SpaceWreck - Fallout inspired isometric retro indie RPG

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In Space Wreck you get experience ONLY for completing todos (quests). That means combat is not a source of XP.

Quite often in RPGs, it is disproportionally lucrative to murder anything that moves, because it grants XP and thus makes your character more powerful. Sometimes it even prompts some meta-gaming. We wanted to avoid that and, also, escape associated XP inflation. No matter if your character is Rambo or Gandhi (non-Civ version), you'll have the same XP potential. (Well, sort of. Depending on your WORK attribute, your XP rate can vary very strongly - from 80% to almost 200%. But that's a different story.)
 
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Space Wreck is a non-linear game. It is short but full of content.
This star map shows some (but not all) of your decisions that form your unique story.

Note: this is still WIP.

TL;DR

We often have a problem with the game's length - people keep asking how long is the game and the honest answer is - it's short. We are speaking about 5 hours to complete the story. However, that does not mean that there are only 5 hours of content in the game, because it's non-linear, with self-excluding paths and very fringe subplots available only in certain cases.

To mitigate this, we created this star map which should better convey the real situation.

Few comments - the stars on the map are arguably more important plot (or subplot) points, many of them are the "ending slides". If they are small, it means this plot point has not yet been "explored", basically, not yet unlocked. Bigger stars - you have unlocked this story point at some time - it tracks this across playthroughs. And the line ("trek") is formed connecting the current save game's decisions.

This is a work in progress and currently represents, at best, 30% of the whole game.
 
Kamaz said:
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In Space Wreck you get experience ONLY for completing todos (quests). That means combat is not a source of XP.
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Didn't know PoE also has this XP system. Underrail with Oddity mechanics also, but the fact that the Oddities could be found in containers means the game could turn into Junk Collector Simulator, and some people couldn't sit well with that.
 
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1.1.96 Starmap update

Decision map, character marks, weapon holster and many other changes.
While working on the full version of the game, many more minor and bigger improvements have piled up and will be released to the demo version in this major update. That includes:

  • Star map with your story decisions mapped out and visualized.
  • The new level-up system with positive/negative character marks.
  • UI adjustments - notifications, new inventory/looting interface layout.
  • New starting preset for "combat" char.
  • Holster/unholster weapon button to avoid weird hostile reactions.
  • Updated also some demo quests with additional options, particularly Finn Alley's arc.
  • Obstacle highlighting while targeting or zero-G leaping.
  • NPC behaviours in combat and as companions.

Here is the news post on Steam (with pictures!):
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1063540/view/3180116240854404477
 
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Junk items can be a useful distraction. Handy, if you want to lure unsuspecting NPCs to a more favourable position.

This is a small mechanic but it 1) makes `junk` items more useful; 2) gives you tools to manipulate character positions.

This, along with location design - small sandbox hub worlds with absolute freedom to explore, functional items - poisonable bottles, floor cutting tools etc., and many ways to approach the objective, multi-layered story structure - have been inspired by Hitman games.
 
Proletären said:
That system worked well in Pillars of Eternity.
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That system is why I never finished Pillars of Eternity. Combat was unavoidable for my character, yet didn’t benefit my character at all in any way. Felt like more of an annoyance than a rewarding mechanic. I was just about to wishlist this game too.
 
Ride For Crom said:
Combat was unavoidable for my character, yet didn’t benefit my character at all in any way.
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There is no difference if you are a diplomatic or a combat character, you get XP on reaching the goal and the goal for everyone is the same.

And, also, the amount of XP you get is heavily dependent on your stats.

Unlike most RPGs, levelling is not mandatory to complete the game. You have the hardest skill checks both at the beginning of the game and at the end areas; enemies don't really scale up in later parts of the game. The difficulty - type and amount of hostile NPCs - depends on the area you are in - e.g. is it an enemy base? is this zone heavily protected? - not how far you are in the game.

And even if you are a combat character and have invested everything solely in "combat" attributes - say, PHYSICAL and ranged - you still can avoid combat if you find it hard. You can complete the game without combat even if you fail every skill check.

P.S. No need to trust me, there's a free demo available where this, what I described ^ should be implemented and work, as described. If you find an instance where it is not, it is a bug; please tell me about it.
 
I can understand people who enjoy making fighter characters and like battles in games to feel like they're being penalized for not getting XP from combat.
On the other hand, combat usually rewards the characters with other things besides XP, like loot. If a game has enemies dropping their equipment when they die, then a character that fights a lot will be rewarded with more/better equipment and/or money from selling the extra loot or can craft more since enemies could also drop crafting materials (if the game has crafting).

This already means that characters that are not made for combat or players that don't enjoy fighting are ALWAYS penalized in these games. Since they usually get less XP but also less loot and money.

I usually make sneaky-type characters or warrior-type characters, and I see the difference in games where I sneak around enemies and where I just fight everything. Sneaking can usually also allow to get some of the loot by pickpocketing/stealing, but it's still very disproportionate compared to just killing all enemies and getting the goodies. I have no idea how diplomatic/pacifist characters work in most cRPGs when they don't grind XP and loot in battles.

I can understand combat lovers feeling like they are being penalized, but the truth is that combat in cRPGs is usually much more rewarded than most other gameplay or character types. So removing XP from combat is actually just making it more balanced and helps prevent players from always choosing the combat characters over all the other options around. As long as combat is fun, I will still play and enjoy warrior-type characters, even if XP is not awarded or farmed in combat.
 
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Risewild said:
On the other hand, combat usually rewards the characters with other things besides XP, like loot. If a game has enemies dropping their equipment when they die, then a character that fights a lot will be rewarded with more/better equipment and/or money from selling the extra loot or can craft more since enemies could also drop crafting materials (if the game has crafting).
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In the case of SW, of course, enemies drop loot however it probably is not overpowering. Ammo and weapons - you need those only if you are a combat character. And, because you cannot easily convert loot to money or goods, it's just dead weight for others.

Crafting materials - junk - are abundant all around, no need to fight, you can just pick them up or, if guarded, sneak by.

You also have hardly anything obligatory to carry in the game aside from a space suit and fuel or fuel chip. So you can avoid looting at all.
 
Kamaz said:
There is no difference if you are a diplomatic or a combat character, you get XP on reaching the goal and the goal for everyone is the same.

And, also, the amount of XP you get is heavily dependent on your stats.

Unlike most RPGs, levelling is not mandatory to complete the game. You have the hardest skill checks both at the beginning of the game and at the end areas; enemies don't really scale up in later parts of the game. The difficulty - type and amount of hostile NPCs - depends on the area you are in - e.g. is it an enemy base? is this zone heavily protected? - not how far you are in the game.

And even if you are a combat character and have invested everything solely in "combat" attributes - say, PHYSICAL and ranged - you still can avoid combat if you find it hard. You can complete the game without combat even if you fail every skill check.

P.S. No need to trust me, there's a free demo available where this, what I described ^ should be implemented and work, as described. If you find an instance where it is not, it is a bug; please tell me about it.
Click to expand...

I have my reservations, and my biases when it comes to games that don't give combat XP, but I'll download the demo and check the game out.


Risewild said:
I can understand people who enjoy making fighter characters and like battles in games to feel like they're being penalized for not getting XP from combat.
On the other hand, combat usually rewards the characters with other things besides XP, like loot. If a game has enemies dropping their equipment when they die, then a character that fights a lot will be rewarded with more/better equipment and/or money from selling the extra loot or can craft more since enemies could also drop crafting materials (if the game has crafting).

This already means that characters that are not made for combat or players that don't enjoy fighting are ALWAYS penalized in these games. Since they usually get less XP but also less loot and money.

I usually make sneaky-type characters or warrior-type characters, and I see the difference in games where I sneak around enemies and where I just fight everything. Sneaking can usually also allow to get some of the loot by pickpocketing/stealing, but it's still very disproportionate compared to just killing all enemies and getting the goodies. I have no idea how diplomatic/pacifist characters work in most cRPGs when they don't grind XP and loot in battles.

I can understand combat lovers feeling like they are being penalized, but the truth is that combat in cRPGs is usually much more rewarded than most other gameplay or character types. So removing XP from combat is actually just making it more balanced and helps prevent players from always choosing the combat characters over all the other options around. As long as combat is fun, I will still play and enjoy warrior-type characters, even if XP is not awarded or farmed in combat.
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For me, it's about risk/reward. Combat is an inherently risky endeavor. It also has unavoidable costs associated with it. Ammo, health, weapon/armor durability (in games where durability is a factor) all of which usually have a cost in resources such as currency or crafting materials to rectify. Not rewarding the character sufficiently for a successful combat engagement is punishing the character for choosing combat.

I also disagree that characters who don't engage in combat are penalized, because in games with an economy, it's never combat characters who get the most money, it's the ones who play the economy. Trading between areas, crafting and selling crafted items, gambling etc all have nothing to do with combat and all reward the player with orders of magnitude more money than selling loot from combat.

When it comes to leveling, different characters will have different leveling requirements. Characters who never engage in combat have no need a high health or magic pool, what need do pacifist characters have for leveling beyond getting their relevant skills maxed out?
 
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Space Wreck is moving into closed BETA!

TL;DR

The full version of the game has been in internal BETA testing for a few months now and lately, it feels like we are ready to move on to the next stage of the process - the closed BETA.
First, what does that all even mean? "Internal BETA" means that the game has 100% content but is too buggy to be shown to anybody outside the shed, we test it ourselves. "Closed BETA" is the stage when we feel the build is palatable enough so that more people, from the "outside", could be invited to test the game. This is where we are now. What's the next step after that? Well, it's "public BETA" or, as it is customary to say these days, Early Access release.

Long story short - we are inching closer to the release.

BETA TESTING

That brings us to the next topic: we need testers for the full game. If you feel so adventurous and mad, feel free to ping me. For now, we are easing in slowly, with only a couple of people required.
Before you do, though, a couple of things -

PROS
+ you get to play the full version of the game NOW
+ your feedback will help in the development
+ you don't have to pay money for it!

CONS
- it's a fucking buggy POS
- you'll play the worst version of the game, thus being unable to enjoy a - potentially - more polished final version
- testing is work, actually, and we are not going to pay you

STATUS
The game has all the planned content in it already, except for a few placeholders here and there. It should be completable but, of course, there are bugs, including and not limited to - game-stopping bugs. Which is the primary goal of this testing - to get rid of all game-stopping/critical bugs.

PLATFORM
For testing, we deploy Windows builds using Steam.

FORMAT
At least for the few first playthroughs, you will need to record and share a video (e.g. YouTube unlisted link). No commentary, just a playthrough video. For communication, we use a Discord server, so the bugs could be shared there. Or here, in NMA forum messages.

SPOILERS
For obvious reasons we'd like to ask you not to share any story/plot details publicly, as well as screenshots of the locations before the official launch. However, feel free to publicly discuss and criticise the game - mechanics, combat, design, and writing.

---

If you are still interested, reach out to me and we'll work out the details. Keep in mind, though, that if there's huge interest - like, 2 people - we will not be able to accommodate everyone.
 
I've played Space Wreck a lot (even the flash prototype) and I'm really excited about the full version, but I currently don't have a good setup to record videos.
 
Alphons said:
I've played Space Wreck a lot (even the flash prototype) and I'm really excited about the full version, but I currently don't have a good setup to record videos.
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The video, I think is good to have but if you decide you want, PM me and I'll give you the Steam key.

Getting rid of game-stopping bugs are the priority and that does not require video recording.
 
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A new addition to the arsenal: a crowd-control weapon, shockgun. While it deals less damage per hit and uses unpopular ammo, it's a blast when you have a tightly packed group of enemies...

Also, on a side note, you are not the only one anymore that can zero-G-kick people around...
 
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Meet the qtank - a small and deceivingly cute armoured drone on magnetic tracks.

Allegedly the company wanted a friendly security bot because the cambots - deadly metal spiders - were understandably freaking out a lot of people. Hence the name.
Still, don't let the cute looks fool you - qtank does pack a punch. In fact, the drone is equipped with a variation of Horsestopper gun which is specifically designed to knock the target off its feet upon hit.

Of course, engineer characters can obtain this weapon from the wreckage of a downed bot but it is not designed for humans, so there are skill penalties if you decide to use it.
 
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