New demo patch this weekend. New demo video.
Linux demo on the way.
Hi,
I have made some really nice improvements to the preview demo's AI system as well as improved bot (enemy ships) images and physics (weapon and bot velocities). I have increased the weapon velocities for bots and added laser/bullet images that are visually easier to identify. I have also changed the distribution of bots throughout the map putting half of them inside the base and half outside the base. The ones outside the base are on both the east and west sides. This redistribution and new AI improvements make for a enjoyable demo. Bots are of course here to demonstrate the player vs player MMO online play to come.
I have made an official HD preview demo video available that shows the new improvements that will be available in the demo patch coming this weekend (by Sunday 3-8-15) . I have 'amp'ed up' the weapons on the players ships to better handle the bots, but not too much in order to keep the demo challenging. I may also add a 'bot horde' survival mode where all 300 bots will appear outside of the base (west side). Just for fun and a show of how well the game engine can handle the stress. :)
I have a working build of the preview demo running in Linux. :D I just need to have it tested on a few other Linux systems to make sure it's ready to go. I have compiled it on Debian 7 (Wheezy) using pulse audio. It runs well and should work on most flavors of Linux. The Linux build is important because the server and other support programs will need to run on Linux systems to be effective as an MMO. A Windows server is always possible but the backbone of the internet runs on Unix/Linux.
I will be working on a Mac OS-X build next. The challenge here is acquiring Mac hardware to compile and test the build on. If you have a dual core mac system you can donate please contact me. It will be a more then a couple of months before I can afford to get one on my own.
I have also started back up server development and the focus now is getting the game online which is where we all want to be. The plan is to move my existing server to a Linux VPS (Virtual private server) and begin improving it and developing the other essential (small) programs needed to support large scale online game play. After building up the core game engine I am earger to get the game online.
So, as soon as I am confident in the Linux build of the preview demo I will release it. This should be no more then a week or two so look for it soon. Windows users can download the current preview demo available here. Be sure to check the downloads section this weekend (by 3-8-15) for the new demo patch (Windows), it really is a nice improvement. You can also follow Phoenix USC on our website.
Regards,
- Rich -
