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BFTSS - The Pandoran War
StephenJSweeney


Joined: 29 Mar 2015
Posts: 15
All,

I'm currently working on a new game: a 2D mission-based space shooter, known as The Battle for the Solar System: The Pandoran War. It's based on a space opera novel trilogy I wrote some years ago, hence the long name..!

The game is open source (with various different licenses for the data, graphics, sound, and music). It's available on github:

https://github.com/stephenjsweeney/tbftss

I'm currently working on the v0.2 branch, although Master should compile and run (based on v0.1). A rather ropey WIP gameplay manual exists, too.

Screenshot:



Only a UNIX make file right now, but if anyone wants to create one for Windows, Mac, etc., I can add it to the repo.

Regards,

Steve
StephenJSweeney


Joined: 29 Mar 2015
Posts: 15
I've completed another release! The game is now up to v0.2! Hurrah! This release comes with a number of updates: new fighters, new mission types, and lots of under the hood stuff. I'm going to get cracking on v0.3 in the next few days.

The GitHub repo has been updated (v0.2 merged in to master), so anyone who wants to have a play can clone that and enjoy a stablish release.

A couple of new screenshots:



StephenJSweeney


Joined: 29 Mar 2015
Posts: 15
v0.3 is now available! This release adds:

* New missions.
* Added new stats.
* Flash health and shield bars when under 25%.
* Show warning message and play sound when a missile is launched, targetting the player.
* Added Boost and ECM abilities for player.
* Fixed a bug which messed up the config file saving.
* Added civilian rescue missions.
* New craft: Tug and Shuttle.
* Toned down the AI a bit, to make the battle less difficult and frantic.
* Now showing mission data on the right-hand side of the screen, in place of the target armour and shield.

You can grab the sources here: https://github.com/stephenjsweeney/tbftss

git clone https://github.com/stephenjsweeney/tbftss
git checkout master
make

To run:

./tbftss
StephenJSweeney


Joined: 29 Mar 2015
Posts: 15
V0.4 is now out! Huzzah!

Major changes (from the CHANGELOG)

* Added mouse + keyboard controls (replaces keyboard-only method)
* Added new craft: Kingfisher, Mantis, Rook, Hammerhead, Khepri, Scarab, Thunderhead.
* Added laser cannon - highly effective against shields
* Tweaks to AI system, to make the game easier, use laser cannons, and updates for Shuttles and Tugs
* Added several new missions
* Added rockets - straight-firing missiles, that don't home in. Bombers (Hammerhead, Khepri, and Scarab) have unlimited rockets
* New AI flags to tell craft to avoid combat all together, or to mostly avoid it.
* Messages boxes are now shown during missions, to give the player more information
* All craft have had their armour and shield ratings doubled, to make battles last longer
* Added remote rocket turrets
* Added ECM training mission
* Added Windows makefile
* Added Linux and Windows binary build scripts

You can grab binary files for Linux and Windows from: http://www.battleforthesolarsystem.com/games/pw/index.php

Again, the GitHub address is: https://github.com/stephenjsweeney/tbftss
StephenJSweeney


Joined: 29 Mar 2015
Posts: 15
All,

I'm pleased to announce that v0.5 of The Pandoran War is now available. This version of the game adds a number of new bits and pieces, as well as some bugs fixes:

* Added capital ships
* Added a number of new missions
* Added Mag cannon training mission, at Sol
* Star systems can be fall to the Pandorans (campaign related, unavoidable)
* New craft: the Lynx, a UNF bomber, and supply craft (non-aggressive, avoid combat)
* Added new music and sound effects
* Added debris effect when fighters are destroyed
* Added keyboard alternatives to some mouse controls
* Added icons to HUD system, to help identify abilities and meters
* Misc. AI, mission, and bug fixes

Binaries for Windows and Linux are available here:

http://www.battleforthesolarsystem.com/games/pw/

And you can grab the source code from GitHub:

https://github.com/stephenjsweeney/tbftss
[/list]
StephenJSweeney


Joined: 29 Mar 2015
Posts: 15
v0.6 of The Pandoran War is now available! This update introduces:

* New Campaign missions
* New fighters: Blizzard, Razor, Shale, SK-31, and SK-34, part of the troublesome Kingdom of Tzac
* Control remapping
* Mines
* New game mode: Challenges
* i18n support
* Start of German translation

Linux and Windows binaries are available for download from the dedicated website:

http://www.battleforthesolarsystem.com/games/pw

The source is also available from GitHub:

https://github.com/stephenjsweeney/tbftss

Enjoy!

Steve Smile
NewbProgramming


Joined: 13 Feb 2016
Posts: 18
Cool thanks Very Happy
StephenJSweeney


Joined: 29 Mar 2015
Posts: 15
v0.7 is now available! Changes include:

* Trophies (an offline achievement-like system)
* New campaign missions
* New challenges
* Added a new INF fighter: the Angel (rarely used)
* Messagebox speakers are now highlighted
* New Capital Ships

And another couple of screenshots, just for fun:

Example of the in-game trophy system.



Another capital ship to smash apart..!

ChliHug


Joined: 05 May 2016
Posts: 7
Hey, this is very clean C code. I tried compiling it with MSVC++ 2015 and there were only 4 things I needed to do.
  • Prevent src\plat\win32\win32Init.h from including unistd.h. Don't have that.
  • VC++ doesn't have strcasecmp which is used in src\system\i18n.c. Luckily, SDL implements it so I just used SDL_strcasecmp.
  • Also missing is dirent.h, but other people provide drop-in solutions for the lazy. I used this one.
  • Define VERSION, REVISION and LOCALE_DIR.
And that's it. It compiled and is playable.

I also shortly tested it on a Raspberry Pi and it works there too, if the resolution is right. With too many effects on screen it's getting a bit too slow though. (I only have the first version of the Raspberry Pi)

Thanks for this fun, very portable game.
StephenJSweeney


Joined: 29 Mar 2015
Posts: 15
Thanks for the compliments! Glad you like the game.

Also thanks for mentioning that LOCALE_DIR issue. I found an error in my build system, that was leaving out the locale data from the deb, rpm, and Windows binary builds.

I usually cross-compile the game in Linux, which would explain why you were missing some stuff when you put it into MSVC++. Good to heat they were easy to fix, though.
StephenJSweeney


Joined: 29 Mar 2015
Posts: 15
v0.8 of The Pandoran War is now available. This version contains all the campaign missions, and two-thirds of the Challenges. You can grab the downloads here:

http://battleforthesolarsystem.com/games/pw#downloads

The release is also up at GitHub:

https://github.com/stephenjsweeney/tbftss/releases/tag/v0.8

I'm going to start work on the v0.9 series now, which will involve bug fixes, playing testing, and various other tweaks. The game will probably be all done in the next couple of months! Huzzah! Of course, as we all know v1.0 won't be the end of it, as v1.01, v1.02, etc., will follow, with various bug fixes Wink
StephenJSweeney


Joined: 29 Mar 2015
Posts: 15
v0.9 of The Pandoran War is now available. This version contains all the campaign missions, all the challenges, and all the trophies. Getting closer to the end now. The v0.9x series will focus on gameplay fixes, bug fixes, and some graphical tweaks (such as redrawing one of the capital ships, and the transport ships). I'll also be playing the game through from start to finish, to make sure everything unlocks and progresses correctly.

Downloads are available from the dedicated website:

http://www.battleforthesolarsystem.com/games/pw/

and the master branch of the GitHub page has been merged:

https://github.com/stephenjsweeney/tbftss
StephenJSweeney


Joined: 29 Mar 2015
Posts: 15
v1.0 of The Pandoran War is now live! This release contains the full campaign (67 main missions, plus 5 optional missions, plus 8 training missions), all the challenges (93), and the ability to earn all the trophies (44). The game is effectively now finished, barring any unforeseen bugs and whatnot. Any future updates will now focus on ports (such as to OS X), translations (which I imagine will be slow, given the amount of text), and bug fixes. When I played the game through myself, it took around 13 hours to attain a 100% completion rating..!

Downloads for Linux, Windows, and a source tarball can be found here:

http://www.battleforthesolarsystem.com/games/pw#downloads

and the GitHub repo is here:

https://github.com/stephenjsweeney/tbftss

For anyone interested, the 2009 First Edition of THE HONOUR OF THE KNIGHTS (licensed under Creative Commons), can be found here, in ePub, PDF, Mobi, ODT, and HTML formats:

https://github.com/stephenjsweeney/hotk-fe

Enjoy!