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EmptyEpsilon - Spaceship bridge simulator.

Daid

By Daid
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Daid

Daid

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I am kinda scared to make this post. But I think some people who are enjoying KSP will enjoy this as well. Note that I love playing KSP.

So, I'm here to tell you about a game I made with a bunch of friends. And the game is called:

EmptyEpsilon

It's a futuristic spaceship bridge simulator game. Like a Star Trek bridge, but then in your own home (or office). The idea of the game is that you gather a bunch of friends. Designate 1 person as a captain, put the other crew behind different "stations" that control different parts of the ship, and fly missions. Kill enemies, and try NOT to touch that tempting "self destruct" button.

Optimal is to play with 6 people in total. But I've played with as little as 3.

History

About a year ago, me and some guys played a sessions of Artemis Spaceship Bridge simulator. We really enjoyed ourselves. But, we ran into quite a few issues with the game as a whole.

Our main problems where:

  • Comms station was boring as hell, you pretty much sit there, tell all stations to make nukes. And that's about it, you can report that stations are under attack, but science should be noticing that earlier in most cases.
  • Game lost sync. What was happening on the server was not always happening on the clients. Annoying as hell, as sometimes enemy ships where in front of us on the main screen, but behind us on the weapons screen. Ruins the fun quite quick.
  • While it has a "game master" screen. You cannot do much there. You cannot even create new enemies in a simple way.
  • Visuals. Space is black. Not green+blue+yellow+

So, being the software engines that we are, we programmed our own game from scratch. (Not with blackjack and hookers... yet)

And, being the nice people that we are. And because we created it for our own amusement. We are giving it away for free, including the sourcecode. So anyone can modify it up to their own wishes.

So, what's in the game?

Well, we're still working on it. But the game is quite complete already. We have:

  • Up to 32 player ships, allowing up to 192 players to play in single game (this has not been tested, but should work in theory. Max computers connected to a single session was 12 so far)
  • Bunch of different enemy types. From simple fighter enemies, to advanced ships with missile weapons and warp drives.
  • 5 different officer stations:
    • Helms - Controls the ships movement. Heading set to 115deg, full speed ahead. Preparing for a jump of 20km.
    • Weapons - Fire zhe missles! MOAR NUKES!
    • Engineering - But captain, I'm giving it all she's got! Sending out repair crews to fix the front shield generator!
    • Science - Scanning... scanning... enemies everywhere captain. Put weapons on 480THz for maximum effectiveness.
    • Relay - Just requested backup at station DS5, and supplied will be dropped of at WP3 in sector D4. Also got a friendly scout ship scanning the nebula in C2 for enemies.

    [*] 1 captains main screen per friendly ship. Can be just on a 3D screen, or switched to short and long range radar. We put this on a beamer, but you can also put it on a big TV. It's best if all players can see this.

    [*] Fully scriptable scenarios.

    [*] Actually, lots of stuff is scriptable. Even communications that the relay officer does. And the layout of the ships, the "factions" that are in the game. You can pretty much customize the game to be star-trek if you want (not doing that for IP reasons, and we don't want to be true to star-trek)

    [*] That said. The main goal is fun. Not realism. So the physics are "wrong", you stop when you turn your engine off. But who cares, that makes for a better game. If anyone asks, it's because of the anti-gravity-based-impulse-drive.

    [*] Nukes, mines, missiles and EMP missiles. Oh, and lasers. Lots of lasers.

    [*] Full fancy 2D action! No need to think in complex 3D maneuvers during the heat of battle. You cannot go up/down. Once again, not realistic, but makes it easier to program, and less complex to play.

    [*] A useful game-master screen. Want to play a complex scenario, and do not want to script it? Well, put someone behind the GM screen, and he can create&destroy just about anything. He can order ships around with ease. Even magically move them around with the powers of a god! He can even hail the relay officer on the player ship and chat with him. Having a friendly suddenly turn on you? You could do that with the GM screen.

    [*] Jump drives, warp drives, or both. Personally more a fan of jump drives on player ships. But that's fully configurable.

    [*] Optional touch-screen support (we managed to get 5 very nice touch screens for cheap)

Screenshots!

Example of the main screen:

RZX7u1e.png

Showing the players ship. A nebula in the distance (which blocks long range radar)

Slightly older screenshot, showing 2 enemies attacking a player. And a small station in the distance.

mainscreen.png

The helms station. Once again, slightly dated screenshot (the combat maneuvers at the bottom did not work out that well, and have been replaced by a different system)

helms.png

Weapons. Easy. Weapon tubes, shields on/off (so important, so much fun when people forget this :D )

weapons.png

Engineering. Controls power&coolant levels of different systems. Needs to manage the heat of those systems. More power to a system means a more effective system. Also controls the repair crews.

engineering.png

Science. Long range scanning radar. Your information is vital for the captain. As you can see doom or easy prey incoming, and tell the difference. 25km range by default (can be changed when setting up the game)

science.png

Relay. Can always see around friendly ships&stations in a 5km range. Can talk to both ships and stations. Has different information then science. Can send ships into nebulas for watching inside those.

relay.png

Hardware?

Because we are slightly crazy. We made our own hardware setup with touchscreens. (also, we have 3D printers and a big CNC mill. So that made it easier)

Here the setup is just being "stored".

20150116_114106.small.jpg

Actually setting up the game. Using a TV because we couldn't find the beamer we usually use.

20150219_204125.small.jpg

Older setup photo, when only 3 of the touchscreens where ready:

20141106_190834.small.jpg

(We usually play with the lights off, which makes taking photos during play sessions hard)

Finally!

Well, if you have read up to this point. You most likely want these links.

http://emptyepsilon.org/ <- Main website

http://software.ultimaker.com/EmptyEpsilon/ <- Downloads of pre-compiled versions (Mac version might still be broken)

http://bridgesim.net/ <- Place where we talk about the game (not that active. But few more people who are playing it also visit that forum)

https://github.com/daid/EmptyEpsilon <- Sourcecode (Warning, here be small and big dragons, and wizard-lizards)

https://github.com/daid/SeriousProton <- Engine sourcecode (you need this as well to build the source version, engine was build from scratch, because I'm crazy like that)

I hope some people will enjoy this as much as we are enjoying it.

- Daid out.

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Deutherius

Deutherius

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:0.0: WHAT! The game of my dreams?! I'M THROWING MONEY AT THE SCREEN BUT NOTHING IS HAPPENING

Ehm. So, it's like a lovechild of FTL and Guns of Icarus? I'm loving it. So damn much. Downloading right now. In the meantime, a few (probably dumb) questions:

As for the enemies, I'm guessing it's mainly AI. Can player ships battle each other? If so, are you planning on making official tournaments, battlegrounds or something similar?

Would it be (in theory) possible to play this by myself (insane mode :D)? Or is it just too much to handle? I might have a problem getting minions friends to play this with me :/ Is it playable over the internet, or just local network? If the former, is there a lobby to gather random people?

Also, I'm digging the ship designs. Beautiful.

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Daid

Daid

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:0.0: WHAT! The game of my dreams?! I'M THROWING MONEY AT THE SCREEN BUT NOTHING IS HAPPENING

Ehm. So, it's like a lovechild of FTL and Guns of Icarus? I'm loving it. So damn much. Downloading right now. In the meantime, a few (probably dumb) questions:

As for the enemies, I'm guessing it's mainly AI. Can player ships battle each other? If so, are you planning on making official tournaments, battlegrounds or something similar?

Would it be (in theory) possible to play this by myself (insane mode :D)? Or is it just too much to handle? I might have a problem getting minions friends to play this with me :/ Is it playable over the internet, or just local network? If the former, is there a lobby to gather random people?

Also, I'm digging the ship designs. Beautiful.

It's just local network. Mainly AI ships. But you can setup PvP battles (you have to use the GM screen right now to change a 2nd players ship to another faction. But it will work)

Right now we mostly play the "waves" scenario, which just keeps throwing more and more enemies at you. But later on I hope to add more a more flying roaming game.

I wished we could say we designed the 3D models. But we bought them. Still they look great.

Not planning tournaments or anything like that myself. It's just a hobby project.

I am disappointed in the 2D nature of this game. That was my biggest problem with artemis, that it was locked down to 2D.

We talked about this with the team. 3D would only add a bit of complexity in the communication about where to fly to, and a lot of complexity on visualizing things. Unless you do the "2.5D" which Artemis has right now. Which in my mind, does not add much at all. It's important to keep the game fun and easy to pick up. 3D movement simply did not fit in that.

and science station has no science.

Right now it's just basic scanning of ships (so you know nothing of a ship until you scan it)

There are some advanced ideas on sensors and stuff: https://github.com/daid/EmptyEpsilon/issues/14

But, that's quite complex to implement, and could be too difficult to use.

A strategic FTL mixed with elements of Star Trek?

I'm sold.

It does not have much FTL elements yet. I know the engineering station looks very FTL. But there are no real "events" yet as in FTL, nor you can retrofit your ship (the codebase has been prepared for retrofitting). Got some random ideas on missions and events. But nothing has been implemented yet.

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Deutherius

Deutherius

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It's just local network. Mainly AI ships. But you can setup PvP battles (you have to use the GM screen right now to change a 2nd players ship to another faction. But it will work)

Right now we mostly play the "waves" scenario, which just keeps throwing more and more enemies at you. But later on I hope to add more a more flying roaming game.

I wished we could say we designed the 3D models. But we bought them. Still they look great.

Not planning tournaments or anything like that myself. It's just a hobby project.

Would it be hard to implement some simple over-the-net setup lobby (with chat)? I'd be thinking a single server that pools active player servers into a list you can choose from, and just redirects a client player. The player server can then just handle the clients on its own, easing the load on the main server. Plus of course a VoIP channel for communication.

I know it would kinda destroy the feeling of having a Star Trek bridge with designated stations in your room, but it would allow a lot more people to connect and play, even if they cannot get enough RL friends to play this (none of my friends are massive fans of the sci-fi genre, unfortunately. Or just space in general.)

It would also allow the captain to shout "CLEAR THE COMMS" :D (It's okay if you don't want to go in that direction, maybe I should just find new friends :D)

Anyway, great project! I'll be definitely keeping up with this one :)

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Daid

Daid

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Would it be hard to implement some simple over-the-net setup lobby (with chat)? I'd be thinking a single server that pools active player servers into a list you can choose from, and just redirects a client player. The player server can then just handle the clients on its own, easing the load on the main server. Plus of course a VoIP channel for communication.

I know it would kinda destroy the feeling of having a Star Trek bridge with designated stations in your room, but it would allow a lot more people to connect and play, even if they cannot get enough RL friends to play this (none of my friends are massive fans of the sci-fi genre, unfortunately. Or just space in general.)

It would also allow the captain to shout "CLEAR THE COMMS" :D (It's okay if you don't want to go in that direction, maybe I should just find new friends :D)

Anyway, great project! I'll be definitely keeping up with this one :)

I haven't tested "over the internet" performance yet. In theory, if you setup port-forwarding on your router (on the person hosting the server), and use the "connect to IP" function, you should be able to connect. It wouldn't be that hard to setup a internet game lobby. But knowing how well it will actually perform trough the internet will be important before that.

As for people not that much into sci-fi or star-trek. I noticed that it didn't matter that much. I've played it with about 15 different people now. Only 5 of those can be counted as die-hard nerds. The rest enjoyed the game because of all the hilarious stuff that goes wrong due to miss-communications. (Like enemy shield levels being interpreted as your own shield level). You'll lose a lot of the awesome interactions as soon as you go online (voice chat might help)

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Daid

Daid

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Note:

We'll be running our spaceship setup this evening in Amsterdam (yes, short notice, totally forgot about it). We might even have enough players for 2 ships!

At the Nerd Night of iFabrica: Gedempt Hamerkanaal 139, 1021KP Amsterdam, Netherlands

(You'll never know if a crazy KSP person might show up...)

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Note:

We'll be running our spaceship setup this evening in Amsterdam (yes, short notice, totally forgot about it). We might even have enough players for 2 ships!

At the Nerd Night of iFabrica: Gedempt Hamerkanaal 139, 1021KP Amsterdam, Netherlands

(You'll never know if a crazy KSP person might show up...)

Just sad I do not live in the Netherlands. :)

But I would have a suggestion: Have you thought about a version for mobiles/tablets? Because as far as I can see you have full touchscreen support, and it is a lot easier for people bringing 5 tablets and a PC together in a room than 6 PCs. I would really like to play the game with my friends and already did some games in singleplayer (insanely hard), but none of them has a laptop they could bring. I think tablet support would really make the game more accesible to not-so-nerdy players.

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  • 2 months later...
Daid

Daid

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Yes, I'm bringing this topic from the graveyard. But, hey, it's my own topic!

Never really stopped working on this. But it's a bit of an on/off thing, where I sometimes work a lot on it, and sometimes not at all.

But I would have a suggestion: Have you thought about a version for mobiles/tablets? Because as far as I can see you have full touchscreen support, and it is a lot easier for people bringing 5 tablets and a PC together in a room than 6 PCs. I would really like to play the game with my friends and already did some games in singleplayer (insanely hard), but none of them has a laptop they could bring. I think tablet support would really make the game more accesible to not-so-nerdy players.

Main reason I dropped by. We have an Android version now! It still has some bugs (like not wanting to restart properly after closing down). And it cannot do the main screen (no 3D support right now)

Other changes included:

* More advanced missile targeting (weapons need to pay a little more attention on how they fire missiles)

* Screens setup for controlling the ship with just 3/4 players. Next to the 5/6 player setup that was required before.

* AI ships can have different behavior (still need to expand more on this)

* Totally redid the GUI to solve some bugs. (That was a lot of work. Squad has their work cut out for them with the GUI overhaul for KSP 1.1)

* Bunch of new 3D models for better looks.

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  • 4 months later...
Daid

Daid

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Been a while since I updated this thread. Game is still being improved. Lots of small tweaks and fixes has been made, as well as this list:

Mostly, bugfixes, and small enhancements.
* Two new scripted scenarios that actually give you more advanced game objectives then "destroy everything!"
* New "science scanning" minigame. Practice makes you better at this, and makes science more engaging to play.
* Bunch of new alien ships with a new race.
* New AI that fires a volley of missiles at your side instead of taking you head on.
* The new ship-scanning "minigame" can be disabled server wide, which is better for conventions where new players are already overwhelmed with the game without this.
* Self destruct now has a countdown. (Abandon ship! Have your crew run out of the room like maniacs during this time, tripping over cables and destroying computers in the process)
* 5 new transport ship models, with 1 to 5 cargo containers each.
* Fixed a few problems when using the 3/4 crew member screen options, where some controls where not accessible.
* Added extra console types, "damcon" which is just the top part of engineering, "power management" which is just the bottom of engineering. "database", which is just the science database.

Changes for modding/changing the game:
* F5 in the GM screen copies the current selected objects to the clipboard for pasting in script files. For easier setup of new scenario scripts.
* Music list is no longer hard-coded, and any file in the music directory will be used at random.
* Objects can have descriptions that are shown in the science station.
* (not yet in the latest release, but code finished). Allow scenarios to define GM functions, that show up as buttons on the GM screen.


Also, some people have been testing to play trough the internet, which worked very well according to their report. Does require you to forward port 32666 in your router. And manual IP connecting, as there is no internet server discovery yet. But some preparation in the code has been made for it, as well as allowing for password-protected servers. But no official support for internet play yet.
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