{"author_name":"Doches","cat":"October Challenge 2010","comments":[{"author_name":"","time":"September 30, 2010 1:44 pm","epoch":1285872240,"text":"omg. WANT.","spam":"N"},{"author_name":"","time":"September 30, 2010 2:02 pm","epoch":1285873320,"text":"Very cool man.","spam":"N"},{"author_name":"","time":"September 30, 2010 2:27 pm","epoch":1285874820,"text":"Thanks, guys; I do try.","spam":"N"},{"author_name":"","time":"October 1, 2010 3:22 pm","epoch":1285964520,"text":"Oh man, please make it for the iPhone! This is one of those types of games that I really want to have in my pocket.","spam":"N"}],"epoch":1285865520,"likes":0,"metadata":{"p_key":"69176","p_author":"Doches","p_authorkey":"562","p_urlkey":"104979","p_title":"The October Challenge: Distant Star","p_cat":"October Challenge 2010","p_event":"LD18","p_time":"1285865520","p_likes":"0","p_comments":"5","p_status":"UPD5","us_key":"562","us_name":"Doches","us_username":"doches","event_start":"1282262400","event_key":"4","event_name":"LD18"},"text":"

So today\u2019s officially the last day of September, which means it\u2019s time to throw in my lot with the October Challenge folks. What were you thinking, PoV? Challenging the Ludum Dare to make a game? In a month? One<\/em> game?<\/p>\n

I think we can handle this.<\/p>\n

For the last few weeks, I\u2019ve been hacking away on a medium-sized iPad game; I hadn\u2019t planned on finishing it by October 31st, but (with your collective permission) I\u2019m upping my deadline and making it my October Challenge entry. So, without further ado, I present, for the iPad-owning, grand-strategy-loving among you: Distant Star<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"You

You did play Master of Orion, didn't you?<\/p><\/div>\n

Distant Star<\/strong> is an old-school 4x game (a la Master of Orion or Sword of the Stars) for the iPad. It\u2019s a turn-based strategy game in which you explore the galaxy, assembling massive fleets to conquer your opponents and terraform their planets. Starting from a single system, you build starships, research new technologies, and colonize distant star systems \u2014 but you\u2019re not alone in the galaxy. There are other races out there, with radically different needs, abilities, and psychologies.<\/p>\n

<\/pitch><\/p>\n

\"Look!

Look! It works in vertical, too!<\/p><\/div>\n

Thanks to the couple of weekends and odd evening I\u2019ve put in so far, the core of the game is more-or-less complete. You can build ships, assemble them into fleets, and move those fleets between systems. Obviously, there\u2019s a lot of critical stuff left to write: the AI system is just a shell, the research\/tech tree aspect is completely non-existent, and the whole thing is entirely devoid of graphical shininess. I\u2019ve also made my life significantly more difficult by attempting to support multiple orientations, but with some slight glTranslate\/glRotate cleverness, this shouldn\u2019t be too hard.<\/p>\n

I have to confess: I\u2019m not really making Distant Star for the October Challenge. I\u2019m making Distant Star because I happen to have an iPad and I want to play an old-school 4x game on it. Unfortunately, such a thing doesn\u2019t seem to exist, so I suppose I\u2019ll just have to write it myself. Worse things have happened.<\/p>\n

Anyway: Distant Star<\/strong>, coming for the iPad in early November! I\u2019ll be writing more about it as things progress, over at Expat Games<\/a><\/p>\n \n

Tags: screenshot<\/a><\/p>","time":"September 30th, 2010 11:52 am","title":"The October Challenge: Distant Star"}