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General discussionRebel Galaxy: Developer Q&A(105 posts)(105 posts)
(105 posts)
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Posted October 27, 2015
Have questions that only the devs can answer? Join the team behind Rebel Galaxy for a special Q&A session!

The team from Double Damage Games, is here here to answer all your pressing questions about the game, the life behind game development, and their pretty extensive experience in the industry.

Double Damage Games is a two-man indie studio created by the guys who came up with and created the Torchlight series:

Travis Baldree:
Hi! I'm Travis Baldree. I've been a professional game developer for nearly 20 years, and it's been my hobby since I was a kid on my C64. I'm best known for Fate and the Torchlight series. I'm the only person I know who has more CRTs than flatscreens in their office. I stay warm in the nostalgic glow of my A500, IIgs, and C64.
---Rebel Galaxy Responsibilities:
As the only engineer on Rebel Galaxy, Travis did almost everything to make the game work. He was also responsible for the art direction, the sound design, the story and more.
---Notable Previous Titles:
Fate, Mythos, Torchlight, Torchlight 2 (all as Team Lead and Lead Engineer)
--Favorite Games:
Wasteland, Darklands, Ocarina of Time, X-Com, and Just Cause 2
---Weird anecdote from development of Rebel Galaxy:
Most of the character gesture and idle animations were done on the cheap by using a Kinect for motion capture.






Erich Schaefer:
Hi, I'm Erich Schaefer. I've been in game development since about 1990, always starting my own company because I don't deal well with authority. Double Damage Games is my fourth company, and by far the smallest. It's also my favorite!
---Rebel Galaxy Responsibilities:
Erich was the designer and tester. He worked on combat balance, economy, random missions and fed millions of good ideas (and millions of bad ones) to Travis.
---Notable Previous Titles:
Diablo, Diablo II, Hellgate: London, Torchlight and Torchlight 2 (all as Team Lead and/or Designer)
---Favorite Games:
Civ 5, Ultima Online, World of Warcraft, Minecraft and X-Com
---Weird anecdote from development of Rebel Galaxy:
I've been trying to make a space game since pre-Diablo times. I've started and failed at least 3 times significantly. Finally this one took hold!






Now that we’ve gotten introduced to the Rebel Galaxy side, here are some ground rules for this Q&A to work as smoothly as possible:

Not all questions might get answered during the Q&A. This means your specific question might go unnoticed or unanswered, but feel free to read along anyway and hang out with us - it’s gonna be fun anyway!
Be nice. This means no abuse, harassment, name-calling and the like.
Don’t spam or take over the thread to go off-topic. This will help us all keep track of incoming questions and help you get the most out of this event - and keep our guests involved!
Try to look through some recent questions before asking a new one. If the Q&A has been going on for a while, it’s likely your question has already been addressed.
Try to keep it about Rampart. Just kidding, we’re sure the devs have lots of subjects that they’d love to have a chat about with you guys!



Let’s get this show on the road!
Posted October 28, 2015
I'm wondering how 'moddable' the game is, it's great and I grabbed it on Steam (sorry GoG) having fun in a Dreadnought now!

But i'm curious as to how hard/easy it would be to add extra ships to the game? I can do the modelling easily enough (depending on what formats it can handle) but is it possible? (without massive programming talent :p)
Posted October 28, 2015
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RebelGalaxyFanBoy: I did have a game suggestion. when you hover over the stations it gives you data about things it sells and buys. There should be askerisk next to thing you have in your cargo. And also, would be nice to carry more missions. Love the game! played through 2 times already. Im all about the small fast ships and doing everything Risk: Very hard.
Question: what other games you working on?
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mediumheadboy: Cargo idea is good.

Other games Travis and I have worked on are in the thread intro. For me, the big ones are:
Diablo, Diablo II, Hellgate: London, Torchlight and Torchlight 2 (all as Team Lead and/or Designer)
I miss Hellgate: London!

Back on topic, I was wondering if there's any thought currently being given to expanding custom mapping of controls a bit farther. I am nearly 12 hours into the game and the only thing that hasn't feel seem less/was a bit clunky experience wise is having one button for both "confirm cargo pick up from space" and "confirm jump to warp".
I totally understand having one general button for most confirm options, but it's a bit frustrating to warp away from valuables because you weren't quite close enough when you tried to pick them up (or you drifted out of range while trying to pick them up).

All in all though I'm loving the game very happy I picked it up and looking forward to playing more :)
Posted October 28, 2015
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tbaldree: It's definitely worth making sure you've upgraded your hull and shields at LEAST to MK1 from the starter stuff. That helps your surviveability a lot. And using your deflector will really save your bacon.
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JudasIscariot: Still getting used to the game so I've been skimping with the deflector, been trying to use it more though :D

Thanks for the tips :)
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Sachys: Stick with a corvette, rush in with your deflectors on and side up to the big un's. Then let rip with everything! I'm at the point where I've had to put the game down as I'm far too overpowered. O______o
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JudasIscariot: The blighters keep running away though :P Anyways, thanks, I'll try your tactics next time :)
Upgraded boosters and an acute approach vector solved that for me it works really well so long as you're not getting yourself flanked by diving into a large group ;)

Related design question; when did you decide to make ship fittings migrate as you purchase a new vessel?
It's made play much more accessible in many ways and I'm curious as to the decision making behind it :)
Posted October 28, 2015
Saw this question asked earlier, but didn't see an answer to it from the devs, and the only non-dev answer was just to use cheat engine, which I can, but don't always like to do. Anyway, I was wondering if you'd ever implement either a cheat code system, or maybe a pseudo new game + type of thing, wherein, after you beat the game, you either start out with a special after end upgrade that makes you awesome. Not invulnerable, just awesome, say an upgrade that you select how to use at the end of the game(I'm 7 hours in, still before mission three getting money), say it can boost either offense, defense, or speed, but each run thru you can up it again, and it takes up all your mod slots on the ship you're flying, or it can be sold for a lot of money right at the start. Something for those of us, who like me, enjoy getting a bonus when we win.
Posted October 28, 2015
Hey, I don't know if youguys are doing the Q&A anymore, but quick question: I am loving this game, will you guys add a mission type where you can side with other stations & fight against others? (Say Devils vs Militia- goal is to capturew a Devils station & vice versa.
Posted October 28, 2015
Maybe too late, but anyway...

Rebel Galaxy is really begging for Freelancer style info boxes describing the stations and star systems in more flavorful detail. That, along with the region-specific color, architecture, and urban/rural/frontier zones was a big part of that game's heavy immersion factor. Would that functionality maybe come in an expansion, megapatch or DLC?

On that note, could we get camera zoom? Or at least an on/off "make the ship smaller" option? Not being able to zoom the camera plays havoc with steering and aiming bulkier ships.

The game looks and sounds super awesome for a two-man studio with contractor support. How did you go about getting good quality art, sound, music, etc. on a tight budget?
Posted October 28, 2015
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mediumheadboy: It was always our intention to do the flattened (non-6 degrees of freedom) model. Mostly because one of our chief influences was the naval battles in Assassin's Creed Black Flag. We thought it would work great in space, sped up a bit, with lots more options.

We never considered 6DoF, or cockpit style combat, because there are lots of games out there like that, and honestly I get a bit fatigued and bored of them after a half hour or so.
Ha. So great to hear you say that. While I was playing Black Flag I kept wanting a game that was nothing but the ship battle component of that and, lo, here's a game that gives me exactly what I wanted. In space no less! Doesn't have the boarding but swinging over to your opponent's vessel to take out their captain isn't exactly feasible in space. ;)

To continue with the Black Flag inspiration, one of the elements that I wished had more flesh in that game, and feels like it would fit in RG, is the "Kenway's Fleet" side game. I would love to see something like that in RG (or RG2 ;)). Perhaps instead of hiring a mercenary you could buy their ship to add to your "fleet" and then assign them trading or other routes (such as protection for your traders). Something to extend your reach in the late stages of the game while giving you something to aim for (Trader Empire!) in the early stages.
Posted October 28, 2015
I finished the game, as I was pretty fond of the gameplay style. The biggest letdown for me was that I didn't have any real use out of my upgraded Blackgate. I just love to stroll to space and do some missions, but unfortunately at this level there are only LOW threat missions. I would love a few sectors with just a few stations and the enemy destroyer/dreadnought conference for every mission. Swarms of 40-50 fighters, multiple dreads, missile porn, the good stuff. Any possible update/expansion?

Also Steamspy already counts over 50.000 owners of RG. Can you count the game as an economical success at this point? (covering dev costs and porting costs)
Posted October 28, 2015
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serpantino: I am loving the game but I find the inability to select just my mining lasers when multiple lasers are equipped, a little annoying so maybe that could be addressed in a patch, it also feels a bad way of making money at the moment (first area but have played 15 hours or so and traded a lot.)

Question: Were there any major features you had to scale back greatly or just drop out altogether and what do you really wish you could've gotten into the game but weren't able to?
We used to allow you to select individual turret types, but as ships get bigger it became a mess. Why do you want to select them separately? As long as you have one mining laser, all your lasers get their targeting capability.

Regarding features that we scaled back on, of course we had tons of crazy ideas in the early phases, but none that were deep in development before they got cut back. I wanted space monsters, though...
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tbaldree: At present we don't have any immediate plans to support Linux - we're not native Linux developers and it would probably be a steep hill for us to climb to get a good build of it, and also to be able to support it.
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shmerl: Do you plan to learn Linux development? Since you already develop for OS X, learning developing for Linux wouldn't be that hard. It's also a POSIX system.
I don't think the technical porting part is the problem. Speaking for Travis, but I think the issue is support. We're already doing a disproportionate amount of OS X support. Linux users are going to have weird issues on a system we are not familiar with.
Post edited October 28, 2015 by mediumheadboy
Posted October 28, 2015
Rebel Galaxy is one of only a very few games designed to have console controls, that works really well with keyboard+mouse.
Good job guys! :-D

Also, I really got into that story and want more of it. Make expansion please!
Post edited October 28, 2015 by ast486
Posted October 28, 2015
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Lockeandkeye: I liked the fact that hovering the cursor over stations on the map displayed economic information about them, but it got kind of tedious hunting around for the best place to sell my cargo. Would it be possible to implement a UI element in the Cargo Hold screen that displayed prices at various locations when cargo is selected?
It's a common request and its possible we'll look into this in the future.
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mediumheadboy: Cargo idea is good.

Other games Travis and I have worked on are in the thread intro. For me, the big ones are:
Diablo, Diablo II, Hellgate: London, Torchlight and Torchlight 2 (all as Team Lead and/or Designer)
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RoseLegion: I miss Hellgate: London!

Back on topic, I was wondering if there's any thought currently being given to expanding custom mapping of controls a bit farther. I am nearly 12 hours into the game and the only thing that hasn't feel seem less/was a bit clunky experience wise is having one button for both "confirm cargo pick up from space" and "confirm jump to warp".
I totally understand having one general button for most confirm options, but it's a bit frustrating to warp away from valuables because you weren't quite close enough when you tried to pick them up (or you drifted out of range while trying to pick them up).

All in all though I'm loving the game very happy I picked it up and looking forward to playing more :)
Another common request, on our list. But I suspect we'll be slowing down our patches significantly now that things are stabilizing, so it might not be real soon. Sorry.
Post edited October 28, 2015 by mediumheadboy
Posted October 28, 2015
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mediumheadboy: I wanted space monsters, though...
I would love to see a Space Monsters DLC down the road :P
Posted October 28, 2015
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JudasIscariot: Still getting used to the game so I've been skimping with the deflector, been trying to use it more though :D

Thanks for the tips :)

The blighters keep running away though :P Anyways, thanks, I'll try your tactics next time :)
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RoseLegion: Upgraded boosters and an acute approach vector solved that for me it works really well so long as you're not getting yourself flanked by diving into a large group ;)

Related design question; when did you decide to make ship fittings migrate as you purchase a new vessel?
It's made play much more accessible in many ways and I'm curious as to the decision making behind it :)
Maybe Travis will have a different story, but I think the fittings just migrated over in our first stab at upgrading your ship. Like it wasn't an option we implemented, but rather that's what "just happened" and we briefly discussed whether we wanted to keep it that way.
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Star_Sage: Saw this question asked earlier, but didn't see an answer to it from the devs, and the only non-dev answer was just to use cheat engine, which I can, but don't always like to do. Anyway, I was wondering if you'd ever implement either a cheat code system, or maybe a pseudo new game + type of thing, wherein, after you beat the game, you either start out with a special after end upgrade that makes you awesome. Not invulnerable, just awesome, say an upgrade that you select how to use at the end of the game(I'm 7 hours in, still before mission three getting money), say it can boost either offense, defense, or speed, but each run thru you can up it again, and it takes up all your mod slots on the ship you're flying, or it can be sold for a lot of money right at the start. Something for those of us, who like me, enjoy getting a bonus when we win.
It's a fun idea. I'll add it to my general wish list.
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plmrjosh: Hey, I don't know if youguys are doing the Q&A anymore, but quick question: I am loving this game, will you guys add a mission type where you can side with other stations & fight against others? (Say Devils vs Militia- goal is to capturew a Devils station & vice versa.
We have missions where you side with all the factions, against all of the other factions (SPOILER: except you never side with Viriax). Not sure what you mean about capturing a station... We never destroy or flip the allegiance of any existing "real" station, but some late-game missions have temporary outposts or structures which need to be defended or destroyed. I don't think we'll be adding new mission types any time soon.
Post edited October 28, 2015 by mediumheadboy
Posted October 28, 2015
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NovusBogus: Maybe too late, but anyway...

Rebel Galaxy is really begging for Freelancer style info boxes describing the stations and star systems in more flavorful detail. That, along with the region-specific color, architecture, and urban/rural/frontier zones was a big part of that game's heavy immersion factor. Would that functionality maybe come in an expansion, megapatch or DLC?

On that note, could we get camera zoom? Or at least an on/off "make the ship smaller" option? Not being able to zoom the camera plays havoc with steering and aiming bulkier ships.

The game looks and sounds super awesome for a two-man studio with contractor support. How did you go about getting good quality art, sound, music, etc. on a tight budget?
We bought ship models off Turbosquid and the Unity store. We then contacted the artists and asked them if they'd make more for us, and they said yes!

For the backdrop "sky boxes" we found some cool space "wallpapers" that looked like what we wanted. We asked that artist to make some more, and again he was happy to. I think he was working at a Buffalo Wild Wings at the time.

Music-wise we scanned through tons of music licensing sources. It took a long time to listen, listen again, try in game, see if we still like it, etc. And they weren't cheap. I think the licenses were around $1500 per song.
Posted October 28, 2015
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mediumheadboy: I don't think the technical porting part is the problem. Speaking for Travis, but I think the issue is support. We're already doing a disproportionate amount of OS X support. Linux users are going to have weird issues on a system we are not familiar with.
I see. May be you might partner with someone who can help you with it? Like Knockout Games (Aaron Melcher) or Humble Bundle (Edward Rudd)? They ported even more complex games to Linux (Shadow Warrior) and helped with educating developers about related issues. Ryan Gordon (Icculus) also does that.
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionRebel Galaxy: Developer Q&A(105 posts)(105 posts)
(105 posts)