Myself and a few others who worked on Diaspora, the freeware Battlestar Galactica sim (diaspora.hard-light.net/) have started work on a 4x space strategy game in the style of Master of Orion 2. Quite a few indie 4x games have been released or are in development, but none of them have really been “MOO2.5” which many people have been clamoring for.
Aim:
Lord of Rigel is a 4x (Explore, Expand, Exploit, Exterminate) in the fashion of classic games such as Master of Orion 2 and Civilization. Although there have been many recent efforts to re-invigorate the 4x genre, many of these games have intentionally or unintentionally emphasized certain gameplay aspects such as combat or the economy over providing a complete space-opera strategy game experience. Our goal is to provide a accessible, yet deep, turn based strategy game.
The game is being developed in the Panda3d engine. This project will be released in several stages. The first release, Lord of Rigel: Battle for Altair is a proof of concept tactical battle with two opposing fleets: Human (Republic of Sol) and Katraxi. This release will also prototype the early portion of the game’s tech tree. This free release will coincide with the beginning of a crowdfunding campaign with the stated goal of releasing the next stage of development a full tactical game called Lord of Rigel: Tactics. The tactical game will include half of the fleets, the majority of combat technologies, ship customization options, and some of the basics for galaxy generation so players can select randomized systems to stage their battles in. The full tactical game will be included as skirmish mode in the final release.
Our final release, Lord of Rigel will then include the full strategic element of the game. Alpha and beta access will be made to backers. Additional features to the core content of the game, which is intended to reproduce the core gameplay of Master of Orion 2 will be set as stretch goals for the project and released as a free first expansion set for backers. Additional expansions will be released provided there is interest for new gameplay mechanics.
The road to the stars in Lord of Rigel is an easy one, but the difficulty in dominating the galaxy and gaining political control over the Galactic Council means it is not easy to win. This game is intended to be the epitome of easy to learn, but hard to master. Lord of Rigel is time consuming not due to micromanagement, but because a game should result in a “just one more turn” mentality.
Lord of Rigel, like its spiritual predecessor Master of Orion, is heavily based on scifi tropes played straight. As such, each species represents a major trope in science fiction. Technologies, sound effects, and artwork also should intentionally evoke other work. Like the series that game before, this game is set in a loose enough setting that players can imagine specific conflicts that occur during their games being moments in some of their favorite space opera franchises.
Game Overview
What are some of the core features of Lord of Rigel?
- Turn based strategic and tactical combat
- Randomly generated Galaxies with a wide range of customizable parameters
- 12 Pre-set species with unique characteristics
- Species customization
- Major and minor species
- Rich technology tree ranging from lasers to artificial planets and dyson spheres
- Fully customizable space ships for waging war
- Easy to grasp but deep economic system
- Leaders, either mercenaries or from your empire, who are shaped by their successes and failures.
- Diplomatic system that is simple, but has considerable depth
- Several victory conditions including military, diplomatic, and research options.
- Strategic resources that require unique strategies to acquire, hold, and exploit.
- Developed for 1080p, but with 4k resolution support for “future-proofing.”
Concept Art:
We are working on a proof of concept demo before crowdfunding.
We’re looking for additional programmers with Panda3d experience for the project.
If anyone is, feel free to contact me at: adam(at)arbitrary-level.net