OutpostHD - An Open Source Remake of OUTPOST by Sierra On-Line

[havkyp]

Just wanted to say a huge THANK YOU to you for developing OutpostHD!!! I signed up for this forum specifically to express this.

I played the original Outpost 1.5 to death back in the day trying to find all of those missing features thinking they were there somewhere... :p

I'm especially glad that you're making OutpostHD fully open source, this is essential for ensuring its historical heritage and for others to learn from and build on it. BTW what's its license? GPLv3?

Anyway, in addition to the huge thank you, what are some ways to support OutpostHD's development? Unfortunately I'm not a programmer. Do you accept donations or have other ways to help? Let's make this work. Thanks!!

[leeor_net]

Just wanted to say a huge THANK YOU to you for developing OutpostHD!!! I signed up for this forum specifically to express this.

Thanks for stopping by! It's good to know people are as excited about this project as I and the other developers are.

I'm especially glad that you're making OutpostHD fully open source, this is essential for ensuring its historical heritage and for others to learn from and build on it. BTW what's its license? GPLv3?

No, no no no! I do not like the GPL! I have it under a much more permissive BSD 3-Clause license. See LICENSE.txt in the distributions.

And that's why I made it open source. I could have kept it closed source but the only projects along these lines that seem to survive and progress into anything (OpenTTD, CorsixTH, Caesaria and many others) are all open source. The closed source ones seem to fizzle out and die over time.

Anyway, in addition to the huge thank you, what are some ways to support OutpostHD's development? Unfortunately I'm not a programmer. Do you accept donations or have other ways to help? Let's make this work. Thanks!!

Donations would be nice but I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable accepting them as I'm not the only developer.

Non-programmers can be extremely helpful. On the first post I have this section:

User Interface
I’m terrible at UI design. I can do the programming but the design itself is not my strong suit. I really need help designing a good UI that’s functional, looks good and is intuitive. Any help here would be much appreciated.

Effectively what I need are UI mockups with details about how the different elements work. The basic UI in the game right now is functional but pretty bare.

If you're up for some wireframing I'd be grateful. I'm just genuinely bad when it comes to UI design -- the few windows you see in game are mostly my doing though Goof and others have helped in developing other parts of the UI (e.g., the bottom ribbon). So any thoughts there are most welcome -- though in a separate thread!

Other ways to help:

Play the releases, find issues, spread the word.

[Hooman]

Donations would be nice but I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable accepting them as I'm not the only developer.

Leeor, you're too nice.

He could probably use a donation :p

[havkyp]

No, no no no! I do not like the GPL! I have it under a much more permissive BSD 3-Clause license. See LICENSE.txt in the distributions.

Great!! BSD license is good, too. Sorry I didn't see the LICENSE.txt during my initial short look.

And that's why I made it open source. I could have kept it closed source but the only projects along these lines that seem to survive and progress into anything (OpenTTD, CorsixTH, Caesaria and many others) are all open source. The closed source ones seem to fizzle out and die over time.

I agree. For the sake of history and continuation of culture I strongly believe efforts like this should be free (as in freedom). And even if one wanted to make money, it is still possible with open source anyway.

Donations would be nice but I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable accepting them as I'm not the only developer.

I agree with @Hooman that you should still get some donations. So let me know if and how I can donate, and I'll be happy to donate to other developers, too if that will mean the game getting to 1.0 sooner!

User Interface
I’m terrible at UI design. I can do the programming but the design itself is not my strong suit. I really need help designing a good UI that’s functional, looks good and is intuitive. Any help here would be much appreciated.

Effectively what I need are UI mockups with details about how the different elements work. The basic UI in the game right now is functional but pretty bare.

If you're up for some wireframing I'd be grateful. I'm just genuinely bad when it comes to UI design -- the few windows you see in game are mostly my doing though Goof and others have helped in developing other parts of the UI (e.g., the bottom ribbon). So any thoughts there are most welcome -- though in a separate thread!

Good point. I'll download and try to play around a bit more. I already have some thoughts on UI so will make a list and let you know with suggestions! And I'll do my best to mock up some things though I only know Inkscape and not professional wireframing... Is that still useful?

Thanks a lot again for making this game. I'll do my best to give constructive feedback, and please keep up the amazing work!!

[leeor_net]

Good point. I'll download and try to play around a bit more. I already have some thoughts on UI so will make a list and let you know with suggestions! And I'll do my best to mock up some things though I only know Inkscape and not professional wireframing... Is that still useful?

Inkscape drawings would be very useful. There are free online tools that can be used as well including Moqups and draw.io. Draw.io tends to be more suited toward flowchart design but it can be used for wireframing as well... plus it has excellent integration with Google Docs which means easy sharing of documents.

Moqups is tailored specifically toward UI wireframing but it's technically not free. It has a 'trial' mode but I don't know exactly what the limitations are. Something along the lines of 1 project, 300 layouts and 5mbs of storage or some such. I've used it without signing in, coming up with whatever and then saving an image. With a free account you can save but I don't know where else it goes from there.

There may be other good online wireframing tools as well but these are the two I've actually used and have had good experiences with.

Thanks a lot again for making this game. I'll do my best to give constructive feedback, and please keep up the amazing work!!

Thanks for your feedback! Knowing that end users are finding and getting excited about this project helps me to continue development.

[Hooman]

Good point. I'll download and try to play around a bit more. I already have some thoughts on UI so will make a list and let you know with suggestions! And I'll do my best to mock up some things though I only know Inkscape and not professional wireframing... Is that still useful?

There are many times where I wished I had some Inkscape skills. Those sorts of tools could be very useful.

[Goof]

I do use Inkscape a lot for technical stuffs.
I'm not an artist, so i use it basicly at work to re/make clients logos, some layout, sketches, ....
But as SVG is basically XML files I used that to generate raffle tickets with a small program to add the counter on the SVG base file and print them.

Last time it was for the Slider control skin for OPHD.
I figured out how to make Inkscape Slice a picture like in Photoshop.
(one file for each part of the skin, named directly out of Inkscape).
It's a very easy in fact but you have to know the trick.

[JetMech1999]

I was looking through the posts for the answers to my questions, but couldn't find anything.  So, if I'm bringing these items up that have already been addressed, my apologies.

1. Multiple colonies on the same planet.  Is this something that will be put into the new rendition?  That would really kind of make the "Trade" idea work.

2. Upon development of a space program, will the launch of a colony ship end the game?  Or will it continue?  Any chance of multiple interplanetary colonies?  As if trying to manage one colony wasn't enough, managing colonies on other planets would make life really interesting.  Since the initial research would have been accomplished on the first colony, research on other colonies would primarily focus on making their new home more habitable.  Or maybe have another "rebel" group make off with some people and equipment and have to start from scratch themselves.

3.  Would research move into theoretical physics, such as Faster-than-light travel (I'm a Star Trek geek, too!)?

4. What about extraterrestrial visitors(invaders)?

I know that some of these are going WAY beyond the original thoughts for Outpost.  It's just that, in addition to the less-than-polished design of the game, it always struck me as an unfinished product. It would be great to see this game done the way it should have been done from the beginning.  I'd also love to see it move forward, be the jumping-off point into a bigger universe!  I know that every game has to have an end-game point.  It just seems to me that this could be carried forward so much further...

[leeor_net]

Hello and welcome!

To answer your questions:

• I've thought about it and I think it makes sense... so yes, at some point you'll be able to build more colonies and probably at different site maps as well instead of just the one landing site.
• No. I'm not sure about doing it the same way as OP1 did it with launching another colony ship.
• No.
• No. At least, not sentient life. Sentient could be in a future game but I don't want to make any promises.

[JetMech1999]

That's cool.  That gives me more of an idea where this version of Outpost is headed.  Still sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun.  I knew some of what I put was really out there.

[leeor_net]

It's all about discussion. That's the only way to make a game fun if you ask me.

Also, forgive my curtness. I've been dealing with flu this week on top of work and a load of other stuff. I'm usually more articulate.

[Hooman]

I could see multiple colonies on the same planet working. The other ideas sound fun, though I suspect the implementation would be hard, and the result ... probably not so fun.

Leeor_net, it's good to hear from you. I was wondering how the job was going. Figured you must be pretty busy with it. Hope you get over the flu soon.

[singthemuse]

I think theoretical physics would be a fun end game research tier. Not necessarily for new technology gains or anything but as a mile marker. My thinking is that if a person's colony has the time/resources to support the study of theoretical sciences, then the colony is likely VERY stable and has enough extra supplies and colonists to support that, rather than something more immediately necessary to survival like housing, mining, morale, etc..

Perhaps "theoretical physics" could be an option that would continuously study thus tying up the facility forever unless it is canceled. It could be a large drain on resources too meaning that if players choose it too soon, they would endanger the colony. It could open the door for creating the new starship maybe (after enough cycles of it being studied)? Or perhaps just gives bonuses to other facilities (universities??) while it is being studied.

Just a thought!

[Hooman]

Ahh, sounds kind of like the "Future Tech" in the Civilization series of games. Once you've researched the entire tech tree, you just continue researching numbered "future techs", with each one adding to your overall score. There was no actual in game benefit to doing it though. It just affected the high score rankings.

[leeor_net]

I think that's what Basic Research was supposed to do. It sped up current research by a few turns... ultimately not that useful.

I was thinking of something similar which would provide some sort of random buff. Like small efficiency upgrades, cost cutting, etc.

[Goof]

Moral is a big thing in the game.
So just add moral to balance other issues could be sufficient ?

[leeor_net]

That could work. I still need to fully flesh it out but it currently works with the population model and the birth/death rates of the colonists. Need to get it to work with production and decay rates as well.

[JetMech1999]

It's all about discussion. That's the only way to make a game fun if you ask me.

Also, forgive my curtness. I've been dealing with flu this week on top of work and a load of other stuff. I'm usually more articulate.

I get it.  No feelings hurt here, it sucks being sick.  Besides, redesigning a game from the ground up is enough of a challenge without trying to incorporate crazy new ideas into the version 1.0 of said rewrite.  Since it's been a while from my last postings, I hope that the new job is going well and that you're feeling better.  Can't wait to see the newest data and graphics. 

[leeor_net]

Glad OPHD is still generating interest even though I've kinda put it on the back burner for awhile.

On that note, I've made a few commits today and am getting the feel to get back into coding. I've settled into my new job, have been offered a permanent position with pay increase and health benefits so I'm far less stressed on that end.

Basically, boils down to I'm starting to pick it back up again.

I don't want to make any promises in terms of time frames... but you can check the SVN/Redmine projects for updates.

[Hooman]

Yeah! And there was much rejoicing.

Checking out the changes now.


Also, congratulations on the job success.

[White Claw]

Welcome back, Leeor! Looking forward to updates, and congrats on the job.

[leeor_net]

Thanks, everybody!

Hooman, I saw your change to the initializer -- I didn't realize I had it wrong. Looks like Microsoft added their own non-standard flare once again. Either that or VS2015 doesn't fully implement the standard. Maybe I should just upgrade to 2017?

[JetMech1999]

Haven't seen anything new posted for a couple of months.  Just wanted to make sure things are still good.  I know that jobs, family, life, etc. happens and figured that something like that has put the brakes on things for a while.

[Hooman]

Yes, kind of curious if there are any updates to this. I've sort of let my contributions to this slide as well.

[leeor_net]

Was thinking about posting a status update. I know it's been awhile and things sort fell the wayside. Suffice it to say my own personal brand of insanity has made it difficult to do much of anything. But I'm starting to feel better again and started poking around the code again. I've started by updating the project to allow for PVS-Studio to analyse it (it's a static code analyzer that's pretty good at what it does). With it I've already fixed a few glaring bugs.

Beyond that, I've almost got the warehouse and production systems in place. It's further developed than I remember (shows you how lost I was for awhile) so I hope to start ramping development back up again.