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Game Development Showcase
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| Ad Astra |
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| Developer | chapmast |
| Genre | Action |
| Platform | Windows |
| Downloads | 26730 |
About:
Ad Astra is an open-ended Space Exploration game inspired by games such as Elite or Privateer. Features : 110,000+ Real Stars - Fractal Planets - Procedural Flora and Fauna - Lots of Weapons - Lots of Spacecraft
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Please offer only constructive criticism. The intent of the GD Showcase is to help the developer create the best game they possibly can. Show them you support their efforts when posting.
 |   Gamester3333
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Posted - 12/1/2006 2:49:05 PM | I love this game. It's one of the best space games I've ever seen, no joke. I love the essence of realism, even in a game based in the future. Commerce, Piracy, Bounty Hunting, and Salvage. Excellent choices. Out of these 4 ways to make money, I like salvage the best. The only thing about that is in the beginning, your ship is so small that salvage targets are rare, and usually aren't incapacitated enough to be salvaged. You should add enhanced tractor beams right next to enhanced short range scanners to aid salvagists like me in their quest for $$$. I don't like the fact that you can be so easily caught off guard by pirates, but if you really are going to add a difficulty setting, it's a minor complaint. So, except the difficuly, and a little boost to salvage, it's perfect.
Wait, one more thing!
#10 on your list should be: ADD A MAIN MENU.
(with "new", "load", "editor", oh, and maybe some cheats...)
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| chapmast GDNet+
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Posted - 12/4/2006 2:20:57 AM | Thanks for your generous opinion of my game.
I have been considering adding enhanced tractor beams and have been thinking in terms of some sort of lasso so that really big stuff can be towed back. I haven't worked out the most reliable method of implementing this yet though, but there is a strong possibility that it will be available as some form alien technology in a future release.
Incidently the most lucrative form of employment is bounty hunting - you can make you own wreckage and you get rewarded by the police as well.
With the benefit of hindsight I believe that I made this demo version far too hard and allowed it to become overstocked with pirates. However I am planning to release a new version hopefully later this month which will address this issue. The update will allow travel between star systems and I have partitioned the galaxy up so that the central core is relatively safe. The following features have also been added:
1. Alien civilisation.
2. Navy Missions
3. Improved Fractals
4. Improved User Interface - larger font, menubars etc.
5. Reduction in Video RAM used - should improve performance on 64M Cards
At present I'm adding a wider selection of missions and am also attempting simulate a human-alien war in the border systems.
With regard to a 'Main Menu' this is available and can be entered at any point via the 'ESC' key. Here you'll find all the usual options for 'loading' and 'restarting' the game together with Video and Sound options. You can save a game simply by pressing the 'F12' key - you won't be prompted to enter a file name, instead a timestamped file with a screen shot will be automatically produced.
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| Gamester3333
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Posted - 12/21/2006 7:21:50 PM | Wow. All I can say is wow. 1.2a is your best release yet. It totally blew me away. Your best addition was the "document delivery" set of missions. Now I don't have to come into harm's way to make a little $$$ in the beginning. Using these sets of missions, I have actually been able to afford bigger and better ships. all we need now is asteroid mining, which I never would have thought of by the way, and noone should have any problems in the beginning. Also, how would asteroid mining work? Would you shoot it and salvage the materials, or would they be added to your cargo? Will there be any "Save this planet from an astroid" missions? I like this game, but you were right to assume that we want more cannon fodder.
Now I feel like an idiot for not noticing the menu...
Also, thanks for making incapacitated ships unable to move. It really helps alot. I still think repairs should be cheaper than the cost of the ship, but it's your game. If I think of any other suggestions, I'll send them your way.
One more thing, I see that Ad Astra is lacking an icon, so I made one for you with a screenshot of a planet. Use it, don't use it, I don't care. I don't even need my name in the credits, consider it a gift.
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| chapmast GDNet+
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Posted - 12/24/2006 7:16:03 AM | Thanks for the comments and the icon.
Asteroid mining is fairly common in many space games - although it can be a bit boring really. I'm not sure how to implement it yet and at the moment it's just on my 'to do list'. I have also been considering adding some rogue asteroid missions too - but again its just finding the time to implement something - I'll need to add some really impressive explosions for when the mission fails and so it'll probably take some time to code.
With respect to making repairs cheaper I've already had feedback from other people effectively asking for the opposite which just goes to show that you can't please everybody.
At the moment I plan to implement a Solar System Editor so that people can create there own environments. I'm also hoping to convert it to Direct X9 because the fixed function pipeline has proved to be a real straight jacket.
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| flowsat2000
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Posted - 6/17/2007 12:43:54 AM | thought ad astra is a well put to gether i wo0uld buy it.
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| flowsat2000
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Posted - 6/17/2007 12:45:53 AM | thought ad astra is a well put to gether i would buy it.
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| flowsat2000
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Posted - 6/17/2007 12:45:55 AM | thought ad astra is a well put to gether i would buy it.
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| Ziggymann
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Posted - 7/28/2007 12:41:05 PM | Dude , amazing job !, great attention to detail ,total customisation this eclipses pretty much all released as yet, fantastic , and most important of all its a joy to play. :) Do you plan on adding more advanced atmospheric effects on planets i.e Volumetric Haze/fog/Clouds/Rain /Snow/Wind , or implementing fluids on planet surfaces ? the planets themselves are awesome and varied :) pretty much made my day downloading this , Cheers dude
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| chapmast GDNet+
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Posted - 8/4/2007 10:56:01 AM | Thanks for the feedback - Its great to know when someone appreciates my game.
Unfortunately I haven't worked on it too much recently as I've been more preoccupied with my collection of motorcycles. However I do plan on adding some proper intro screens in the near future and then I would like to further improve the rendering of the planets themselves.
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| Horse
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Posted - 12/5/2007 5:17:32 AM | It looks like a pretty amazing game, but I can't get anywhere with it. All I do is flip through the various F screens. I can't auto pilot anywhere. I can't buy a ship. I don't have enough money... I must be missing something obvious. How do I do something besides look at the menus? I didn't see anything in the manual.
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| chapmast GDNet+
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Posted - 12/6/2007 2:39:35 AM | Reply to Horse,
I think the main problem is that you haven't managed to 'undock'. To do this simply press the 'U' key. All the other control keys can be found in Appendix A of the manual or via the 'Help' screens ( 'H' Key) from within the game itself.
The Quick Start guide describes fully how to select targets for the Autopilot, however you must undock first.
When docked, the menubar at the top of the screen gives access to the space stations facilities - however it looks like you have found these options.
With hindsight I probably should have stated in the 'Quick Start' guide that you start the game docked and that the 'u' key should be hit to undock - sorry about that.
It may also be worth making the Aliens and Pirates passive ( 'Esc' key and enter 'preferences' menu). This will give you the opportunity to familiarise yourself with the controls. It will also make it much easier to make your first kill ( see quick start guide) and hence earn some extra cash through salvage.
If you have any further problems just E-mail me at support@a-astra.com
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| Horse
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Posted - 12/6/2007 9:40:18 PM | Thanks for the quick reply, Chapmast.
I tried saving my preferences, but I don't think they're holding. The button doesn't seem to go all the way down and I get no confirmation that preferences have been saved. Engine volume is still very loud. I also didn't see any differences when I changed mouse sensitivity.
Is there a way to safely minimize the game so I can go to the manual? I've tried ctrl+Esc and Alt+Tab, but both of those methods resulted in the game closing. I'm on windows xp pro.
Just a thought - I see this in all the space games. When your ship is moving around the engines burn fuel, but in space there is no friction. Once momentum is achieved, there's no need to run engines. The ship will just keep coasting until it runs into a planet. Also, there's no noise in space as there is no atmosphere for it to travel in. You'd only hear noise inside your ship if your ship has oxygen or some kind of atmosphere in the cabin.
Edit again: I've been to a planet and visited some cities. Shot down some birds. So far no wrecks for salvaging. Where do I find them? How do I get fuel? Took an assignment to deliver some papers or something. How do I get to a specific star or planet? It's supposed to be a 2 hour job. The cities were cool. Saw a subway or something going through a glass tunnel. Doesn't seem to be much to do on the planet. I guess I need to figure out the salvage thing.
Sorry to bother you. It's probably something I should know, but I don't.
[Edited by - Horse on December 6, 2007 10:40:34 PM]
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| chapmast GDNet+
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Posted - 12/7/2007 5:41:19 AM | Reply to Horse,
You can check whether your preferences have been saved by looking in the 'user' directory - there should be a file 'user.sav' present. If this is not the case then you may have 'read-only' permissions on the parent directory. You can change this by right clicking on the directory and selecting the properties option. Also the 'error_log' file will indicate if a file was successfully loaded - look for an entry that indicates that the file 'user/user.sav' could not be opened.
The save button will go down, however it pops back up immediately after the file has been saved so it may simply look as though it hasn't been depressed.
I have rechecked the engine volume slider and this seems to operate without a problem.
I think the problem with the mouse sensitivity slider is that it just affects the sensitivity of the Ship Control if a joystick is not used. It does not have any effect on the actual movement of the mouse across the screen. With hindsight I should have added this feature and will try implementing it when I issue the next revision of the game.
Unfortunately I don't think that there is a safe way to minimize the game.
With regard to noise and friction, I fully agree with your statement. However I decided not implement a 'realistic' control model as I feel that this would impair the enjoyment of the game. Frontier Elite used full Newtonian physics in its ship controls and I felt this really spoilt its space combat. Basically I intended Ad Astra to be a game and not a simulation.
To get fuel simply buy deuterium from the stock exchange of a Space Station or City.
To get to a specific star you should enter the 'Galactic Map' (F2 key), click on a star system and open a wormhole by hitting the 'W' key. You can also travel to a specific star (provided that it is within range) from this screen by entering the name of the star, e.g. 'Algorab' in the appropriate box of the options menu ('O' key - or select from menu bar).
To get to a specific planet of your current system - keep hitting the 'P' key until the relevant planet appears as a target and select the auto-pilot ('A' key). Alternatively enter the Solar System map (F1 key) and click on the relevant planet - then select the Auto Pilot option from the menu of the Planet. This menu will also show details of any cities or space stations and you can also select these as auto-pilot destinations. It is also worth knowing that each planet possesses a number and sometimes a letter - for instance Archird 6B is the second moon orbiting the 6th planet of the Archird system - you should use this numbering scheme to find the correct planet from the solar system map.
To find 'wrecks' you need to travel to a system which has high levels of crime or alien activity. I would suggest that you head towards the alien border near the system of Algorab. You can do this by entering the Galactic Map (F2 key) and type Algorab into the Options menu. A line will appear showing the trajectory from your current position to the desired star. You cannot jump straight into Algorab as it is too far away, but you can travel towards it by hopping into the systems that lie close to this line. As you head away from the Core and towards the border then the systems become more dangerous. You can either wait for the Police or Navy to create some wreckage or create some yourself by doing a spot of bounty hunting - follow the suggestion in the 'quick start' guide for making your first kill.
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| Gl_Terminator
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Posted - 6/13/2008 3:16:33 PM | Hello i am an average programmer, i was really inspired by your game and inspired me to make a 3D game. now thanks to the inspiration and what you could do, i learned openGL programming and i am developing a naval batleship game. I it is almost done and i want how can i upload it to this site, I would be very happy if you provide me with that info.
thanks for listening
PD: please believe me when i say that i really understand how much work and time takes your game. you have done a great job.
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| chapmast GDNet+
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Posted - 6/16/2008 5:20:54 AM | Thank you very much for such a positive message and I'm very pleased to hear that I've inspired you to create your own game. If you've managed to create a 3D game then I really don't think that you should be describing yourself as just an average programmer.
To upload your game to the Game Development Showcase you'll need to signup to 'GDNet PLUS' which costs around $40 for a year's membership or $5 for a month. This option can be found under the 'members' button of the menu bar. Once you've signed up you'll find a 'GDS Manage Submissions' on the left-hand panel which will allow you to add your game to the showcase. Unfortunately I've had a great many problems with uploading files to the site and I don't believe that I'm an isolated case either. Certainly the Transfer of files from Webspace option no longer seems to work as it does not appear to allow you to select a file from your Directory. Basically various options seem to work for a while and then they just stop. However that said, I believe that most of the options are working correctly at the present time.
Best wishes with your entry and I hope to be playing your game in the near future.
[Edited by - chapmast on June 16, 2008 11:20:53 AM]
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| Gl_Terminator
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Posted - 10/23/2008 5:47:07 PM | hello i have write to you before, i was the one that you inspired with your game and started 3d programming, i have meke a 3d game please check it out and write to vtserej@gmail.com for a constructive critics you can download it from http://rapidshare.com/files/156921235/Naval_Battleships.rar | 1560 KB
thanks for listening
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| hifall
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Posted - 5/30/2009 3:10:23 AM | Cool Game!
Can't figure out how to tractor debris. I'm able to get close, the targeting changes to "IN RNG" and turns yellow, but when I press the [ I get an Error Statement that reads "Nothing nearby to salvage". I've tried it with 8 tons of Gemstones, and 1 ton of Ferrous metal. Any Suggestions?
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| chapmast GDNet+
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Posted - 6/7/2009 9:01:09 AM | Reply to Hifall,
Thanks for the comments and sorry for not replying sooner - I don't check this site very often and almost completely missed it.
The tractor beam is used solely to salvage 'ship wrecks' ( see section 6.2 of the manual). To salvage cargo cannisters then you'll need to buy a debris collector and fit it to the heavy cannon hard-point at a space station. Refer to Sections 6.3, 7.6 and 11.2 of the manual for more details. A Class 1 debris collector can only harvest 1 ton cannisters and to collect 8 tons of gemstones you'll need a Class 3 item. Once suitably equipped you should fly towards the debris and just above it in order to scoop it up.
The 'In Rng' targetting indicator simply indicates that the weapon systems are in range.
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| io888o
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Posted - 3/17/2010 12:30:09 PM | Brilliant concept and game!!
From what i've read, and screenshots i've seen..
However control system for mouse, is too awkward and I gave up playing on the new 1.3a and the previous version after about 10 minutes of awkwardness..
I was hoping this would be fixed in 1.3a but it appears to be there still..
Is it possible to implement a normal scrolling function to turn ship?
[with some inertia of course so the ship cannot turn on it's head]
Almost every other space sim game uses it and most are used to it..
The current system where the mouse behaves like a joystick which you have to manually return to zero is awkward..
Maybe an additional mode where the cursor returns under its own power after while will be better liked..
It can be optional and could not do anyone harm..
I imagine you do not get that many comments as those affected simply give up instantly..
It might help to specify minimum font sizes for those who run the game at high resolutions on smaller screens etc..
Re-sizable dialogue boxes whose contents get larger will help..
Again incredible game..
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| chapmast GDNet+
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Posted - 3/17/2010 3:49:24 PM | Reply to io8880,
Thanks for the comments. It is true that in the past I have had a lot of critism with regard to the controls being awkward. However since Release 1.2f when I implemented practically every suggestion that I received, such comments have reduced significantly.
There are now six different control methods and plenty of additional options for adjusting different aspects for each method. I think that this relatively high level of customisation is now part of the problem and I get the impresssion that people simply don't realise that a desired feature is actually present.
The default control method is actually similar to that used many, many years ago on Privateer. However the 'Mouse : Fly to Pointer' is basically the same as current popular space games such as Freelancer or Darkstar One. Have you tried this option - remember that you may need to adjust the sensitivity, 'velocity vs. turn rate' and 'atmospheric auto-right' to get the best results.
I'm not sure what you mean by a 'normal scrolling function'. Certainly in Darkstar One you need to manually re-center the mouse to fly straight, and I'm pretty certain that this was the case in Freelancer.
Unfortunately the font sizes cannot really be altered due to the way that the GUI has been implemented. Basically to reduce the amount of video memory required I have drawn the windows straight into the back buffer and hence there isn't a simple solution such as just stretching the Surfaces of the dialogue boxes.
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| io888o
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Posted - 3/17/2010 9:44:46 PM | Hello, Chapmast!!
Thank you for your very quick reply:)
Yes, the fly to pointer is an improvement, but the schemes implemented are all controlling angular velocity types instead of controlling angular displacement directly, if you follow..
What I meant was that almost all recent sims, such as freespace, x3 series, etc have an option for a type of ubiquitous 'mouse look in fps' turning ability. Moving mouse a certain distance causes rotation by a certain angular displacement. (inertia is implemented by turning lagging slightly behind, lag increasing for larger less manouvarable ships etc)
x3 for instance uses a key/mouse button to toggle between cursor mode to select things and a non cursor mode to turn ship..
Better demonstrated I guess:
http://pioneer.sourceforge.net/?q=download
Small in size (5mb) frontier elite 2 clone..
To quickly see, select start at debug point to start in space when game starts, then hold down right mouse button to toggle from cursor into turning mode..
This is the control scheme that is an ubiquitous option in recent space sims and I suspect what the mouse control people are hoping for..
People just tend to have control schemes they get used to and internalise since such things are muscle memory issues, even specific areas of the keyboard I guess, lol
Anyway, a very platonic and herculean effort to create and release such a game ..it speaks directly to a certain human desire to see what is beyond the next hill..:) The only other game to really feature procedural planets/fauna is noctis, and they found exploration sufficient a motive, as the game is in an otherwise empty universe...so for a lot of people this is a major strength, and probably modders would love to tweak the procedural algorithms or a tweakable set of simplified/abstracted functions to create new classes of randomly generated terrain/planets if they were exposed using python or similar [probably this would slow things down a bit, but computers have more than one core these days and it could be parallelised]..
(no forum for this game?, then others will provide support for the game without bothering you when you are busy, as well as suggestions etc:).. or free entry for it on moddb? www.moddb.com, as that would give the game huge exposure to they type of people who would enjoy)
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| chapmast GDNet+
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Posted - 3/18/2010 3:28:06 PM | Reply to io8880,
Thanks for the extra information. I downloaded the pioneer demo ( looks quite promising) and I think that I now understand what you're getting at. I'll try to implement something similar when I release a new version of the game.
The ability to tweak the procedural algorithms used to construct the planets is described in Appendix K of the manual. To begin with it is best to load one of the existing textures and then try modifying it. Texture Types Pelin, Voronoi and Bands can be used to create gas giants, whereas 'terrain' is used to construct planets with a solid surface. Once created and saved you will need to exit the game and copy the template from 'textures/templates' to one of the directories located in 'textures/planets'. Hence if you have created a life supporting planet template then copy it to 'textures/planets/life_templates'.
The template will now be potentially picked up as an option when a Solar System is generated. To force your new template to be used by a particular planet within a solar system then you will need to use the editor described in Appendix L. Sub section L4 describes how a specific texture can be loaded.
If you do create a new planet or edit a solar system then you should use the 'jump' option when loading a game saved prior to the change.
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| io888o
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Posted - 3/19/2010 2:19:30 AM | Hello, Chapmast!!
Thanks for considering, I suspect it will get rid of all the control adjustment requests:)
Tree editor is very nice, but the full range of possible plants could be exploited by introducing a few parameters without having to write much code perhaps..
Have you heard of the Arbaro algorithm for generating plants?
http://www.cs.duke.edu/courses/cps124/fall02/resources/p119-weber.pdf
This has the added advantage of creating shrubs,cacti, as well as every type of tree imaginable..
for an example:
http://arbaro.sourceforge.net/
A far more powerful tree generator on similar lines is ngplant:
http://ngplant.sourceforge.net/ngplantug/book1.htm
Model details are there, very simple but can generate very diverse flora.
Something like this could be implemented to increase the diversity of earth-like flora..where new classes of plants could be defined by specifying ranges for each parameter, with a random element when placing..other parameters including restrictions on where to place tree types could be dependent on surrounding environment/planet characteristics e.g. height to make high altitude vegetation stunted etc.
Just a thought..
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| chapmast GDNet+
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Posted - 3/22/2010 2:50:42 PM | Reply to io888o,
Thanks for the links to the plant generation websites - I'll have a look at them later this week.
However I feel that there are far weaker aspects of the game that need to be sorted out first such as the limited number of missions. Consequently I aim to expand this area first before anything else.
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| ShinseiTom
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Posted - 4/27/2010 8:56:30 PM | Just a quick comment to say I love the amount of effort put into this. It's a spectacular showcase of what somebody can do to make basically an endless open game.
Anyway, like io8880 was saying, scaling the "mouse: fly to pointer" option to how far the mouse is from the center of the screen would be incredibly helpful, and feel a lot better when flying around manually.
Am I just missing the screen that allows you to remap controller buttons?
Though probably not the intended OS at the moment, Win7 Pro x64 will run the game. However, if I try to alt-tab the game won't come back up, causing me to kill the process. Also, the game hiccups horribly when I'm near stations. The number of ships around the station doesn't seem to matter (or there are always too many), but every station does the same thing. It happens every second, and it pauses for a few seconds and becomes unresponsive while in that state.
My computer:
Win7 Pro x64
Q9550 3.2GHz Quad
4 Gigs DDR2
8800gt
Plenty of disk space.
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