Where We Are Now: January 2016 Edition

People -- chiefly gamers, friends, and family -- constantly ask me, "How close to done are you?"

This project is going to be divided into five primary phases: Pre-alpha, Alpha 1, Alpha 2, Closed Beta, and Open Beta prior to final product launch.

Across the overall project, I would estimate that we are 20-25% finished with all of the mechanics that we have presently planned for the game.

Alpha 1 will be a closed test by invite only.  We already have a list of around 16 players who have expressed interest in testing the Alpha 1 version of the game.

Alpha 1 mechanics:

• Stars and galaxy - DONE
• Planets - MOSTLY DONE
• Planetary cities - MOSTLY DONE
• Starship design - MOSTLY DONE
• Starship production - MOSTLY DONE
• Fleet creation - MOSTLY DONE
• Research tree - MOSTLY DONE
• Fiat currencies - MOSTLY DONE
• Galaxy chat - MOSTLY DONE
• Technology tree - IN PROGRESS
• Fleet travel - IN PROGRESS
• Fleet travel between stars - IN PROGRESS
• Fog of war - IN PROGRESS

By the time we reach Alpha 1, the game should be playable and empire expansion and basic platform and bug fixes will be the primary objective.

Based on our current progress and assuming no catastrophic events, I expect that we will be prepared for Alpha 1 within the next two to eight months.

Alpha 2 will also consist of closed testing by invite and players contributing to our KickStarter

The Alpha 2 features will generally (subject to change) include:

• Fleet combat & formations
• Planetary governors and fleet admirals
• Galactic Exchange for resource trading
• Galactic Council for diplomacy
• Planetary Sway, Discord, & revolt
• Espionage, Assassination, Sabotage, and Subversion spying

The Closed Beta will consist of a test by invite only, except the player list should expand to at least 1000.

The Closed Beta features will generally (subject to change) include:

• Federations (the 'guilds' in this game)
• Federation-level victory, bonuses, flagships, etc.
• Expanded trade and economics
• CETU star systems, fleets, and technology
• AI helper agents

The Open Beta will be a freely available test focused chiefly on ironing out bugs across the entire game and load testing servers.

So, now you know where we are, where we are going, and where you might fit into it.

á na márië,
gumshoe, out.