Buzz Aldrin's Space Program Manager Announced!

[Barnacle_Bill]

I understand but what we're saying is the game is not a historical simulation based on the Cold War. This is an alternative history and it is a key part of the design to allow you to build any of the projects from all of the nations so is not going to change.

Then I look forward to your answer to Europa Universalis in which the exploration and colonization of the rest of the world by Europe 15th-18th centuries is conducted as a unified effort of the European Union rather than competitively by rival colonial powers. Good luck with that!

[Clark]

I'm so psyched about this! When I was a kid, I used to play a Space Station game on my Commodore 64. You had to manage a budget, fund specific R&D projects, and staff them with scientists who needed to have the appropriate skills and mesh well personally with their team. And you had to purchase modules for the station and build the station up.

There was some arcade-style gameplay too. You had to launch and bring the shuttle down from orbit (somewhat difficult and fun), and you had to drag the modules into place on the station and clear away space junk (easy enough but a bit tedious.)

I don't believe there was any competitive aspect, other than trying to actually keep the station running and productive over the long haul. It was a lot of fun, and I've been feeling a bit nostalgic for it in the past few months. So your game looks very interesting to me!

[Nacho84]

I think you are missing the point. Forget about BARIS. The idea of a global space agency in the 50's & 60's getting Apollo-level funding and highly classified militarily useful technology from the rival superpowers is ridiculous. This was the Cold War. Without the Cold War, nobody would have invested that kind of money in space. A lot of the launch vehicles started life as ICBM's. Such an agency would have been impossible in the international political climate of that era. A different enough international political climate to make it politically feasible would also have eliminated the motive for spending all that money. You really should reconsider that aspect of the game's premise.

Hello Barnacle_Bill, I'm Ignacio, the Lead Developer behind SPM. I've read your comments and understand what you say about the Cold War, but the emphasis on SPM is on space exploration and having a huge tech tree at your disposal, not on competition. I wanted to create a game in order to expand BARIS in depth (i.e., go past the lunar missions) and breadth (i.e., offers lots of programs and missions to choose from) and leave the Cold War aspect aside. If you are interested in space exploration, I'm sure you'll love SPM once it gets released!

[doc99]

Good to hear from you Nacho84: the depth issue of space exploration with a huge tech tree will peak my interest in this purchase BUT at some point the Cold War Space Race should be considered as a DLC [it should be easy based on the hard work you seem to have already put in] as it will bring color and excitement that will affect risk taking and bring an added tension to the competition based upon a part of history the majority of us have live through and identify with.

[Nacho84]

I'm so psyched about this! When I was a kid, I used to play a Space Station game on my Commodore 64. You had to manage a budget, fund specific R&D projects, and staff them with scientists who needed to have the appropriate skills and mesh well personally with their team. And you had to purchase modules for the station and build the station up.

Glad you liked it!

I don't believe there was any competitive aspect, other than trying to actually keep the station running and productive over the long haul. It was a lot of fun, and I've been feeling a bit nostalgic for it in the past few months. So your game looks very interesting to me!

Exactly, and that's the kind of game we're trying to build here. A huge tech tree with missions from all the major agencies, lots of nice pictures and historical information and the ability to manage your agency as you want. But obviously, if you want a more structured experience with set goals, you can select the campaign mode.

Good to hear from you Nacho84: the depth issue of space exploration with a huge tech tree will peak my interest in this purchase BUT at some point the Cold War Space Race should be considered as a DLC [it should be easy based on the hard work you seem to have already put in] as it will bring color and excitement that will affect risk taking and bring an added tension to the competition based upon a part of history the majority of us have live through and identify with.

Based on the responses we've seen in the forums, we're seriously considering the idea of doing a "Race to the Moon" game. However, all our focus right now lies in SPM, but we'll definitely revisit the idea once the game is out.

[jdm]

Buzz flying over for meeting next month, always an honour, pleasure and thrill to meet with him

JDM

[NickMUK]

Really can't wait to give this a go. Any clues on what to expect in terms of government targets and how we will be rewarded? Very interested to see how the tech tree pans out, I hope it's more of a web/matrix than a conventional tech tree.

[ada101st]

Really looking forward to this game

[Clark]

Buzz flying over for meeting next month, always an honour, pleasure and thrill to meet with him

JDM

I briefly met Buzz Aldrin when I was a kid. My family went to Johnson Space Center, and I asked a question at one of the exhibits that my parents couldn't quite answer. Buzz Aldrin happened to be right next to us leading a tour for VIPs, and he excused himself from the group, turned to us and answered my question, and went back to his tour. Nice guy!

[doc99]

Will there be a demo?

[MajVonRyan]

It looks like a great game

[Nacho84]

Will there be a demo?

Apologies for not replying to this message earlier! We haven't decided yet whether there would be a demo or not. More info coming soon regarding this!

[Nacho84]

It looks like a great game

Thanks!

[NickMUK]

Any news on SPM? I imagine following your meeting with Buzz you have lots of developments going on.

I'm wondering, with your amalgamated programme of real world missions and technologies, how has the game taken into account the possibility of in game success of missions that have failed in the real world, Soviet Luna (8 failures and 3 successes) or "Mars 79" sample return missions for instance? Obviously had they succeeded in reality space exploration as we know it could be drastically different in focus and have evolved completely different technology. It would be silly to think that in the game a successful return of Martian or Lunar material would not lead to development of that technology

I guess what I'm asking is how have you second guessed the outcomes, implications and consequences of missions that have not succeeded or are yet to happen?

[Nacho84]

Hello NickMUK,

Deep apologies for taking nearly a week to get back to you! No news on SPM, other than we are working on it. In a few days we'll be uploading some more screenshots.

To answer your question: the success of certain missions surely has an impact on future related missions and I decided what that impact might be on a per-mission basis while designing the tech-tree, since we cannot apply a single solution to fit all scenarios. In the example that you provided, personally I don't think that the success of the Luna probes would have had a great technological impact. Don't get me wrong, it would have been great if the soviets managed to return some Moon rocks using a robot before July 1969, but we would have got them anyway as a result of the Apollo missions. A successful Luna 15 mission would have surely been interesting from a political point of view, but I'm not sure it would have had an impact in the evolution of technology.

Once again, apologies for taking so long to get back to you. Feel free to open new threads and post more questions about the game and I'll do my best to get back to you as soon as possible.

Cheers!

[NickMUK]

Thanks for getting back to me, it's great to be able to build a picture up of what the game might be. As usual in my excitement I have loads of questions...

Will there be an option to develop commercial aspects of space exploration with a view to strengthen you budget, such as passengers or selling payload space or maybe even commercialisation of technology such as scratch resistant lenses?

What will the endgame be? Simply getting to Mars? Or perhaps, building on my last question, turning an agency with a huge budget deficit into a profitable organisation?

Super excited to see this game go live.

Nick

[Nacho84]

Hello Nick,

Indeed, there will be some commercial elements in the game, but not in part 1.

Regarding the endgame... yes, the campaign mode is technically over once you reach Mars and bring the crew back home. However, in sandbox mode you can keep on launching missions and opening new branches of the tech tree.

I'm glad you're excited about the game. We cannot wait to release it either! Personally, I have been working on this game as a side project since January 2007, so you can imagine how eager I am for it to finally see the daylight

Cheers,

--Nacho

[Kreisler]

Good to hear from you Nacho84.

Like everyone else I am eagerly looking forward to this release. I am an old BARIS aficionado, and I have a question regarding the technical development of the audio side of the game. Will you be interspersing the game with simulated TV/Radio broadcasts celebrating program achievements and calamities? If so I hope you use period appropriate talent for the job. Broadcasting in the 50's/60's had a very different tone to that used today, and it would greatly add to the program if that could be captured. I am a retired broadcaster myself and it irritates me no end to hear recreations of "historical broadcasts" using modern voice patterns! Who would you rather hear....Wolf Blitzer or Walter Cronkite!

[Nacho84]

Good to hear from you Nacho84.

Like everyone else I am eagerly looking forward to this release. I am an old BARIS aficionado, and I have a question regarding the technical development of the audio side of the game. Will you be interspersing the game with simulated TV/Radio broadcasts celebrating program achievements and calamities? If so I hope you use period appropriate talent for the job. Broadcasting in the 50's/60's had a very different tone to that used today, and it would greatly add to the program if that could be captured. I am a retired broadcaster myself and it irritates me no end to hear recreations of "historical broadcasts" using modern voice patterns! Who would you rather hear....Wolf Blitzer or Walter Cronkite!

Hello Kreisler,

Apologies for the late reply. At the moment, we're not planning to include simulated TV/Radio broadcasts in the interseason screens, but I'll take your suggestion on board!

Cheers,

--Ignacio

[NickMUK]

I think the newscasts definitely added something to BARIS but that style of narrative was very much related to the cold war theme and the competitive gameplay. I was personally a fan of the newspapers in Sim City 2000.

If this game were to use media reports of the missions it might be nice to see the media evolve, starting with newspapers moving to television then internet and ending up with Twitter and Wikipedia. It could be interesting to have a media/PR office and be able to issue press releases (or cover ups?) where media portrayal and public opinion of your space program has an effect on the budgeting and targets system.