What do you want for the future of sins and 4x RTS games?

from Sins Forums

 

 

 

Technology has outpaced sins of a solar empire beyond what you can imagine. The future of sins of a solar empire is very bright. As gamers , modders and developers what do you see as 4xRTS space games 5 years from now:

 

The current game runs on 1 cpu core and we love it. What would a future sins game look like if its running on 8 core/threads or 12 cores/threads?

What kind of functionality are you expecting?

 

Developing an engine to take advantage of all this power is very hard but i believe its possible in the future. Iron-clad has so much potential as it is and thank you star-dock for helping.

 

 

 

 

Graphics on Chip:

48core Intel Larrabee Processor GPU or GP-GPU?

The possibilities are endless and thats without the Godzilla's from  Nvidia and AMD. 

 

One thing that always drives me crazy at night is i start to think what if:

the play-station 3 was a PC games console with a mouse, keyboard and an optional monitor (already true except for the games support) and i picture sins streaming gigabyytes of data through Blu-ray as ram, massive cpu head room for rendering, ai, physics and that's without using the RSX nvidia GPU. Im always dreaming-oh my god-- killzone 2+3 + Uncharted 2 + Sins of a solar empire. I like to dream. I hope some of you can dream with me.. i want it all to come true. 

 

To make a sins game so incredible the developtment would cost millions. I don't see it happening right now unless ironclad and stardock team up with gas powered games the makers of supreme commander: Demigod was a bad example or the makers of eve online. 

 

What im looking for is a 4xRTS game to define all. The ultimate Space strategy game that will change the future of space strategy games. Just like sins did for me a while back"

 

What do you want the future to look like for 4xRTS games?

 

 

 

 

 

12,553 views 8 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top

To be honest, as long as there is a really good UI that allows you to navigate the battlefield and control your units with ease, I would be quite happy. As far as what I'm want the future to look like, I would love more details on ships on planets. Individual rotating turrets, varied planets with accessories such as rings or moons, more visible particle effects for weapons and unit deaths, and so on.

However, what I really would love to see would be performance upgrades. I'd love the thought of hundreds, maybe even thousands of individual ships colliding in battles across the system, without a massive performance drop.

Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top

Unfortunately, when you're designing a game, you can't do it with the intention that only 5% of all PC owners will have the power needed to be able to play it, especially in the midst of an economic depression.  (Not everyone is rich and can afford a fancy-schmancy new 8 core computer and not everyone knows or has the where-with-all to order parts inexpensively from Newegg and build their own 8 core rig.).  Instead, you would hope that any computer with a lowly dual core CPU purchased after, say, 2007, could run it.

The nice thing about Sins is that the focus of the game's development can really be on the quality of the game play and not the eye candy.  When you're engaged in an intense real game (say 5v5, no AI's) who has time to drown themselves in eye candy anyway?  Some people never zoom in past being able to view small icons around the planets.

Galactic Civilizations IV
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top

No matter how powerful a system is now, the next big thing is already years in development. There is already talk of 128 bit tech right around the corner. So the graphics of tomorrows 4X/RTS will more than likely be the quality of the CGI we see in the movies today. In some games (like Eve Online) its already damn near there.

However as sanchez says there has to be GOOD gameplay, or else all of the eye candy you put into it will mean nothing if the game itself sucks. To me less is more when it comes to a UI. Or i want a UI that gives me all of the info i need (ether with small icons, or symbols) without any big ass windows blocking the view of the battlefield. The original Homeworld got it right. Its UI IMO was perfect. Yea it opened full screen windows for the build menu, but it didnt interfere with the game itself. The battlefield was nothing but space in all its glory (for 1999).

Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting DirtySanchezz, reply 2
Unfortunately, when you're designing a game, you can't do it with the intention that only 5% of all PC owners will have the power needed to be able to play it, especially in the midst of an economic depression.  (Not everyone is rich and can afford a fancy-schmancy new 8 core computer and not everyone knows or has the where-with-all to order parts inexpensively from Newegg and build their own 8 core rig.).  Instead, you would hope that any computer with a lowly dual core CPU purchased after, say, 2007, could run it.

The nice thing about Sins is that the focus of the game's development can really be on the quality of the game play and not the eye candy.  When you're engaged in an intense real game (say 5v5, no AI's) who has time to drown themselves in eye candy anyway?  Some people never zoom in past being able to view small icons around the planets.
End of DirtySanchezz's quote

 

What PC specs do you play with on ICO?

Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top

Perhaps it's just me, but I just want a multi-core Sins with better AI modability and more weapon slots for frigates and capital ships.

Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting RiddleKing, reply 4
What PC specs do you play with on ICO?
End of RiddleKing's quote

I'm on a rig that I designed in 2005 (parts ordered) and assembled in late January 2006.

CPU:   AMD Opteron 185 (dual core CPU overclocked to 2.8 Ghz from 2.6 standard)

Mobo:  Epox +9npa Ultra (nForce 4 mobo)

RAM:  3 GB of DDR 400

GPU:  nVidia 8800 GT

Of course, I'd love to have a more powerful quad core or octacore, etc., but this computer does everything I need it to do for now and there aren't any games out there I particularly want to play that I can't currently play.  (Sins is about 95% of my gaming time.)  Otherwise I just use this computer for Internet surfing and word processing.  So, I would hate to have to go buy a new rig simply to be able to play a new game who's only real virtue is enhanced eye candy.

Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top

Given that rebellion isn't even out yet, and Stardock would likely make a GalCiv 3 before a Sins 2, I don't think it is at all unreasonable to expect Sins 2 (likely 7+ years out) to be made for quad-cores...

On that note, I don't think expecting moving turrets and awesome graphics to be unreasonable either...we aren't talking about a game that will start development now, but rather one that won't probably even start development till at least 5 or so years from now...

Will gameplay improve?  I don't know....this isn't the Call of Duty franchise where they have a new release every November to be vetted and critiqued by millions of players...unless Sins 2 is identical in gameplay, it probably will have the same balance issues as Sins does...one thing that probably will improve is the AI, and that would be really nice...

Reply #8 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting DirtySanchezz, reply 6

Quoting RiddleKing, reply 4What PC specs do you play with on ICO?

I'm on a rig that I designed in 2005 (parts ordered) and assembled in late January 2006.

CPU:   AMD Opteron 185 (dual core CPU overclocked to 2.8 Ghz from 2.6 standard)

Mobo:  Epox +9npa Ultra (nForce 4 mobo)

RAM:  3 GB of DDR 400

GPU:  nVidia 8800 GT

Of course, I'd love to have a more powerful quad core or octacore, etc., but this computer does everything I need it to do for now and there aren't any games out there I particularly want to play that I can't currently play.  (Sins is about 95% of my gaming time.)  Otherwise I just use this computer for Internet surfing and word processing.  So, I would hate to have to go buy a new rig simply to be able to play a new game who's only real virtue is enhanced eye candy.
End of DirtySanchezz's quote

 

I have enormous respect for your the 8800GT. The gem of the 8000 series cards for price and performance. 

I play small-medium maps on a (8200)9300m gpu with a centrino dual core at 2ghz and Its good with sins but lag kicks in late game -but as you say i just zoom out. I can comfortably watch large map replays so im really proud of having to travel anywhere and still be able to play than be on my PC and still have to use low settings to avoid lag. 

 

Pricing:

 

"I think its important for future consoles to adopt a wireless mouse and keyboard setup. For starters its an affordable box for the masses and is specifically designed for gaming in terms of multi-threaded gaming engines.

Current consoles have 3 to 8 threaded executions in there CPU cores. My laptop is more expensive than my console but significantly weaker. Ram on consoles is not a problem because of Blu-Ray streaming and the lighting data transfer rates on the ps3.

 

Current Pricing on ebay:: 8800GT $75, PS3 $268  with International free shipping.

If the ps3 could support sins then i would go for it any day for my larger map games.  

 

I see a future for rts where gaming would be affordable vai the consoles. It could boost sales for rts games beyond the current state. While assembling rigs would prove to be a good investment for performance and upgrade options then consoles could let the mainstream users play sins with all the eye candy.

 

Engine:

What we need is a game that is built from the ground up to be extremely multi-threaded to avoid lowering the graphics settings. On top of that: the ease of use and multiplayer community online needs to be built in the game. ladders, & tournament listings etc. 

 

Modding and customization:

We need more easy assets and making it easier to model like the game spore.

In fact we should be able to Pimp our rides as they say -  Additional parts, decorations, labeling, weapon effects and weapon effects colors- etc and be able to use those single player customization online. 

 

Putting normal folks through Maya for modelling is not going to work."