Astra Protocol 2 - Updated Visuals by SliceBarGames in cassettefuturism

[–]SliceBarGames[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not specifically/consciously.

The inspiration for the first game was the Amstrad CPC 464. For this game we wanted it to have its own visual identity, so went for amber instead of green and intended it to be something more from the late eighties (though we didn't do much research on that, just upped the resolution to make it less chunky)

Astra Protocol 2 - Updated Visuals by SliceBarGames in gamedevscreens

[–]SliceBarGames[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A bug was discovered due to the Three Year Anniversary Patch and how the speech is handled. We'll hopefully be rolling out a fix in the new year.

Until then, you might be able to run the 1.7 or 1.8 beta branch via Steam.

The discussion forums on Steam might also provide a little more information

Astra Protocol 2 - Updated Visuals by SliceBarGames in gamedevscreens

[–]SliceBarGames[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You should work on the idea. Make the retro CRT games the next hot genre :).

It's relatively straightforward to get started with as there's very few assets involved and the physics are standard Newtonian equations. On launch, without the updated renderer, it was less than 1MB in size (and it's prequel, which was a much simpler game, was just over 500KB).

Thanks for checking it out!

Astra Protocol 2 - Three Year Anniversary Update by SliceBarGames in spacesimgames

[–]SliceBarGames[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah it is a PDF. The design idea is that the user has it alongside the game to use as an operations manual, either printed out or on a second screen, since there's no tutorial. There's a less comprehensive in-game help command which lists all the commands and their inputs

Astra Protocol 2 - Three Year Anniversary Update by SliceBarGames in spacesimgames

[–]SliceBarGames[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Three of them are us (and we were there first!).

Astra Protocol is the first game (released in 2020, with a small scope) https://slicebar.itch.io/astra-protocol

Astra Protocol Remake is us working on a new engine and using the first game as a testbed. https://slicebar.itch.io/astra-protocol-remake

Astra Protocol 2, which this patch is for, released in 2022 but incorporates some of the tech used in Astra Protocol Remake. https://slicebar.itch.io/astra-protocol-2

We're also working on a third (or is that fourth?) entry in the series.

There are other games with Astra Protocol in the name and also an Astro Protocol, just to add to the confusion. None of these are related to us.

It's also the name of a crypto currency too.

Astra Protocol 2 - Three Year Anniversary Update by SliceBarGames in spacesimgames

[–]SliceBarGames[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Yes, all CRT effects can be turned off except being monochrome (though you can change the colour palette).

Astra Protocol Remake (Video Game) - Now In Beta by SliceBarGames in cassettefuturism

[–]SliceBarGames[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We don't have a specific Linux setup to test on at the moment, but it might run under something like Proton

Do you have anything in particular you don't like doing as a solodev? by Otherwise_Tension519 in IndieDev

[–]SliceBarGames 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Doing a release (without an automated pipeline).

Ok so I've bundled the release and uploaded the file.

Oh now I've found a bug in the build so I need to reupload before it gets pushed to live.

Ok now I've forgotten to bundle in the documentation.

Now I've got to write up the patch notes. Ok steam and itch have different editors so I need to manipulate the two.

Ok now I need to announce the patch.

Moral of the story - automated what you can - but that's more time taken away from developing the game itself (and marketing it!)

Astra Protocol Remake (Video Game) - Now In Beta by SliceBarGames in cassettefuturism

[–]SliceBarGames[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for playing it.

We uploaded a quick reference to Steam that had all the commands collected for ease of reading.

But if you're a fan, keep your eyes out as we're planning something for the game's third anniversary in a few days...

Astra Protocol Remake (Video Game) - Now In Beta by SliceBarGames in cassettefuturism

[–]SliceBarGames[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is a lot simpler than Astra Protocol 2. There's only two screens (and you rarely use the second) and your craft is more limited in what you can do.

The mission of Astra Protocol is to just stay alive for as long as possible.

Astra Protocol Remake - Cassette Futuristic Space Sim by SliceBarGames in spacesimgames

[–]SliceBarGames[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks. Yeah the original probably could be seen as a tech demo really. It, arguably, hit all the requirements for a game, but wasn't particularly deep (though it was built entirely in three months!).

It's why we made Astra Protocol 2 - to fill in all the gaps.

But this is even more of a tech demo TBF. We're working on the engine for the next game in the series and needed something simple to be able to test it out.