FTL: Faster Than Light (Alpha demo/pre-orders stage)

[getter77]

http://www.ftlgame.com/

One to watch currently coming into being!  

"A Space Simulation Real-Time Roguelike-Like"

You manage the Kestrel and its crew as you explore the galaxy. Strategic, real-time combat involves managing power between essential systems and choosing which enemy systems to target. Meanwhile, you control your crew to keep the ship functioning and fight off intruders. The combat is difficult but, being a “roguelike-like” game, frequent permadeath is at the core of the experience.

While exploring the galaxy you will encounter a variety of situations requiring decision making that can result in many outcomes. Since all events  are randomly generated, each play-through will be significantly different.

Currently making rounds at IGF China.

[getter77]

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/64409699/ftl-faster-than-light

Aiming for $10K in about a month and already about a quarter of the way there!   Entry point cost is $10 for the full and proper game when it happens within this.

Demo situation is thus, the full game will be more widely available, but yeah:

You can try FTL right now!    Even though it is still in Alpha, we have a demo available through OnLive’s Indie Showcase for two weeks as of Monday, Feb 27th. To play FTL and the other entries, sign up for a free account with OnLive or access it through the "Onlive Indie Showcase" button on their facebook page:

The Game

FTL has been described as “Firefly by way of Spelunky.”  Many games have tackled the goal of recreating the feeling of space operas, but few have focused on the inner workings of a single ship. How does the crew react when their ship takes a heavy missile barrage and the shield batteries shut down?  Do you reroute all power to the engines in an attempt to escape?  Do you power up additional weapons to blow your enemy out of the sky before they can breach your hull?  Or do you teleport a boarding party onto the enemy ship and take the fight to them directly?  FTL allows you to take your ship and crew on an adventure through a randomly generated galaxy filled with glory and bitter defeat.

    -A setting of intergalactic war:  The player is tasked with a mission vital to the survival of the Galactic Federation currently threatened by a nearly victorious rebellion.
    -A story that engages, but does not dictate player experience:  The setting provides direction but the real story of FTL is created by the player and it evolves organically during each play-through.
    -An arms race: The locations and enemies grow increasingly dangerous over the course of the game.  To survive you will need to find and purchase equipment; hire and level up crew; and upgrade the ship’s systems.
    -Exploration is key:  Every location you Faster-Than-Light travel to contains a text based event.  This includes scenarios like attempting to help an infected space station pleading for help; slavers demanding your surrender; hunting pirates through a nebula; and surviving an uncharted asteroid field.
    -A random galaxy:  Each play-through will feature different encounters, events, choices, and results to your decisions.
    -Permadeath is at the core of FTL:  Knowing that your crew’s lives are in your hands and that each battle could mean the end of your trek fills the player with a sense of urgency and desperation that adds importance to every decision.
    -Sleek and focused gameplay:  FTL focuses on the development of your ship, recreating the atmosphere of space operas without the countless menus and confusing interface that frequently go hand in hand with ship management and galactic sim games.  Currently each game lasts between 15 and 90 minutes.

The Final Game

A lot of these elements are fully functional and can be experienced (briefly) in the demo... so what will we be adding between now and release?

    -Ship Customization:  Choose & name your ship; outfit it with weapons & equipment; and hire & name your crew.  
    -Alien Races: We are working on 5 playable alien races that have unique abilities, ships and implications during exploration.
    -Crew Development:  Your crew will gain skill over time, allowing survivors to have improved combat and operate ship systems to increase their potential..
    -An Ending:  The current game is infinite (play until you lose), but we want to have a more controlled game mode that gives the player a final goal and rewards for completion.
    -Deep Meta-game: Unlock playable ships, unique crew members, weapons and equipment to be used in subsequent play-throughs.
    -Custom Soundtrack:  We have two songs so far, but our sound designer will be working hard to give us a soundtrack that greatly enhances the experience.

Why Kickstarter?

You may be wondering, “if the game is so close to completion, why do you need our money?”   When we quit our jobs last year, we intended to work on a small project for a few months.  During development we received such overwhelmingly positive feedback that we changed our plans.  We decided to bring FTL up to a finished game quality.  However, releasing a game takes money and our funds are starting to deplete.  Your generous donations will go towards::

    Business Costs: To officially start selling the game we have to set up a company, deal with licensing and other expenses.
    Paying Our Sound Designer: It is fine that we’re working out of pocket, but we will need to have money to pay our wonderful sound guy, Ben Prunty.
    Polish & Improvement: Making FTL as good as it can be.



Access to the Game

Your donation of $10 or greater will get you a copy of the final game when it’s released.  We do not know what will be our primary method of distribution, but regardless we will give you a DRM-free copy for Windows, Mac and/or Linux.  See below for estimated system requirements.  We're aiming to be content complete within a few months and then release the game by the end of summer.  This is subject to change and the closed Beta will likely cause delays.

Donating $25 or more will also give you access to our closed Beta. The exact date and details are still uncertain but we will attempt to start it within a couple months of the end of the Kickstarter.  Here is what we know now:

    The Beta will initially require Windows and have only English localization.
    It will initially be available only to donors.
    It is possible we’ll distribute the Beta through an existing game distribution service (i.e. Desura).
    If it is not run through a service, it will likely require an Internet connection (when logging in, if not always) mostly for data collection purposes.  


System Requirements:

The requirements are all subject to change. We're doing our best to accommodate as many machines as possible, but with our currently limited testing we're unsure of what the final requirements will be.

    OS: Windows (XP/Vista/7), Mac, or Linux
    Processor: 2ghz Core 2 Duo
    Memory: 512 MB RAM
    Graphics: OpenGL 2.0 Support, 256 MB RAM
    Minimum Resolution: 1280 x 720

Looks like this thing is going Supernova here!  

[getter77]

Well damn!

After about 10 hours, they've now exceeded their Kickstarter goal, largely apparently due to Notch making a Tweet about it.

Now to see how much they end up with and how that improves what they can do.  Hell, they haven't even had time to update their reaction on the page for passing it beyond about 6 hours ago when they began to surge to the halfway point.  


Edit:  And now I see why, Notch only tweeted about the entire shebang a freaking hour ago.  The man can definitely move an audience.

[getter77]

Now with literally 1000% more Kickstarter funding (That's $112K for a Roguelike'ish thing, and they've still got until April 1!), here's a new trailer/dev video outlining a selection of the goodies to come in the beta/full game as it happens these next months.

Pre-beta Gameplay #1 in other words:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLcc2p_PXZg

[getter77]

gameplay #2  new ship, non-human crewmembers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbE7e4czo3Q

Also, they've apparently secured a deal with Steam for the beta and full game aside from a no DRM version, so that's nice!   

[getter77]

This video is meant for those who did not have a chance to play our temporary demo. It is a brief introduction to FTL's core game mechanics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIHuG4Qgbxc

Kickstarter ending on April 1---here's hoping for a final moments spurt to heighten the ridiculous possibilities even moreso!