What's this about, then?
Star Ruler is our answer to the common 4X and RTS. Our goal is to bring an expansive galaxy to life, and provide many ways to experience it - whether your goal is to conquer, extinguish, or make peace with all life - so there will always be something new to experience. Star Ruler runs off the Irrlicht engine in tandem with AngelScript and Raknet, sound is currently provided by irrKlang. It has been in production since early 2008 and is coming along at a steady rate of progress.
We hope to be the first (of hopefully many!) A-class commercial titles using the Irrlicht Engine.
Features:
Progress
Star Ruler is (roughly) 65% complete at this time. Only a few major gameplay features remain to be implemented and from there the game will see numerous graphical and gameplay tweaks to enhance the look, feel, and ease of use in playing the game.
Star Ruler is our answer to the common 4X and RTS. Some of it's features include:
* A fully customizable and new experience each time you play:
o A fully dynamic, procedurally-generated galaxy, generated by the player, which may be altered over time (create stars, planets, and other interstellar phenomena; turn planets into roving space stations, stars into powerful defensive and offensive stations, asteroids into moving colonies, etc.);
o Fully customizable ships (Choose the components, their sizes, and the AI that governs a ship's behavior) whose scale can range from the size of a boat to the size of the entire galaxy;
o Players may create their own race from scratch or choose from a set of diverse races which ship with the game, making major choices which impact their play-style tremendously (from starting alliances, to starting resources, to the ability to research multiple paths of technology at the same time)
o Research systems which provide different benefits for every playthrough, AI which adapts to the player's actions, and complex diplomatic interactions between corporations and other races/empires/players, providing nearly limitless replayability.
o Rich, diverse, planets which vary themselves in atmospheric composition, ground composition, size, number of moons, and other characteristics such as irradiation, a magnetic crust, and primarily gaseous planets;
* Extensive mod support (nearly 80% of the game is easily modable by an editor as simple as Notepad);
o Built in tools for the ease of the modder such as a Particle System editor and a Scenario editor
o Example mods and scripts ship with the game to provide scripters and modders an easy transition to the internals of Star Ruler
o A fully implemented scripting language (AngelScript) allows users to create entirely new gamemodes, gameplay, and online experiences easily and rapidly.
* Intense, massive (potentially thousands versus thousands of ships) ship battles fought in realtime using user-made ships with particle effects, physics-enhanced shockwaves, and location-based damage;
o Newtonian physics
o A robust, flexible, engine which can be scaled to match the hardware the player is using to provide a smooth framerate on their platform;
o Ships whose individual systems can be compromised, destroyed, disabled, repaired, and renovated in combat
o Systems which, when damaged, can cause catastrophic failure to internal components (a fuel tank's explosion setting off a volatile cache of munitions which damages the main power supply and control system of the ship, leading to life support failure and imminent crew death if the crew is not rescued in time or can't repair the damage done to the ship, for instance)
o Subsystems such as Bulkheads and Coolant Systems which modify internal components, adding that extra 'oomph' or extra bit of armor to protect a potentially fatal flaw in the player's designs.
* Support for co-operative play, team/objective based play, competitive play, and single play (skirmish and scenario alike)
o Multiplayer: up to 10 players simultaneously, with drop-in-drop-out compatibility), supporting both internet and LAN play
o Server controls: servers can easily set whether to allow or disallow technologies, custom races, and support the kicking and banning of players
o Seamless online/offline transitioning. Players can save their games in multiplayer and see how the game might have changed if they chose another route by playing simulating it through Singleplayer; saved games can be booted up at any time with other players joining in, allowing games to be generational.
* An easy to use interface to a complex simulation:
o Planetary governors which take care of planets intelligently using a simple, easy-to-use, language which may be modified on-the-fly by the player to quickly and efficiently manage their entire Empire without much of the micromanagement typically involved; allowing the player to set their assets up and step in to directly control them as necessary without getting in the way of the rest of their game.
o Ships have their own fuel stores, power supplies, and et cetera.; all of this represented in a very visible, easy-to-read, format along with visual cues to keep the focus on the battles, not the numbers
o Numerous easy-to-use interfaces to provide quick solutions to specific problems, all of them modifiable and scriptable by the end-user for maximum comfort.
* Much more!
How far along are you?
We're about 65% complete.
If you'd like to be a potential candidate for the Beta, head over to our studio website and register to be 'in the pot' when we start drawing names (link). Questions about the game are more than welcome and we thank the Irrlicht community for your support of our first title!
Media
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JlSL63kJUE
Screenshots
Links
If you'd like to learn more about Star Ruler, head over to our website. Feel free to join our forums and strike up a discussion!
Star Ruler Main Page
Star Ruler / Blind Mind Studios Forums
Register your name for the Beta!
Alternatively, feel free to discuss Star Ruler in this topic.
Special thanks
Family and friends for their continued support and Irrlicht, Raknet, Angelscript, and the Irrlicht community. Star Ruler would not have been possible without you!
