What SE:SS isn't

Space Exploration: Serpens Sector
10 Aug 2013, 8:09 p.m.

As mentioned before, I do not have a release date or a regular update schedule, hence the recent silence. And on the topic of refusal, here is a list that the game is not, and will never be. In any kind of project, you should not only list the goals, but also list the things you specifically don't want to achieve. This lets you define the shape of your project, and to avoid mission creep.

This is what SE:SS is not, and will never be:

  • 3D: Yeah, it's set in space, which is three-dimensional. Yes, it uses a 3D engine for display. But the game is about flying between stars and making decisions - none of that would be improved by adding 3D graphics.
  • Multiplayer: The game is about your ship exploring the Serpens Sector. What would multiple explorers add? You would be neither competing nor cooperating very much. Most importantly, making a game multiplayer pretty much triples its development time. Not worth it.
  • A game about combat: There's combat in the game, both between ships and on the ground, but it's intentionally not fleshed out, because I do not want it to take over the game. There are lots of games about space combat, from the visceral to the tactical, like the excellent FTL.

It will also never:

  • Require fast reflexes: You get as much time as you want to make decisions.
  • Let you switch ships, or have a fleet of ships: The overhead of managing multiple ships with different shapes and capabilities isn't worth it.
  • Have a central plot that you can "win": There are lots of plots, and you can make big differences, but there isn't a point at which the game says "OK, you've won SE:SS now". It's not that kind of game.
  • Be about ponies. Sorry. Maybe next game.

Next time (hopefully soon) I'm going to write a bit about what SE:SS is, and what kind of things you can do...