Kickstarter Video for Planet X3
So before you go looking for the kickstarter, it isn't live yet. I'm waiting for it to be approved and I won't release this video to the world until the kickstarter is live. Which could be days from now. But you can watch the video now!
Comments (53)
I found a easter egg where you hit keys 1-9 and 0 to play any song in the game
I think that your assembly code printed on 9-pin dot matrix printer would be an awesome "reward" tier ;)
You have a backer here for sure! Can’t wait to do a review on it. Planet X2 review is still popular on the site.
The in game artwork and box art is awesome!
$35 Standard Box, does that include shipping? Even if not, I think that's way too low!
I agree with this.
Looks fantastic! I expect whatever amount you set as the goal, the Kickstarter will easily be funded within 24 hours.
I would enjoy seeing a T-Shirt and poster with some of that original artwork from the cover.
I acutally consider donating on kickstarter even though I am not at all a gamer and would much likely never actually play the game, but I'd really like the project to succeed.
Please consider other keyboard layouts! Using a German keyboard for the brackets you have to press AltGr-8 and Alt-Gr9 which would be a pain. For the mouse support. Wouldn't it be at least nice to implement the one you have which is only working within the map? Wouldn't do any harm, would it?
Thanks for letting me know about that, because I had no idea. However, I had already considered the possibility of changing the keyboard layout to use Page-Up/Page-Down instead.
Great video. The VGA preview looks stunning. Can’t wait for the finished product. Keep up the good work. 👍
Oh, one more thing: have you taken international keyboards into consideration?
While this video is great and suits your YouTube channel, I think it is way too long for a Kickstarter video and requires too much previous knowledge about X2. I‘d try to edit it down to 10 minutes and add some X2 information at the start. Of course you would link the full video in the project’s description. Good luck with your Kickstarter!
I agree. This video is great for anyone who followed your journey with X2, but for the Kickstarter page a shorter video with an intro to X2 would be better
I was looking for the KS link, then I read the description. *facepalm*
Excuse me for nitpicking, but didn't you mean to say "quadrupling" instead of "tripling" @2:09?
VGA mode looks great, takes you back to Dune 2. Mode 13h is just legendary :)
As far as I understand, 16 color 160x200 mode on CGA is basically putting the card in text mode and tweaking the 6845 CRT controller settings so it only displays one row per character instead of 8. So I don't understand why you would need a CVBS connector for this mode; it should work just as well with the usual RGBI monitors that CGA used. Or do I misunderstand how it works?
I think you are misunderstanding. There is a mode similar to what you describe, but it is hard to use because you have to find text characters that have the top row of pixels the way you want. In composite mode you are actually putting the card into 640x200 x 2-color graphics mode. And then you enable the colorburst signal. NTSC artifacting is what actually creates the colors.
Just an FYI before it goes public, your license plate # is clearly shown in the video during the Planet X2 loading-in scene
ooooh, I'm not really a strategy player but that is tempting =) looking really nice. I hope it does well.
Take my money! I was just about to order Planet X-2 since I finally got my hands on a 1571 for my Commodore 128D. I think I'll wait a few days so I can jump on that Deluxe box. Will you provide digital download links to the previous games immediately (well, immediately once it's funded)?
I hadn't thought about that. I don't think I'll be able to do that on the whole. But I'm sure if you email me on here about it, I can personally send you a copy.
Again it seems EGA, with its 16 colors from a 64 color palette, is the red-headed step-child of retrocomputing. Sigh.
Well, i gave serious consideration to skipping VGA and just doing EGA instead. If it weren't for the programming hassles of EGA modes, that's probably what I would have done.
VGA mock-up looks great. Are you going to manipulate the palatte to give basic animation to water/buildings etc if you get that far? Used to use that trick all the time when I messed around with VGA 320x200x256 int 13h stuff.
I haven't decided yet. I have considered that, though.
Planet X3 is looking great! I like the VGA graphics mock-up as well as all the other video mode graphics
Any chance to support MT32 or GM midi for the music? Anders composites the music for MT-32 (atleast what it says on the cassette) and if that could be played natively that would be awesome! Also it would be very fitting for the game and the timeperiod you're targeting.
It's looking unlikely at this point. However, it will depend a great deal on if I manage to hire somebody else to do the audio routines and if they can do MT-32. Myself, I am struggling with the thought of supporting 3 sound devices as it is.
Could you plan as a stretch goal a localization to play the game in german? would love to translate it in german! cheers and I will be a 60 bucks baker :-)
I just don't think there will be enough volume to justify localized versions. I mean, i guess I could change the words in the software, but the boxes and manuals and stuff would simply not be possible.
Man I’m really tempted by the Kickstarter and I don’t even like RTS’s. :)
Looking good and I think you have pitched the reward levels about right. You could have some stretch goals, like including a new map editor or perhaps random map generation, however I see the downside of those being the time to develop.
That box looks awesome!
Nice, this is probably the best informed kickstarter video i have ever seen. Great job. Defo got my eye on Deluxe Edition as i have not got my Planet x2 copy yet.
I think it's really good to drop mouse support if you don't need it. Honestly, none of the video modes give enough lee-way to make a mouse really usable. Mice are great when the visual window is large and you need really pinpoint access to a certain portion of the screen. What I would like to see is the map editor made available to customers, a map file specification, and the possibility of source releases at some time in the near future of the game and map editor. Even if it's Id style where all they release is the engine, and all of the assets (art/sound/unit files/enemy files) are removed from the source release, that'd be totally fine. I'd love to see how you accomplished stuff like that beautiful CGA-composite mode, and I think it'd be a great thing to archive.
I have given a lot of though to possibly including the map editor with the game. However, the map editor only works with CGA mode and isn't super user-friendly. But with proper documentation, people could use it.
I really like the look of the 16-colour CGA. I am astounded that so few games used the mode, especially given its very similar to how the Apple II worked, so it wasn't like it was a totally alien method.Would it be possible to include a way to rebind the keys, even if its just editing a config file? I have always found using the direction pad+keys on the right side (e.g. enter) to be rather cumbersome. I'd rather remap it to use the left side of the keyboard for the non-movement controls. It'd also be really cool if you could include the map editor in/with the final game. I always loved making custom maps for my favourite RTSs in my younger years.
Sure.. I could probably add a feature or even a menu to remap the keys. I guess a lot of it will depend on number of sales and how many people ask for that.
Looks good. Only time will tell. Btw, as it sits the CGA mode seemed to work fine in terms of running in a modern PC with DOS (yes, I booted a modernish 2.8ghz Core2 machine on DOS 5.0 and the game ran fine). VGA mode should work. Sound is an unknown, though FreeDOS has a soundblaster implementation that works. But it would obviously be much simpler to just use DosBOX.
Can't wait :D This will be perfect for my newly acquired Amstrad PPC640 'suitcase'.
It's looking very nice. I love all the technical detail about how the graphics modes work.
Will the game run on a current Windows PC? With the digital download?
yes, but you'll have to use DOSBOX to make it work.
This is looking really cool. Can't wait to back it.
A lot of your design choices make perfect sense when taking the target platform into consideration. As far as mouse control goes, you're right about the fact Starcraft (and Warcraft 2) used to have fog of war - but at the same time, Command and Conquer did not, and that game required a mouse to play anyway, so it might still be a worthwhile use case.
I am looking forward to the kickstarter, will be planning on a digital download copy myself. I am traveling at the moment and couldn’t store the box!
Oh dear lord what a relief when you switched to the alternative CGA palette.
It's funny.. my wife said the opposite. When I switched to the alternate palette she said she couldn't bear to look at it.
Good luck!
Woah, the VGA version looks amazing <3