Altru Ego Games is a tiny three-man games development team in Melbourne-Australia. We are made up of two certified games programmers and one certified games artist who have all worked together and proven our abilities in the past on non-commercial works.

We are finally going to get started on a real game, but first we need to know whether or not anyone even likes our game concept. There's no point making a game if no one likes it and I'm sick of eating two-minute noodles so without further delay...

The simplest way to explain our game idea would be: Battlefield with SPACESHIPS! You can picture it as being something like the combat scenes from 'Battlestar Galactica' (awesome little fighter ships pulling crazy maneuvers with streams of bullets flying overhead). Add a load-out and progression system similar to Battlefield or 'Call of Duty', and a few massive spaceships to keep things interesting.

The game is a purely multiplayer game (with the exception of tutorial levels) but very little else is set in stone. There may be a class system (currently intended), or there may not be. There may be a dock-able 'tank' style vehicle, or there may not. None of this has been decided 100% and your input can help to shape this.

So thoughts? Would you be interested in our game? Do you have any feedback on our concept, such as things you would love or hate to see included in the games design?

LOVE AND KISSES,
Altru Ego Games (three poor indie devs).

Well I think it's a fantastic idea and that 3 people have nearly no chance of pulling it off and creating a polished MP experience. Well, do prove me wrong on that one, will ya?

Funny you should mention BSG http://www.gamespot.com/battlestar-galactica-online/reviews/battlestar-galactica-review-6181992/

@Fenixp - Yep, were very aware of how big a task this will be. It's going to be a challenge regardless. All I can say for now is that we have assessed things objectively and decided to take a go at something outside the 'safe zone'. It's a little hard to explain but suffice it to say we have accomplished something like this on a smaller scale when we were all at uni. In effect, we broke all the records etc. Naturally I don't expect you to have any confidence in us, but I do want you to know that we aren't unexperiences hopefulls etc.

@grviper - Fortunately that game will have very little in common with the BSG game (which was a let down).

:)

I'm also part of a three man development team! *waves*

Anyway, here's a couple of thoughts:

- I would personally be very wary of doing anything multiplayer exclusive. With a single player game, even if you don't manage to net many sales, those who DID buy your game will be able to enjoy it. Multiplayer games, on the other hand, require a certain minimum number of players to ensure that there are always active games for someone to join. If you don't end up netting a community, then NOBODY will be able to enjoy your game.

- I like the idea, and I think it sounds like the sort of thing that would appeal to just about anyone. The CoD loadout system was, truthfully, a stroke of genius, because it added the always-effective "carrot on a stick" appeal to what was otherwise fairly bland multiplayer. Personally, I probably wouldn't have a class system--I would build the game so that the player could effectively create their own "classes" through the perks/loadouts they get. But that's entirely a subjective opinion.

- Pull off "crazy maneuvers?" Sign me up! As long as the controls for flight are simple (relatively speaking) and smooth. The whole "acrobatic epic space battles" thing is a concept that hasn't been effectively explored, in my opinion. Giving players the ability to feel like they can pull off the sort of moves you see in space action flicks would be very appealing. Then the best of luck to you all! And please keep me in the loop. It's always great to make contact with another indie developer... plus, the game sounds like it could be pretty cool! Who knows... in the future, our two teams might want to collaborate (although we...well, I... tend to pursue ideas that are... less-than-mainstream, to say the least).

I hope you're not offended by what I'm about to say... but game 'ideas' are ten a penny, yes it sounds interesting.. but so do a million others.

Before I start singing fanfares for you I'd kinda like to see your actual execution of the 'idea'.. It sounds a lot of work for 3 guys funding themselves... but if one guy can make this http://www.starwraith.com/ then there is still confidence to be shown in your abilities

*waves* :D A good point that we will consider, there are of course, advantage to the MP model too. I've given thought to this approach but worry about raising the barrier of entry to a level that will deter a lot of people. What are your thought on that? Did you have an idea as to how it might -roughly- work? That's what we're going for, the protype is indicating it's pretty doable. We'll see though. Sure thing, I think once we have a prototype or something we might throw it around to see what people think. Hard to say right this moment but yeh. Thanks!

Purely multiplayer...? Sorry, I only play single player games, so this won't be my cup of tea.

I very rarely play multiplayer these days, and when I do it is usually co-op with my better half. I find that when I have the time play I do so to relax, and multiplayer tend to do the opposite.

Not offended at all. Totally aware that ideas alone are worthless. The real point of this post is to see if it's an idea that 'sounds' interesting enough for it to be worth making and to try and refine the idea a little with feedback.

Gotta make sure it's not just us that like the idea is all :)

I don't really see a concrete idea. The description is quite vague, rather generic, and full of "maybes". The only things that are fixed make me think that the game won't be my cup of tea (multiplayer only, confusing fights).

If you try to make somebody interested in your game, try to describe how it will feel to play it. Explain why _you_ think that your game will be great. Currently the text reads like someone taking a couple of generic building blocks from other games (CoD) and franchises (Galactica) in the hope that the "maybes" will somehow make it interesting.

I still wish you luck and success, of course! :)

Then by all means the sooner you make a start the better..With this type of project you are sure to have an audience, you just have to find and encourage it.

The best of luck to you.

So is this set in space ... or in a planet's atmosphere with ground units? If the former, are you planning for a newtonian flight model (i.e. inertia is important so that I can cut my engines, rotate around, and continue moving in the same direction) or a Freespace-style space sim (the classic WWII fighter in space)? Any way is fine, I'm just curious. :)

Best of luck in executing your ideas! I always look forward to people developing new space sims. :)

I like the idea. X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter is getting older and older, so the idea is "fresh". The space sim genre has slowly been dying. I can even remember the last good single player game in that genre, let alone MP.

I can see that work.