I figured we should post a more detailed version of the game's description, here we go.
The game is compatible with Windows, Linux and Mac.
The game concept is similar to Kerbal space program as you can build a spacecraft, seamlessly travel from planet to planet then walk on the ground, with some key differences :
* There will be vegetation and aliens on the surface depending on the type of planet
* You can go underwater with your spacecraft if your spacecraft's hull can withstand positive pressure
* There will be many solar systems through the galaxy
* You will have total control over the spacecraft's systems, control panels and switches
* You can walk inside the spaceships and dock smaller spacecrafts inside bigger starships
* The technologies will be more futuristic like a Warp Drive, gravity generator, etc.
Also, it will be like KSP for planets orbiting each-other, except nothing is "on rails", everything is calculated in real-time using Gravity.
Everything is moving freely and independently and is affected by the gravity of everything else's mass.
There are no absolute positions or velocities, everything is relative to something else and always moving.
No "map-view", it will be an instrument in the spacecraft with orbit visualisation according to relative velocity and altitude.
The main challenge is to pick up resources on a planet, (try to) build a spacecraft, takeoff and visit other places in the galaxy, mine asteroids and other planets, harvest energy from stars, improve and manage your spaceship's systems and most importantly: Survive !
All of this you can do alone or in a co-operative way with your friends.
You will be able to fight other players and build/use weapons but this game is not intended to be a combat /dogfight sim.
Some planets are hostile, very cold or very hot, radiation, bad weather, different gravity, etc.
There are nebulae, twin stars and other space goodies.
We are aiming for a kind of gameplay experience that will give you the feeling it's real.
No map view, no on-screen information other than what can be shown realisticly in your helmet's HUD,
no further menus after you connect to a server or you click "Play Solo".
We want the perfect immersion like if it was a second life !
The game is natively and already multiplayer-capable, in a similar way to Minecraft.
Game servers can be a direct connection to other players as well as dedicated windows/linux servers.
Here's how it works :
There is only one application which is the game.
When you start, you have 3 game modes :
* Host a game
* Connect to server
* Play solo.
When starting a Solo game, you can play offline as a single player.
This also starts the integrated server in the background and other users can connect to you if you enable a "Accept remote connections" checkbox.
You can also host a standalone server by simply launching the game via command line (for Linux and Windows).
What has been done so far and is 100% working right now :
* All the most important technical challenges like floating point issues are solved
* Multiplayer and networking with integrated server
* Space physics including general relativity and Gravity (real-time orbits)
* Full scale Galaxy graphics with stars, dust clouds and a black hole at the center
* Planets with procedural terrain
* Seamless transitions between planet surface and space up to outside the Galaxy
* Electrical systems physics (heat dissipation, voltage, energy consumption, etc.)
* Atmosphere composition, pressure and transfer physics (on planets or inside sealed spacecrafts)
* Basic 3D models of spacecrafts that you can fly around
As for the final release, we can't tell an exact date yet.
I am just going to say that we might release an Alpha version before the end of 2015.
We've been working on the concept for 5 years and started to code 2 years ago, but announced it to the public two days ago.
We developed it inside out, instead of outside in like most games, as in we did the difficult technical challenges first and now all we have to do is to add the standard contents and game logics.
Hence from now on it should go very fast.
But we need followers and future supporters before making a Kickstarter page.
Follow our IndieDB page
http://www.indiedb.com/games/galaxy4d/
You can also subscribe to our Youtube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/c/Galaxy4D-SpaceSim
Lots of new videos are coming !!! =D
