Starscape Released

[General Woundwort]

Is there any sort of specific background to this universe that we ought to tailor our races to, or can we run wild?

[Shadowstar]

Starscape has a history, a long and complex one at that, but it doesn't really affect new races that much (at least not at this stage). In fact, its sorta meant for players to discover the history of the universe as they play. Here are the basic facts though:

1) Approximately 600 years ago, there was a major astronomical cataclysm (a quantum supernova) that caused skies to burn on all of the planets in this area for about a week. Whether or not this was significant to your race's history is up to you. Some races see it as a religious sign, others recognize it as a natural event. The event will be used as a chronological milestone in intergalactic relations. The event caused some races to experience heavy loss of life and destruction during its duration, depending on thier exposure. You could put something like that into your history, if you want, but its not neccessary.

2) There seem to be alot of humans in this universe. Nobody really knows why. If you're not creating a human race, this fact probably has no bearing on your race. If your race is human, perhaps there are rumors or artifacts that indicate your people were part of another race of spacefaring humans at one time? Again, up to you, as the creator of the race.

3) Terrans are allowed, but there are special rules regarding them. Confer with me through email if you want to create a terran race.

4) This game takes place somewhere in the Milky Way galaxy, some distance from the Orion Arm (not too far though). Where exactly will be determined by the sole player who has made the transition from the old Stars! mod to SEIV. He is sort of an "elder race" and the actual starting location depends on where he chooses to land his generation ship.

5) There is a form of energy called Chaos Energy, which some races have attempted to control over the years. You could have a race that worships Chaos or tries to control it if you wish. This could have effects on your race throughout the game.

6) The Starscape universe works as follows: Normal space is just that: normal space. It is surrounded in four hyperdimensional vectors, seperated by interspatial barriers. Along these vectors lie Hyperspace, with Subspace in the opposite direction, and then Metaspace, with Q-Space opposite it. Theoretically there are more hyperdimensional vectors, but they are not known yet. Null-space was removed after we moved over from Stars! (the term was used to describe a form of space that no longer exists as a result of the cataclysm). Warp points are an unknown phenomenon to new races (but they can still use them).

Additionally, the transition from Stars! to SEIV came with some fundamental changes to the way ships have to move through space (anyone who used to play Stars! will understand this). The Cataclysm was the event that altered the universe in this way. It had little effect on the planets themselves, but made warp drive impossible. Artificially-created warp points are now used to get about. Thier creation is another story, which players will discover as they play.

Starscape also allows players to create thier own home system along with thier race, with some minor balance-related limitations. If you're interested, discuss this with me through email.

[Randallw]

Originally posted by Shadowstar:
One of the early requests I had from my old Stars! player base was to somehow recreate the feeling that there is actually empty space between star systems, so this was an attempt to do that.

I thought it might be an attempt at realism like that. Just making sure you knew.

[General Woundwort]

Originally posted by Shadowstar:
3) Terrans are allowed, but there are special rules regarding them. Confer with me through email if you want to create a terran race.

Nah, my idea would probably have been a copyright infringement anyways. I'll just do something unique. Thanks for the background though.

[QuarianRex]

Sounds cool. Could you post the necessary pics for an original shipset (and any variations thereof)? For instance, I noticed that you were using the standard troop pics as infantry, added in mech sizes and such. Having a quick reference of what we need would be helpful.

[Shadowstar]

Any SEIV shipset should work, though there are new sizes for Starscape (they have defaults so they are optional).

The mod download contains one complete Starscape shipset. Look in races/Empire. I added some mech pics into the original race sets for some variety, but they are also optional. The game will default to using troop pics for mechs if there are none.

You can use the filenames from the Empire shipset to design your own shipset, or modify an extended shipset to work with Starscape. It contains all of the filenames needed to make full use of Starscape's extended vehicle sizes.

[ March 12, 2004, 08:14: Message edited by: Shadowstar ]

[Shadowstar]

We now have 4 players signed up with races submitted. We have plenty of room left for more players, so if you're interested, please send me an email at starscape@inficad.com, and I will keep the game open a bit longer.

Otherwise, we're going to start tomorrow.

[Shadowstar]

Well, the game has begun.

If you missed it, email me and I can put you on the list for the next game when it starts.

A new Version of the mod is up. I managed to shave off 6 mb from the download while also adding in a ton of new graphics. Hopefully it all still works. Remember that single player and AI's are not specifically supported yet, though they should still work, if a bit roughly.

Also, if you would like to recieve regular updates on the progress of the game (storyline and such), email me. I can include you in most of the public communications, giving you an outsider's view of the continuing story. I may even consider the possibility of allowing people to play minor characters in the game and experience/influence the story that way, without actually playing the game itself. Starscape is nothing if not adaptive, after all.

I want to thank the community for thier help and hope that Starscape and it's rather experimental concepts will have a bright future.

starscape@inficad.com
www.starscapecentral.com

[Fyron]

The top banner frame does not look right in Gecko based browsers, such as Mozilla Firefox. The frame is too big and the image tiles.

[Aiken]

Same in Opera. I think this banner (and whole page as well) is dependent of screen resolution.

[ June 17, 2004, 00:05: Message edited by: aiken ]