If you have been following along with our start up project Threshold you will know that we did not get the funding we required to begin developing the game in earnest. While this is sad news for Threshold, it is great news for First Command, seeing as First Command is the backup plan.
Due to its 2D nature and more easily implemented mechanics First Command is much less taxing to create. However, there have been some changes since the version you last saw here, all of them good in my opinion. The most notable change is that the ships are no longer an assembly of hallways, but rather are built out of blocks. The player can effectively paint walls and floors down to lay out the framework of their ship around a core. This allows for much more intricate designs and also hands ship building to the player right out of the box.
It also changes how ships take damage. Where the original version had large important parts that would be destroyed only after a lot of hits, this new block system means the player can lay down individual armor blocks. Each block can take damage and break apart. Unlike the original version, however, parts that have been severed from the core WILL break off and float away. Using techniques we learned while developing threshold, the fabled fracturing of ships is now not only a confirmed feature, it is mostly implemented already.
We also overhauled how movement works. Depending on the speed at which the ship can rotate (determined by its mass vs. installed internal dampeners) using the W A S D keys will give the ship a direction. If the ship is not pointing in that direction it will have to turn around before moving. This gives larger ships a much weightier feel.
We are currently getting ready to go after Steam Greenlight for a Pre-Alpha release so look out for us there. We will have more news and possibly a video or two up in the next week or so, and we will most likely be including a demo when we go after Greenlight.
Hope to see you there,
Steven M. Palermo
