Space trading and combat game: Endless Sky

[zahni]

Endless Sky is a 2D, top-down space game inspired by the classic Escape Velocity trilogy. You start out in a small, wimpy ship and can earn money to upgrade to a better one by trading commodities, completing missions, or plundering or capturing other ships. You can either treat this like a sandbox game or play through a story line, which takes about 8-16 hours to complete. For more details, see the website or the manual.

I've been spending nearly all my free time over the last year and a half working on this game, so it is relatively polished and stable. However, all my development work has been done on Ubuntu, so I'm looking for beta testers running other operating systems who can report any glitches they find. I'm also interested in feedback on whether learning to play the game is easy enough, particularly if you never played Escape Velocity.

The source code and data files are GPL-3 licensed. The artwork and sounds are Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0 or 4.0, or public domain. All licenses are compatible with the Debian Free Software Guidelines, and the copyright file lists the license for each image or sound.

Downloads are available for Ubuntu Linux, Mac OS X, and 64-bit Windows.

[charlie]

For Ubuntu-ers and Ubuntu-like-ers (like me; Linux Mint) to install:

{l Code}: {l Select All Code}

# add-apt-repository ppa:mzahniser/endless-sky
# apt-get update
# apt-get install endless-sky

It was fun. I got as far as the 2nd mission from the ship trader, and died instantly.

The game is well presented, you should be very proud. It has a good indie vibe to it, and some of it was really well done - loved the hyperspace jump effect.

Thoughts:

• Perhaps some kind of visual feedback (other than just all being in alignment) on the jump readiness of your ship and those you are escorting would be good. Maybe cargo ships should take a big longer for their jump drive to activate.
• The Hammer (I forgot the specific name) pirate ship was literally waiting for me as I departed and killed me instantly.
• Perhaps you should not be allowed to jump when close to planets, as it was just 'Depart > jump > jump > jump > L' which seemed a bit, I dunno, too easy/simple. (Not easy enough since I got killed, eh!)
• The default controls are... a bit strange. Tab to shoot?

I think if you can get the jump / danger balance right, this is a real gem of a game. Perhaps take a look at Transcendence (I'm sure you already have) which has a good balance in that regard. Perhaps look at having 'jump lanes' - areas to be in for specific jumps, to add an element of inner system travel.

A minor English correction for you as well. In the intro it says: "A doorman .... you look shabby next to them." It should either be 'doormen' or 'next to him'.

[zahni]

The default controls are... a bit strange. Tab to shoot?

The shoot key was originally the space bar, but I've got a cheap non-gaming keyboard that's only designed for 2-key rollover, and if you're holding down two of the arrow keys the space bar doesn't work. I got the impression that other keyboards have the same problem.

For jumping, originally I considered not letting you jump when near planets, but once you're taking missions that involve a lot of travel, it gets really tedious to wait for your fleet to jump to each system. I might revisit that, though, and see how much total travel time that would add.

[onpon4]

Just about all keyboard have that problem, but you can't count on certain keys to work. What keys jam varies quite a lot. On my current keyboard, for example, I have a habit of using ASDF for action keys, because they don't jam, while on my previous laptop I think I found that ZXC was best.

You ought to choose controls based on the arrangement of the keys, and just offer the option to change the controls to account for keyjamming.

[c_xong]

The Windows build won't run because it's missing OpenAL32.dll; please bundle this with the release

Is this thread the prefered place to raise tickets, or github issues?

[Vandar]

A bit colorful for my taste, but cool to see another FOSS space game being made Good models you've got there!

[charlie]

On the keys; CTRL and ALT are keys that should work outside of that 2-key limitation. (Hence the CTRL+ALT+DEL to reboot.)

[zahni]

The Windows build won't run because it's missing OpenAL32.dll; please bundle this with the release

Sorry about that. Try downloading again, and it should be fixed to include the OpenAL32 library.

GitHub is the preferred place for reporting issues, but reporting them here is fine, too.

You ought to choose controls based on the arrangement of the keys, and just offer the option to change the controls to account for keyjamming.

You can change any key mapping by clicking on the key name in the preferences panel, but I can see how that might not be immediately obvious. Maybe something subtle like having the key name field highlight if you hover the mouse over it would be enough of a hint, or do you think I should add a message that says, "Click on a key name to modify it"?

[Vandar]

The default controls are... a bit strange. Tab to shoot?

That's been the point when I quit. For a moment I was wildly hitting random keys to see what functions I can trigger, then some unexpected dialog came up which I didn't understand, and I quit. Mind you, after hard day of work my head isn't to fresh anymore, but it felt just too complicated for the moment ... maybe another day I'll try again. Much text to read. Not good for tired heads either. Well written story though. But I don't like to be ambushed with quests when still trying to figure out what sort of game this actually is. I want so time to familiarize with the UI and setting, before I have to decide to give a stranger a ride or not. I didn't even have an idea what sort of place that might be where he wants to go. I'd like a more relaxed start.

[charlie]

I was wildly hitting random keys to see what functions I can trigger

Of course, you could have just looked at the controls preferences dialog.

[Vandar]

I didn't see that in the UI. But I'm not very alert at the moment ...

[onpon4]

On the keys; CTRL and ALT are keys that should work outside of that 2-key limitation. (Hence the CTRL+ALT+DEL to reboot.)

This isn't true. Ctrl and Alt are typically set up so that most 3-key combinations with them will work, but they're still a part of the matrix and can still keyjam. On my keyboard, for example, holding both of the Ctrl keys and both of the Alt keys jams all of my arrow keys except left.

Also, using Ctrl and Alt causes a problem: it causes system commands to happen while you're playing the game, unless it's in fullscreen. I had this problem with Doom, for example, where trying to strafe and fire at the same time caused me to switch workspaces.

You can figure out what keyboard combinations work for you with this simple program I rigged up a few years ago:

https://onpon4.github.io/apps/keyjam/

[c_xong]

There is also a key ghosting online test page available here: http://www.microsoft.com/appliedscience ... ained.mspx

[beoran]

I just spent hours playing this game, and I enjoyed it. It's even a bit addictive. The keyboard is customizable that is no problem. I also didn't mind easy warping and landing as I am still playing a harmless trader. Good game, great to see it open sourced!

[andrewj]

This isn't true. Ctrl and Alt are typically set up so that most 3-key combinations with them will work, but they're still a part of the matrix and can still keyjam. On my keyboard, for example, holding both of the Ctrl keys and both of the Alt keys jams all of my arrow keys except left.

Old keyboards used to keep the modifier keys separate from the key matrix.

Guess most keyboards nowadays are cheap and nasty ^_^

[rogerdv]

Tested under Windows 8.1 (I didnt wanted to compile under Linux). The interface was a bit weird in the beginning, but got used to it quickly. Plan to play more tonight.

[Akien]

I've been playing Endless Sky for the last two of three hours (building the master branch on Mageia 5, Linux 64bit), and I must say I'm impressed.

First off, the UI gives a really professional looks as charlie already pointed out, and that's not the norm in open source games. As usual, I started by exploring the parameters menu and customising the keys, so I did not experience the inconvenience that some wrote above on this forum; actually I find the gameplay really easy to understand, and that's not always the case in sandbox exploration/trading games.

And then the writing is impressive. There is a lot of text, but it's not overwhelming IMO, and I find that it is nicely balanced (and a very good style).

The only moment when I was a bit lost was when I tried to help merchants fight pirates with just my poorly-weaponed shuttle, and go quickly "disabled" by the pirates. I'm not familiar yet with the UI or the fighting gameplay, so it took me a while to understand why I could not move or fire at all, nor jump or land anywhere. Then I found that I could talk to other ships and ask them to "patch me up", letting me land on the nearest planet to get repaired.

Another point that would need some work IMO is the sound effects. Some weapons have a quite annoying sound effect IMO, and some sounds also produce glitches from time to time (at least on my system).

I'll open issues on GitHub as things come to mind while I'm playing (I've already opened a few), and do pull requests with typo fixes as I progress through the main quest and read planet descriptions

[rogerdv]

Well, doesnt works at my office PC: Windows 7 (64 bits, also 64 bits version of the game). Cant start the application.

[qubodup]

Well, doesnt works at my office PC: Windows 7 (64 bits, also 64 bits version of the game). Cant start the application.

Might be related to old CPUs. https://github.com/endless-sky/endless-sky/issues/3

You might want to report this there as well.

If you start using command line, perhaps you'll get a message there.

[Vandar]

It worked for me on a Win 7 64 Bit system with a core i7 cpu.

[rogerdv]

Well, doesnt works at my office PC: Windows 7 (64 bits, also 64 bits version of the game). Cant start the application.

Might be related to old CPUs. https://github.com/endless-sky/endless-sky/issues/3

You might want to report this there as well.

If you start using command line, perhaps you'll get a message there.

Yes, it is a Dual Core 5300.

[zahni]

Yes, it is a Dual Core 5300.

Yeah, that would cause a problem - the program is compiled expecting at least a Core i3/i5/i7 processor. Which, in retrospect, was stupid of me, because the game will work fine with earlier processors. I've changed that in the Git repository, so the next release I do will support older processors correctly.

[rogerdv]

Forgot to mention, under windows 8.1 I dont have sounds. No visible error messages, just silent game.

[Akien]

Forgot to mention, under windows 8.1 I dont have sounds. No visible error messages, just silent game.

Even when you power up your thrusters or fire your primary weapon? There aren't many sounds in the game apart from sound effects for spaceships.

[rogerdv]

None, totally silent.