Not really. All of my visual conception so far has come from your art... by story screen you mean the opening screen behind the main menu? I think that's a great idea.

@DJ:  Sure, I'm happy to take a look at each version and give my thoughts on changes and such.

@BurningPet: That alien head looks terrific.  Do you mind if I ask what program you use for colouring?  I use Adobe Photoshop CS3 for my colouring, however I'm clearly lacking in the skills department.

Thanks very much for that link Burningpet, Sculptris looks like a fantastic program!  I'll download it tonight.  I use Blender to create my in-game models, however Sculptris might be a better place to start the initial sculpture/model and use Blender to then create the lower-res in-game version (as is the norm).  Enjoy the karma.

 

Ooooo cool alien! I'll definitely find a place for that!

Here's a tutorial I'll include with the next version of the game:

Introduction:

Fangorodrim is not a top down shooter. Well, it does that but that's not what makes the game fun. This was inspired by "Sins of a Solar Empire" which gives it RTS and RPG elements as well. For example, you build structures to gain access to energy, metal, research, fleets, ship repairs, defense and more. Some structures require research before you can build them. Some abilities require research (e.g. warp drive). There are some things you can't accomplish without first building a fleet. Some technologies are found throughout the galaxy (after survey tech is researched). This is not a fast nimble shooter game.

Notes:

1. You win by colonizing all of the sectors.
2. Should take about an hour to win on medium map and normal difficulty.
3. Tested on Win XP, Vista, Win 7 systems
4. Freeware game, no strings attached

Early combat:

In the beginning of the game, your ship is weak and slow. When enemies appear, keep your structures between your ship and the enemy. Your attacks go through structures while the enemy fire is stopped.

Building strategy:

All buildings should be clustered around the gravity well.

Optimal building and research order to start the game:

1. Build research lab

2. Research power plant

3. Build 2 power plants

4. Research mining facility

5. Build 1 mining facility. Note: Mining facilities must be built in contact with the gravity well.

6. Research defense drone.

7. Build 2 defense drones on opposite sides of the planet. This is why you cluster buildings around the planet. 2 defense drones can effectively fight off enemy invasions for a long time.

8. Research bomb technology.

9. Research warp technology.

Getting to step 9 should take 5-8 minutes. This is a good time to save your game. Hit <esc> and click the Save Game button. Then click the Return button to clear the main menu and return to the game. You are now ready to warp to the next sector and establish another colony. This is why you researched Bomb tech early. As you may have discovered the difficult, painful way, your ship can not go head to head with the pack of aliens waiting for you in the next sector. Here are a couple of strategies to establish your second colony:

1. Wait in your home sector until you have enough energy and metal to quickly build a colony and 2 drones in the next sector (boring). Nevertheless, you still have to fight a big group of baddies once you get there.

2. Test your maneuvering and endurance skills early (fun). If you survive this strategy, you will certainly gain 1 or 2 levels in experience.

Hint: once the colony is built, the large invasions stop in that sector until much later on in the game.

Conquer the Sector (with your weak and slow ship):

Fly into the sector and wait in the middle for the attack wave to arrive. Be ready to build the colony on the way in and defense drones (around the planet) if you have the resources. Take out the kamikaze alien with a bomb. He will fly right into it as he makes a bee-line to explode in your face.

Once you see where the main attack force is coming from, move to the opposite corner and open up with the cannon. If you're lucky, you may take out a peon with this initial barrage. Right before you start taking damage fly past the group and drop a bomb. Stay in that direction for as long as possible because they will follow you and fly right into the bomb. Now you can fly circles around them, dipping in close and dropping tactical turds along the way. It is possible to take out 3 or 4 Peons with 1 bomb, but the Brutes absorb more damage. A good tactic is to have at least 1 defense drone providing support as you fly around the sector.

Expansion:

The minimum in each sector should be a colony and 2 defense drones. If you are playing the large map, research logistics until you can build at least 5 drones in each sector. The invasion forces get larger as you get more colonies.

Recommendation: Complete Shield and Survey research before you get to sector 4.

Hint: The factory repairs ships and restores shields.

It looks great! The only thing that bothers me is that its more appropriate for a "Mortal Combat" type game. I like the style. Is it possible to get a space theme in there instead of the fighter? Planets, ships attacking or being attacked, space platforms... that kind of stuff?

while the new interface helped to clear out the screen, it still needs much improvment.

i think that the pop up screens should automatically close if you are not hovering above them after about a second or so, the need to click away can distract.

a better and immediate indication of the resources you have is much needed, i think it should be stickied and seperate from the other screens. the heart at the right is a totally diffrent language from the rest of the game, a better option would be to just put a wireframe of the main ship and have it colored green yellow and red based on its health. i think it should also move back to the right, as it looks seperated and empty at the right side.

while the research and build bars are better, the fact that they are colored based on what behind them is a bit problematic, as there are certain sectors which it is either hard to llook at it, or just gets colored badly. i will try to mock up a diffrent approach soon, an approach in which the interface borders are hand drawn.

it will help to put a "build" and "research" buttons available when the bars are closed. right now having to remember the hotkeys is an unneccecary task for the player. also, better, more simplistic "close window" arrows would help defining a language for the interface.

in the meanwhile, i painted the escort and cruiser ships, let me know what you think.

 edit - here's what i had in mind for the hand drawn interface. btw, how do you make the color tansparent in the game? simply lowering its alpha? do you have an option to make it "screen" or "overlay"?

Hey, the new ships look great in-game. I'm amazed how even the engine effects line up perfectly.

Todo list for v1.36:

1. Resource indicators

2. Ship indicator

3. Sector under attack indicator

4. Make description boxes go away a few seconds after mouse exit.

After v1.36:

Fleet management screen (turning out to be more difficult)

Wow!

This is a fantastic project you both are working on.  I will download and playtest this for you today.  Keep up the great work!

@celicakydd, I look forward to your feedback.

@burningpet, I think the tubes in the back should be part of the center. Your buildings are good but not out of this world fantastic like your other work. Even so, I don't want to start replacing buildings until they are all done. And then the research icons must match, on and on.... Oh, and the numbers idea for the resources is exactly what I was thinking!

That alien is crazy good! If you want to animate something, animate those tentacles (I know that's a lot of work).

I should have v1.36 published in an hour or so.

been a long time since i animated a gif, i usually animate in 3d or with flash, but photobucket wouldnt allow me to upload flash files.

anyway, here it is..

if its looking like what you imagined, just say so and ill upload it as a one image strip like in the building block image.

got a problem, the image is too long for me to upload it to photobucket. is it possible to just download the gif and deconstruct it?

btw - saw the latest version, i'll write my thoughts on it tommrow.

I think I got the animation working, now I'll see if I can get it working in the code.