Author Topic: Infinity: Battlescape to launch Kickstarter Campaign on Oct 21st  (Read 8193 times)

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Infinity: Battlescape to launch Kickstarter Campaign on Oct 21st
I guess most of you guys know of Infinity, a game (or rather engine) in the making for now about 10(?) yearsan by some people now considered vapourware.
One of the game's main and most amazing feature is the seamless transition between space and atmospherical flight on a planet.
Anyhow, contrary to Chris Roberts the devs of Infinity narrowed down the scope of the game to be able to actually release something playable and (hopefully) enjoyable in a not so distant future and therefor are preparing a Kickstarter campaign, which starts next week October 21.
The game is now called "Infinity: Battlescape" and if I understand correctly will initially focus on a single solar system, which you can explore and where you can fight other players in multiplayer.
They also released a teaser video, yesterday:

 

Offline Rodo

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Re: Infinity: Battlescape to launch Kickstarter Campaign on Oct 21st
It looks awesome.
BUT.
It also looked awesome 4 years ago so...

I wish them luck with the kickstarter, if it ever gets released and is actually good I'd be glad to throw some bucks at them.
el hombre vicio...

 
Re: Infinity: Battlescape to launch Kickstarter Campaign on Oct 21st
KS campaign has started today! Their stuff looks pretty impressive IMO.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/309114309/infinity-battlescape

 

Offline Mikes

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Re: Infinity: Battlescape to launch Kickstarter Campaign on Oct 21st
Ah Yup, that s the game with the cool looking planet demos that come out every other year.

Question is ... will they do anything else but cool looking planet demos (and that horrible instant action thing from ages ago) within the next 5 years. ;-)

 

Offline Dragon

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Re: Infinity: Battlescape to launch Kickstarter Campaign on Oct 21st
Also, "seamless transition" between air and space is not exactly unique at this point. Orbiter has always had it, KSP has it, Evochron Mercenary has it (the latter is especially nice in that all those planets are fully procedural). It looks pretty and if it's not yet another multiplayer shooter, it could be interesting, but it'd need a lot more than "being able to fly outside atmosphere". Like, oh, an actual storyline.

 

Offline 666maslo666

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Re: Infinity: Battlescape to launch Kickstarter Campaign on Oct 21st
Also, "seamless transition" between air and space is not exactly unique at this point. Orbiter has always had it, KSP has it, Evochron Mercenary has it (the latter is especially nice in that all those planets are fully procedural). It looks pretty and if it's not yet another multiplayer shooter, it could be interesting, but it'd need a lot more than "being able to fly outside atmosphere". Like, oh, an actual storyline.

KSP is using two different scenes to draw the orbital view and near-spaceship view, thats not what I would call seamless at all. Evochron Mercenary planets are much smaller than realistic scale.
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Offline Mongoose

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Re: Infinity: Battlescape to launch Kickstarter Campaign on Oct 21st
It's "seamless" in KSP in that the end-user isn't able to see any abrupt transition between the two states.  Hell, if the music didn't kick in once you hit space, there wouldn't be any immediate way to tell the difference.

 

Offline Dragon

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Re: Infinity: Battlescape to launch Kickstarter Campaign on Oct 21st
KSP is using two different scenes to draw the orbital view and near-spaceship view, thats not what I would call seamless at all. Evochron Mercenary planets are much smaller than realistic scale.
You're talking about the map mode, which is a different thing altogether. The transition between "flying in atmosphere" and "flying in space" in KSP can't even be pinpointed without the musical cue. This is in contrast with games such as Starshatter, when the atmospheric and space phases of the mission are separated by some sort of abstraction with regards to reaching orbit and such things.

There is no real indication if Infinity: Battlescape is planning to include real-size planets or not. It's quite possible that for the sake of performance and gameplay it'd be scaled down, just like every in other game besides Orbiter (or Real Solar System mod for KSP). The systems I mentioned often can handle real sized planets, but the devs chose not to do it for whatever reason. Maybe because it dawns on them how mindbogglingly big planets actually are and how much space there is between them.

 
Re: Infinity: Battlescape to launch Kickstarter Campaign on Oct 21st
KSP is using two different scenes to draw the orbital view and near-spaceship view, thats not what I would call seamless at all. Evochron Mercenary planets are much smaller than realistic scale.
You're talking about the map mode, which is a different thing altogether. The transition between "flying in atmosphere" and "flying in space" in KSP can't even be pinpointed without the musical cue. This is in contrast with games such as Starshatter, when the atmospheric and space phases of the mission are separated by some sort of abstraction with regards to reaching orbit and such things.

There is no real indication if Infinity: Battlescape is planning to include real-size planets or not. It's quite possible that for the sake of performance and gameplay it'd be scaled down, just like every in other game besides Orbiter (or Real Solar System mod for KSP). The systems I mentioned often can handle real sized planets, but the devs chose not to do it for whatever reason. Maybe because it dawns on them how mindbogglingly big planets actually are and how much space there is between them.

Rendering real size celestial objects is the whole point of the Infinity Engine. One major key feature is multiplayer combat in a true to scale solar system.

 
Re: Infinity: Battlescape to launch Kickstarter Campaign on Oct 21st
KSP's engine is easily capable of managing a true-to-scale solar system, the reason the Kerbol system is scaled down is gameplay and accessibility.
The good Christian should beware of mathematicians, and all those who make empty prophecies. The danger already exists that the mathematicians have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and to confine man in the bonds of Hell.

 
Re: Infinity: Battlescape to launch Kickstarter Campaign on Oct 21st
They've just reached over50% of their minimum goal (153000$ of 300000$) and released a couple of new videos of their prototype. Nice stuff, but I've got the feeling that their marketing strategy is too passive. There is a slow but steady stream of pledges coming in, but I fear it won't be enough...


There's also a video by youtuber Bluedrake42 who's genuinely impressed by the game so far:


 

Offline 666maslo666

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Re: Infinity: Battlescape to launch Kickstarter Campaign on Oct 21st
Planets look great, planetary rings not so much.. not dense enough when you fly through them. Elite: Dangerous rings are a lot denser.
"For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return." - Leonardo da Vinci

Arguing on the internet is like running in the Special Olympics. Even if you win you are still retarded.

 
Re: Infinity: Battlescape to launch Kickstarter Campaign on Oct 21st
Planets look great, planetary rings not so much.. not dense enough when you fly through them. Elite: Dangerous rings are a lot denser.

Since it's basically a pre-Alpha build there's still much room for improvement, though they had much better looking rings in their tech demo from 2010:


  
Re: Infinity: Battlescape to launch Kickstarter Campaign on Oct 21st
So the I-Novae team released some more gameplay videos of their prototype and updated their Kickstarter campaign page:



Also: an interview with one of the devs about the history of development and their vision for the game:

http://80.lv/articles/infinity-battlescape-a-passion-project/

 

Offline Sushi

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Re: Infinity: Battlescape to launch Kickstarter Campaign on Oct 21st
Unfortunately the combat (so far) looks like the weakest part of the pitch I've seen. All those slow projectiles, easily dodged by the simple expedient of flying in a curved trajectory...

 
Re: Infinity: Battlescape to launch Kickstarter Campaign on Oct 21st
Well, it's a prototype and not even alpha yet. Most of the assets are placeholders (textures, models, effects) There's only one ship and one weapon. The finished game will have at least three different classes of fighter/corvette ships and one or two capital ship classes with different weapons and even a different flight model for atmospheric flight.

 
Re: Infinity: Battlescape to launch Kickstarter Campaign on Oct 21st
Yeah, but it's the Star Citizen problem all over again: they've committed themselves to providing certain elements of ~realism~ in the flight model, and you can see from gameplay footage that the result isn't very interesting on the basic flying-and-shooting-at-spaceships level. More ships and mechanics won't fix that, they have to be brave enough to go back to the drawing board and say 'this isn't working so we're throwing it out'.
The good Christian should beware of mathematicians, and all those who make empty prophecies. The danger already exists that the mathematicians have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and to confine man in the bonds of Hell.

 

Offline 666maslo666

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Re: Infinity: Battlescape to launch Kickstarter Campaign on Oct 21st
Or just tweak the IFCS, thruster and ship characteristics until it works well. Turning a spacesim into an aeroplane sim is not the solution, IMHO. Even if flying an aeroplane is subjectively more fun for some people.
"For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return." - Leonardo da Vinci

Arguing on the internet is like running in the Special Olympics. Even if you win you are still retarded.

 

Offline Mikes

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Re: Infinity: Battlescape to launch Kickstarter Campaign on Oct 21st
Or just tweak the IFCS, thruster and ship characteristics until it works well. Turning a spacesim into an aeroplane sim is not the solution, IMHO. Even if flying an aeroplane is subjectively more fun for some people.

It's not really that.

Just play Diaspora and you have all the characteristics of space flight, including drift and turning off axis and it FEELS GOOD.

Now you have Star Citizen which has a lot of complicated systems trying to basically do the SAME THING and while the way to achieves this result might be "more realistic" the resulting gameplay itself just "feels" crappy in comparison.

I.e. This isn't so much about "planes in space" vs. "authentic space ship movement", but more about failing to achieve gameplay that "feels good". And no matter what your aim or goal is ... there is no excuse in a game for gameplay that "feels bad/crappy". /shrugs.

 
Re: Infinity: Battlescape to launch Kickstarter Campaign on Oct 21st
Yeah, but it's the Star Citizen problem all over again: they've committed themselves to providing certain elements of ~realism~ in the flight model, and you can see from gameplay footage that the result isn't very interesting on the basic flying-and-shooting-at-spaceships level. More ships and mechanics won't fix that, they have to be brave enough to go back to the drawing board and say 'this isn't working so we're throwing it out'.

Since Battlescape is still very early in development, much can change. So far, the feedback from those who played the prototype was very positive (it seems everybody with a youtube channel and some subscribers (as in as few as 50) can get access to the prototype). And considering the fact that the devs are very moderate about the overall scope of the game and so far have shown a very clear-minded and sober approach to its design, I can imagine they are prepared to make more drastic changes to the game mechanics as long as the core features are preserved (seamless transitions, newtonian physics, true to scale solar system and huge online battles).

Btw, Another beautiful fan-made trailer: