Presidium- An SF Citybuilder

WIP games, tools & toy projects
#1

EDIT: I only just realised I could modify this post- a lot of the art has been substantially modified by now, and the actual game engine is much more mature. Youtube vid and github codebase here-


I’ll clean this up more later.

http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/6034/bastionx.png

Bastion
Part palace, part fortress, part centre of administration. Houses the governing family of the fief, visiting diplomats, and a cadre of veteran soldiers, technicians, and auditors.

http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/1583/artificerfoundry.png

Artificer’s Foundry
Blacksmith-equivalent. Furnishes weapons, armour, parts and circuitry from ores and plastics. Also pollutes. Needed to build/supervise Reactors, Shipyards or Excavation Sites.

http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/1201/botanicalstation.png

Ecologist’s Conservatory
Used to capture, study, and modify native or introduced species, in order to enhance agricultural output, foment symbiosis, or prevent runaway growth. Needed to construct Botanical Stations, Flesh Stills, Former Plants or Solar Arrays.

http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/7536/cantina.png

Cantina
You will nowhere find a more wretched hive, etc. Provides low-grade entertainment and a ready supply of soma. Tends to attract the criminal underclasses, such as runners and mercenaries.

http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/5450/culturevats.png

Culture Vats
Used to brew up medicine, soma, and, if need be, basic foodstuffs. Takes up less space than farms, but increases pollution and power consumption.

http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/7265/excavationsite.png

Excavation Site
Used to extract ores from the local terrain, either via strip mining, underground shafts, or mantle drilling. Occasionally, excavators can uncover rare and powerful artifacts (and/or robotic guardians best left undisturbed.) Generates significant pollution.

http://img801.imageshack.us/img801/2368/fabricator.png

Fabricator
Weaves plastics and finery from foodstuffs (carbs, protein, greens) or ores.

http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/9219/generatorkq.png

Reactor
Converts ores into power and fuel rods. Essential to constructing Field Projectors, Former Plants or an Atomic Fane, but generates significant waste/pollution.

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/newuploads/67138.png

Field Projector
Erects a defensive shield around a given sector to ward off enemy bombardment, and/or (on marginal worlds,) a containment field to minimise loss of atmosphere. Advanced infrastructure may even permit cloaking.

http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/7905/housegarrison.png

House Garrison
Extends the administrative and military functions of the Bastion, including emergency quarters for base personnel.

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/5149/nurseryq.png

Botanical Station
Used to promote farming/aquaculture/forestry, both as a food source (carbs and greens) and to advance terraforming.

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/7060/physicianclinic.png

Physician’s Clinic
Provides healthcare to the local populace, given an adequate supply of medicine and/or spices, and keeps the dead in cold storage for dissection and possible revival. (Lax security protocols may lead an epidemic of Infected instead.) Needed to construct a House Archives, Culture Vats, Detention Facility or Minder’s Creche.

http://img828.imageshack.us/img828/9839/plazau.png

P.L.A.Z.A
Short for Personnel Life-support Administration Zone Access. A sort of ‘town square/fountain’ combination, also helping to recycle waste/water and provide beautification.

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/8885/pleasuredome.png

Pleasure Dome
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan, etc. A place for upper-class citizens to go and unwind. (Think Star Trek’s Risa crossed with the Companion training house from Firefly.)

http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/6936/pressoffice.png

Press Office
Generates prolefeed to keep your populace happy, loyal and intellectually sedated. Can also print a limited amount of physical credits, but that won’t endear you with the Senate.

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/8505/stockexchange.png

Stock Exchange
A shopping centre for upper class goods- greens, protein, spices, plastics. Allows development- and taxation- of higher tiers of housing nearby.

http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/360/supplydepot.png

Supply Depot
Permits requisition of basic goods- carbs, fuel rods, parts and medicine. Needed for offworld or long-distance trade.

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/6436/surveyorredoubt.png

Surveyor’s Redoubt
A cheaply-built and easily relocated ‘camp’ for the benefit of those brave souls which patrol your borders and map the landscape. Camouflaged to avoid detection.

http://img828.imageshack.us/img828/2482/vaultentrance.png

Vault Entrance
Provides access to your underground vault system, acting as an emergency shelter, long-term storage facility, source of basic power and life support, and light transport system. Poorly-maintained vault infrastrucure can become home to giant roaches and nasty alien critters.

http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/4041/atomicfane.png

Atomic Fane
The Bomb giveth, and the Bomb taketh away. Used to help maintain the delicate balance of power between feuding houses, and often an object of superstitious reverence.

http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/2517/fleshstill.png

Flesh Still
Used to extract water, protein and spices from the dessicated corpses of animals and/or the recently dead. Often takes on a ritual significance within impoverished communities.

http://img846.imageshack.us/img846/2098/refinery.png

Sandpanner
Used to extract small amounts of ores, greens and/or spices from normally unbuildable terrain- deserts, seas and even the open atmosphere. Needs power, but won’t pollute.

http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/3643/fieldquarters.png

Field Quarters
Emergency shelter for base personnel or operations in the field.

I have some actual working code for this project, but it’s undergoing significant overhaul at the moment, so it may be another while before I can provide a working demo, and only a fraction of the above has actually been implemented to date. So no public demo for now. Sorry.

Like the title says, this is my effort at creating a sci-fi citybuilder, loosely based on, among many many other things, Dune, the Foundation series, and one of my personal favourite video games, Majesty, though at present it perhaps owes more to the Impressions lineage. The setting is a vaguely post-apocalyptic space opera affair, mostly focused on politics and with a low level of non-human involvement.

So, for the present, here’s a rundown on various in-game structures. (More to follow, as and when I get around to them.)

#2

Really lovely art, one to watch! :slight_smile:

Kev

#3

Nice.

#4

Thanks. :slight_smile: I’ll keep you posted of any updates.

#5

I love RTS’ and especially dune.
This is relevant to my interests.

#6

Yeah, Dune is a big favourite of mine. Also taking a few hints from the Fallout series. Just added pics/description for the Atomic Fane, Flesh Still, Sandpanner and Field Quarters.

I should caution, though, that the gameplay I have in mind here is only slightly RTS-ish. One of the things I loved about Majesty was it’s very ‘hands-off’ approach to executive power- you just put up bounties for the completion of particular tasks and left your ‘heroes’ to handle the details.

#7

Very nice Art!

Which software you draw this? use Graphics tablet?

#8

I sketch using pen&paper, then scan them in, clean them up, and colour them in photoshop elements. (My initial sketches are often really crappy, but it’s hard to ‘doodle’ freely using a mouse.) I really should invest in a graphics tablet…

#9

I know that an ‘investment’ is relative, but you can get a perfectly fine Wacom Bamboo tablet for 60 EUR (~$85)

#10

Duly noted.

#11

Very cool! What’s soma? At first I thought you were talking about San Francisco:

SF = San Francisco
SOMA = South Of Market Avenue (business district in SF)

:stuck_out_tongue:

I absolutely loved Majesty, so I’m looking forward to seeing your progress.

#12

Mild recreational narcotics- e.g, booze. It’s a reference to the term from Brave New World. (SF means ‘serious’ science fiction, like the Mars Trilogy or 2001, as opposed to ‘frivolous’ science fiction, like Godzilla or Star Wars. They often get mixed up, though… :P)

[quote]I absolutely loved Majesty, so I’m looking forward to seeing your progress.
[/quote]
“She asked me to tell her what it is to rule,” Paul said. “And I said that one commands. And she said I had some unlearning to do.”

Yeah, Majesty was a great game in a lot of respects. I enjoyed the citybuilder series a lot, but nothing gives the characters a sense of genuine personality like seeing them strike off and do things on their own initiative every now and then- (or, conversely, refuse to strike off and do things.) Try getting those monks to chase bounties, for example…

#13

(I should clarify that Star Wars has definite virtues as a storytelling device based on character-personality and action/drama, but my point is that the actual science involved is either flimsy or thematically irrelevant. That’s not a putdown, it’s just a point of classification.)

Added entries for the Detention Facility and Minder’s Creche. Not my best work, but it’ll have to do for now…

The graphics I have left to do are the Former Plant, Archives, Shipyard, Studio, various semi-decorative ‘aura’ buildings, the 6 temples, homes for the non-human races, and various wildlife/native lairs. Oh, and housing. (Strictly speaking, I already have concepts done for the temples and housing, but they need to be revised and updated. Maybe an Ansible Chamber and Enclosure Pylon too…)

#14

How much code do you have? Anything playable? Can we see a picture of gameplay?

#15

I’ve had something semi-playable for a while now, but only a small fraction of the total content has been implemented thus far. There’s a basic screenshot from… I guess over a year ago here.

EDIT: More recent screens are available here.

#16

Tried out the Wacom Bamboo today (yesterday? I lose track…) It takes a little getting used to, but early results seem promising. Much of the details on the Former Plant came that way. Which, as it so happens, is up now, (plus minor tweaks to the Field Projector, Detention Facility and Minder’s Creche.)

#17

It will grow on you. I often don’t know whether I’m holding a mouse of a pen, I have to look :slight_smile:

It’s sad that those wacom bamboo tablets are delivered with such poor default configuration. Take a look at the settings panel and adjust everything to your needs.

Also disable Microsofts’ tablet/pen input service (taskmanager -> services -> …) as it screws up dragging – it adds a 250ms delay and a useless animation around your cursor…

#18

[quote=“Riven,post:17,topic:37009”]
I use a Mac, so the config options seem to be pretty limited. Thanks for the tip, though.

Arena and Archives currently in the works. I’m gonna have to revise the minder’s creche and former plant too.

I’m not sure if I should start a separate thread for this, but does anyone know of a good, relatively simple format for importing/exporting 3d models with animations? I’m using Milkshape at the moment, but the support community there seems to be dead, and I’d like to have some kinda fallback format available.

#19

I had a Wacom on a Mac for years and very much liked it. Unfortunately it fell on the floor and someone put their chair on top of it, and that was that.

#20

Apologies in advance for straying off topic just slightly, but:

Good news! And by good news, I mean bad news. Paradox has announced a turn-based spinoff of Majesty called Warlock: Master of the Arcane. And they’re tasking Ino-Co with it again.

I wish you the best on this project, because it increasingly seems that Majesty would have been better off remaining a retired franchise.