March 10, 2006

Exclusive Sword of the Stars Developer Diary – Part 2

“…we have achieved a look that is both uniquely entertaining and very approachable for the newcomer”

Space may not be the final frontier when it comes to the video game genre, but a well crafted space game is certainly a thing of joy.

Sword of the Stars, a PC title, is planned for an early summer release and looks to be counted among the well-crafted space games, opening vistas to the imagination while giving players an entertaining and challenging gaming experience.

Features include:

• 4 races - Human, Hiver, Tarkas and Liir - each with technology advantages and disadvantages.

• Each race has a unique mode of transport between star systems, creating very different styles of play, depending on what race you choose to control.

• Slider bar controls and simplified interface to avoid the confusion of other games without sacrificing depth of gameplay.

• Over 150 distinct technologies to research on a dynamic tech tree that changes from game to game. While the core technology of the tree is consistent, certain offshoots are random from game to game. There is no perfect path up the tech tree to memorize and exploit, because the path keeps changing!

• New technology reflected in detailed ship models, weapons and combat effects. Over 40 weapons from six different weapon classes, in various size classes, from point defense, turrets, and massive spinal mounts!

• Players can design and build ships from three size classes - Destroyer, Cruiser, and Dreadnought - by mixing and matching ship sections (command, mission, and engines), then outfitting them with armor and weapons to suit their preference.

• Up to 8 players can play against the AI and one another over LAN or online.

• Choose from a variety of scenario campaigns to play alone or with friends, each adding more color and depth to the Sword of the Stars universe.

But to truly understand the game from the inside, it is better to go inside and what better way to do that than with the developers chronicling what they are bringing to the game, as well as detailing the state of the development.

In this exclusive GameZone feature, we turn to the Kerberos team for an up close look at the making of Sword of the Stars.

Kerberos Productions Development Diary
Sword of the Stars – Entry 2

Art Design on Sword of the Stars
By Chris Gerspacher, Art Director/Lead Artist

Right from the start we knew we didn’t want this game to look like any of the other space games out there. So many are so dark or filled with huge nebulas everywhere you go – it’s like people forget that space is filled with mainly nothing, which poses the question: how do you make something full of nothing interesting to look at? My goal was to fill this void with interesting ships, where each race was radically unique from the others, various surprises, space oddities and dangerous creatures to discover, and all of this set against a backdrop that would complement, not compete, and at times be awe inspiring.

The main backdrop in Sword of the Stars are the planets, they appear as ever-changing systems, from the time you discover a new world and transform it into a fully terra-formed, colonized and defended place. All this takes place right in front of you. The evolving landscapes, improving atmospheres and city lights as more and more citizens inhabit your world. Brightly glowing hazes surrounding the globes making for some brilliant shots, especially if you catch a planet from its dark-side. Might think twice about taking on a Hiver world, fiery red city lights perfectly ordered in circles and long straight lines, sending out a steady assault of ICBM missiles surrounded by an imposing ring of deadly satellites. A bit of a contrast from the much calmer-looking Liirian world with its oceans filled with elegant tendrils and curling segments of blue and purple lights.

When it came to the ships a lot was considered. We had great racial material created for us, detailing out the culture and day-to-day lives of the aliens that were to pilot and fight in these ships. So our main starting point was to think of how they would build these ships up or how they would design them with all that in mind. At the beginning of designing each race we would flesh out the general look for the entire race. This would always go through several iterations before we would achieve a look we would be happy with. A lot of time what looks good on paper wouldn’t translate well into 3D. Each race started out the exact same way, each with the basic colony ship. Side by side, these ships look much different stylistically but when you look closely it’s obvious that they all serve the same function. The ships were designed around purpose second only to racial style. Not just any pokey bits or items tacked on would do; if it didn’t have a reason being on the ship, it wasn’t included. We would come up with different motifs for each race, like the Hiver sensors are based off of various antennae designs and spherical arrays, Tarkas have expanding panel arrays, Humans have rotating radar dishes and the Liir with their spikey crowns and bulbous attachments. Sometimes designs would go a bit far and need to be pulled back a bit. I can remember more then one instance where a Hiver ship had to be redone because it was looking a little too buggish (another stereotype that we were trying to downplay - insects piloting larger insects). There was an early version of a Deep Scan destroyer that was looking a l’il bit like a crayfish or something like that.

Having to work with the three-section design was a challenge as well. In SotS, each ship is made up of a command section at the front, a mission section, and an engine, which the player can mix-and-match. With each new section created we would have to keep in mind all the ones previously made, making sure every section worked in every combination, minimizing the connection points, making sure there were no intersecting bits at the connection points. With 70-plus sections for each race it was a lot to keep track of.  When it comes to ships art isn’t simply about how they look either.  Ships in SotS are real, functional models of starships. Where a turret is placed governs weapon arc, vulnerability, and when combined with other turret placements, the overall effectiveness of a ship. While ships in SotS look very cool, the more you look at them the more you realize just how much thought went into them being so much more than just cool to look at.

In terms of gameplay, one of the goals stylistically that we were trying to get away from was the cold, grey steel feel of so many other space games. Sterile grey and blue interfaces with glowing bits. Shiny silver ships with lots of chrome and mirrored glass. Things we’ve seen a million times in games over the years and haven’t seen the end of. We tried to go for a much warmer color palette on SotS. The interface is one of the places we attacked this first. From the brightly colored star-field to the panels of current events user-interface. The ship textures were painted to reflect this as well. High contrast images and hard dark lines were found best at being visible from all distances and being visible in both light and dark situations, which was a constant struggle. There was lots of experimenting with different texture values and lighting setups until we found ones with a good balance.

Another issue that had to be tackled stylishly was just the huge amount of data that is needed in the universe. Never ending pop-ups and spreadsheets were at the top of the list of things to be avoided. We found that data diving or scaling setup was best; zooming in and out will give you more and less information or controls. Everything is accessible from one or two clicks, whether it be from the static side panel, the right click menu, or the buttons that show up when zooming in. Lots of 2D art was generated, depicting various news events and dialogues. We went this way instead of the typical 3D talking heads commonly seen in the genre because we could get more info across in these panels and more actual art and feeling. And we could give far more variety with 2D art. There is nothing more boring than watching the same talking head talking about two radically different events. Again, style more important than following the crowd.

In the end, Sword of the Stars is a dynamically changing sandbox filled with distinct ships. Structures and planets set inside a richly-colored, clean, easy to follow interface. The biggest priority in SotS is for our players to enjoy themselves both in terms of action and in terms of treats for their eyes. As Art Director, I can safely say we have achieved a look that is both uniquely entertaining and very approachable for the newcomer.

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