Approaching Infinity (now at v1.3) $

[getter77]

http://www.shrapnelgames.com/Ibology/AI/AI_page.html  Win/Mac $39.95 on launch sale,   Demo available

Kirk. Solo. Reynolds. All famous starship captains, and now your name can be added to the list!

Approaching Infinity is a science fiction rogue-like game of infinite intergalactic exploration and adventure. It is a game of stellar exploration, planetary investigation, starship battles, diplomacy, crafting, commodity trading, and much, much more, all set in a totally procedurally generated infinite universe. In layman's terms this means that with each game an entirely new universe is created, allowing for unlimited replayability.

While rogue-like games are not true role-playing games they do focus on a player generated character, and in Approaching Infinity that character is the starship captain and his (or her) starship. Each starship has its initial strengths and weaknesses, but are upgradable with new and superior components as the captain's career unfolds. Of course no captain ever got to where they were without their Scotty to squeeze out a few more warp factors or Jayne to control planetside disagreements. As the game progresses officers with special skills can join your crew, each contributing to the successes of your adventures. And if they're not contributing there are ways to deal with a bad crew, from firing to letting them lead an away team on a lava world polluted with poison gas and hostile critters.

Approaching Infinity allows the universe to be your sandbox. Explorer, pirate, mercenary, trader, or perhaps a mixture, the where and why of your adventures is entirely up to the player. There are multiple victory conditions that allow a hard win, but there is also simply the sense of satisfaction of your own five year trek across the stars. Create your own self-imposed quests or discover the 140+ custom quests. And in Approaching Infinity the stars truly are infinite: there are no level caps, no limit to the number of maps. To keep it challenging though the further you go the more dangerous the encounters.

Approaching Infinity's universe is not only vast but it is filled with excitement. Discover the wonders of space, from new planets to nebula to radiation belts. Encounter twelve alien races, each with their own agendas and quests. Become a trader and buy low and sell high. Send Away Teams on missions, both planetside and amongst space wrecks adrift in the cosmos. See new worlds and kill new life forms. Battle monsters, alien spacecraft, and even disease. Mine asteroids, loot ancient star temples for mysterious artifacts, and craft new items from the assembly of old items.

Gameplay is highly approachable, with Approaching Infinity taking on the tropes of what makes a "classic" rogue-like game while infusing the game with a modern, player focused commitment. Beautiful retro-visuals provided by David Gervais (known for his various rogue-like tilesets, along with other science-fiction titles), and immersive music by Nathan Becker aka 'ectogemia', transport players into Approaching Infinity's realm. Control can be mouse or keyboard. An intelligent interaction system allows players to focus on gameplay and not a multitude of commands.

Approaching Infinity's nods to classic rogue-like play includes permadeath, procedurally generated environments (with over thirty different generation algorithms), random creatures, items, and quests. Artifacts must be identified and there is a ticking oxygen clock for away missions. Yet, thanks to the ability to turn permadeath off, the ease of play, helpful tooltips, and more, this is a player's rogue-like game; a game of endless adventure, a game of 'one more turn'.

Ultimately, Approaching Infinity is about your story amongst the inky darkness of a bejeweled galaxy. Tell it the way you want it told. Be the gruff but lovable space pirate, the alpha leader who personally puts him or herself in danger, the wide eyed explorer who simply wants to absorb the beauty of creation. And when that story is over, start it all over and discover a brand new universe.

Approaching Infinity, the absolute joy of sci-fi adventure on your computer.

Features:

♦  Single-player, addictive turn based rogue-like gameplay in a unique sci-fi universe. "I promise, one more turn and I'm coming to bed, hon..." Oh, you liar, you.

♦  Available for both Windows and Mac.

♦  Designed for both casual and experienced players of the rogue-like genre. Tool tips, contextual commands, tutorial, and a sensible UI all help to make Approaching Infinity highly accessible.

♦  Permadeath (one life per game) is optional.

♦  Multiple difficulty levels.

♦  Procedurally generated environments. Explore planets, derelict vessels, temples, space stations, ruined cities, and alien embassies.

♦  Enjoy both randomly generated and hand crafted quests, along with various victory conditions of differing difficulties.

♦  Truly infinite play! No level caps, no end to the maps. Play forever.

♦  Encounter over 70+ devices, 50+ skills, 98+ effects, and 99+ monsters.

♦  Hire officers that can level up and acquire new skills.

♦  Create Away Teams, but be warned, if the captain goes down and dies a horrible (or even a pleasant) death, it's game over. The captain can't always sit it out in his chair though, as sometimes only the captain can solve the encounter.

♦  A nifty "pay it forward" mechanic. Spend current game currency to invest in future games!

♦  Full modding support, including a separate modding manual.  Violate intellectual property laws with new visuals, names, quests, and more, no coding needed.

♦  Robust achievement system! Earn achievements that give real rewards in the form of additional "pay it forward" credits. Available only in permadeath and non-modded modes.

♦  Games should be fun and Approaching Infinity has a wry sense of humor, along with plenty of references to your favorite sci-fi properties.

♦  Infinite stories, infinite enjoyment.

And thus, IBOL's bold gambit begins in earnest!   

[reaver]

$40?! Bold indeed!

[jim]

Anyone played the demo? I'm not above dropping $40 on a video game, but I'd be expecting a AAA experience.

[getter77]

$40 is the launch sale price, like pretty much everything on Shrapnel I'd reckon the full and normal price to be a bit higher.  Fun fact:  This is the first Roguelike to be sold via Shrapnel in a great many years---last one was Scallywag: In the Lair of the Medusa ages on back.

With the demo, and his plans for post-release support...well...he's got something of a fighting chance at this price point though he will indeed need to hustle as most people will definitely have high expectations in line with previous Console and Handheld Roguelikes out of Japan.

Though....if he manages to captivate the war gaming audience that Shrapnel itself tends to cater to, that would be a fair number of players right there.

I guess it all depends on what his overall goals and targets are in the long haul beyond just making an awesome Roguelike space adventure.

[jim]

Well... I bought it. 

[Samildanach]

Eesh. I backed the project on Kickstarter but...$40. Ambitious. I'm not sure about the wisdom of pitching the price point at equivalent to a AAA mainstream release. Time will tell, I suppose.

[mushroom patch]

Why not? AAA titles are ridiculously cheap. Lots of people play them for tens or hundreds of hours and do so at a rate of like fifty cents per hour or less. Think of the hourly rate you'd be paying if you bought nethack for 40 bucks.

[Samildanach]

I'm not talking about whether it's good value, I'm talking about how it'll be seen by consumers. I remember a bit of anti-pricing basklash when the Binding of Isaac became popular. People kept saying "why would I want to pay $15/$20/etc for *insert game here* when I can pay $5 for the Binding of Isaac?" It doesn't matter that the value is still good. Many consumers are simple creatures and will just compare what they get for $40 in different games. It might be fine. I hope it is. But it's a bold play and not one I'd have had the balls to make.

[chooseusername]

Why not? AAA titles are ridiculously cheap. Lots of people play them for tens or hundreds of hours and do so at a rate of like fifty cents per hour or less. Think of the hourly rate you'd be paying if you bought nethack for 40 bucks.

AAA titles are ridiculously overpriced.  If I am considered to be paying an hourly rate should I enjoy it, do they pay me an hourly rate if it is a lame duck?  No, the use of hourly rate is hopelessly flawed, like all similar confusing notions that get employed to paint the desired picture.

[reaver]

AAA titles are ridiculously overpriced.  If I am considered to be paying an hourly rate should I enjoy it, do they pay me an hourly rate if it is a lame duck?  No, the use of hourly rate is hopelessly flawed, like all similar confusing notions that get employed to paint the desired picture.

True that. Also, for AAA you pay for production values, not for hourly enjoyment anyway. In any case, with internet economics, 40$ is just ludicrous, unless I guess you expect 50 people to get your game, so that you burn the costs.

[mushroom patch]

Both in terms of the risk and cost of production to the companies who make them and in terms of average value to the consumer considered over a long period of buying AAAs, $40 is a very low price. $40 is the cost of a couple DVDs. Or two and a half 12 packs of reasonable quality beer. Historically, video games have been considerably more expensive than they are today as well.

I don't see how you can value a media product without taking into account the amount of entertainment it provides. In the case of AAA games, this is often quite a lot. The fact that it sometimes isn't brings down the average, but does not undermine the overall analysis: today's AAA games provide a very economical source of entertainment relative to other media products and historical video games going back decades. And let's not even get into comparisons with other popular hobbies...

[jim]

That was more or less the justification I used when purchasing. "I'm about to spend $40 on ingredients for beer and taco night... I can spend $40 on a niche game that fits my interests."

So far, it's plenty fun and plenty OCD, though some of the game's features, such as diplomacy, don't really exist (yet.)

[jim]

Although, for $40, and in a game where limited oxygen can kill your entire away team, you'd think this guy would have managed to fix his auto-explore before release. My entire group charged in a random direction and asphyxiated. Lame. Game is now worth $30.

[Samildanach]

I don't see how you can value a media product without taking into account the amount of entertainment it provides.

I agree but it seems like most consumers don't think about it that way. It's not that I don't think AI is worth $40, it's just that I think it's going to be a hard sell to the punters. I hope I'm wrong. I'd like to see it do well.

[reaver]

IANA economist, but I think the final value is a function of production costs (number of employees x employment time), perceived entertainment value and target market economy. Do these guys have so much greater production costs than other indie titles? Do they think that their product provides that much better entertainment than all other indie titles?