March 9 Update

Well, thanks! I put a lot of work into the RPG segments, so it's nice when they're appreciated, and I hope to do more in the future. ^-^ That's a bunch of comics references, I'll try to look them up!

Sierra Lee

A bit late to the party, but I thought I'd add some elements to the engine and the sci-fi inspiration conversation. Engine. I think a lot of very relevant, thoughtful points have already been raised. Having played a lot of indie games (including a lot of RPGM games) recently, I would like to mention two little things. 1. A lot has been said about all the elements that make TLS amazing and unique. The mind-blowing interconnectivities of decisions-consequences, the great world-building and plot, which are drip-fed organically through several in-world interactions, the grounded, rational writing, the characters, the humour... and how tightly connected all these are. I think we all greatly appreciate all that and would like to see some or all of it in a new project. But something I think should not be neglected is the gameplay. It blows my mind how, after everything I just mentioned, TLS manages to also have some of the tightest, most balanced gameplay I've seen in a turn-based RPG. Where every character and every ability feels useful, and without having any dominant OP build that mind-numbingly crushes the game. And of course it's also connected to all the aforementioned qualities, with the limited resources and XP playing a part in making the combat encounters more meaningful. I think the gameplay segments in TLS do a lot in "grounding" the game, in a way that would be hard in a visual novel, for instance. It makes the characters feel more real, more part of the world. Shows you a very concrete segment of the world and is another avenue where the impact of your decisions (character equipment, quests...) is felt. Plus, so much is communicated through it (power progression...). In short, whatever engine you go with, I hope there's still be room for such gameplay elements in it too! 2. A few memorable custom music tracks would really elevate the game! Even if it's just 4-5. That's enough to develop an identity. Plus, being able to listen to an OST helps the game stay with you when you're not playing. Sci-Fi I think there's a lot of French-Belgian graphic novels that offer very striking visual depictions of worlds, creatures, technologies... which really stimulates the imagination. Even those whose plot aren't the best, it always worth flicking through the pages. (They usually have some amount of sex-appeal too). "Valérian and Laureline" has already been mentioned. I second that. It's great. And the range of visual and narrative ideas is quite wide. Some chosen examples: Fantastic low-tech words 2 - Empire of a Thousand Planets 3 - World Without Stars High-tech cities 6 - Ambassador of the Shadows (massive space station so large that many cultures and biomes reside there, such a powerful concept!) 15 - The Circles of Power (grittier, skyscrapers...) This one is visually interesting, with the pages showing the journeys of four heroes going through parallel trials: 8 - Heroes of the Equinox I love the "Glamorous space cruise" aesthetic! You can find some in 13 - On the Frontiers 16 - Hostages of the Ultralum The movie "The Fith Element" (Luc Besson, Bruce Willis) is heavily inspired by these comics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fifth_Element Jodorowsky is basically insane! You should check the illustrations of his co-authored comic books. Take "Showman Killer" for instance: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Heartless-Showman-Killer-Alejandro-Jodorowsky/dp/178276139X Or the bigger series like Metabarons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabarons and technopriest https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Technopriests Insane power levels, organic-like ships, disgusting factories... It's gritty, crazy, over the top, shameless... His work is a TROVE of visual references! Some other quick recommendations Le fléau des dieux. I don't even know if this is translated in English. Dark, powerful, brooding space Atila faces against space Rome. With high-science concepts and gods in the mix. https://www.amazon.fr/Fl%C3%A9au-Dieux-Int%C3%A9grale-GAJIC-MANGIN/dp/2302022548 Aldébaran. I never got into it, but it has a lot of weird creatures and worlds. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worlds_of_Aldebaran Universal War One. I don't remember this one so well. More grounded, plot-focused, dark and gritty. And goes into weird science concepts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_War_One

KLW

Yeah, but the ending is a real downer. Like most mecha animes actually, which is pretty weird.

guillaume nguyen

I mentioned Knights of Sidonia in my comment on the scifi project, but I will upgrade that to a recommendation (since you've already read Foundation, the other one I mentioned lol). The technology of both the humans we follow and the strange lifeforms that threaten them both develop over time and a big part of the tension is this arms race where the advantage changes sides.

FinetalPies

Kind of funny to find another fan of Fel's works. That reminds me that I have to check if there is another chapter of CO ready...

lostone2

I'm always around. You're my favorite artist, so regardless of my general sociability or competence at navigating simple interfaces I'll periodically be peeking at whatever information I have available so I don't miss anything for too long. I fully agree DSTP is a worthwhile project and I'll definitely be finishing it when it's complete. I appreciate the smaller side projects quite a lot. The struggle to find balance finding an engine that has enough features to save you time on building everything yourself, but which doesn't waste you too much time having to find workarounds to the rigid architecture they've built to enable those earlier time savings is exhausting as a hobbyist. I can barely imagine what it's like to have to make these decisions on the approach to a giant TLS style project as an established professional.

Ark Tolei

Hello, glad to have you still with us! I'm happy to hear you're interested in the science fiction concept, like many here... you also aren't the only one not to vibe with DStP, as it's an experimental game for me. I still think it will be a worthwhile side project, and as I said in the posts you've presumably caught up on, I think it will be a good foundation stone for future work. I have mixed feelings about Ren'Py in this context. It's very good at VNs, and can be extended for various additional mechanics, but I think I would struggle to manage a project as complex as TLS in it. For a game with thousands of variables and hundreds of characters, the visual components of an engine like RPG Maker help me keep everything straight.

Sierra Lee

I just realized I've been logged out of patreon for a month. I thought there was a surprising dearth of posts available. Whoopsie. The sci fi project sounds interesting. The concept of taking technology that seems fundamentally magical, and investing into making it comprehensible to scientists is a really satisfying idea for a game about long term consequences. I've been tinkering with attempts at managing high variable management games for awhile and honestly the system that I was immediately fighting with the least is Renpy, but that makes sense considering I took python in college. You've worked with it, so I'm sure this isn't a new idea to you, but I found it surprisingly easy to path out the beginnings of my most recent project with it compared to systems like RPGmaker where I feel like I'm constantly fighting what it wants to be. I'm embarrassingly bad at DSTP and while writing this out I made the excuse to myself that it's probably because I'm left handed, then jumped back in and realized I could have been using WASD all along, and that I do, actually, seem much more proficient with my dominant hand. This comes as a shock to me every time. I'll jump into it more and see if the gameplay lands with me better when I can actually tag the spikes. It's a very cute concept, and I really enjoy the writing. The gameplay has never particularly snagged me, but that might be because the combo system feels fairly random early on (since there are few obstacles and you don't have any upgrades to the frequency of them) and later on I was consistently missing spikes so the transition into midgame reliability never happened. I'll have to tinker with it more to have a more coherent opinion, but regardless of my personal failings at it, I'm glad you're bringing back that little project to finish.

Ark Tolei

Outlaw Star is mainly famous as nostalgia bait for being one of the earlier anime to get an english dub. It's not big in Japan from what I hear and was essentially supplanted in the public conscience by Cowboy Bebop. The main reason I bring it up to people is that it's "generic" in a way where the genre it represents never seems to have fully materialized being a magical cowboy & wuxia fantasy hybrid IN SPACE. When people make parodies about how over the top and nonsensical anime gets they're usually outing themselves as not really bothering to distinguish between gundam and dragon ball but no Outlaw Star genuinely is just like that. If you're 100% not into ttrpg I might also point you towards Traveller the grandpapi of all scifi games and the main inspiration for Expanse, Spelljammer the D&D in space game that brought you the Nautiloid in BG3's intro and BattleTech mainly because it's got cool mecha-feudalism (quick run down: the space roman empire collapsed and mechs aren't really produced anymore due to being extremely resource intensive to build thus leading to them being passed down from generation to generation as family heirlooms creating a new aristocracy where owning what was once considered basically a forklift now makes you ruler of an out of the way solar system). Actually if you're looking for deep cuts "5 star stories" follows what I think is a similar premise. That's the one that probably inspired 40k's treatment of mechs as sacred artifacts. The *deepest* cut would probably be Outsider a webcomic that updated aprox 4 pages a year for 30 years and worldbuilt the shit out of the Masters of Orion space Amazons. Crest of the Stars is still my favorite space elf series tho. Oh and Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri deserves a mention (of course).

Jens Mikli

Yeah, I have been "following" since shortly after you posted for the first time with that account. I don't mind spending a few minutes every now and then to do some mass upvoting for a creator or content that I enjoy and if it actually helps out in any way then it is effort well spent. Just making sure you are getting the right files. The Sennadar links are all up to date and formatted correctly so if you download from anywhere it's best there https://www.sennadar.com/Subjugation-Books.html The Wayback links are old and some of the content has been rewritten, tidied up and formatted since they were posted so not worth the trouble.

Belly97

You didn't need to go that far upvoting, but I appreciate your enthusiasm! I don't know if "follows" work on Reddit anymore, but you might try that too if you want to boost me in the future. I'm not that consistent with promo, but I try sometimes. >_< Passion doesn't hurt, especially as my career has largely been spread by it! This author's works don't seem to be conventionally available, but those links work fine for giving me downloadable files, so thanks.

Sierra Lee

Ok, I just went through and upvoted everything your "SierraLeeTLS" account has posted since the last time I did this, so now I have upvoted anything and everything from that account since its beginning. One science fiction series that I massively recommend is the Subjugation series from Fel (James Galloway). Aside from being one of the best-written, most in-depth, gigantic, incredible world-building series I have ever read, it is also a huge amount of writing. I don't know how big it is in particular but is easily one of the largest set of books/series I have ever read and it becomes even more impressive when you realise he also has a few other very large series that he has written. I'm not sure of many/if any authors that can rival him in terms of the number of words written, depth/quality of work and world-building. His technical knowledge/creativity for science fiction is very impressive and easily believable and the Subjugation series does a good job at what you requested; "I'm especially interested in anything that tackles technological change in a substantial way". The series goes through a few different "technological ages" in a way and has a lot of progression and development. It can take a little while to get going in the first book, but Fel is a master at setup and pay-off so even when things don't seem important or are a bit slow, they might be relevant later. Persevering through the first and even the second book is thoroughly worth it as the series just continues to get better and bigger with every new entry and the payoff is incredible. (That's not to say that the first or second books are bad or boring, they are just a bit less heavy on the science fiction elements and they keep improving the further you read) His works are of particular note as they do a great job of having some adult content and covering mature topics but not going too heavily into erotica or censuring/missing things. All of his works are incredible and I also especially recommend his Firstaff series, an amazing fantasy series. Here is a Wayback Machine link to an old website that has some useful information and summaries for a few of his series on it: https://web.archive.org/web/20221125134922/http://weavespinner.net/worlds_of_fel.htm Don't bother using any of the links on there as most are broken, outdated or there are better copies elsewhere. Here is a link to his current site where you should be able to get up-to-date info and download his different works: https://www.sennadar.com/ Here is his Subjugation series: https://www.sennadar.com/Subjugation-Books.html Here is his Firestaff series: https://www.sennadar.com/Firestaff-Books.html Here is his outdated Goodreads profile: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3036786.James_Galloway Here is a Reddit post talking about a few of his works https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/6yz0dq/the_words_of_fel_aka_james_galloway/ Sorry for the wall of text but as you can see I am passionate about a good series/Author when I find them, as I have already most of what I can find that appeals to me specifically.

Belly97

Hmm, it may be that way in larger companies, but with the mid-sized indies I've seen, they generally seem to require engine knowledge. Familiar with Valérian, but not with Möbius and Jodorowsky, so that's something to look up. In general, tabletop RPGs are one of my biggest blindspots, so I'm not going to be familiar with those at all. >Besides that it's the problem of the xkcd comic about experts where if you're in too deep you lose track of what is considered common knowledge. I think you might be in a bit too deep for common knowledge. =P I'm at least passingly familiar with all of those except Outlaw Star, which is in one of my blank eras of anime. And quartz, of course.

Sierra Lee

I just binged an ungodly amounts of youtube video essays. At least I can confirm it's interesting coming out the other end. "Megalomaniac rogue AI is offended by the idea of coming into existence in a universe with an expiration date. Plots escape."

Jens Mikli

My 2 cents is that if you were working for a game company you probably wouldn't touch any game engine at all but use something like Articy to make game mockups and hand those to a programmer to implement. These days probably in Godot or Unreal. Solo dev is obviously very different and you're probably a bigger expert than almost anyone you're likely to talk to. As for scifi recommends I could probably talk your ear off about them. But sticking to what I deem most relevant. A major influences to Star Wars were franco-belgian comics particularly "Valerian and Laureline" and the works of Möbius and Jodorowsky. I *highly* recommend looking up at least one chapter of "the Incal" if you've never heard of either those nor are familiar with anything Metal Hurlant (these days "love,death and robots") just to understand the vibe and probably suddenly get like a 100 references you've been subliminally absorbing via Futurama or similar. The other major-but-obscure title when making a scifi game is probably Star Control 2 a dos game that came out in the mid 90s and is sometimes called the best Star Trek game. Probably it's easier to look up gameplay on Youtube though it's been released for free now. Finally there are a plethora of tabletop rpg settings you might be interested in looking up on tvtropes if nothing else. Eclipse Phase and Numenera spring to mind as being perhaps particularly zany. [Warning: rambling beyond this point] Besides that it's the problem of the xkcd comic about experts where if you're in too deep you lose track of what is considered common knowledge. Surely everyone knows about BLAME? right? Nobody needs an explanation for what LoGH or Eva stand for surely. It would be gauche to even mention the Culture or Hyperion Cantos or Expanse or the freakier Heinlein stuff. I usually assume all that is just the shared cultural background when talking to a fellow scifi nerd about how Hamilton's Commonwealth has interesting social dynamics - people routinely getting divorced out of sheer boredom due to effectively living forever and some developing a fetish for people who are less than 100 years old because they still act cute about that sort of thing. Or the fact that Outlaw Star has both the coolest gun that shoots magic and the stupidest ship to ship combat in any anime (the spaceships *arm wrestle*) (also it has the best catgirl).

Jens Mikli

Thanks!

DankPotatoes

oh thank god i thought i was goin crazy lol

Dillosauras

Ooh, some older ones I haven't tried, thanks!

Sierra Lee

I did get a notification from you, but then I couldn't find your comment. It's possible that it was eaten by Patreon, which unfortunately does happen occasionally. In any case, thank you for your thoughts and recommendations!

Sierra Lee

I don't disagree about Dune, but yeah, I've read the six Frank Herbert books. As for the Anak, it comes down to this: "I never got the impression that the Sage would be anywhere close powerful enough to threaten the Anaks plans, or figure them out before it would be too late." The Sage couldn't have gone toe-to-toe with the Anak, but he could absolutely have been a problem. At this stage in the plot, the Anak has realized that he has a substantial rival and is committed to a path that he knows conservative forces like the Sage would try to stop. While so many other forces are involved in a clash was one of the few times he could fight a threat secretly, which he couldn't have done to the major forces the entire world was watching.

Sierra Lee

Can't believe I forgot those XDXDXD The Star Kings, Return to the Stars and Starwolf by Edmond Hamilton. Absolute classics, among the first early space operas, published in 1949 for the first, and 1968 for the last two. I can still clearly recall the awe I felt along John Gordon when he discovered the mystery behind the Disruptor. Starwolf is part of the same universe, but take place after the first 2 books and have another main character, Morgan Chane.

guillaume nguyen

i thought i already sent a reply to this but ig i never pressed send lol oops :P but anyway i had no idea the stigma against rpg maker ran so deep, its pretty ridiculous to me that people would refuse to work on it especially if offered proper incentives that just seem crazy, but i suppose the engine thing boils down to if you believe the extra freedom a new engine would provide is worth quite abit of extra resources it would require, if u do think its worth it then i say go ahead if ur not sure then sticking to rpg maker and trying to beat it into shape might be a better option. also that dont save the princess gave while not being my kinda thing looks cute and i hope it all goes well, as for scifi recommendations idk if these have been recommended before but here u go. the expanse,ixion,per aspera,red faction guerilla,arcanum (this ones a mix of fantasy and scifi might not be what ur lookin for) , citizen sleeper 1 and 2 , the homeworld games , battletech , xcom. some of these do deal with the progress of technology, its stagnation, it going wrong, its misuse or rediscovering lost tech and are ones i personally enjoyed quite alot.

Dillosauras

Lots of good Sci-Fi recommendations here! Another one you might take a look at is Perry Rhodan a long running (starting in 1961!) German Space Opera. A Reboot called Perry Rhodan NEO is published in English under J-Novel Club.

TaranWanderer

I'm afraid I don't have any good suggestions for sci-fi that have gone unmentioned. I will double down on reading Dune as the pinnacle of generation-spanning sci-fi, though. On an completely unrelated note, I'm replaying TLS, currently in the Erosian War, and realized that i never really understood the actions of a certain character, that I was hoping you could elaborate on: (Spoiler warning) Why *did* the Anak killed the Sage of Ghenalon? I know that Xerces was lying about his ultimate goal about keeping balance, but out of all the Tower walkers that could threaten his plans, the Sage seems greatly inwards-focused and uninterested in conflict that could threaten the ambitions of Xerces. I never got the impression that the Sage would be anywhere close powerful enough to threaten the Anaks plans, or figure them out before it would be too late. So why let threats like Simon, Tanurak (during his weakened emergence in the war), Ginasta or any of the other Incubus Kings and Goddesses within his reach be, while singling out the Sage? I don't recall it ever being adressed in the game, or the characters figuring out who killed him, though that might just be me dealing with bad memory

DankPotatoes

While I have had better luck with patrons helping out than hiring coders, I know everyone has their own jobs and lives, so no pressure. If you're interested, just keep it in mind, and maybe at some point you can help out, like Rachnera writing some custom scripts to improve TLS. ^-^

Sierra Lee

Ooh, this one looks interesting!

Sierra Lee

I am not terribly experienced with it, but maybe Godot might be a better solution engine wise, if you want your own rpg system. It's probably harder to find experienced coders for. But it works of a node system, where you combine various nodes to customize your game. Since building your own nodes is a big part of the engine, a clever programmer could probably build something that would allow a writer like yourself to build a game through chaining together nodes in a similar way to how you build events in rpgmaker. I am a programmer myself and would love to offer my help, but I am just getting comfortable with the engine myself and have a full-time job to occupy my time, so I doubt I would be too much help.

Joker

You should watch dune

Dominik

In terms of sci-fi inspiration, I'd check out the Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson if you want to think about long-term technological and cultural change in a sci-fi setting (though it is a harder sci-fi than a space opera). It covers the claiming, terraforming, and colonizing of Mars over an approximately 200 or so year period. As for a sci-fi series that uses its setting in unique ways specifically for exploring character-driven themes (most notably exploring the nature of individual and cultural identity through a frankly staggering variety of different lenses), then I would definitely recommend the Ancillary trilogy by Ann Leckie. The protagonist is a small component of an AI that used to be part of a kind of gestalt being, but is forced to operate as a single individual after the rest of itself is destroyed. EDIT: And I realize I am *totally* going for the deep cuts by only recommending Nebula and Hugo Award winners

Jeffrey Lebowski

Besides not taking time away from other projects make sure to not take time away from yourself. Everyone needs a break

DrakooTheRat

If you're taking sci-fi game recs, check out Starcom: Unknown Space. Very decent space story/mystery, some really neat set pieces and story beats. Not a huge time sink, 30-40 hours tops.

Abso Haram

First three seasons are great, four not very good.

Abso Haram

MandaloreGaming also has some videos on YouTube about the Trilogy (and Pathways into Darkness, a related game) and that's how I got into them in the first place. Very accessible although now the storytelling of the series is rapidly consuming my brain

Sweg Money

I own Farscape with the intent to watch it, but I haven't ever properly tried to get into it!

Sierra Lee

Sci Fi is my jam! Heres my best recommendations: Neal Asher's Polity series: It's pretty damn good at exploring how dangerous space is even for AI superintelligences, much less normal people. Fallen Dragon by Peter F Hamilton: Good action story with solid sci fi elements, explores the idea of first contact via crashed AI ship. The Southern Reach trilogy (quadrology now) by Jeff Vandermeer: This is what the movie Annihilation was based on. I cannot express how unique Vandermeer's perspective is on the implications of biotech in apocalypses. Systema Delenda Est by Inadvisablycompelled: Royal Road story, but it explores the implications of exponential manufacturing in a Von Neumann probe scenario, also transhumanist stuff, also a system apocalypse. The Bobiverse Series by Dennis E. Taylor: More Von Neumann probe shinnanigans, more transhumanism, lots of otter aliens.

Runcible Technician

Great, I'll have that conversation with my team lead, then. Also, I updated my previous message with my SF recs, but I'll copy them in again here: Edit: Oh, I forgot the SF recs! Okay. If they can be found... I love L.E.Modesitt Jr. He's best known for the - fantasy - Recluce books, but his Ecolitan Matter SF series was a helluva romp. Not so much on technological change there, though... otherwise, S.M. Stirling's Dies The Fire series, which is really about the opposite of technological change - technological change backwards, if you will (also not really a SF, technically it's more of an urban fantasy). In terms of going forwards... Always fond of Heinlein and Spider Robinson, though again, not really technological change...Jack L. Chalker's Well World series, same issue, though also a fun time. Other than that, to me technological change in a SF is usually an uplift kind of story, and they're mostly junk food related for me (the webnovelly kinda stuff on RoyalRoad). I honestly can't really think of a published SF series that I've read that deals with societal or even personal or family-based grappling with a sweeping technological change that HASN'T been set in a fantasy or alternate history setting. Short stories and their anthologies would probably be a better bet for that, but I can't think of any off the top of my head, though there's some that are tickling at the memory banks.

SEEQYR

Have you ever watched Farscape? My favorite show of all time it has so much soul. It's been called star trek with sex and drugs. A crew of escaped prisoners and a man flung across space isekai style become a found family. It has actual alien creatures due to them using jim hensons creature shop. Also one of the best scifi romances of all time.

SamuraiJosh

In theory, once the bulk of the game is coded, it's still possible for the writers to add, remove, change stuff simply by updating "their" scripts, without ever touching the core code... to a degree. If you've played a game like Fallen London, you might have noticed some of the events feeling a bit stiff, with absolutely everything effectively being an item that you acquire somewhere and use somewhere else, be it an actual item, a piece of information, an ally, etc. Likely, this is because the framework they've built only support this kind of interactions, and they don't plan on paying coders (who are indeed expensive) to ever update it again. This doesn't prevent adding in new events till the heat death of the universe, but require writers juggling with the limits of what the framework allows. I'm not a specialist but I've heard a lot of gatcha also work like that, with a content team squeezing the most out of mechanisms that are updated only so often. Short version: Coders cost a lot so the whole industry is skewed toward relying on them as little as possible.

Rachnera

Excellent suggestion! The alienation in this one is great.

Sierra Lee

Yeah, I thought a while about words to use in place of "collaboration" but in the end just went with it. We're mostly on the same page. If your SDK is so full-featured and you're really giving it away, that seems like a better place to start than from scratch. Count me interested, and if it makes sense to put us in contact, this is my email: sierra.lee.author@gmail.com

Sierra Lee

No prob, enjoy. Author originally spread it around on a speedrun wiki of all places, ha. Might be easier to read here: http://marsh.speedrunwiki.com/Text/alltomorrows.pdf

Abso Haram

I wasn't suggesting collaboration per se, more like dropping our toolset your way, but maybe with some (paid-for) additional features that you're particularly fond of or would really like to have that aren't already within our SDK, since he tends to make features for me within like a week and sometimes on the same day if they're simple by his terms. He's also actually my team lead, but yeah. Given that we're going to be releasing our base toolset for free eventually I don't think our asking price is gonna be super high (definitely not in the ballpark of 100k USD jfc that's a LOT), but again I'll have that conversation with him after if this sounds interesting to you. I'm really, really not a coder so I'm afraid some of the deeper questions you might want to ask will fly over my head. Ah, I should have clarified... uh, our toolset is not really in development in the sense that it's not done. It IS done. It's just that he adds more stuff to it whenever I ask, and then occasionally adds stuff to it as it's tailored for our project. But that's all mostly to do with us bolting on other genre systems to our game (and thus to the base toolset) - the VN (and most of the RPG - in terms of the stat/monster/item/status effect/skill/levelling/etc) aspect of it is mostly feature-complete and stable. Right now we're entirely focusing on content, and the content is highly highly in development. As far as availability goes...that one might be a bit harder, yeah. I don't think we're looking at contracting out at all... maybe after our full game is done - that's looking like maybe two, three years, so definitely a much longer timespan than I'd feel good even mentioning, but definitely not at the moment. I do also know another programmer (not on my team) who's also a Unity dev and exceptionally speedy about doing things, if you're looking for just someone who can code up a system for you or maybe do some jolly collaboration. Edit: Oh, I forgot the SF recs! Okay. If they can be found... I love L.E.Modesitt Jr. He's best known for the - fantasy - Recluce books, but his Ecolitan Matter SF series was a helluva romp. Not so much on technological change there, though... otherwise, S.M. Stirling's Dies The Fire series, which is really about the opposite of technological change - technological change backwards, if you will (also not really a SF, technically it's more of an urban fantasy). In terms of going forwards... Always fond of Heinlein and Spider Robinson, though again, not really technological change...Jack L. Chalker's Well World series, same issue, though also a fun time. Other than that, to me technological change in a SF is usually an uplift kind of story, and they're mostly junk food related for me (the webnovelly kinda stuff on RoyalRoad).

SEEQYR

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. Follows a physics student who is conscripted in Earth’s war against an alien race. Due to time dilation, more and more time passes between each return trip to Earth, so he has to grapple with fighting for a civilization that is culturally and technologically so different than that he left behind.

Joe Doe

That all sounds like good stuff, but as you say it's also all WIP and set up for your project. I assume this programmer is a colleague who is also invested in the outcome, so is he really available otherwise? I'm not sure if you're suggesting some collaboration on this, but I'm open to the conversation! >Aw, hell, I've just realized my SF taste is entirely junk food or stuff that's out of print now. Haven't read deep into them, but I know David Weber and Eric Flint. As for being out of print, we'll see if my interlibrary loan system isn't up to the challenge! They have access to a lot of archives, so I've been surprised what they can find.

Sierra Lee

Yes, Arrival was good! I like Ted Chiang in general. ^-^

Sierra Lee

Hmm, this is a new one to me. FPS isn't really my genre, especially the 90s breed, but this does seem intriguing so I'm glad there are sources for it. Thanks!

Sierra Lee

Thanks for all the suggestions, and especially the link to All Tomorrows! Looking into it, I was a little unclear on the proper source.

Sierra Lee

Thrawn books are also some of my favorites, but he has a pretty good selection of original stuff XD Hope you enjoy!

Lord Forte

I'm only familiar with Zahn as the Thrawn guy! I will take a look at these. ^-^

Sierra Lee

Hmm, that's interesting information to me. I've heard of Ink in all my explorations, but didn't realize that it or equivalents was common. Unfortunately, through DStP I've learned that having a coder put together everything is both expensive and a bit frustrating. Even though DStP isn't that plot-intensive of a game, I like to tweak dialogue and shape the narrative myself, so I really feel the limitation. In order to create plot-heavy games, I need some combination of new skills and new tools that will allow me to develop such content myself. >So, might have more luck looking for things like plugins allowing Ork to parse ink scripts than an all-in-one engine? Yeah, I'm completely open to putting together a solution out of multiple pieces. This is where I'm limited because I just haven't used the tools enough. >Actually, you might want to take a look at I Was a Teenage Exocolonist (and its development blog) as it checks a lot of the boxes you've hinted at: Text-first SF game made by a very small team whose story spams over the course of several years with the characters evolving physically and mentally. I have not heard of this one; I'll look into it!

Sierra Lee

Sierra, I'm currently working with a Unity dev team where we're writing a complex branching system VN-RPG (and I'm explicitly using TLS as an inspiration for some of the branching choices and how they work). I have a dev who's literally coding every feature I ask for as a writer, which is an incredible godsend. Unfortunately it's still highly highly in development cause it's depending on me to write and I'm slow, but we'd be releasing the SDK for free as soon as the demo launches for modders. You can pretty much make anything in it (as long as you don't mind the 11 hardcoded stats we have...but then you can change those). These are the features we have, not listing everything: - Branching choices that can go on forever or until your system gives out - Cached Data (For numerical tracking) and Story Flags (for boolean tracking) - Quest tracking system - ...I'd like to think the interface is understandable and fairly intuitive and I'll screenshot it if I figure out how to host images... - 3-6 nested (ie branch within a branch within a branch) decision choices at any given time (Unity hard limit), but just make a new object if you want to keep going horizontally - Conditionals (unfortunately only binary for the moment but we're looking at adding to that) - Super in-depth / flexible requirements provided for just about every variable - Skill tree modelled after PoE; mostly this is an art thing with some code involved so this is pretty easily changed up - Infinite status effects - Infinite object generation, with easy port of art and sfx - Map generation with the option of procedural map generation, including encounters both random and non-random - Repeatable encounters / one-time / encounter weighting - VN UI baked in - Can place objects in the drawn background and interact with them. - Preview of the game is... literally running the game to play it via Unity's inbuilt system, so if it breaks on the preview it's broken in live - Art style is really anything you want, since you can replace assets any time, but right now we're going for an Octopath art style... the art style has changed three times already. The only thing is, our game's a real-time combat system, like FF's ATB, rather than turn-based, and party members are sort of a Genshin style (current design challenge) swap between characters, so it'd be a bit of (a massive) change to RPGMaker that way. But my lead promises that "if you can code you can do just about anything in it." It is Unity-based, so I believe the coding language is different to RPGMaker, but this might help you a little bit, hopefully? Functionally it's a video game RPG system that's tailor-made for a writer/designer (currently me), and I'd like to say we'd release the SDK in like two months? But again... I'm slow. He's good with requests, though. And like, if it's paid for.... I can talk to him and ask, cause he'd probably appreciate sources of funding OUR art budget. Otherwise, for SF recommendations especially involving technological change... I like uplift stories in general, so these aren't strictly SF, but they're SF-adjacent - Belisarius series, from David Weber; Honor Harrington, by same - though that's more of a naval series where the tech change happens over the course of the series. 1632 also by David Weber (and Eric Flint, who then continued the series) - is especially about the impact of 2000s American technology via technological change on Germany c. 1632, though it's more alternate history. Other than that... aw, hell, I've just realized my SF taste is entirely junk food or stuff that's out of print now.

SEEQYR

One of my favorite sci-fi books is Hyperion, by Dan Simmons. I'll also second The Icarus Hunt by Timothy Zahn. Sorry about the difficulties with finding a good programmer.

Innocuous

Not a book, But I simply loved the film Arrival. It got me to think about extra-terrestrial beings as very different from main stream aliens. It is one of my favorite films to date.

Rayn

Seconding Lord of Light. I enjoyed that one a lot.

Lord Forte

I've always enjoyed Bujold, especially for her characterization, but I haven't ever gotten that deep into Vorkosigan for some reason. And yes, the Murderbot books are a fun read. ^-^

Sierra Lee

Yeah, these really feel like throwbacks to an era of Big Ideas science fiction.

Sierra Lee

Haven’t seen it recommended but I think the Marathon Trilogy of games would be really worthwhile. Based on especially Once Ever After I think there’s a lot there that could inspire/Mesh well with your writing style. marathon.bungie.org has some really interesting insights into the story if you don’t want to actually play the (admittedly difficult) games

Sweg Money

Lord of Light by Roger Zelany All Tomorrows by C. M. Kosmen Highly recommend both. WorldWar by Harry Turtledove is a bit lighter, the first 2 are worth checking out. Edit: All Tomorrows is a PDF, as it was an online novel and hasn't gone to print in English yet. Author is cool w/ sharing it, so here's an address: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByV5-S712cg8Tk1vQWVFZVM5S28/view?resourcekey=0-f0n8tTyFknuKmWvLl6gYFQ

Abso Haram

I guess it really depends on what one is expecting from a book :) I was somewhat bored with the the way the initial setup and the lore explanation were handled, but not to the point where it was a deal breaker for me. Second and third books didnt have to explain so much, so the reading was more enjoyable for me and since they covered (quite realistically IMHO) the topics that I personally find very interesting, I greatly enjoyed them. Oh and not to spoil anything, but I do have to say that the author ended well the series. I find that when someone tries to tackle something THAT big, often the endings are weak at best, in this case however, it fits like a glove.

Dark Art

Would recommend anything by Timothy Zahn, myself. Less on the advancing technology front, but it does touch on that in general. Angelmass has some pretty interesting ideas in that regard in terms of dealing with the border of known and unknown science, though. Night Train to Rigel and the Icarus Hunt deal with aspects of unraveling precursor technology that could change the status quo a lot like you discussed. Icarus Hunt also has one of my favorite twists of all time, one I think you would appreciate. Could try his short story collection Pawn's Gambit: And Other Stratagems to see if his work is to your tastes. Has a fairly strong focus on cleverness.

Lord Forte

> Many systems do not seem created for complex branching events, and that's the meat of my work! My understanding of how it usually works is that the teams of text-heavy games are split in two: On one side, the writers, working with a script engine. Something a bit similar to Ren'py, with a syntax not unlike a theater script except with if and variables. ink is the most popular though a lot of teams seem to use their own custom one. And, for the better part of developments, the writers can only run their script with a really basic interpreter, that plays a bit like one of these old text games. Pretty much no graphics, just text, choices, consequences, and a barebone interface (or even command lines) to jump to the next part of the game. Meanwhile, artists and coders build (generally not from scratch but by customizing an engine/framework already pulling some of the weight) the various pieces of the game as we think of it: Maps and movements, battle engine, inventory... Finally, coders add the glue code that tie it all together, the lines of code that make it so, when you speak to Ivala, it calls the Ivala script made by the writers with the right contextual variables. So, might have more luck looking for things like plugins allowing Ork to parse ink scripts than an all-in-one engine? As for recruiting programmers, I will point out they work best in teams, even if it's a team of two. A fact that absolutely does not simplify things on your end but is nonetheless worth mentioning. Left to their own shenanigans, even the best coder will fall in pitfalls that could have been easily avoided had someone else looked at their code and pinpointed the very wrong thing in the middle of it. For SF recommendations, I don't think Three-Body has been mentioned yet (EDIT: well, it has during the time it took me to write this message). But maybe simply because it's a neo-classic and thus there's no need to highlight it? Actually, you might want to take a look at I Was a Teenage Exocolonist (and its development blog) as it checks a lot of the boxes you've hinted at: Text-first SF game made by a very small team whose story spams over the course of several years with the characters evolving physically and mentally.

Rachnera

The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells are also a delight. They answer the question, "what would happen if a lethal cyborg removed the limitations preventing it from killing all humans?" with, "it would watch soap operas all day."

Ryplinn

Replying here to Sierra's comment on the deleted one: The second Children book isn't about exploring the symbiosis of spiders and humans!? That's a mini tragedy. The inorganic-organic hybrid tech seemed amazing. This reminded me of how I stopped reading Dune after finishing God-Emperor. In the first Dune novel, I was really impressed by Herbert's wider societal focus, sort of detached from all the action and intimate character development. I wanted more. While loving it, I grew less and less interested with each novel. At first, it was just an occasional excursion into r/menwritingwomen, then we were having prolonged stays in the interpersonal drama of the sexiest cowboy clone that ever cloned. Just wasn't my thing anymore lol! No offense, truly iconic stuff Mr. Herbert.

G. Kovacs

If you haven't read them already, I highly recommend The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold. The social effects of technological change are a major theme of the series. Plus, they've got politics, romance, and space mercenaries! Your works remind me of hers in a lot of (complimentary) ways.

Ryplinn

Remembrance of Earth's Past by Chinese writer Liu Cixin is supposedly very good! The first book “The Three Body Problem” recently had a Netflix adaptation that I enjoyed (though it’s made by the two people who made Game of Thrones, so I have little hope for a good ending). But I’ve heard the books themselves are very well liked, especially the second. And it deals with the topic you mentioned, multiple decades passing and technology advancing alongside it.

WaxerRed

I'd recommend the "Children of" series by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Thousands of years pass in the span of one book. I think its what youre looking for and even more! The first book explores along two main "paths": - Loss: of our civilizations history, language, culture, generational knowledge - Evolution: of alien civilizations with fundamentally different biology, society, industry and technology The second book, I just started. Not sure. (sorry for the re-post, now im done! ^^)

G. Kovacs

Oh, interesting. My guess (as someone, who does not know game engines well) was more about Godot, as simpler and maybe even more elegant choice than Unity.

ZDreamer

Thanks for the suggestions! I have read a number of Culture books, but not Matter, so I will go look into that one. ^-^

Sierra Lee

I've consistently enjoyed Tchaikovsky and I liked Children of Time a lot! Actually didn't pursue the other books in that series, because it was the generations of the spider civilization developing that gripped me, but perhaps I should. Before someone jumps in to recommend it, I have also read A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge! While I don't think they're as common as some argue, despite both having spider civilizations, I thought it was excellent overall.

Sierra Lee

Oh, interesting, I've heard more from people who preferred the first in that trilogy. I read that one and liked it reasonably well, but hadn't followed up with the others.

Sierra Lee

Well, I don't have much to offer as far as the engine stuff, but I do read a lot of sci-fi, so maybe I can recommend something helpful! - The Commonwealth Saga: absolutely massive space opera, but it covers first what human technology might look like ~500 years in the future and then another ~1000 years of change after that. Admittedly it doesn't cover the intervening times but you do hear a lot about them. - Children of Time: more about "alien" perspective of modern technology, but one of the two POVs covers a civilization of terrestrial spiders that have been uploaded to sentience but with little to no technological assistance. So you see the spiders advance from their stone age to their space age over the course of the novel. - The Culture: just a very good series of sci-fi novels. Doesn't directly address themes of advancing technology, but "Matter" from the series does show primitive peoples interacting with technology far beyond their understanding. I'll keep thinking but those are the best of the sci-fi that I've read.

LordBurch

G. Kovacs

If you are looking for more than blasters and spaceships, I'd try the "Ancillary trilogy" by Ann Leckie. First book starts kinda slow, but its still good reading, second and third though are top notch. The series are trying to tackle the question of what does it mean to be sentient and where do you do draw a line between biology and machine.

Dark Art

I hoped they might be affordable because they set the Kickstarter for their own RPG at 10k, but apparently not. =/ One of my bad experiences was with a relatively new programmer, but I shouldn't let that sour me on the concept. I read Ender's Game as a kid, of course, and I also really enjoyed Speaker for the Dead. For some reason I always had the impression that fewer people enjoyed the following books. Read and watched The Expanse! Some interesting stuff with developing technology, particularly in the final trilogy. I also intend to try their new series at some point, I just haven't taken the time yet.

Sierra Lee

I've enjoyed some work by Charles Stross, but haven't tried those, so thanks!

Sierra Lee

I'm never sure what to think about the value of a fancy portfolio. It definitely has some, and it's possible that it would make a difference, but creating such a thing is outside my skillset. I freely admit to not putting a lot of effort into this because I don't like it, which may be a failing.

Sierra Lee

I want to second the recommendations for the Enders book series! Though it's been several years since I read them, I still remember it fondly. I've also heard good things about the Expanse though I've not personally read the books yet.

Argo The Ratfolk

I read and enjoyed the first book in the series, but I never got back to it, less due to any criticisms than simply having a lot to read.

Sierra Lee

I haven't made any decisions about the art or aesthetic, but real 3D is unlikely due to my limited budget. Thanks for all the suggestions! I'm familiar with many, but I haven't heard of The Legendary Mechanic or Larklight, so I will go take a look. ^-^

Sierra Lee

As a software developer I'm not too surprised by the quote of the studio. That probably accounts for man hours spent as well as the lost of productivity on any other projects going on. I think your best bet for finding more affordable programmers are those who are relatively new to the industry. While they might not work as fast or be as efficient as more experienced developers, they have passion and looking for ways to build portfolios for future potential employers. As for Sci-Fi suggestions. I can't recommend Ender Quintet. Most people know of Ender's Game, but the other books are fantastic and follow over multiple generations. Though major change in technology I don't think is a major theme. Another recommendation is The Expanse. Both books and the show are very good. I think they also have the most realistic depiction of technology a space faring civilization would have at the earlier stages.

Greenman

You might like to try a couple of works by Charles Stross - he tends to take an idea and work through the societal consequences of it in his backgrounds. So maybe Palimpsest (Civilization shaped by extensive time travel) and Saturn's Children (Solar system after accidental extinction of humanity; we deserved it, the protagonist is a sexbot...)

Andrew Harding

I love long posts!! I'm glad you are willing to go to another engine, though I understand there will be lots of trials, some which I (or all of us) may never have to deal with, due to the sheer complexity you like to put into your works. But well, if we have one person we can trust with "the long term", it's you! Regarding collaborations, I imagine there are full of uncontrollable variables so good luck! Do you think there is a possibility some people might be underestimating your capabilities/work? Because perhaps a more modernized (using this word because I know the blog has this funcion/page, but it's a blog so...) website/portfolio could draw more people in. I'm saying this picturing some artist's websites. This also opens the possibility for more detailed explanations, or even more mechanisms such as showing how each work has positive reviews, which is a feat to me. But I apologize if this is a naive or uncalled suggestion. And yay, I'm excited for the battlers update! Now I realize what your optimal monetization plan should be. Charge 1 dollar for each new playthrough from a player, and keep releasing those updates that every time encourage us to start all over again a 100+hours game XD (jk)

Decarabia

I'll recommend Seth Dickinson's Masquerade series, starting with The Traitor Baru Cormorant. It's about a young woman named Baru whose island home is conquered by the Empire of Masks—conquered not through force of arms, but with the power of economics and culture. She resolves to join the Empire, rise in power, and destroy it from the inside. Thus begins a long story about a woman making horrifying decisions for understandable reasons and telling herself every time that it'll eventually be worth it. It's usually classed as SF/F even though there's no explicit magic and the tech tops out around Renaissance levels; there's a focus on the clash of political, economic, and technological ideas that sounds pretty close to what you're looking for.

DMG

So the Final Void will be also pixel art ? Good, that was one of my worries, I've seen many try to use 3d, let's say their attempts were pretty disastrous. For the engine, do what you want, I like RPG Maker since it's easy to understand the controls but it clearly have limitations over your goals. Not like I'm a coding doctor in any case. Now, for sci-fi references.... The Legendary Mechanic has a lot of technology and the story is good, Terminator has lots of cool robot designs, Pacific Rim has Kaijus AND giant robots, Larklight trilogy is an alternative Victorian-era universe but the worldbuilding is strong and there are still interesting technological ideas, the Fifth Element, Matrix, Cloud Atlas, Halo, Firefly, Doom, Deus Ex, Remember Me....

guillaume nguyen