It's been awhile, but First Paradise v5.0 is now happily available for anyone running most Linux OS'. The past two years have been some kind of blur that spun me away from the comfort and simplicity of the command line and into the realm of graphics engine development. You see, I had to go commercial. Still, somewhere on that dark road I stumbled upon a reason to write some netcode. Like a man possessed I sat at my desk and brushed up on raw client-server development methodologies after being burned out on a previous project that I really couldn't afford to get burnt out on.
The new code was so different, and the old code so bad, that I somehow straddled the line dividing the kingdoms of dreams and madness. This is usually how programming anything goes. It's all sunshine and lollipops until it isn't. And you submit to the insomnia after a long drawn out internal battle and a few bottles of beer. And hopefully, wake up to a new build. Or more bugs. Typically the latter.
This release essentially completes the majority of the work I wanted to do on Sequence 1. There was a lot that bothered me about it for a while but I can now rest this much easier.
So about Voyagers then. It is my attempt at a multiplayer ascii sci-fi with multi-crewed ships and a self-contained social network for players to interact and feel like they're in the universe without stopping to have to crack some forum or send an email. The long game also includes a chat system, planetary exploration, building bigger ships up to a hundred modules that people dock and depart from. A skill tree, lots of robots and generally just lots of other futuristic shit. I'm sure you'll have great ideas for me too.
The entire reason I learned to code in the first place, about a decade ago, was because I was very into a now-defunct MMO called Endless Online and wanted to know everything about network and game engine development. Which wasn't easy and didn't happen overnight. But I like to think I made a dent in that goal yesterday.
I had always planned for First Paradise to be a large sprawling game in the vein of hard science-fiction with multiple modes and dynamic outcomes for single player campaigns. Although it wasn't until a later point that I realized this was most reasonable within the seemingly restricted command line.
Coming back to this style of programming after roughly three years has been the most therapeutic undertaking. If I had known what I know now, three years ago, this might be a much larger beast already. But it's not too late!
Here's what's new:
[+] Centered text during dialogues and other alerts.
[+] Minor grammar fixes.
[+] Live map of ship.
[+] Voyager mode.
[+] In-game forum.
[+] User accounts.
[+] Post subscriptions.
[+] Post log/record.
[+] Post comments.
[+] Broad surface-landing framework.
In Development
[-] Asteroid mining.
[-] Space exploration.
[-] Probe piloting.
[-] Broad skill system.
[-] Broader inventory.
[-] Multiplayer crews.
[-] More ships.
[-] Player ranks.
[-] Crew chat.
You can find the game here. I really can't be bothered with a proper website right now, enjoy!
