Infinite Dark - Update September 2020

Just in case you were wondering, I hadn't forgotten Horizon Wars: Infinite Dark.

[Newcomers: Infinite Dark is going to be the third volume in the Horizon Wars series of games, covering spaceship combat.]

I recently hit upon some ideas for capturing the feel of 3-dimensional combat space without the hassle of having to account for it on a 2-dimensional playing area.  But I wanted to check them against an actual 3-dimensional play experience.  So I've been playing a bit of EVE: Echoes and enjoying it enormously.

And it confirmed a few things for me, and inspired a few others.

It confirmed that the 3-dimensional aspect of space combat, whilst fascinating, isn't fundamental to the joy of the experience.  But it does have two key tactics that provide a sense of the 3-dimensionality: the approach and the orbit.  Approaching is basically closing on a target.  Orbiting is maintaining a consistent range from the target.  The combination is used to get within your weapons' optimal range before trying to then stay at that range.  But it fundamentally applies to only a single target.  My broad concept for Infinite Dark is an idea I call "manoeuvre for advantage".

A pilot will be able to perform a manoeuvre test (much like a Zero Dark Mobility test) which will provide them access to a menu of advantages.  More successes = more advantages.  Generally, you will have to apply each advantage to a single target, but if you get enough successes, you might be good enough to get an advantage over two enemy targets.

I have a couple of options in mind to track where the advantages lie.  But if two pilots end up with the same advantages over each other, they cancel out and each loses that advantage.

It inspired me, though, to take more from Zero Dark than I had originally intended.  So I'm now working to make Infinite Dark a game with a solo/co-op play experience at its core, in parallel with the PvP game.  As such, I'm looking at the idea that players create pilots separately from ships.  You can also have NPC pilots who have fixed (inferior) stats.  So you can move a pilot/captain between ships (potentially even during a game, in a Rescue-type mission).

Ships also come in a range of flavours, much like mechs in Horizon Wars, on a scale of 1-9, but in three groups of three.  So 1-3 are fighter-scale vessels (including space-faring mechs!); 4-6 are long-range explorer vessels - miners, scouts and frigates; whilst 7-8 are battleships - destroyers, cruisers and battleships.  Generally speaking, you only put pilots into vessels at the right group for your battle.

Still working out the details, but the campaign mode should allow players to choose whether to stay in one Group throughout or to shift between Groups.  So you could have a pilot start at Group I and work their way up through Group II and Group III vessels.  Or you could just stay in Group I throughout, becoming a famous fighter ace.

Anyway, the short version is that it feels more and more like the proper "shape" for the game is beginning to form as I get a sense of how it will be different to other spaceship combat games.

Let me know your thoughts.

Also, if you play EVE Echoes and are in a Corporation, let me know which one!