[HN Gopher] Show HN: A Demo for a Strategy Game
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       Show HN: A Demo for a Strategy Game
        
       This is something that I've been working on on-and-off in my spare
       time for the last few years. I started in 2020 during Covid trying
       to do a Mount and Blade style map in UE4, and it grew from there
       until where it is now - I would just add a feature, then another,
       until it came together. Since the start of the year I've really
       been trying to polish it some more.  I've got the full thing
       planned for a Q3 25 release.  Github release if you don't have
       Steam: https://github.com/joe-gibbs/fall-of-an-empire-release
        
       Author : joegibbs
       Score  : 85 points
       Date   : 2024-10-02 10:40 UTC (12 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (store.steampowered.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (store.steampowered.com)
        
       | FrustratedMonky wrote:
       | You are one person?
       | 
       | This is pretty impressive for one person as a hobby in spare time
       | during Covid.
       | 
       | Nice
       | 
       | Congratulations on making it this far.
       | 
       | On Steam, I'd suggest adding a video of some sample play.
        
       | latexr wrote:
       | You should clarify if it's Real-Time Strategy or Turn-Based
       | Tactics. Different audiences.
        
         | georgeecollins wrote:
         | For sure-- they want different things. But this looks great.
        
           | latexr wrote:
           | It does look great. But while that warrants an upvote it
           | doesn't warrant the effort of having to turn on my old
           | machine with Windows on it and going through the effort of
           | installing the demo just to then find out it's not the kind
           | of strategy I like.
           | 
           | Steam has tags for both kind and that's how I search. I want
           | the OP to have _more_ people of their intended player base
           | finding and enjoying the game.
        
         | joegibbs wrote:
         | Thank you! I just re-read the copy and realised that I'd taken
         | the real-time part for granted and focused on the turn-based
         | element of the battles.
         | 
         | It's real-time, but it's pauseable and the player can change
         | the speed of the game from 1x to 4x. Then when a battle occurs,
         | it has a turn-based system where the two armies attack each
         | other in succession (each turn is 4 days in-game).
        
         | karmakaze wrote:
         | I came to write that a preview video could have shown this
         | instead of only pics. Always happy to see another (semi) RTS
         | game though.
         | 
         | I heard that StarCraft Remastered & II is coming to Xbox Game
         | Pass. Wonder if that will stick _(or a new generation will hate
         | the brutality of 1v1 ladder)_.
        
       | z3t4 wrote:
       | was kinda hoping for a open source game when I saw the Github
       | link, but it's just a zip download with an .exe
       | 
       | If you are thinking of open sourcing, it can still be a good idea
       | because users will pay for the convenience of not having to
       | compile/build themselves.
        
         | aniviacat wrote:
         | > users will pay for the convenience of not having to
         | compile/build themselves
         | 
         | But another developer could republish the game for half the
         | price, no?
        
           | mholt wrote:
           | Yeah, that doesn't make sense. Players will pay for your
           | game.
        
           | LelouBil wrote:
           | > But another developer could republish the game for half the
           | price, no?
           | 
           | Depends on your license, you can be open source but have a
           | license prohibiting assets usage or even whole code usage. It
           | can be a good way to support mods.
           | 
           | See Barotrauma [0][1] as an example of an open source game
           | that suceeded.
           | 
           | Exerpt from their license :
           | 
           | > The source code, modifications or derivative works can be
           | distributed only if they are intended to be used as a mod for
           | Barotrauma. You are not allowed to create a standalone
           | application, or use the code for commercial purposes or in
           | your own projects. You are not allowed to remove or bypass
           | Steam integration, SteamID authentication or any other DRM
           | measures from the code.
           | 
           | [0] https://github.com/FakeFishGames/Barotrauma
           | 
           | [1] https://store.steampowered.com/app/602960/Barotrauma/
        
         | motoxpro wrote:
         | Most people, I assume like yourself, would just download and
         | build the game for free and not contribute anything back to the
         | project
        
         | joegibbs wrote:
         | It's got a bunch of components and paid libraries that probably
         | wouldn't let me do that.
         | 
         | I also think that very few people would get any benefit from
         | being open-sourced since it depends on modified Unreal Engine -
         | the project itself and the engine mean that the git repo is
         | over 100GB even when shallow cloned. I could open source the
         | core game systems but they're almost entirely useless without
         | the rest of everything.
        
       | laconicmatt wrote:
       | This looks very cool. Kind of giving me total war / warhammer
       | vibes. Wishlisted and I'll give the demo a go.
       | 
       | Good luck with the project.
        
       | JMiao wrote:
       | Cool demo, good job releasing it. What are you hoping to get from
       | demo players?
        
         | joegibbs wrote:
         | Feedback mostly - what's wrong with it, what's right, what
         | needs doing differently or should be rebalanced before the main
         | game is out.
        
       | throwaway48476 wrote:
       | Map looks more like total war than mount and blade. It would be
       | great if someone made a total war like game since Creative
       | Assembly imploded trying to make hyenas happen.
        
       | jadbox wrote:
       | Congrats on making it open source!
        
       | null_deref wrote:
       | Very impressive. Did you create the visuals yourself?
        
         | joegibbs wrote:
         | Thanks, I did the landscape materials and some of the UI
         | myself, but the other half of the UI, the models for the trees,
         | the cities (which I'm in the process of revamping) and the
         | armies were all outsourced.
        
       | mrkramer wrote:
       | Upload the source on Github, don't link it again to Steam.
        
         | joegibbs wrote:
         | Why should I do that apart from some commenter demanding that I
         | do so? If I put in thousands of hours of work and a few
         | thousand dollars into a project, why should I get zero
         | compensation for that and not even be allowed to indirectly
         | benefit?
        
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       (page generated 2024-10-02 23:00 UTC)