Topic: Latest word from Miner Wars

[-<WillyP>-]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
“So this is our staff. They have… inner beauty” says Marek Rosa

Prague, Czech Republic – August 9, 2011 – Keen Software House releases team photos and pictures from the office and a sneak peek at some new prefabs in the background preparation for the latest, largest patch update for Miner Wars.

Keen Software House is taking off the paper bags and showing their faces to the world. To see the people who’re bringing you the new Miner Wars 2081 title, please visit - http://www.minerwars.com/ForumTopic.aspx?id=1945.
As you can see, they didn’t want to miss anyone, so they’ve photoshopped in their Community Manager, Audio Director, and Marketing Director. See if you can pick out which have been pasted in!
Also included are pictures of the head office. As seen on Google Maps! 

To whom prefabs may concern, the Miner Wars team has been working hard to provide plenty of them. Here are a few screenshots of the latest on offer - http://www.minerwars.com/ForumTopic.aspx?id=1945.
You too will be able to make objects like these when the editor feature is made available on the August 30th release. Many, many, many new features will be open for play when this patch finally premieres!

A reminder that Founder Marek Rosa also has a new personal blog which is charting the progress of Miner Wars and giving his personal insights into the industry. The blog can be found at http://blog.marekrosa.org/ and is updated on a regular basis.


Miner Wars 2081 is a first-person action-survival space simulation game set in the year 2081. This first installment of the Miner Wars franchise is currently being developed by Keen Software House a. s., an independent software company founded by debuting creator and former programmer Marek Rosa, and comprising ex-2K Games staff, as well as former developers from titles such as Descent, Saints Row and Red Faction: Guerrilla.

Platform: Windows, Xbox 360 and iPhone

World release: Q1/2012 for Windows; Xbox 360 and iPhone release dates yet to be announced

[karx-elf-erx]

Cool stuff.

Looks like they have only local programming staff left - which makes sense, but which also makes me glad I never really invested time and effort in this program.

Reading Marek Rosa's blog makes me love C++ even more. C# is great because of all the tools around it and because of the ease you can build programs with it - but in its core I dislike the language. There's too much stuff in it that is killing performance or forcing you to create (imho) unlogical work arounds.

I was playing around with the current alpha build a bit and saw some things that were cool, and some that weren't so cool, but since a big update/upgrade is pending, I'll wait for that and re-evaluate then. What I can say so far is that Miner Wars currently already looks and feels absolutely awesome and also "right" (the movement speed feels very plausible and convincing - I am feeling like in a space movie). On my 30" S-IPS monitor it looks plain gorgeous and as panoramic as a space game should look. Fortunately I could get rid of the scratched cockpit glass by disabling the cockpit altogether (I never was a big fan of cockpit views anyway; they obscure more imo than they add to the game. The only advantage in Descent is the increased FOV).

The only thing I dislike is having sound in space; I wish there was an option to turn that off and only hear sounds that can actually be transmitted through your ship's hull (like engine sound, missile release and firing guns). Btw, I am not entirely sure about it, but it seems like tri-chording works in Miner Wars.

[Scyphi]

Nice to hear Miner Wars is still progressing. I stopped checking up on their progress awhile ago because there was too little new info too infrequently to really make it worth my while, but looks like that could be changing here very soon.

As for realism in games, you're not the first to suggest stuff like this Karx. Several, several, users on the Miner Wars forums have suggested that and more, and it's caused some minor divisions last I saw. Some wanted picture-perfect realism, others wanted realism stretched, others didn't care, and a select few only wanted a Descent clone (the latter of which I'm kind of leaning towards).

Though I'm okay with the added realism...to a certain degree. Personally I think the realistic sounds you speak of (which in this case boils down more to next to no sound) would be impractical for this kind of game (you wouldn't be able to hear people shooting at you and from where, nor would you be able to hear if you're hitting them back), not to mention boring. It's one of those things where I think realism would actually hurt a game than help it. But that's just personal opinion.

[Foil]

I completely agree about C++ vs C#, Karx.  I took an existing C# project at work and recreated it in C++ last year.  It was an interesting challenge, but it paid off, because the app (a reporting tool) now runs faster and integrates better with our other C++ work.

[karx-elf-erx]

Scyphi,

I don't want a hyper realistic space game. I think a few "realism" tweaks could be easily incorporated in the game and be made toggleable via a menu entry.

Foil,

btw. Keen Software has managed to acquire one million euros to continue game development. I still think that if Miner Wars is going to be what they envision, it will be a worthy heir to both Descent and Freespace.

[Scyphi]

Understood, Karx. Was just putting in my two bits on the matter.

[VANGUARD]

Platform: Windows, Xbox 360 and iPhone


I guess I won't be playing this game. Who even has that stuff anyway?

I have an iMac; could use a Linux OS somewhere. I have a PS3 and a flip phone.

[Scyphi]

I'm trying to figure out how the iPhone version is going to work...

I'm covered though, got Windows.

[Matthew]

Platform: Windows, Xbox 360 and iPhone


I guess I won't be playing this game. Who even has that stuff anyway?

I have an iMac; could use a Linux OS somewhere. I have a PS3 and a flip phone.

Honestly if you want to game you need windows in some form or another. It's just one of those (sad?) facts of life. Although their choice of C# over C++ is somewhat disappointing this day of cross-platform indie-games. But from what I understand, you basically have a choice of C# or nothing if you want to release on 360. Though I've no clue where the iPhone fits in with all this. Quad-core gaming rig with 22" monitor (for example), Gaming Console with 52" HDTV (Again, for example)... Single-core 800MHz smartphone with 3.5" display. That just doesn't even make sense, and to me just screams "Sell-out"

[Scyphi]

Exactly why it's got me puzzled.

I suppose I can see a watered down version that exploits the tilting motion-sensing scheme (example: tilt up, go up, tilt down, go down, tilt side to side, go side to side etc.) which might be all right, depending on how it turns out, but still...it seems...unfitting.