Gratuitous Space Battles Adding Direct Control

[Sep 17, 2012, 6:52 pm ET] - Share - Viewing Comments

Cliffski's Blog has a post outlining how the long-requested ability to directly control spacecraft in Gratuitous Space Battles that will be added as a free update to the game soon. Here's a trailer showing off new features in the new patch, and here's word:

Essentially, I have added an option to singleplayer GSB battles that lets you play the game like an RTS. For all those people who hated one of the central elements of the game (no control during battles), you now have that as an option. If you have played the game before, you might enjoy giving it a spin with the new option. (Sorry, the demo isn’t updated with this feature yet). If you were always on the fence about buying the game (which you can get here) because of the lack of control, now is the time to buy :D.

This is patch number 60, so it took me a while, but I thought ‘what the hell’. I demonstrate how it works, along with some new visual effects added in this patch, in this video below. Please upvote it, or retweet it, or do what ever trendy things you socially-enabled gamers do these days. It’s much appreciated. And tell me what you think of it, too. BTW it’s a free update, not DLC. This update *will* make it to the steam copy, I just need to get them to update it.

View

20 Replies. 1 pages. Viewing page 1.
< Newer [ 1 ] Older >

20.

Re: Congrats, finally realized the obvious.

Sep 18, 2012, 12:41

Theo

Beamer wrote on Sep 18, 2012, 07:36:

But some niche games ARE bad. The bulk of your time in GSB wasn't spent designing but spent watching those designs fight. It was about 5 minutes of gameplay for 15 minutes of watching things slowly unfold.
If I wanted that ratio I'd play some crappy Metal Gear game.

I am fine with games where you just see the outcome rather than create it. I've played plenty of fantasy hockey (e.g., fake players in a simulator), spent years playing WebBl, a fantasy boxing game where you just input strategy in a rudimentary coding form and get the results of your fights every week, and would love a game that is based on trial and error like those.
But the trials were too long. Watching those fights, just to get feedback for minor modifications, became excruciating.

Couldnt disagree with you more (supprise supprise), i litterally spent hours setting up ships and fleets combinations.

Not to mention it was totally up to you how fast or slow that battle played out (watch speeds are changeable). If you were just going to throw up a shit 5 min fleet design, no reason you should watch the battle in its entirety is there?

Re the change, i welcome it, it might make me play through the "conquest" type add on again, that i really enjoyed lastnight around. Shame it doesnt work in multiplayer however.

More good stuff from Cliffski, its nice when he does nice things ;-) maybe ill reward him witha GTB sale ;-)




Everyone on Bluesnews is synical, get over it. edit: i cant spell, this is my disclaimer.

19.

Re: Congrats, finally realized the obvious.

Sep 18, 2012, 07:36

Beamer

HoSpanky wrote on Sep 18, 2012, 07:23:
But just because a game doesn't appeal to YOU doesn't make it bad. BAD games are bad. Buggy games are bad. GSB is just weird.

But some niche games ARE bad. The bulk of your time in GSB wasn't spent designing but spent watching those designs fight. It was about 5 minutes of gameplay for 15 minutes of watching things slowly unfold.
If I wanted that ratio I'd play some crappy Metal Gear game.

I am fine with games where you just see the outcome rather than create it. I've played plenty of fantasy hockey (e.g., fake players in a simulator), spent years playing WebBl, a fantasy boxing game where you just input strategy in a rudimentary coding form and get the results of your fights every week, and would love a game that is based on trial and error like those.
But the trials were too long. Watching those fights, just to get feedback for minor modifications, became excruciating.




------------- Music for the discerning: http://www.deathwishinc.com http://www.hydrahead.com http://www.painkillerrecords.com

18.

Re: Congrats, finally realized the obvious.

Sep 18, 2012, 07:23

HoSpanky

I don't understand all the hate for a game that was designed to be a niche product. I always assumed your job wasn't Fleet Commander, but more of a ship/armament designer whose job was hand on OUTSIDE of battles. You were to give the fleet what they would need, and watch them fight it out, hoping for the best. It wasn't my kind of game, but I could see the appeal. Reminds me of a large-scale Mind Rover of sorts. It's a puzzle game with guns. That said, I too got this in a bundle and wasn't super excited about it, but may check it out now. The direct control may make fights unintentionally easier, but I don't think it's forced. I'm assuming it's a checkbox you can leave alone if you like the game the way it was. But just because a game doesn't appeal to YOU doesn't make it bad. BAD games are bad. Buggy games are bad. GSB is just weird.

17.

Congrats, finally realized the obvious.

Sep 18, 2012, 05:24

JohnBirshire

Gratuitous Space Battles! that you have no control over Stupidest game idea ever. Took you long enough.

16.

Re: Gratuitous Space Battles Adding Direct Control

Sep 18, 2012, 03:48

Reactor

Nice, thanks Cliffski.

15.

Re: Gratuitous Space Battles Adding Direct Control

Sep 18, 2012, 01:01

Cutter

Wildone wrote on Sep 17, 2012, 22:47:
wow its gonna have direct control?!!! HOLY SHIT! Welcome to 1995!!!!!

Ahaha! Gratuitous Space Poop.




"Are you crazy? Is that your problem?" - Jack Burton

14.

Re: Out of the Blue

Sep 17, 2012, 23:22

Rigs

Wildone wrote on Sep 17, 2012, 22:47:
wow its gonna have direct control?!!! HOLY SHIT! Welcome to 1995!!!!!

HOLY SHIT!!!, don't act like a frackin' jackass!!11!!oneone

...anyway...what was I gonna say?...oh! It's not often that one patch to an established game opens it up to two more gaming genres...from just a simple space strat to space strat, ship sim and 4x. Not bad if you ask me...at least Cliffy-boy listens to his audience. Wasn't a big thing, I saw the reason for it to be 'hands-off' as the whole premise was to build a ship that could handle a specific enemy with specific armament and components. It was almost like a game of chess, where you had to learn specific countering components to succeed. Always loved this game, can't wait to see how the new control adds (or subtracts as the case may be)....

=-Rigs-=




*'Now, we gave you a promise and we are bound by that promise and damn you for asking for it! And damn me for agreeing to it! And damn all of us to hell, because that is exactly where we're going!'*

13.

Re: Gratuitous Space Battles Adding Direct Control

Sep 17, 2012, 22:56

jimnms

WyldKat wrote on Sep 17, 2012, 21:47:
I might actually play it now. I got GSB in an indie bundle and was all excited about it only to find out the actual battle portion was pretty hands off. It just wasn't the game for me. Now, because of this addition, I think it will be.

Same here. I played it once for about an hour, then I was bored with it. Now I might have to give it another try.




Steam Profile BF3 Profile

12.

Re: Gratuitous Space Battles Adding Direct Control

Sep 17, 2012, 22:47

Wildone

wow its gonna have direct control?!!! HOLY SHIT! Welcome to 1995!!!!!

11.

Re: Gratuitous Space Battles Adding Direct Control

Sep 17, 2012, 21:47

WyldKat

I might actually play it now. I got GSB in an indie bundle and was all excited about it only to find out the actual battle portion was pretty hands off. It just wasn't the game for me. Now, because of this addition, I think it will be.

10.

Re: Gratuitous Space Battles Adding Direct Control

Sep 17, 2012, 21:33

Prez

It's cool he is acting on community feedback. I liked the tinkering with ship builds but this should add more meaning to the battle phase instead of just making the player a spectator.




Prez on Soundclick http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=604888

Re: Gratuitous Space Battles Adding Direct Control

Sep 17, 2012, 21:31

Stormsinger

eRe4s3r wrote on Sep 17, 2012, 21:19: Did you buy it from Impulse way back? ^^ In that case you won't have received a serial per email only a order confirmation. Only way to see your serial is to login to your impulse account (now owned by Gamestop) and see if they let you access your owned games still. Nah...I didn't buy anything from Impulse, since before it was named Impulse. And I'm pretty sure that would predate GSB. I'll hunt for a bit longer, but if I don't find it in a day or two, I'll just repurchase. I've no objection to keeping Cliffski profitable...I like most of his games quite a bit.

Re: Gratuitous Space Battles Adding Direct Control

Sep 17, 2012, 21:30

eRe4s3r

Lol.. actually I need some help.. I can't seem to login into Impulsedriven AT ALL. How do you access your old Impulse games? Wtf? Ah lol " Max Login Attempts exceeded" So now I can't access my games because this POS store changed my PW without my input and it took me some tries to realize this (got a lot of potential passwords ,p)

Re: Gratuitous Space Battles Adding Direct Control

Sep 17, 2012, 21:20

nin

Only way to see your serial is to login to your impulse account (now owned by Gamestop)




RollinThundr Apr 17, 2013, 12:25: Eh really tossing stuff like that in there only to get your panties all bunched up. If you really want to call that trolling sure. Mr. Tact Apr 17, 2013, 12:33: Pretty sure that's the definition of trolling...

Re: Gratuitous Space Battles Adding Direct Control

Sep 17, 2012, 21:19

eRe4s3r

Did you buy it from Impulse way back? ^^ In that case you won't have received a serial per email only a order confirmation. Only way to see your serial is to login to your impulse account (now owned by Gamestop) and see if they let you access your owned games still.

Re: Gratuitous Space Battles Adding Direct Control

Sep 17, 2012, 20:46

Stormsinger

Drats! I went to update my copy, and discovered that it was apparently installed on my old machine, and I no longer remember where I bought it. Doesn't appear to be steam, and I can't find any other records...so I guess I may have to buy it again. At least Cliff's games are cheaply priced. And since I enjoy most of them, buying a second copy won't bother me.

Re: Gratuitous Space Battles Adding Direct Control

Sep 17, 2012, 20:35

space captain

thrilling




Go forth, and kill!

Re: Gratuitous Space Battles Adding Direct Control

Sep 17, 2012, 20:19

Coolone

ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL .....I'll see myself out.

Re: Gratuitous Space Battles Adding Direct Control

Sep 17, 2012, 19:46

BobBob

Great. It goes from slide show to real game. Will check it out.

Re: Gratuitous Space Battles Adding Direct Control

Sep 17, 2012, 19:11

Stanly Manly

This was one of my gripes way back when Cliffski was asking for feedback in the "why didn't you buy GSB" thread. Once he has an updated demo, I'll be sure to check it out again.

20 Replies. 1 pages. Viewing page 1.
< Newer [ 1 ] Older >