When can we expect some news?

[craig68x]

That's awesome to hear! Yeah, we need to spread the word when the time comes.

[Anguille]

Making progress on development but holding off on the announcement still.

We have been doing an optimization pass this month to improve game performance.

Having a seamless galaxy (zoom-in from the galaxy level all the way down to the unit) with open travel, units pathfinding (finding the optimal path, avoiding borders and other obstacles) and having a realtime Ai apparently eats a lot of CPU cycles.

Our schedule is mostly driven by our progress and budget but I know what you mean and it would be nice if we can get the full attention of fans when the time comes to release the game.

Regarding turn-based ground battles. I think if it's at a high level strategic decisions with different or multiple phases it could be done well in turn-based format, MOO3 had the right idea I think. The invasion/conquer mechanic we have right now is much more simple so we can focus on other parts of the game but I would love to do something more elaborate later on.

This sounds great. Take your time.

I agree, i think that MOO3 has one of the most interesting combat systems. I also like the fact that the combat can last more than one turn which allows different factions to bring reinforcements.

In terms of graphics, i think that Endless Space 2 is bringing a new very high standard. Overall, Stellaris and Endless Space 2 are putting a lot of pressure to newer games. I am curious to see how Lord of Rigel will do. They seem to have some nice cutscenes (showing on youtube) but the ingame graphis will most likely be more simple. Curious to hear what you think.

[Zaimat]

I do think the graphics standards have changed and not just for 4x space strategy with engines like Unity or Unreal4 becoming very accessible.

Graphics and the game design has a big impact on game performance and that is a big challenge for 4x games. While Horizon could support thousands of units and planets without issue, run on older PCs and have fast turns, it's much more difficult with new engines and higher fidelity graphics.

The reason many 4x games restrict their design to using starlanes or hex movement and have combat and planetary systems on a separate (instanced) level is primarily for performance reasons which the games you mention rely on. So the trick is to design the way many players want (without those handicaps) and still have good graphics and performance!

As for cutscenes I think the best way to do them now is in the engine in realtime. There are some instances where pre-rendered cutscenes make sense but it's almost always better to do it in engine now.

[Anguille]

Intersting. Look forward to see your solution.

[Zaimat]

Some news I thought that might be of interest if any of you go to Gamescom this August (21-26) or live near Cologne, Germany..

I will be at Gamescom showing our new game so if you would like to see what we have been cooking (or just to say Hi) either at the show or a venue nearby I'd be happy to meet you.

[Anguille]

Nice. Unfortunately it's too far for me.

So we can expect some screenshots soon? Very curious.

Are you following the progress on Innterstellar Space: Genesis and Lord of Rigel? Both are being worked on and are fairly similar as i can see it. Both aim to replace MOO2.

(ps...it's my B'day today... )

[Zaimat]

Happy Birthday, I hope you had a nice cake to celebrate!

I will have more details as we get closer to Gamescom, things are still being worked out but I will try to do something for those who can't be there and are interested.

About those games, I don't know much about them just that they are in development, it's a very tough challenge to replace MOO2. MOO1 is much easier but still not trivial. So I wish them perseverance.

[Anguille]

Thanks...cake was good (apple cake).

I am really excited to hear that thing are coming along and can't wait to have something to look at soon.

PS: Stars in Shadow has just been released on GOG as well. I think it would be great to see Horizon being released on GOG too.

[Anguille]

Happy Birthday, I hope you had a nice cake to celebrate!

I will have more details as we get closer to Gamescom, things are still being worked out but I will try to do something for those who can't be there and are interested.

Anything? yet?

[Anguille]

Some news I thought that might be of interest if any of you go to Gamescom this August (21-26) or live near Cologne, Germany..

I will be at Gamescom showing our new game so if you would like to see what we have been cooking (or just to say Hi) either at the show or a venue nearby I'd be happy to meet you.

6 days to go! Are you ready?

[Zaimat]

Yes we are almost ready for Gamescom. I will be at Hall 3.2, Stand B-019G all day on Wednesday the 23rd of August in the Canada Pavillion if anyone is planning to attend the event.

I've prepared something for those who can't be there. Please private message me from here and provide me with your email address.

[Anguille]

Guess you've been working hard...

Will we get a new Wallpaper for x-mas?

[Zaimat]

Guess you've been working hard...

Will we get a new Wallpaper for x-mas?

Indeed we are. That would be nice wouldn't it? Will see what I can do.

[Anguille]

Cool

[tcmots]

Hello, my first post. Watched this game from 2004-2014 in development. I have over 250 hours in this game and after tryimg some of the newer 4x games out there which was mostly boring to me, I decided to come back to Horizons. It is in my opinion the best 4x game out there. I am excited you are persueing a new game and would just like to say Goodluck and Godspeed!!!

[Zaimat]

Hi tcmots - thank you for taking the time to post here after watching us from the early days.

Your experience with Horizon and excitement for our new game is very encouraging to us and we can't wait to share more information about it.

If you have any other feedback about Horizon I would love to hear about it. Things like what makes it special for you or what most you would like to see in the new game.

[tcmots]

Been thinking about what you asked, what makes this game special to me? Game flow and turn base combat are my bag! They can talk about real time combat all they want, I just don't think it has the depth and flow that I like in a 4x game. I purchased the remake of MOO and it is setting on my hard drive drawing dust, I was so disappointed right up until I returned to Horizon forums and found out you was making a sequel to Horizons!! Good luck with it.

[Zaimat]

Thanks. The game play is where our focus is also right now.

I would be glad to participate in beta when it happens

Noted. We will post something here when it's that time.

[Zaimat]

Tactical Combat is very important to get it right for us, so special attention has been put into improving the systems over what we had in Horizon. Among the improvements is the level of control so you can play very hands-on or at a high level more like a commander. The system is built to accommodate various levels of control. And one of the big things we made sure to support is saving/resuming the game at any point including during combat.

[Anguille]

Happy new year!

Have you decided if their will be any new civs in new game?

I would like to but we wanted to get the main Horizon races before adding any new ones.

So far we will have 8 as major factions and 3 as minor returning from Horizon's 11 races. The races have all been re-imagined and re-designed. The major ones will be animated in real-time 3d and have their unique vessels/backgrounds. Minor factions on the other hand will only have their unique portraits and share supporting assets.

We hope to add more minor factions for launch (and through modding) but this remains to be seen. Major factions on the other hand are a lot more costly and take significant time to produce so probably won't happen except in future expansions.

Sounds excellent. Just curious, how did you select the races that would only be minor races? Why these races?