FTL (Now at v1.02.6)

[getter77]

http://www.ftlgame.com/?page_id=106

FAQ

Technical
What are the system requirements?

Operating system: Windows XP/2000/Vista/7, Mac OSX 10.5.8+, or Linux (x86 or x86_64)
Processor: 2 GHz
RAM: 1 GB
Hard drive space: 175 MB
Video: OpenGL 2.0, minimum resolution of 1280×720, dedicated card recommended


Important notes:

    The minimum resolution is a hard set requirement.
    Windows 8 is not officially supported. Graphics cards manufacturers are not supporting many of their cards, causing problems and an inability to update your drivers. It has been known to work though.
    Dedicated graphics cards are more reliable, but it’s been known to work on the Intel HD Integrated cards.



Is there a demo to test it?

We hope to release a demo shortly after release, but currently there is not one.

 
Fixes to common failures:

    Please make sure your drivers are up to date. This is especially important for integrated cards as laptop manufacturers will sometimes be supplying you with out of date / incorrect drivers.

    If you’re using the Steam version and Mac OS X, please make sure your Steam is fully updated (Steam->Check for Updates)

    If you’re using Windows 8, look for the Beta versions for your graphics drivers.


Where can I get technical support fastest?

Posting to https://getsatisfaction.com/ftlgame will be the most effective way to contact us and get help. We’ll be working hard to get back to everyone as quickly as possible but please understand there’s only two of us.

 
Slow framerate or performance issues?

Updating drivers will be the most helpful thing. If you’re still having troubles, try to force vertical sync off for FTL. This can be done in Windows within the NVIDIA Control Panel / ATI Catalyst Control Center / Intel Control Panel. This option isn’t available on Mac OS X (but the game should force it off itself).

 
My Beacon Map is invisible!?

Windows ATI Catalyst Drivers 12.8 seems to cause this problem for a very small percentage of users. Uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers, or rolling back to the previous version, has fixed it for most people.


 
Why is my mouse is floaty and unresponsive?

I’m looking into it, but in the meantime a driver update has fixed it for some people.



General

What is FTL?

FTL is a spaceship simulation roguelike-like. Its aim is to recreate the atmosphere of running a spaceship exploring the galaxy (like Firefly/Star Trek/BSG etc.) In any given episode of those classic shows, the captain is always yelling “Reroute power to shields!” or giving commands to the engineer now that their Warp Core is on fire.  We wanted that experience, as opposed to the “dog fighting in space” that most videogames focus on.  We wanted a game where we had to manage the crew, fix the engines, reroute power to shields, target the enemy life support, and then figure out how to repel the boarders that just transported over!

 
Where can I buy it?

Steam offers Windows and Mac builds: http://store.steampowered.com/app/212680

GOG.com has a DRM free Windows version along with bonus content (some music tracks and concept art).

Our website gives you access to a Windows, Mac OSX , and Linux version, all DRM-free, as well as a Steam key.

 
What does it cost?

It costs $9.99 USD.  That price is worldwide on GOG.com and through our website, but Steam will have the normal conversions of £6.99 / €9.99 / 249 rubles / $7.99 in CIS territories.

 
What is the gameplay like?

The game is split into two major parts: exploration and combat. You explore by travelling instantly with your FTL drive between discrete “Jump Beacons;” every location contains a text-based event that has a variety of choices and outcomes.  Your ship can be upgraded with advanced weaponry and equipment purchased with collected scrap metal, while your crew will improve with experience. Fighting enemy ships involves real-time management of crew, power distribution and weapons. It can be frantic with many problems thrown at you at once, but you can pause the game at any time to give orders to your crew (much like Baldur’s Gate). Check out the video on the front page to see it in action.


That’s too long, what’s a shorter description?

Tom Francis of Gunpoint described it as “Firefly by way of Spelunky.” It has also been compared to Weird Worlds and Battlestations.

 
How is that a roguelike?

We use the term loosely, mostly just as a representation for some of the main thematic elements of the genre. This includes permadeath, randomly generated game worlds, relatively short play sessions (5-90 minutes), and a single-player focus.

 
What keeps me coming back for more space adventures?

There are already over 25,000 lines of text in the events in the game (and we’re still not done). Many events have secret options that can only be unlocked with special equipment, and  most of the events have multiple possible outcomes to keep them fresh. In addition to the events, the huge variety of weapon types and strategies ensures that no game will be the same.

 
Who are the developers?

We are Justin Ma (artist/designer) and Matthew Davis (programmer/designer).  This two person development team is based out of Shanghai, China.

 
Who did the lovely music?

All of the music and sound is done by our talented sound designer across the Pacific, Ben Prunty.

 
Anyone else involved?

After the Kickstarter, we started working with Tom Jubert (a writer of Penumbra fame), who has done a brilliant job fleshing out the multiple alien races in the galaxy.

 
What are your plans for player created content / modding?

It’s something we’d love to have, but will likely be outside of our initial scope. We’re open to considering it post release.

 
Can I help you translate the game into other languages?

We may take you up on that offer in the future, but we’re focused on the English version for now. Localization will be an ambitious project since there are tens of thousands of lines of text in the game.

Fantastic to see this early Roguelike bounty from the Kickstarter craze at last manifesting in full for all!  

Best price currently is for $8.99 on GoG on the temp, normal price right at $10 across the board:

http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/faster_than_light

[Darren Grey]

This is stretching the ARRP tag quite a bit :-P Cool to see something good finally come from Kickstarter though.

[getter77]

Heh, the "ARRP'ish" tag has existed since times immemorial, such as last year, roughly, at least in spirit...   

Things I see tomorrow morning when I wake up will get a standard "ARRP" designation, though I hope people feel free to post new topics for their own goodies if there isn't one they can bump then I just update the title to reflect and all.

[getter77]

v1.02.3

here's an updated changelog with a few more additional fixes for 1.02.3. The patch is now officially live on Steam and we're in the process of getting it to GOG.com and the HumbleStore (for people who purchased on our website). Unlike Steam, we don't have instant access to those builds so I do not know how long it will take for them to go live. I'll make sure to make an announcement when they do.

If anyone has any problems at all, please email zasdarq@ftlgame.com, make a post on this forum, or make a post on GetSatisfaction.com/ftlgame

If you have issues with the new way fullscreen works (in some situations, it's a downgrade in quality for some monitors / systems), then there's a new setting "Fullscreen - FTL Native Resolution" that should be identical to how it was previously so use that

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello everyone!

I've uploaded a beta patch for some of the more common solve-able bugs and issues that have come up in the last week since release. You'll need Steam to access it for now since it's still undergoing testing before releasing it out to everyone. So check it out if it lists things that have been causing you problems or if you feel like being helpful and testing

If you come across bugs in this patch specifically, when you report them on the forum, GetSatisfaction, or via email (zasdarq@ftlgame.com) please specify that you are using the Beta Patch for v1.02

Accessing the patch

Right click on FTL in Steam and select "Properties". From the "Beta" tab you can choose to opt into the Beta Builds. Put in the password "betapatch" (without the quotes) and press "Check Password" and it will download. If you have any issues at all, you can just revert back to None from that tab and it will re-download version 1.01. The downloads should only be about 5 MB so it won't take long either direction.

Changelog 1.02

Compatibility Changes:

    Older laptops experiencing "overly pixelated" or distorted images should now function
    MacBooks with ATI X1600 video cards will potentially function both in fullscreen and windowed. I do not have access to a MacBook with that video card, so if you're experiencing that problem please update me!
    Mac OS X version now implements Left-Ctrl+Left-Click to be equivalent to Right-Click


Fullscreen Changes:

    Fullscreen stretch now works differently and should be more effective at properly "stretching" to fill your screen
    Monitors that support 2560x1440 should be properly scaling and look much better (I'm jealous)
    Monitors with resolutions less than 1280x720 may now function in Fullscreen Stretched depending on your OpenGL support
    A more elaborate manual mode is available for tweaking your desired resolution effect within settings.ini


Additional Video Settings:

    V-Sync can be activated within options mode. Depending on your system, you still might need to force it on or off from your video card control panel as well.
    Frame limiting is also available from the options. Between the two (V-Sync vs. Frame Limiting), pick the one that works best for you to balance performance and cpu use.


Additional Game Settings:

    Within options you can enable paths to be drawn when hovering over a beacon.
    Dialog keys will now have a brief delay before they are active, this can be disabled within the options.


Other Bugs:

    Start Crash Fix: Sometimes unidentified USB devices could cause FTL to fail to start
    Removed bugged weapon from the secret sector
    Moving crewmembers will still teleport assuming they are in the room of their final destination
    Killing the crew of an enemy ship will count as defeating it for stats
    Selling the Zoltan Energy shield will no longer be bugged
    Federation Ship will properly unlock on victory (and will unlock retroactively for those that experienced this bug)
    Secret Cruiser Type B stealth imagery has been fixed
    Fixed situation where a defense drone could become permanently powered
    Energy Shield can no longer be damaged while jumping, preventing it from properly recharging
    Fixed: Ion Storm and Nebula effects would disappear at beacons where you leave behind an enemy
    Saving in sector maps can no longer sometimes cause you to skip a sector
    Excess error message repeats removed
    Repeated "victory" in Sector 1 after restart fixed
    Possible fix for disappearing quests after Save & Quit
    Possible fix for enemies jumping away despite destroyed piloting
    Fixed freezing enemy AI when low on health and medbay is on fire
    Save & Quit in a store will no longer reduce repair costs
    Typos corrected in tooltips/weapons/events

[getter77]

v1.02.6

-Quick emergency patch to restore functionality to some people with older machines that could play before the patch. If you were experiencing a white screen after loading the game and could play FTL in version 1.01 then you should be ok now.
    Restored functionality to those that don't support certain OpenGL features
    Fixed Zoltan shield display
    Added some additional logging/overrides to help in support

-Fixed some texture rendering issues on Mac OS X and older Windows/Linux machines
-Fullscreen - FTL Native Resolution fixed to accurately provide the pre-1.02 Fullscreen method for older PCs
-Tough Little Ship Achievement fixed
-Fixed exploit that allowed player crew to walk through enemy blast doors, which is also a potential fix for the AI bug of walking through walls/doors (Thanks Unlucky Scarecrow!)
-Defense Drones Don't Do D'Anything and Master of Patience Achievements potentially fixed
-Protection against quests spawning at unreachable nodes
-Crystal Weapons / Missile Weapons will accurately state the number of shots they fire per cooldown
-Minor UI help - clearer tooltips for Cloaking/Teleporting and hotkey numbers for drones
-More event/descriptions/tooltip typos fixed