Universal Star Nomad 2, tactical squad space trader/combat sim w/ conquest & random encounters

Updated 05/02/2016

G'day, I am the developer of Star Nomad 2, an open world space sandbox with dynamic faction conquest and random encounters.

It's a full blown space trader & combat sim of PC-quality, I am currently in the process of porting to iOS. So far it's going really well and it runs great on the iPhone 6 Plus & iPad Mini 2, which are the target devices due to the screen-size requirements.

It's currently available on Steam @ http://store.steampowered.com/app/414950

About the game & features:

Set in a dynamic open-world sandbox with an evolving conflict between three major splinter groups of humanity, players can freely be merchants, bounty hunters, pirates, miners, smugglers or wanderers.

Your actions or in-actions, big or small carry consequences that are noticed by the inhabitants and factions. Empires will rise and fall, take a side, or sow the seeds of anarchy.

Be immersed in a universe that's alive with random events offering pilots an opportunity for exploitation. Be involved in dynamic economies with logistical supply & demand at the mercy of a capitalistic merchant or a menacing pirate.

Be the catalyst to decide the fate of humanity.

Features:

* Squad RPG progression via skills & perks, upgrades & modules.

* Deep trade system with dynamic supply & demand, affected by events, piracy & conflict.

* Fluid real-time combat with tactical pause & a wide variety of weapons.

* Resource gathering to upgrade to higher tier modules and looting of combat kills.

* Factions will conquer & defend systems with fleet movements. Your actions, big or small, have a major effect on the tide of conquest!

* Random events offer opportunities and also ensure no two game plays out the same.

* Random encounters offer interesting side-quests or tough choices with major consequences.

* Many classes of ships offer different tactical possibilities, including Carriers!

* Clever enemies that fly their vessels to abuse their strengths.

* Challenging, but fair Rogue-like-esque gameplay.

Thanks and if there's any questions, don't hesitate to ask, I'll try my best to respond to them all.

 

Hey, good to see you too!

I'll be alive and kicking for as long as I can remain being a gamedev.

 

Thanks Skylez.

Just to note, the game on iOS will be a paid app. Buy once, no IAPs.

 

@Ayjona
Is it an iPhone 6 Plus?

My biggest worry with porting is the UI is designed strictly for PC without pre-planning for mobiles and making it great/functional for mobile devices will be challenging.

Also, thank you for the kind words of encouragement, I hope Star Nomad 2 wont disappoint.

http://indieruckus.com/ just did an interview with me for an article.

One of the question was: "What do you feel are the biggest reasons your past games haven't "broken through"?"

And I responded: "..the simplest answer is because they aren't great games. At best they are OK/good (for mobiles). Star Nomad for mobiles, I would rate it a 7/10. For PC, 5/10."

When I set out with Star Nomad 2, I was aiming squarely at a 8 or above out of 10 for PC quality of this genre.

 

I had someone on Reddit told me that it looks just like any other top-down space shooter... at first, I was taken back, not knowing how to respond. After running through the feature list in my head that differentiates this game from the likes of SPAZ, Drox Operative, Starsector and former classics like Escape Velocity and Star Control..

It hit to me that I am doing a terrible job at selling it (it's a common flaw for small-time devs).

No, this isn't just another top down space shooter!

It's a Spacesim + Mount & Blade + FTL mix (all the games that I love playing) that blends great gameplay elements together seamlessly into a fluid experience where combat is fun, rewarding, trade and smuggling matters and make a difference..

 

@Woodrith
Thanks mate!

Star Nomad 2 passed Greenlight this morning, got a nice email from Valve/Steam.

Now its focus time, hard at work polishing, bug-killing, balancing, making it a smooth release for PC/MAC. Then I shall redesign the UI and gameplay so that it handles well for the iPhone 6 and iPads.

Hopefully it all works out, and I get to continue being a solo-dev... the next title is going to be an sci/fi post-apocalyptic open-world game (think Fallout mixed with Convoy + Mount & Blade + FTL!!), Nuclear Nomad... So many ideas already!

 

Just a small update. I did some testing just for lolz...

I ran the full PC build (JS code, not C#) on the iPad Mini 2, using iOS8+ NitroJIT engine to compile JS into "native" code.

I wasn't expecting much.. but it ran. Really fluid even in small scale battles with all the shader effects, explosions, particles etc. A very good surprise that leaves me in awe of Apple's tech, because it was a slideshow trying to do the same on Android.

There's some slowdowns in massive fleet battles, which means a lot of optimization have to be done by me once the PC build is shipped to get it running well on iOS.

I may have to go with the "less AI units but individually more powerful" approach rather than lots and lots of units. But there's room to optimize the AI itself and the underlying complex economic and faction simulation. It gives me hope that the iOS SN2 will be an excellent game without major toning down of the PC version.

 

Thanks, it is very awesome I am having a blast playing through it for balance-testing and bug-hunting. Sometimes I forget what I am supposed to be testing or that I even made the game and just end up playing it for too long. This feeling did not happen in my first two games.

Anyhow, about the random encounters/FTL inspiration;

If any gamers have some ideas for unique encounters (offering a choice and multiple consequences, reward or something bad, which will be randomly picked), feel free to describe it, if its interesting I'll try to implement it in-game.

A classic example of an encounter in-game is as follows:

You encounter a mining vessel with an SOS, you approach and open the coms. The pilot informs you that the ship has broken down, her miners are ill from an mining accident, she request assistance to ferry the crew to a nearby port...

Do you accept?

Yes. One of three outcomes when you successfully land on port.

1. You receive a payment for helping. The miners are indeed ill, infested with hostile xeno-wildlife, they are taken away by emergency crew. When you depart, the news announces an alien outbreak event on that port (affecting the economy and wealth output of that port). **

2. That Pilot is a known people's smuggler, the authorities arrest everyone involved, including you. Being an inadvertent people's smuggler is still a crime. You have to pay a small fine to be released!

3. You receive a payment for helping the ill miners, the authorities are pleased that you help their people. You also gain a small amount of reputation & faction standing.

** Which you can help resolve, by shipping much needed Firearms and Security Droids to the port for them to fight off the xeno infestation. This one is obviously a tribute to Aliens.

 

There's some major compatibility issues with iOS8's implementation of the NitroJIT engine (it's first release), which they resolved in 8.1 and later. So the minimum has to be 8.1, sadly.

 

@Woodrith

1. Yes. Yup, if you piss them off they do not let you dock normally, but you can bribe the port authority ($$) to allow landing. They certainly do put bounties on your head (factions and "rival merchants" will do so). If you piss people off enough, you may encounter hit-squad chasing your bounty. They all have their own ships and equipment, including prototype weapons & modules that are faction-ally-specific.

2. The economy is fully dynamic, it was the core feature of the game that everything is built around. Prices are based on supply and demand, adjusting over time. Small events like you or pirates killing merchants bound for a port will reduce its productivity (without goods, no production). Big events like a viral outbreak, pirate blockades, alien infestation etc will cause an economic collapse. These events are ripe for player merchants to take advantage of and resolve. For example, a viral outbreak event has two phases, 1) they need meds. If not enough meds get there, it deteriorate into phase 2) now people are dying and desperate, lawlessness has taken over, the authorities are desperate and also demand Security Droids on top of Meds to contain it. If you deliver enough goods, the situation is resolve and you get some fame, faction rep, exp. The economy slowly returns to normal over time.

I wanted to make an option for a merchant player to be the "bad guy", so I added a fun mechanic, smuggling drugs. If you are able to sneak pass patrols (frontal cone LoS scanning) and unload a ton of addictive drugs to any port, you can cause an outbreak of addicts! This causes a major drain on the economy of that port and thus hurts the faction that owns it.

Any of these events are being resolved by NPC ships as well. For example, a Pirate Blockade will draw the attention of Bounty Hunter NPCs to the area after awhile (as they arrive from distant systems, lured by $$ bounties). If you jump into these systems you will indeed see Pirates fighting local security and bounty hunters frequently jumping in to join the fray. They are very aggressive pilots, trying to secure the "killing blow" which reward bounties. So if you are a Hunter as well, they are your competitors.

Likewise, trade crises that need goods delivered are being attended to by NPC merchant ships. So if you don't hurry, you can miss out as they beat you to the punch! The universe goes on with or without your actions, first come first serve.

Remember I said factions/merchants put bounties on your head? Well, merchants do indeed get jealous if you are doing very well as a merchant. If you keep on beating them to resolve a crisis, they remember. Or if you become an infamous drug smuggler, other smugglers will know about it. Then the next time you do a trade/smuggling run, merrily minding your own business, you are greeted to a hit squad waiting for you.

There's some more info here @ Devblog.

As for the morally gray encounters, I too love that. There's already a bunch where you have to make those choices. But I would love more. Unfortunately I don't have "slaves" as a tradegood so players can't be a slaver. I like encounters to have a neutral, good and bad consequence.