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General discussionRebel Galaxy: Developer Q&A(105 posts)(105 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
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 27, 2015
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cogadh: Will there be future add-on content/expansions for the game?
We haven't made plans for and future content, yet. We didn't know if it would be popular enough to warrant more (it looks like it is!) and need a little rest before launching into anything. We have a million good ideas already though!
Posted October 27, 2015
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Manawyddan: Hi,

Will there be a Linux version of the game coming out sometime in the future?
Are there any plans to release it for Linux?

Thank you very much.

Cheers,
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.
Posted October 27, 2015
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Ixamyakxim: No question here but I just wanted to say what a wonderful job you did on the game, and with such a small "team" (if you can even call it that LOL - well I guess doubles tennis ;) ).

I first saw the game months ago on the "Upcoming" tab here and had been eagerly awaiting it. Picked the game up as my second only Day One purchase and haven't been disappointed in the least.

It's just "deep enough" to keep it interesting and feel like some of the old classics but the action oriented combat and ease of play make it great to just jump in for a little pick up and play. Really fills in a niche nicely. And I can't believe how beautiful and polished it is - those character animations and voice workovers are great! I swear one of the bartenders is the venerable Michael Caine ;)

Anyway, great work, loving the game and can't wait to see what's next!

*edit to add Oh, true or false - the Tennhausen is the most awesome-est, best-est cheapest(est?) ship in the game and nothing is better?
Thanks! But no, Barracuda is best!
Posted October 27, 2015
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Ulfednir: Hi Travis and Erich (and thanks GOG -I know it sounds weird- to give us the chance to ask questions to Rebel Galaxy devs),

Looking to your game requirements I see you allowed mid-to-low end machines to run it, but hey, the graphics are solid, gameplay is fun and -last but not least- price is very affordable (and I'm really grateful to you guys for both requirements and price, hard times here in Italy!).
So that's my question: Is the choice about requirements and price a matter of mere marketing or is it a matter of "philosophy" in making games accessible?

P.s.: I'm having great times around the galaxy, way to go guys! Looking forward to your next project!
We definitely want to make games that people can play without too much hassle. We think there's a good place in the world for small devs who make moderately priced games that can still be ambitious and look pretty good. Maybe not in league with something that the big AAA houses can produce, but attractive without being pixel art.
Posted October 27, 2015
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TheTome56: Something that immediately stuck to to me when I played the game for the first time was the fact that I had no free flight, so I've been wondering:

Why did you guys choose to make the game locked onto a linear grid instead of making it a 6 degrees of freedom space flight game?

Was it a design choice to complement the naval broadside style combat system? Was it because your focus on large capital ships made it too troublesome or slow to do really good 6 degrees of freedom combat? Or was it just because you had a specific control scheme in mind for piloting and didn't want to over-complicate the controls of the game?

I personally imagine it's the second. I've been in big ship battles in EVE Online and the six degrees of freedom just end up slowing everything down, not making it engaging at all.
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.
Posted October 27, 2015
Great job on the game overall!

Will we see some improvements for late-game and weapons?

Trade becomes mid-game an inefficient way to make money and you will have to join the trader's guild to get high value trade runs and make any money out of it.
Visiting space bases quickly becomes irrelevant other than to shop or repair or mission related.

Combat also becomes simple mid-game, and half of the weapons seem inefficient. Pulse laser turrets are much better overall than the dedicated turrets, even with setting the AI to only shoot at specific targets. You can't really tell if the flak secondaries do anything, and the dumb missiles do to little DPS even after armor is down. (would be nice to have them lunch as torpedoes and be devastating as the description says).

Secondary weapons emplacements are always lateral, which is just like the broadsides, this makes it hard to target since they are not manually targeted. (also flak turrets would be nice to auto-target missiles)

Enemy encounters become simple, either you farmed missions and have good defenses so that you can stay there and pound anything, or you'll get overrun and shot down in a few salvos.
Post edited October 27, 2015 by foxulet
Posted October 27, 2015
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stefankarner: Right off the bat Rebel Galaxy does a great job of instilling a very grovelly Space Western vibe, with music and design working hand in hand to deliver an immersive experience. Since that would be the best known franchise in this genre: DId you at any point consider setting the game in the Firefly universe, or was licensed IP never an option?
Licensed IP was never a consideration. You have to get permission to do things. Middle-management producer types think they know what's best. Its no life for a man...

The Firefly vibe kicked in with the music choice, which happened about halfway through development. We had space-y electronica stuff for a while. It was okay, but a little cold and distant. Travis got the idea to try the current direction and it was obvious to both of us that it fit the game better.
Posted October 27, 2015
Got any decent tips on the space combat? I just got the A.I. to reveal itself and I have to retrieve the first part of its reliquary and I am getting my butt kicked.

I got some missiles, upgraded some weapons a bit, upgraded my turrets and the mission went from "High" threat to "Average" and yet...it doesn't feel average. I am not sure what I am doing wrong here at this point but I do know that this is a PEBKAC situation at least :D
Posted October 27, 2015
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Decivre: Are there any plans of implementing multiplayer in the game, or within the sequel? I really did love the Freelancer feel of the game, but was very disappointed that it lacked one of Freelancer's best aspects.
Multiplayer is not going to happen with Rebel Galaxy. It would be too hard (for the 2 of us) and it would change too many things about the current design (can you pause and scan stuff?).

We would consider it in a possible sequel, but we really like working as a small team and are unlikely to want to expand. We'll see. I know it would be fun.
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foxulet: Great job on the game overall!

Will we see some improvements for late-game and weapons?

Trade becomes mid-game an inefficient way to make money and you will have to join the trader's guild to get high value trade runs and make any money out of it.
Visiting space bases quickly becomes irrelevant other than to shop or repair or mission related.

Combat also becomes simple mid-game, and half of the weapons seem inefficient. Pulse laser turrets are much better overall than the dedicated turrets, even with setting the AI to only shoot at specific targets. You can't really tell if the flak secondaries do anything, and the dumb missiles do to little DPS even after armor is down. (would be nice to have them lunch as torpedoes and be devastating as the description says).

Secondary weapons emplacements are always lateral, which is just like the broadsides, this makes it hard to target since they are not manually targeted. (also flak turrets would be nice to auto-target missiles)

Enemy encounters become simple, either you farmed missions and have good defenses so that you can stay there and pound anything, or you'll get overrun and shot down in a few salvos.
We've got a balance pass in mind that might help on some of this stuff. We're not going to rush that, though. And any major content expansions are very unlikely in the near term.

I agree with some of your specifics, but others I have a different opinion on. Flak secondaries (hold them down, don't trigger them) are very effective vs. fighters and incoming missiles. And the dumbfire missiles are very deadly in close and come pretty cheap. I couple them with ramming deflectors.
Post edited October 27, 2015 by mediumheadboy
Posted October 27, 2015
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JudasIscariot: Got any decent tips on the space combat? I just got the A.I. to reveal itself and I have to retrieve the first part of its reliquary and I am getting my butt kicked.

I got some missiles, upgraded some weapons a bit, upgraded my turrets and the mission went from "High" threat to "Average" and yet...it doesn't feel average. I am not sure what I am doing wrong here at this point but I do know that this is a PEBKAC situation at least :D
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
Posted October 27, 2015
I totally understand not being able to graft MP onto an existing game, but I do hope for some sort of MP in the sequel, if one comes. I don't want anything grandiose or MMO-scale, just some drop-in co-op. Letting a friend pop in with his ship and his equipment to give me a helping hand would be grand, and probably not too difficult to implement with a small team, when you're planning for it from the beginning. Am I off in fantasy land, or does that sound potentially achievable?
Posted October 27, 2015
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JudasIscariot: Got any decent tips on the space combat? I just got the A.I. to reveal itself and I have to retrieve the first part of its reliquary and I am getting my butt kicked.

I got some missiles, upgraded some weapons a bit, upgraded my turrets and the mission went from "High" threat to "Average" and yet...it doesn't feel average. I am not sure what I am doing wrong here at this point but I do know that this is a PEBKAC situation at least :D
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.
Posted October 27, 2015
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JudasIscariot: Got any decent tips on the space combat? I just got the A.I. to reveal itself and I have to retrieve the first part of its reliquary and I am getting my butt kicked.

I got some missiles, upgraded some weapons a bit, upgraded my turrets and the mission went from "High" threat to "Average" and yet...it doesn't feel average. I am not sure what I am doing wrong here at this point but I do know that this is a PEBKAC situation at least :D
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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.
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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JudasIscariot: Got any decent tips on the space combat? I just got the A.I. to reveal itself and I have to retrieve the first part of its reliquary and I am getting my butt kicked.

I got some missiles, upgraded some weapons a bit, upgraded my turrets and the mission went from "High" threat to "Average" and yet...it doesn't feel average. I am not sure what I am doing wrong here at this point but I do know that this is a PEBKAC situation at least :D
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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
The blighters keep running away though :P Anyways, thanks, I'll try your tactics next time :)
Post edited October 27, 2015 by JudasIscariot
Posted October 27, 2015
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JudasIscariot: Got any decent tips on the space combat? I just got the A.I. to reveal itself and I have to retrieve the first part of its reliquary and I am getting my butt kicked.

I got some missiles, upgraded some weapons a bit, upgraded my turrets and the mission went from "High" threat to "Average" and yet...it doesn't feel average. I am not sure what I am doing wrong here at this point but I do know that this is a PEBKAC situation at least :D
Shield upgrades are extremely important. I try to keep them as my highest MK upgrade. Flak or EMP Flak in the secondary slots helps a lot.

But its probably more a question of tactics. Don't fly in the middle of big fleets. Try to keep to the outside, draw out the fast fighters and gunships and kill them first. If things are really scary, head directly away in serpentine fashion, alternating taking hits on one side until your shields are down, then swing around to the other side, broadsiding when you can.

And hire a mercenary! Good luck!
Posted October 27, 2015
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JudasIscariot: Got any decent tips on the space combat? I just got the A.I. to reveal itself and I have to retrieve the first part of its reliquary and I am getting my butt kicked.

I got some missiles, upgraded some weapons a bit, upgraded my turrets and the mission went from "High" threat to "Average" and yet...it doesn't feel average. I am not sure what I am doing wrong here at this point but I do know that this is a PEBKAC situation at least :D
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mediumheadboy: Shield upgrades are extremely important. I try to keep them as my highest MK upgrade. Flak or EMP Flak in the secondary slots helps a lot.

But its probably more a question of tactics. Don't fly in the middle of big fleets. Try to keep to the outside, draw out the fast fighters and gunships and kill them first. If things are really scary, head directly away in serpentine fashion, alternating taking hits on one side until your shields are down, then swing around to the other side, broadsiding when you can.

And hire a mercenary! Good luck!
"Don't fly in the middle of big fleets" yeah and that A.I. reliquary mission has a fleet pop up with you in the middle...and me trying to fight them :P Thanks, I'll see what I can do :D
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Community
General discussionRebel Galaxy: Developer Q&A(105 posts)(105 posts)
(105 posts)