Happy new year! This is a declaration of intent to release Absolute Territory in 2020. It would be a fitting year for release as development for Absolute Territory started over 9 years ago. Seeing all the pieces starting to slot together is making this all feel more real. I have learnt a lot from this project, made many mistakes and done a lot of all the wrong things. Now there is an end in sight (towards a 1.0 release), yet this last stretch isn't going to be any easier.
I am in the process of preparing a closed Beta, which will be run around February/March. If you are interested in being involved, squishing bugs and providing constructive feedback to round the edges, follow this game page. I'll post further details on how to sign up closer to that date.
If you just want to know when the game is done and out, wishlist Absolute Territory on Steam. Other stores will be added either at or after release.
To help ground myself, I tweeted my development progress. That way I had an easy way of just looking back on development, reminding myself of obstacles overcome and seeing the improvements over time. It is quite easy to get bogged down in the now and forget past successes.
This first tweet is a good starting point to see first 6 months of development in 2019. I also did a feature on those first 6 months, which you can read here.
6 months ago I did a snap-reel for the development of Absolute Territory. It's about time I did another one! But first, let's recap from the original posts which all can neatly find under this one.T.co#screenshotsunday #madewithunity #gamedev #indiegame
- Absolute Territory 🎄 glad tidings 🎁 and cheer 🎉 (@abs_territory) December 15, 2019
You can then follow the thread to see the last 6 months of development, which I'll embed below for easier viewing.
Aug 2019: What space game is complete without asteroid fields? I was able to boost the count from 3000 to 5000 by using #Unity Job System. Not the boost in performance I was looking for, and lots more improvements could be made.#madewithunity #gamedev #indiedev #spacesim #game pic.twitter.com/zap07kDDRd
- Absolute Territory 🎄 glad tidings 🎁 and cheer 🎉 (@abs_territory) December 16, 2019
I struggled to decide which direction to take Absolute Territory. There've been many different directions I wanted to take (scaled back)
- Absolute Territory 🎄 glad tidings 🎁 and cheer 🎉 (@abs_territory) December 17, 2019
I remembered Wing Commander Academy. It allowed you create your own simple set of missions to fly against opponents.T.co
This was the first iteration of asteroid fields. Looking at the above posts, the differences are asteroid dust (nice atmospheric effect) and asteroids fade in/out as opposed to the popping we see here.
- Absolute Territory 🎄 glad tidings 🎁 and cheer 🎉 (@abs_territory) December 16, 2019
#gamedev #indiedev #spacesim #game #asteroids pic.twitter.com/7z3mOPAMob
To make asteroid fields feel more deadly, I added kamikaze asteroids. These will spawn, when there are no opponents around, directly in front of the players angular velocity (so no cheesing permitted).#asteroids #indiegame #indiedev #gamedev #scifi #spacesim pic.twitter.com/gPOcW7QDK6
— Absolute Territory 🎄 glad tidings 🎁 and cheer 🎉 (@abs_territory) December 16, 2019
By accident, whilst creating kamikaze asteroids, I was able to accidentally add Oumuamua (the giant space phallis) that visited our system earlier this year.#space #game #indiegames #gamedevelopment #scifi pic.twitter.com/ei7raMR3s4
- Absolute Territory 🎄 glad tidings 🎁 and cheer 🎉 (@abs_territory) December 16, 2019
There are no asteroid kamikazes when opponents are near. Here I tested combat within the asteroid field with a few opponents.#indiegames #gamedev #indiedev #scifi #Space pic.twitter.com/LqgMJePDvE
- Absolute Territory 🎄 glad tidings 🎁 and cheer 🎉 (@abs_territory) December 17, 2019
Warning: This is a long video (for Twitter anyway). It's combat against several opponents inside the asteroid field. Kamikaze Asteroids do not spawn when opponents are near.T.co#indiegames #indiedev #scifi #space
- Absolute Territory 🎄 glad tidings 🎁 and cheer 🎉 (@abs_territory) December 17, 2019
AI opponents do know how to avoid asteroids and other objects (like other ships and even missiles!). This is done with multiple raycasts that project in a general forward arc testing for hits. It's not perfect but works pretty well.#indiegames #indiedev #scifi #spacesim pic.twitter.com/0GOPZmWGxG
- Absolute Territory 🎄 glad tidings 🎁 and cheer 🎉 (@abs_territory) December 17, 2019
The in-game level editor was born in part to Wing Commander Academy. Though the one thing I hated about WCA was the lack of ability to create kind of missions that you flew in Wing Commander 1 and 2.
- Absolute Territory 🎄 glad tidings 🎁 and cheer 🎉 (@abs_territory) December 17, 2019
Here we have simple placement of opponents.#indiedev #indiegames #gamedevs pic.twitter.com/1hVAgyFH6L
Sept 2019: Navpoints are areas you encounter opponents within. You can mix up the gameplay bu putting down different number and types of opponents in each navpoint you add.#gamedev #indiedev #indiegame #indiegames #spacesim #scifi #madewithunity #game pic.twitter.com/OiOj30C2FV
- Absolute Territory 🎄 glad tidings 🎁 and cheer 🎉 (@abs_territory) December 17, 2019
To transition from one navpoint to the other you use the Autopilot. As long as there are no opponents nearby you can progress to the next navpoint.#gamedev #indiedev #indiegame #spacesim #scifi #spaceship pic.twitter.com/NaBIAHKke8
- Absolute Territory 🎄 glad tidings 🎁 and cheer 🎉 (@abs_territory) December 17, 2019
It was important to allow the player/designer to customise the loadout of the player and opponent vessels. You can define/save and apply loadout presets quite easily.#gamedevelopment #spacegame #indiedev pic.twitter.com/3o0iiweoVy
- Absolute Territory 🎄 glad tidings 🎁 and cheer 🎉 (@abs_territory) December 17, 2019
A bit of testing with the loadouts, flying in what was intended to be an opponent vessel. It's equipped with a pulse laser! There are also traditional beam lasers too, in addition to the standard projectile based weapons.#indiegames #gamedev #indiedev #scifi #Space #spaceship pic.twitter.com/AK7GT0MJ8A
- Absolute Territory 🎄 glad tidings 🎁 and cheer 🎉 (@abs_territory) December 17, 2019
The next iteration for hazards where mine fields. These babies will seek any targets that venture too close.#indiegame #indiedev #gamedev #scifi #spacesim pic.twitter.com/gEU9MEooFD
- Absolute Territory 🎄 glad tidings 🎁 and cheer 🎉 (@abs_territory) December 17, 2019
You can also clear out mines due the the explosive radius, when they are destroyed.#indiegame #indiedev #gamedev #scifi #game #spaceship pic.twitter.com/KOs9X7Q3tE
- Absolute Territory 🎄 glad tidings 🎁 and cheer 🎉 (@abs_territory) December 17, 2019
The ultimate test for any space combat pilot. A mined asteroid field.
- Absolute Territory 🎄 glad tidings 🎁 and cheer 🎉 (@abs_territory) December 17, 2019
Asteroid/mine fields are defined using a radius. In effect asteroids constantly move around the player and only visible when the player is near a defined field.#indiegame #indiedev #gamedev #scifi pic.twitter.com/FvLCF2k1r1
In some not so visually interesting development. I implemented control pad support for navigating the in-game menus (no support for the level editor at this time). Had to find some 3rd party script to get the combo box working right. #unity UI design/dev is hard to get it right. pic.twitter.com/2ONcuDPtfo
- Absolute Territory 🎄 glad tidings 🎁 and cheer 🎉 (@abs_territory) December 17, 2019
In some not so visually interesting development. I implemented control pad support for navigating the in-game menus (no support for the level editor at this time). Had to find some 3rd party script to get the combo box working right. #unity UI design/dev is hard to get it right. pic.twitter.com/2ONcuDPtfo
- Absolute Territory 🎄 glad tidings 🎁 and cheer 🎉 (@abs_territory) December 17, 2019
- Absolute Territory 🎄 glad tidings 🎁 and cheer 🎉 (@abs_territory) December 17, 2019
It only takes one change to have unintended consequences within a complex system. Here is one such example, missiles bouncing harmlessly off their targets.#spaceship #indiegames #games #scifi pic.twitter.com/zi30DFT6MU
- Absolute Territory 🎄 glad tidings 🎁 and cheer 🎉 (@abs_territory) December 17, 2019
There is a slide feature. You might have better luck with it then I did.
You can press and hold, or use a toggle key. You will keep on moving in the same direction of travel from when you enabled it and do a 360 spin to your hearts content.#gamedev #indiedev #scifi pic.twitter.com/g1qHWm1MGd-- Absolute Territory 🎄 glad tidings 🎁 and cheer 🎉 (@abs_territory) December 17, 2019
Oct 2019: Power allocation for your engines/thrusters, shields and guns. Improve performance in one while degrading performance in others. You can overcharge your shields#gamedev #indiedev #indiegame #indiegames #spacesim #scifi #madewithunity #game pic.twitter.com/Q4TP6HsHmc
- Absolute Territory 🎄 glad tidings 🎁 and cheer 🎉 (@abs_territory) December 17, 2019
More power to engines means faster acceleration/deceleration and an increase in the maximum speed.... pic.twitter.com/0oszvUSVCJ
- Absolute Territory 🎄 glad tidings 🎁 and cheer 🎉 (@abs_territory) December 17, 2019
...and better turning. Along with improved direction thruster efficiency means inertia will be cancelled faster when making big turns.
- Absolute Territory 🎄 glad tidings 🎁 and cheer 🎉 (@abs_territory) December 17, 2019
You can also manually control your directional thrusters to add a bit of strafing to evade incoming fire. pic.twitter.com/eXUpR2Of2g
October was also the month I added all expected opponent ships and a balance pass across every playable ship.
- Absolute Territory 🎄 glad tidings 🎁 and cheer 🎉 (@abs_territory) December 18, 2019
Make sure you always pay attention to mass when using #unity physics. It's really important to get the object scale and mass correctly if you want realistic simulations. pic.twitter.com/EzYz33lRIU
This transport had a mass value of 1! Funny, but not very realistic to be able to push it using missiles! #gamedev #indiedev #Space #game pic.twitter.com/oq9mCXk7Y3
- Absolute Territory 🎄 glad tidings 🎁 and cheer 🎉 (@abs_territory) December 18, 2019
On the subject of #unity physics all these ships use forces to move and rotate. Nothing faked, expect a hard cap for top speed and max rotation. The question is just how 'floaty' should it be when making turns as the current force values are not realistic.... pic.twitter.com/IFuwem12jr
- Absolute Territory 🎄 glad tidings 🎁 and cheer 🎉 (@abs_territory) December 18, 2019
..and can take several seconds to start flying a forward direction again. Especially when making huge turns. I'd rather not have to cater to all audiences from arcade to realistic in one game title. I think, therefore, this will be a happy medium of the two, for my own enjoyment. pic.twitter.com/JYuKxiadrH
- Absolute Territory 🎄 glad tidings 🎁 and cheer 🎉 (@abs_territory) December 18, 2019
Nov 2019: Started work on Conditional Actions. A trigger contains Conditions (IF <something happened>) and Actions (THEN <do something>). Triggers can then enable other triggers if it's condition succeeded or failed.#gamedev #indiedev #indiegames pic.twitter.com/WcvWAQtN9u
- Absolute Territory 🎄 glad tidings 🎁 and cheer 🎉 (@abs_territory) December 19, 2019
This was very complex to do. Specifically getting the #unity UI to work consistently without throwing a fit. Also learned a few things which went against the grain of Unity's editor (un)helpful warning messages for placing content size fitters.#indiedev #indiegames #gamedev pic.twitter.com/H1CRijtEjf
- Absolute Territory 🎄 glad tidings 🎁 and cheer 🎉 (@abs_territory) December 19, 2019
This is a good example of where the level editor is currently at. Not pictured, you have extra editing options for placement items, i.e., position, rotation and contextual stuff related to the placed item, i.e. faction, pilot controller for ships.#gamedev #indiegames #indiedev pic.twitter.com/ceNED6M1ci
- Absolute Territory 🎄 glad tidings 🎁 and cheer 🎉 (@abs_territory) December 19, 2019
To make starfield/dust more interesting I made it stretch based on the players velocity. This was easily done within the Particle Renderer by setting the Render Mode to Stretched Billboard and adjusting Speed Scale.#madewithunity #gamedev #indiedev #indiegame #indiegames pic.twitter.com/VKFfH0CtYv
- Absolute Territory 🎄 glad tidings 🎁 and cheer 🎉 (@abs_territory) December 20, 2019
Played around with some colorful starfields. Using 2 colors and randomly Lerping between the 2.#gamedev #indiedev #indiegame #indiegames #space pic.twitter.com/98cntWdgkS
- Absolute Territory 🎄 glad tidings 🎁 and cheer 🎉 (@abs_territory) December 20, 2019
This is the final and more subtle starfield/dust effect. There are still 2 colors used, but very hard to see outright.#madewithunity #gamedev #indiedev #indiegame #indiegames #spacesim #scifi #game #space pic.twitter.com/2gqN5vQcW1
- Absolute Territory 🎄 glad tidings 🎁 and cheer 🎉 (@abs_territory) December 20, 2019
Added waypoints to help direct the player to desired locations within a navpoint. Helps add immersion, i.e. following a patrol plan, and can give the player something else to be doing.#indiedev pic.twitter.com/MzSo5RNtOo
- Absolute Territory 🎄 glad tidings 🎁 and cheer 🎉 (@abs_territory) December 21, 2019
Waypoints can also be used by AI controllers. Here a transport is following 2 waypoints.#madewithunity #screenshotsaturday #gamedev #indiedev #indiegame #indiegames #spacesim #scifi #game pic.twitter.com/iQGlXntmUz
- Absolute Territory 🎄 glad tidings 🎁 and cheer 🎉 (@abs_territory) December 21, 2019
And finally, to wrap this thread up. An example of placement editing. Waypoints are either static or world space (static never reach them).
- Absolute Territory 🎄 glad tidings 🎁 and cheer 🎉 (@abs_territory) December 21, 2019
You can edit position and rotation (if relevant) and anything else related to the placed item.#screenshotsaturday #indiedev #indiegames pic.twitter.com/fJI1LugOZg
