Sci-Fi Survivalism Game

EBENEZR

That's a good point. I think the addition of consistent cryo being hazardous to health would be both useful but also realistic.

Not sure yet, but I've got about a dozen room types listed, there will probably need to be multiples of some, then there are the passages between them.

I need to do research on propulsion systems, such as VASIMR, and it may well be that any chosen propulsion system will affect issues faced such as potential radiation leaks.

Could you rephrase this, sorry I'm not sure I get what you mean.

On another note, it may well be that a room only remains inaccessible for a period whilst highly dangerous radioisotopes are quarantined and stabilise. After which point, the hallway into that room is kept as an "airlock" and to access the room through the hallway, the player has to find and get into a special hazmat suit to clean up the remaining long lived actinides. They don't have to do this, but they are unable to access the room until they are in the suit as the computer system won't let them through without the right protection.

Czcibor

You float in zero G on a space ship, that would need decades to reach its destination. Let's assume that you even have enough food for a meager diet and enough oxygen. What would you do? Would you roam the ship alone? Solve sudoku? Play Quake XXVI on ship mainframe? After a while I think that practically everyone would give up and simply freeze himself, waiting for next emergency and hoping that one day would meet other human beings.

EBENEZR

Sorry it has taken so long to respond! I don't see why it would require decades. NH is nearly at Pluto and it has been less than 10 years getting there. With a decent advance in jet propulsion systems, I don't think (considering some of the ludicrous assumptions made by some science fiction) it would be asking too much to reduce this time. If we traveled at 0.1c (and that's a pretty conservative allowance by most sci fi) it would take around 6-7 months to get from Pluto to Earth. That's assuming we're on the edge of the Solar System.

The Helios probes, sent in the 70s, maxed a speed of around 250,000km/s, which is not far off 0.1c, so I don't think it's a ridiculous random speed to choose for a not too distance future spacecraft. I've been writing the chapter by chapter progress of the game, to ensure there is always something to do (with a "random accident" function, sometimes a false alarm (malfunctioning onboard computer, sometimes real) and there are about 20 stages in total, if I split it into four stages per chapter, that's five chapters... one could easily set a chapter per month. I think with only five chapters, that'll allow the game to be short and sharp enough to avoid boredom, but pack enough suspense in to make a game worth playing. I'm looking on knocking up some 3D models for the interior parts, such as doorways, rooms, and eventually the whole thing. The layout of the ship will obviously depend on the route of the game (no point having them all muddled up and inaccessible and creating a paradox of "I need to access that room to finish the chapter, but I can't access it until I've done something that is a part of the next chapter" sort of thing.

Czcibor

It all depends on amount of left deltaV. Do you still have tones of fuel / reaction mass? If yes - indeed, everything would be solved quickly. However, assuming that that is supposed to be a wreck - realistically I would not expect too much of fuel (reaction mass). Because it's a game (and not a grim doomed expedition) there should be just enough fuel left... But just enough fuel means selecting careful and terribly slow path, which presumably would use gravitational slingshots.

By occasion - one more idea. Assuming that conserving fuel is the priority - what about a puzzle - not enough fuel for any path back to Earth... However, its possible to jettison a few modules of the ship to reduce its mass which should do the trick...

But the computer forbids to jettison undamaged modules...
Unless there is a dangerous fire there...

Hmm...

Where are the matches? :D


It is not obvious idea... and would save precious place in your RAM.

EBENEZR

Haha, good one! I like the idea of using slingshots. It seems surprising that slingshots are so commonplace in space exploration in real life, but I have never heard of a game including them. Jettisoning nodes sounds like it may also add an extra body of depth to the game if there is an extra challenge. I have considered on board AI possibilities and decided on a wireless connection between the on board computer and the player's HUD... however the AI does not speak, it only appears as text at the bottom of the screen so it feels a lot more hollow and lifeless, that even the AI is not lifelike enough that there is a voice to keep you company.

Czcibor

It's a space equivalent of economy class. ;)


From game perspective it also add one additional aspect - player might visit those modules first, so after all interesting interactions with that location would be finished it would be jettisoned. Thus it would be technically still the same ship, but in practice different rooms to visit.

Bottom of the screen? Hmm... What about leading ship by using glasses with enhanced reality mode?

Travis_King

Just a point...If you are going to spend the money to build an AI, you'll probably spend the comparably tiny amount to upgrade the user interface so the crewmember can also, in addition to (likely) being able to type questions or recieved typed answers, verbally communicate with the AI. If I am working on repairing an intricate circuit board, I don't want to have to take my eyes off the little bits and pieces to read a screen. I'd rather the AI simply say, "...Solder wire RZ-14 to Port 12 on Slot A...", or better yet a combination of the two.

I can't imagine that a real life designer of an AI would not include the option to communicate audiably. (Though, I suppose the AI might itself consider audiable interaction a waste of energy in an emergency situation. However, I can't see that extending your battery life too much, considering the draw of other systems)

EBENEZR

This was much the sort of thing I was meaning, much like Google's augmented reality goggles, that the player puts on when taking off his helmet (because the oxygen levels have reached a breathable level)... maybe he needs to take the goggles off now and again to put them on charge..?

It was more a case of I don't want this game to seem to absurdly in the future, in that if there is a voice, it won't sound very human because the world of the game has had better engineering developments than AI developments.

I also wanted the player to feel there was some company on the ship, but the only friendly company was not very human. Maybe it is on text mode from the beginning and the player, if they want the spoken version, needs to get it set up and will be able to do so at some point in the game, as if because of an emergency before he arrived, the software had been removed and put away by the previous crew.

Czcibor

Maybe he needs to find them first?
(and repair with duct tape? :D )


Or maybe the computer is damaged (or so idiot proof that's impossible to directly give it commands while lacking proper password) and player boots the system from pen drive? (or even better from kind of device like his own mobile, where because he needed to have terrabytes of videos and games there was simply not enough place full version of starship AI.)

It would look cool - great mainframe, and actually all crucial functions and calculations can be done by a minor device that is mostly used for fun. It would also explain why the system in late XXI century looks so crude.

EBENEZR

I used to get updates about replies! This was almost a fortnight ago, sorry! That could be interesting, scouring the ship for essentials to help (a reference to the old point and click games? They were awesome)


Haha, you could get him to insert his usb stick and find there is nothing useful on it, just folders full of pirated movies, games and other stuff but nothing of any use, then connect his phone via a wireless connection or something.

cyberdiver

Perhaps the player must go on spacewalks (something happened to the robonauts) to fix something, staying inside the shadow of the radiation shield, watching his/her dosemeter at the same time. The closer he/she got to the shield, the higher the reading would be and the faster he/she would have to end the spacewalk. Not to mention limited reaction mass for the MMU. Use up MMU propellant stores and the player will have to find another way to fix the problem.
If he/she exited the shadow of the shield...well...maybe barf splatters the screen?

http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/index.php
If you haven't gone to this site before, it'd be a good idea to do so. This guy has tonnes of stuff about rockets.