Solaris

Wednesday Night Bash

2009-03-10T11:19:00.001-04:00

Just a quick FYI - next skirmish is on schedule for Wednesday night, @9pm EST.

http://www.solarisgame.com/

Kill The Kittens: Solaris 2009

2009-03-09T10:59:00.001-04:00

Times are tough. Good people are getting laid off. The economy is nose-diving faster than a Turkish Jet falling out the sky.

Yet both government and people seem determined to ignore the underlying cause, hiding behind economic reform and wasting time with corporate bailouts. We ALL know who the real culprit is, but FEAR is keeping us from speaking out. Well I say, ENOUGH SILENCE. The truth must be spoken. The Kittens must die!

Disguised as the fuzzy and loveable companions of man, these sinister agents of chaos have been quietly gathering numbers, and undermining our society from within. Too many a good man hath succumbed to their cuddly charms. And too few are the voices of opposition, to stand against the suffocating tide of fur and claw.

Today, I tell you, there is hope. We at Solaris have pledged to fight the beast. But we need your support. For every hour you spend playing Solaris, we will donate $1.00 USD to the Smite-a-Cat foundation. How much can a single dollar do, you ask? Oodles, I answer, oh ye of little faith. When it comes to annihilating the feline scourge, the Smite-a-Cat foundation has a proven record of financial efficiency, and is a beacon of light in todays economic darkness. One dollar translates into 732.5 Kittens slayed. Consider THAT your Kitty Bailout.

As a bonus, each play-hour will accrue an additional $0.50 USD, automatically donated on your behalf to the Hell-Hound Dog Breeders of Long Island, to help raise the next generation of freedom fighters.

Fight the Kittens. Download Solaris and Play tonight at 9pm EST.

http://www.solarisgame.com/

Many new features added. See below for details...

Solaris 1.1.73

2009-03-09T10:49:00.003-04:00

It has been a long time coming, but the new version of Solaris is finally here. A skirmish is scheduled for tonight (Monday) at 9pm EST.

As always, you can fetch the latest and greatest from:

http://www.solarisgame.com/

Click the Download link and install the latest version in order to play.

This is a major release. Many new features and gameplay elements have been added. The info below describes the changes in some detail. Enjoy and see you at 9pm!

SHIPYARD & SAFETY

The ship now spawns in a designated Safety Zone in proximity of a space station. While in the safety zone you cannot be hurt by other players, and you cannot fire your own weapons in return. This forces a relative peace while inside the safety area.

If you fly towards the station your ship will attempt to dock with it automatically. Depending on how long it has been since you last docked, this process can take anywhere between 1 and 15 seconds. Docking more frequently, increases this delay to prevent abuse of the station facilities and discourage campers.

Upon docking, the station will automatically repair and recharge your ship if you have incurred any damage.

At the station you can browse a number of devices to install on your ship. Hover your mouse over items to get useful tooltips that explain how to operate the station controls.

Each device has an associate power "cost". Your ship can install as many devices as you want as long as you dont exceed 6 units of power total. Devices range from 1 unit of power to 4. This encourages you to select combinations of devices that go well together, and to develop your own strategy and fighting style. You can install more than one instance of some devices (for example engine thrusters). Each additional module increases the device effect (each additional engine thruster makes your ship faster). Other devices can only be installed as a single instance - for instance the cloaking field - you cannot install more than one. Devices that can be installed in multitude are marked with a "x1" caption on the device icon. Experiment with different combinations. Many devices complement each other, creating a certain "synergy" of purpose.

Once you've selected your devices go try them out. Remember that you cannot use any devices in the safety area. Fly beyond the safety area to operate them. You can use your mouse even when you are not docked at the station, as a means of getting information about the ship controls and devices. Point your mouse at the device icons you installed (aligned along the right side of the screen) to get useful tooltips explaining their usage.

If your ship is destroyed in combat, you will respawn again in the safety area. The devices you had on your ship when you were destroyed will be pre-installed on your ship automatically, so that you don't have to visit the space station each time you respawn. However, if you wish to change your device selection you can do so at any time by docking at the station. Remember though, that frequent docking at the station will increase your docking delay time.

GRAPHICS & SOUND

The map has been redesigned with all new obstacles and eye-candy.

Weapons have been redesigned with new animations and sound effects.

The HUD has had several improvements and the overall GUI has been tuned and refined.

A computer voice now chimes in, whenever she feels its appropriate.

GAMEPLAY

The ships start out slower than in earlier versions. This helps new players get going, but also leaves room for the Engine Thrust device(s) to be installed. These devices greatly augment your speed, making this a vital part of your outfit.

The plasma bombs (space bar), are now fired "disarmed", and "arm" themselves shortly after being fired. While disarmed the weapons fly right through ships (and obstacles!). This makes them difficult to use at short range because the weapons need flight time to arm. The intention was to make the bombs strategically a medium range weapon. One side-effect of this is that you can now (with practice) shoot bombs from behind obstacles!

Many new devices have been added. Experiment with different combinations and see which fit your style and tactics.

MISCALENEOUS

You can now Alt+Tab out of the game if you need to change any windows settings or simply check on something, and then return to the game without crashing :)

The installation will attempt to detect previous versions of Solaris installed on your machine and uninstall them before proceeding with the installation.

A notorious mouse tracking bug that came up on some high-end mouse hardware has been fixed. Your mouse should track nice and smooth now. Also note that the mouse is now also available not just in the menu system but also during general gameplay. While you cannot use it to control your ship or activate devices, you CAN use it as a means of getting help. Point the mouse at various display elements to see what they are and how they work.

The game prints periodic helpful tips to the main chat area, which will overtime teach you the basic controls and dynamics of gameplay. You can turn the tips off at any time from the main menu. You can also rewind and forward the tips with the F2 and F3 function keys.

If you are still reading this far down, you have some serious issues. That is not a bad thing - consider that I had get this far as well :) I think this is enough for one post though. Download Solaris at 9pm and join up. See you there.

http://www.solarisgame.com/

Server is down, but not out!

2008-08-21T12:20:00.003-04:00

I know it's been a long time since a new release, but I'd just like to confirm that Solaris development is still ongoing. And when its finished its gonna be huge... HUGE, I tell you! That's right it will even warrant the "ginormous" adjective, usually reserved for... well I diverge.

There will be a separate post with details soon.

Also, the game server went down today due to some issues with the ISP. It might take a few days to get it back up, while this is resolved.

More details to come...

Solaris Hosts Iran President

2008-03-11T14:27:00.002-04:00

For Immediate Release:

To divert attention from the fact that no new version of Solaris has been released in 2 weeks, we at Solaris have decided to hold an open political debate with a very special guest. Joining us for tonight's skirmish is President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has agreed to make an exclusive appearance in the Solaris universe.

The president has not yet indicated which topics are on the table, however, a reliable source close to the president has informed us that he wishes to "settle a few scores".

Please support this historic event by downloading version 1.0.49 of Solaris and logging in at 9pm.

PS The game server is currently down in preparation for this exciting skirmish. Rest assured all will be operational by 9pm EST.

http://www.solarisgame.com

Skirmish Successful!

2008-02-27T09:59:00.000-05:00

Thanks to everyone for joining the fight last night. I found the chaos and disorder most satisfying. Overall I think the ranking system was pretty successful and brings some purpose to the game. Till next week!

Solaris Skirmish 20080226 @9:00pm

2008-02-26T10:41:00.001-05:00

Tonight's skirmish is on schedule for 9pm. New in this release:

Score
It's time to make winning and losing more serious :) When you connect to the game, you will start with a 0-score. Each kill you make will increase your personal score by one, and each loss will decrease your score by one. Your score will be shown to you in the top right corner of your screen. Negative scores are a perfectly acceptable laughing matter. Your score will reset when you leave the game (score is not permanent for now).

Rank
Rank is a function of your score. Your rank will be indicated by an insignia icon in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. When you start with a 0-score there will be no icon, because you don't have any rank:) As your score increases (hopefully), your rank will increase as well. There are a total of 5 ranks, each more difficult to achieve than the last. Your first rank insignia will show up when (or if) you reach a score of 2. See how far you can get!

You can see other people's rank as a small insignia icon next to their ship. Word of caution - don't piss off the people with the fancy rank insignias, cause that rank correlates directly to their skills, and they will probably end up owning you the entire game for it:)

Rank will eventually be used as part of the upgrades system, where some upgrades and devices will only be available to people with high rank (think atomic bombs and death rays:). But for now its just a status symbol.

Kills and TOP DOG
Also new in this release are notifications from the server that let everyone know whenever a player gets shot own. Additionally, the top player in the game will be named TOP DOG so that everyone can formally worship his awe-inspiring keyboard-tapping powers.

Additional changes/fixes:
-Game installation will now (optionally) configure your windows firewall for you
-Fixed the ship jitter bug (ship looks like its turning left-right rapidly)
-Minor cosmetic changes to the interface

See you at 9!

Solaris Skirmish @ 9pm (v1.0.46)

2008-02-19T19:28:00.002-05:00

Note, if you haven't played with devices before, read last weeks post below (called "Shields Up!), to get an idea of how to use them! It can be disorienting at first.

New in tonight's release:

-Extra ammo pack device
When installed, the maximum amount of primary and secondary weapons energy is doubled (meaning more bombs and more guns). This should give a significant advantage in offensive power. This device does not need to be turned on and never runs out of energy - simply having it increases the maximum amount of ammo you can have. It still takes time for the weapons to recharge to reach their maximum amounts.

-HUD enhancements
You should see some more eye candy with regards to the HUD. There are icons in the ship health and ammo indicators in the top left. Also, there are now tiny color-coded percent bars just below your ship. These provide a quick-glance view of your health (green), bombs (red), guns (yellow), and any devices that require energy. The device colors should match the percent bar on the right of the screen for easy identification (shields are blue, cloak is purple). Its pretty self explanatory once you see it in action.

-Mouse fixes
At least one user complained of difficulties in using the mouse in the menu. A bug involving mouse sensitivity has been found and corrected, and several improvements in sensitivity have been made as well. If the mouse is too "fast" or too "slow" try adjusting the sensitivity in the "Controls" tab of the menu.

-Minor Networking fixes
Some networking improvements have made it into this release but should be mostly transparent to most people.

If the turn out tonight (Tue, 9pm) is better than Monday's at 7pm, then I'll consider switching the Skirmish schedule to this time. If anyone has better suggestions for a schedule post a comment and let me know!

Enjoy and see you at 9pm!
http://www.solarisgame.com/

Save the Kittens! (Play Solaris @7pm)

2008-02-11T14:38:00.000-05:00

Everybody loves kittens! They are fragile, innocent, cuddly, and cute.

But did you know that in third world countries, countless kittens are dying every day! That's right, while "starving" children in Africa get all the media attention, kittens a left by the curbside, to die miserably, and without love, alone in the rain.

Ask yourself, what have YOU done to save the kittens? Don't know how, or where to start? Well now there IS a way.

Join tonight's Solaris Skirmish at 7pm EST, and for every hour you play, a dollar will be sent to unspecified countries to help fund a Global Kitten Relief program. That's right WE will donate on your behalf!

It doesn't sound like much, but a dollar can go a long way in saving Kitten lives! A single dollar can feed 732.5 kittens. Just think of the difference you can make.

Fight for the Kittens. Download Solaris and play at 7pm EST.
http://www.solarisgame.com/

New features added! (Shields, cloak, etc..) Read more below...

Shields Up!

2008-02-11T13:08:00.000-05:00

The first ship upgrades have been added to the latest release (v1.0.44). I'm hoping this will add a new strategic element to the game, and help people develop their own style of playing. Let me start from the beginning.

The ships you are flying are all the same (for now and the foreseeable future). To differentiate your ship's abilities, and thus your fighting style, I've introduced the concept of "devices" or "modules" (I use the terms interchangeably).

Modules are things that you can install into your ship, to gain special abilities, or to improve the performance of existing abilities. For instance, if you install a "Shields Module", your ship will have the ability to generate a protective energy shield, to help deflect incoming damage from weapon fire.

Different devices use varying amounts of power when installed on your ship. The amount of power your ship can generate limits the number of devices you can install. For instance, if you ship generates 16 units of power, and Shields use 8 units, and Side-Thrusters use 8 units, then after installing Shields and Side-Thrusters, no additional devices can be installed as your power generation capacity is maxed out.

What this boils down to is that you cannot install ALL the different devices on your ship at once. You must pick and choose the devices that fit your playing style, while sacrificing devices that you think you will not need.

For this release only three devices are available. They are shields, cloak, and side-thrusters. I will discuss the specifics of these in a bit.

Normally, the devices would be installed when you dock at a "ship-yard" facility in the game. Unfortunately, I did not have time to create this aspect of the game for this release. To make things simple for now, every time you spawn, you will just get any 2 out of the 3 devices at random. I've made every device use 8 units of power, and the ship maximum be 16. This way any 2 devices can fit on your ship when your spawn.

DEVICES

Energy Shields
Shields generate a protective barrier between your ship and any weapons fire directed at you. Simply put, when your ship gets hit by a bomb or canon fire, the shields will take the damage, instead of your ship hull. Once activated, shields provide additional protection to your ship 1.5 times greater than an unprotected ship alone. The shields continually dissipate, providing less and less protection, until they reach 0%, when they provide no protection at all and automatically turn off. Once the shields are turned off, they will recharge until they reach 100% efficiency again. You can turn shields on and off at will (more on controlling devices later).

Strategic Analysis: Defensive. Shields greatly increase your ability to take damage, giving you a chance to respond in kind.

Cloaking Field
A cloaking field is an advanced form of stealth that renders your ship invisible to the naked eye and to radar sensors. Once activated, the field takes about 1 second to engage, after which you become completely invisible. The field rapidly uses energy and will automatically disengage once this energy runs out. Once the field turns off, you will become visible again. While you are invisible, you can still take damage from weapon fire. Additionally, the cloaking field is fragile and will collapse if you take any damage, or if you attempt to fire your own weapons while cloaked. Beware, that while your opponent may not SEE your, they will HEAR you, if you use your engines in their proximity.

Strategic Analysis - Offensive/Defensive. Use cloak to sneak up on your enemies and give yourself a first-strike advantage, or alternatively, use it to run and hide when things are not going your way.

Side-Thrusters
Side thrusters were available to all ships in the previous release, but they have now been made a separate device. The thrusters allow your ship to accelerate and decelerate SIDEWAYS (use keys Z and X), instead of only forwards and backwards. In skilled hands, this gives your ship a huge advantage in maneuverability. Once installed, the thrusters are always available, and never need to be turned on/off to use. They never run out of energy.

Strategic Analysis - Offensive. Use the additional thrust to run circles around your opponent, and execute complex maneuvers impossible to match with conventional engines.

USING DEVICES
AS I mentioned earlier, your ship will spawn with two random devices pre-installed. All you need to do is use them! Here's how.

Each device is installed in a "device bay". The bays are numbered 0 through 9. Each occupied bay is represented by a round icon on the right side of your screen. The icon graphic identifies what type of device is installed (I hope they are pretty obvious, but if not - experiment!). The bay number (0, 1, 2, so on) is indicated next to the icon (to the right and above).

To use a device, hit the bay number on your keyboard or number pad. For instance to use the device in bay 0, hit the '0' key on your numpad. To use the device in bay 1, hit '1', etc...

When a device is in use, its icon will light up green. If the particular device uses energy, a percent indicator immediately to the left of the icon will start counting down, showing you the amount of energy remaining for this device. If the device requires no energy, it will say "Inf." for infinite. Such devices (such as side-thrusters) never need to be turned on, and will be lit up in green automatically.

So to sum it up, to use shields, find the shields icon (if you have it!) and press the key number thats shown next to it (0 or 1). The same for cloak (if you have it). To use side thrusters (if you have them), just use the Z and X keys on your keyboard - there is no need to turn them on.

Because the devices you get are randomized every time you spawn, take care to check which ones are now available and which bay they happened to fall into, so you don't try to use the wrong device in the middle of battle.

Well that's enough talk, downloaded the latest release (1.0.44) and see you all at 7pm!
http://www.solarisgame.com/

Skirmish 2008.02.04

2008-02-04T17:43:00.000-05:00

Hi Kids,

Tonight's skirmish is on for 7pm. Unfortunately, ship upgrades did not make it into this release, but should definitely be there next week. For now we'll have to be content with bug fixes that caused people to crash last skirmish. Hopefully, (and I stress hopefully) this will be fixed now :)

Also, someone pointed out to me that the comments on the blog were limited to registered users only, which is a pain. I turned this off, and allowed anonymous users to post. So go ahead and post whatever nasty comments you've been keeping to yourself all this time.

And when you're done, join me in the game at 7pm (EST). Don't forget to download the latest version before you sign on, as I'll be posting it late today - at around 6pm.
http://www.solarisgame.com

Thanks!

2008-01-31T09:24:00.000-05:00

Thanks to everyone who logged in on Monday night. Your testing goes a long way - I'm working on fixes for the multitude of problems reported on Monday. In addition, I'm working on some cool new features, including devices/upgrades that you'll be able to install on your ship. At this point I don't know if this will make it into the next release, but I'll always try to roll out something new each Monday night, to keep things interesting.

Release 1.0.39 (Skirmish at 7pm)

2008-01-28T09:45:00.000-05:00

It's Monday! And that means lots of coffee, embarrassing trash-talk, some more coffee, and finally a Solaris Skirmish.

The $5 USD challenge is still on. Think about that long and hard. That's like one cup of coffee at Starbucks, or about 1/10th your Monday caffeine requirements.

So for tonight's skirmish I've made the map smaller, as people tended to get lost in the vast open spaces of the last one. How you people find your way from the bedroom to the bathroom in the morning is beyond me. Also remember the Chat is "local" meaning only ships nearby will be able to see your pathetic cries for help. There's also a few bug fixes in this release.

One last thing - remember to download the latest version (1.0.39) from the site [www.solarisgame.com], as the server won't let you connect with an older version. The server might also decide you are not cool enough regardless, and not let you connect no matter what version you have. Nothing I can do here. Just work on that coolness and come back next time.

See you at 7pm! (EST)

Thanks for the support!

2008-01-27T11:33:00.000-05:00

Just a quick thanks to all who participated in Thursday's test. Don't forget - this Monday (Jan 28, 2008) there'll be a skirmish at 7-8pm (EST).

I'll fire up another post if there are any improvements thrown into Monday's release. And remember the $5 USD is still up for grabs, cause errr... all of you talk a lot, but don't really know how to fly.

Release 1.0.38

2008-01-24T17:00:00.000-05:00

I've completed work on the next release of Solaris. For anyone who's unaware (shame on you!), Solaris is an online game I've been wasting what's left of my precious youth on. On and off, I've gotten much-welcome help from Alex P. and Dmitry L.

I'd very much appreciate it if you could join me in another test of the online game-play. This generally involves the following steps:

1. Download and install the game from www.solarisgame.com
2. Start game in online mode
3. Desperately try and figure out the controls, while more experienced players (yours truly) wipe the floor with you

Feel free to attack each other as well, to vent some of that frustration I know you're all holding in. Let's shoot (pun intended) for tonight at say 8pm.

I'm also starting a Weekly Skirmish. Every Monday night between 7-8pm, I will be logged into the game to showcase new features, get feedback and incinerate volunteers.

Some things new in this release:
-Simple map
-Chat added! Chat with nearby ships by pressing 'Enter'
-More sound effects, and better sound physics (turn on those speakers!)
-More graphics and in-game objects
-Realistic collision physics
-Revamped menu system
-Radar enhancements
-Smoother network gameplay!
-Windows Vista Support (V. Kotsar)
-Large graphics mode support (D. Kotsar)
-Large refresh rate support

If you're unfamiliar with the game, you can read the long-winded email below for some instructions. Otherwise, just go to www.solarisgame.com , and click on the link to download the installation. Install the game and prepare to be destroyed. Remember to launch the game in "Online" mode. Five dollars ($5.00) to anyone who can kill yours truly 5 times in a row without dying - I know all of you gambling ppl wont be able to resist:)

PS IMPORTANT - if you already have some version of the game installed, don't use it - instead download the 'latest and greatest' from the website.

Many Thanks!

The universe needs YOU (tonight at 8pm)

2007-05-15T16:00:00.000-04:00

As some of you might have known, for the past century or so, I've been working on an online game, which given another century or two is going to make me filthy rich. Recently, Alex has joined me on this project, and together we've made some decent progress.

I'm happy to announce that the game is NOT yet finished :) - had you going there for a second, huh? The game is however ready for some simple online tests. We've already successfully tested it with several people, and were hoping to increase the number of players in the test. If you guys/gals are interested in participating, your (unpaid!) help would be greatly appreciated ;) and you might even enjoy it. Keep in mind, that the feature-set of this version is very limited - we haven't finished implementing all the cool stuff yet. So this is not the final product - hence you forfeit all rights to criticize the game, myself, or any of the cheesy sound effects. For every criticism you have to put a penny in the criticism jar. I'll make sure and collect.

With all this in mind, and if you're still actually reading this email, go to:
http://www.solarisgame.com

And click on the download link. You should be prompted for a username and password. Enter "solaris" as the user, and "trial" as the password, and download away. Then run the downloaded file to install the game.

Tonight at 8pm EST, myself, Alex and a few other people who've been helping us out (namely Dmitry & Mike) will be in the game, testing it out, and generally shooting everything in sight (Unless the server crashes and then noone will be shooting anything). Feel free to connect at this time (or at any other time, if you wish) and try it out. Attack us if you dare - you will be crushed. Stay away from us, and you will be crushed regardless :) If you do a little dance, sing a little song (you know the routine) and generally manage to be amusing you'll... probably still be crushed. But remember, every time you are crushed, destroyed and otherwise humiliated, we learn an invaluable lesson that helps us make the game even better!

Since there is no help-file and no tutorial, I feel it necessary to include a few notes on the game itself:

The game is called Solaris. To start it you launch the game, and wait while it loads (duh). Then you'll be presented by a simple game menu. Its pretty self explanatory - just select "Online", enter a screen name and click start. You can start the game in Offline mode as well to practice and to see that the basics are working - but when offline, you obviously won't have anybody else to play with - and as this game is meant to be played against other people, there'll be nothing to do.

If you can't connect to the game, you'll see a green message on top that tells you that there was an error. This might happen if you are running a firewall of some sort. You may need to open port 31660 on your firewall in order to connect. Your firewall might also just ask you if you want to let "Solaris" communicate on the internet - you should answer yes to this. If you successfully connect, you should not see any messages, and should see your ship in the middle of the screen, not far from a large round thing - this is where you "spawn".

The game is a top-down view space-shooter. In English, this means that you will be in control of a ship, in space. You will see all the action in 2D, viewed from "above". The screen will always be centered on your ship. You can fly around, by applying thrust in the direction the ship is pointing, or in reverse. You can rotate the ship, and you can also apply thrust sideways. You can shoot two different types of weapons. The game has a realistic physics model, which means that Sir Isaac Newton is king here. If you apply thrust in some direction, you will keep flying in that direction forever, unless you manage to apply thrust in the opposite direction to stop yourself. This is a bit tricky at first, but I'm sure you'll get the hang of it soon enough.

Here are the controls:

MOVEMENT

Up-Arrow: Apply Thrust Forward
down-Arrow: Apply Thrust In Reverse
Left-Arrow: Rotate Ship counter clockwise
Right-Arrow: Rotate Ship Clockwise
Z-Key: Apply Thrust to the Left
X-Key: Apply Thrust to the Right

WEAPONS
Left Ctrl Key: Fire Primary Weapon (Guns)
Space Bar Key: Fire Secondary Weapon (Bomb)

For now, there are no objectives, and no missions. The only thing you can really do is shoot other players that are (hopefully) flying around next to you. If you damage them enough, they will explode and die. Then they will re-spawn not far from the big round thing. The same will happen to you if you take too much damage. Your health is indicated by the big round meter in the upper left corner of the screen. The two smaller indicators next to it, are your weapon indicators. The round thing on the bottom right of the screen is the radar, which will show you other ships in the universe around you as small white dots. Thats about it!

Good luck and thanks for helping out!