Stellar Evolution: Aria

The new version of the game drops the pre-existing and relatively dull active time battle system I had built in favour of something a little more fresh in execution that allows you to fight up to 16 enemies simultaneously on the screen at any one time. This better captures the ‘clash of fleets’ that I have in mind for the higher level battles later in the game.

You play primarily from the perspective of a single ship (the Aria) which is the centre of command for a fleet that you have to recruit and build (more on that at a later date). Because of this combat runs on a timer in two ways. Firstly you must wait for your ships combat computer to recharge before you can take an action, in a manner similar to an ATB system, and secondly with combat as a whole being timed by a decreasing bar that when empty declares the battle a draw and kicks you out to try again without the penalty of a loss. In order to speed up the computer you can level your ship, which obviously has additional benefits, whilst the main battle timer can be reset if timer icons that drop onto the battlefield are collected. The options that become available to you once your computer is charged vary depending on what you have done outside of combat, but summarize into the following options.

ATTACKS are preset and locked at 1 damage per attack regardless of your ship level, however you gain a total number of attacks per turn equal to your ship level (and stackable for later use to a total of 10) meaning that a level 1 ship will gain only 1 attack choosing the attack option, whilst a level 5 ship will gain 5 that turn which can be spread out across multiple targets. Attacking a target resets their own personal ATB timer and keeps you safer for longer.

ESCAPING can be done at any time that you have a fully charged computer and allows you to quit out of combat with none of the penalties of losing.

LAUNCHING SHIPS is the path toward victory and requires some work outside of combat to acquire and build a stock of each of the games four ship types. Ships each have their own radius of effect. For example the Terran made Kestrel Fighters affect the whole middle-left row of 4 squares and deal 10 points of damage to everything in that row at the time. The downside being that they are effectively an expendable resource and in turn must be replaced by building a new fighter. You can have a maximum stock of 10 of each ship type in your fleet at any time.

CHARGING attacks is not a command as much as it is a bonus given for playing well. If you succeed in keeping from taking harm for a pre-determined period of time in a battle the charge meter will fill. Once full the next time you choose to attack you will instead strike every square on the battle grid for a point of damage and reset all enemy ATB gauges. This drops the charge gauge to zero again. The gauge will reset if you take any shield damage at any time whilst charging.

SystemNET is the name of the in-game news feed and research tool that the player can access from their base location within the Sol System (named Eclipse Station). It's a hybrid news feed and internet setup that allows the player to familurize his or her self with the history of the setting, immediate events elsewhere in the war effort, and research locations, races and ships that the characters will be interacting with. As you progress through the game new entries will be added. I find that games with interesting settings are always better when they allow you to go in at your own pace and discover things about what's going on or make connections between objects in their own heads rather than having it force-fed to you in exposition that would be better saved for plot relevant events. Eclipse station will also have the first of several planned 'Consortiums' that act as locations where the player can interact with characters they've met and flesh out personal backgrounds. This is my sci-fi equivilent of a pub or inn, where you get to chat to the locals and dig up dirt on what's going on from a more Human perspective.

RECENT GAME UPDATES:
Last night I ripped out and replaced all of the system graphics to allow for a more smoothly implemented and better looking system set to be used. The new blue set looks both futuristic and reminiscent of more traditional JRPG fair and sparks less of a sombre note. It's a variant on the one I created for the Steel Knights game last year.

The bulk of this game takes place in a location of space close to Earth called the 'Versane System', which plays host to the four main objectives of the game. These four objectives are spread out across four very different worlds within the system, and you will have to travel between them in order to accomplish your overall goal. Luckily for you the ‘H.M.S Iago’ is your base of operations throughout the game, and it will ‘Jump’ into a close orbit to each planet in turn as the game progresses, launching your fighter and giving you a clear run at the world in question. This is where System Maps come into play. From these you will chart a path to the planet in question (possibly taking the odd detour in order to achieve sub-quests) by fighting your way through the orbital defenses across multiple locations. You can of course double back to the Iago at any time in order to buy supplies and evaluate mission objectives among other things.

Obviously you can’t rush to the end-goal right away, you’ll have to take it one location at a time as the map unfurls but can double back over any location as many times as you like. The actual layout goes something like this (when streamlined to just the basics) with the next location only appearing on the map after the first is cleared:

THE IAGO --> QUAD 1 --> QUAD 2 --> QUAD 3 --> WORLD

Those areas on the map bigger than the average location (or ‘Quad’ – short for Quadrant) represent battles, which count down to zero as you fight your way through several rounds of combat in order to clear them for rewards and additional story development scenes. Completion of the main mission alone will only score you a moderate rank, whilst finishing each of the sub-quests (which are optional to the game) will up your ranking and increase the reward you receive at the end of the mission.

DEVELOPMENT NOTE:
At this time I have completed the first System Map (which will make up the first half of the demo on release – the second half taking place on the planet ‘Primos’ itself and use a different play style) and am working on populating each of the points with tough battles and some imaginative set-pieces. I have also fully developed the first briefing sequence to include several questions you can ask, and am working on the Iago’s many different in-game functions.