realizing that it was too much effort having to individually equip ships, the game now has a loadout editor for each ship type. Just set up a loadout, then apply it to each ship. Much quicker than recreating the loadout on every ship.
Side-missions will be coming to the starmap this year. To support them, I've expanded the starmap to support smaller destinations that cannot contain stations. These make them ideal for side missions to spawn. The starmap has also had a visual revamp so it now fills the whole screen and presents a lot more useful information.
Here's the old one for comparison.
Pathfinding is an ongoing project, and it's getting better each year. The latest changes drastically improve how ships navigate around obstacles, how they avoid each other, and how they co-operate when using wormholes.
The editor has seen a lot of improvements. It's now been built into current builds of the game, and has a nice launcher to let you move between the three editors (mission, starmap and campaign).
Campaigns themselves are now neat little folders that can be ZIPped up and sent to other players.
No one really does that thought, right? Not a problem.
Dust Fleet supports mod.io, meaning you can upload your campaign directly from the editor, and download it right in the game. When it ships, you'll be able to view and play any campaign shared by another player.
This has been planned for a very long time, so I'm really excited that the game has got to a point where this can be implemented.
Finally, I'd like to highlight that the most important thing: starships hammering each other with hot plasma. The space battles are really starting to look exciting.
That's all for this update. There's plenty more to talk about, so be sure to follow @DustFleet on Twitter to get updates.
If you want to get notified when Dust Fleet is released on Steam, remember to add the game to your wishlist on the store page: Store.steampowered.com
Until next time!
The thorny topic of That Release Date, a look at some new ships, and a rundown of the enormous number of new features added in 2018.
The latest news on Dust Fleet's development, including some big improvements to the game structure, some new ships and some new gameplay elements. A final...
Dust Fleet has been maintaining radio silence for a while, but it's time for an update. The past few months has been extremely busy, and the game is looking...
Sometimes you just want that cruiser out of your sky, and you want that to happen yesterday. Dust Fleet is here to help you out.
Only registered members can share their thoughts. So come on! Join the community today (totally free - or sign in with your social account on the right) and join in the conversation.
Been watching closely for about 6 months, just wanna say the game is looking great and I look forward to playing on Steam. :)
your game is on Steam or Steam Greenlight ?
It sure is! Find it here: Steamcommunity.com
I just found this game and it looks awesome! Definetly tracking.
I like this game's style , it feels a bit like Homeworld 2 where you can target and hit individual enemy ship systems
I'll definitely wanna try it once it comes out and randomly generated maps is a good idea that surely will offer replayability
I'll vote you max once i can and i'm tracking it
I completely agree with @⧊⋂≬∩⧊ this game looks epic.. You proof very well that even indie devs can release AAA titles. I will definitely buy this when it comes out. How ever I do hope there will also be a single player campaign at some point. Sand box alone makes it nice but not perfect. Also don't forget about a research tree or some space wreckage that you can salvage to gain resources or some new unique technologies or units.
Should the need arise: You can hire professional voice actors for free or for some money even. They're kinda good folks over there. Just promote your project accordingly and they will flood you with offers to do voice acting and sound effects for you.
Voiceacting.proboards.com
I'd really like to do a single-player campaign, but writing a story isn't something I'm very good at. Having said that, the version of this game that comes out for release won't necessarily be where the updates stop. Once the game meets the design criteria, I'll be looking to see what else I can add.
I'm definitely going to need a bit of voice acting just for unit responses, so thanks for that link!
Thanks! Still working hard on it, hoping to show off some new stuff real soon.
Thanks DiscoJustice
Cannot help to point out that you're really cute
Take your time , your progress is great already
Glad to see a bit of activity