Shallow Space News

We regret to announce that Shallow Space has been cancelled.

About a year ago we designed a new client that ticked a lot of the boxes that the community were looking for originally but we struggled to include, as time went on it became clear that the decision was contentious as it would remove a lot of the current look and feel.

We have to admit that it would have been quite a different game to what it is currently on Steam now.

Dealing with the legacy has been difficult. It is highly unlikely that we’d have been able to cut though the negative reviews and press even if we were to create something amazing and it has been soul destroying to try. To punch through that negativity we would have needed one hell of a marketing campaign which was not possible with no funds.

In the absence of funding we intended on it being a part time affair, driven by a couple of the original team members. But coding and community management don’t really mix, personally I found myself feeling the effects of burnout yet again and the team had mixed feelings on the direction the project had decided to take.

In addition, with no funding, there was no hope of producing additional required assets that matched the expensive stuff we already had and we only have half the models needed. Trying to raise additional funds by selling the original assets elsewhere didn’t work.

Hardest thing ever to admit defeat, but we simply don’t have what it takes to finish this financially or mentally. Thanks to all the fans, there are other strong projects continuing the good fight, look forward to seeing them unfold.

Back again, with another summary update.

So to recap; as you likely know we took an extended break from the project but coming up to a year ago now we picked things up again. It hasn’t been straightforward, there was lots of pressure back then and some things in 2.0 were designed in a rush without proper consideration and it didn’t really gel as a game when we tried to finish it into something objective driven.

As a result we’re having to refine the idea and make it a little more achievable for a small team, but also add some new killer features on the way.

We’ve taken to referring to the revamp as 3.0, and the whole endeavour would be completely pointless if we didn’t take the opportunity to learn what we can from the previous two attempts. If you didn’t know, you’re able to play both the prototypes right here (you can switch to the 1.0 build in the game properties.)



So the last couple of months we’ve been focusing on getting the tactical area of the game up to scratch. We have this concept of the 'Sectors', which is the name we’ve given to the areas of play that divide up the area within the gravity well of a planetary body, an area we call ‘Shallow Space’ due to congestion.

There’s a much higher emphasis on tactical play in 3.0, so the position of your forces matters a lot more. What does that actually mean? Well let's just say that there's a lot less time spent fighting the camera controls and more time planning how your forces will engage the enemy and actually playing the game.

Some examples of this are XL turrets granting abilities so you can blanket an area with flak (concept pictured above), or turrets that enable you to snipe an enemy from across the battlefield.

It's not pretty atm, but it's coming - it'll look great by the time we're finished. ːsteamthumbsupː

In 2.0 if you wanted to target a particular unit you would find that immensely difficult as the action was all over the place. The general aim in 3.0 is to make things easier to control, force ourselves (as developers) to consider gameplay before detail and not give the player too much to do at once (hard thing to do in an RTS!)

Sectors are mostly the same as in 2.0, but again we’ve tweaked a few things to make things play a little more tactically. So in 3.0 you can use the terrain to form chokepoints and if played right, a smaller force can be really effective against a larger force. Something we were aiming for in both 1.0 and 2.0 but failed miserably.

We break down the anatomy of a sector and walkthrough a tactical scenario in this blog article.



We also have made some process repurposing the Carriers, previously they used to carry Corvettes which didn’t really make sense. So instead Corvettes are now the smallest class of ship you can add to a Fleet and Fighters have become Drones, a way of projecting force away from precious Capital ships.

Another big part 3.0 that is an evolution of something introduced in 2.0 'The Strategy Layer.'

This part of 3.0 is still fairly fresh as we’ve been spending a lot of time putting Tactical together. But as that nears minimum viable functionality, we’re starting to give it some more love. It’s starting to resemble something of the ‘Grand Strategy’ we originally envisaged for Shallow Space.

As you saw in update one, we have background traffic milling around adding flavour to the sectors. But how will we control the action? How will we stir it up to become that war-torn corner of the galaxy?

We’ll do that using something we’re calling Taskforces which are essentially a group of Fleets with an objective. They can be AI or Player controlled and could be patrolling, attacking or escorting in the sectors; changing the face of that Grand Strategy map as you play.

We’ll start off small here, just build the foundations with a couple of mission types and when the game is back on Steam we’ll start to fold in some of the grander ideas such as boarding stations and Sectors exchanging hands between Factions.



We’re midway through implementing Taskforces, once that’s done it’ll be time to rework the mission interface and put the skin back on - again it’s all minimum viable stuff, just enough to get us going on Steam again and get some feedback.

We’re still some ways off that though mind, but we are getting closer each day. 8 years working this thing is a long time to accumulate knowledge and learn how things are done, not just in the computer game industry but in software development as a whole.

It’s not just about the game, it’s about how we deliver the updates in an automated fashion with as little human interaction as possible. But what does that mean? Well it means less time chasing our tails and more time delivering new features when the time comes.

We’re excited about the project again, it feels like this time, we’ve planned every meaningful detail and we know how this thing is going to play with minimal surprises and it is mind blowing. It’s only when we stopped for a second to count the number of units orbiting our test planet, over 700 fleets, nearly 2,000 ships and the truth is that we’ve barely begun to populate that. We talk about that here,

Massive scale intergalactic warfare is coming our way!



We kid ourselves that this time it’s easier, but it’s not - we just happen to have a lot of the answers now from 1.0 and 2.0. It’s an unusual path for a project to take, but we’re hoping it’ll pay off. Plus you know, what if we did pull it off? What if we finished this thing and word got out: ‘Remember that cool looking unfinished RTS? Well it got finished.’

What if we became inspiration for other studios to finishing their abandoned games?

Ah, there it is you see - it’s easy to get excited working on something like this, to stress and digress over this mammoth task. If you read some of the blog articles, you can see the stress creeping back in - so much so, we actually had to go back and edit out some of the profanity!

But the important thing is that we’re building this thing, we’re committed to it and it’s happening one step at a time.

Anyways, exciting times, thanks for remaining interested - together we’ll crack this thing and if you get a sec do check out the blog, it’s really starting to fill up with juicy details, stale memes and stunning ship renders: shallowspace.co

So a bunch of time had past since we last spoke, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t been busy.

As you know the project is in a bit of a weird state. It’s a rescue. Some years ago we became overwhelmed and stepped away for the sake of our sanity. We’re back but we’re keeping the Steam news down to a minimum until we’re ready to pick up a public release cycle again and have you guys play this thing.

Before that happens we need to revisit the idea, work out the areas we can improve and work in some of the feedback we received over the years. It’s important to note that while things are changing in-game, if you own the game, then you still own it - nothing changes there.

So we have two previous prototypes, we’ve taken to calling them 1.0 and 2.0.

The one that is currently on Steam is 2.0 (actually 1.0 is still there also if you switch builds), we found the source code to that, but it has some mega-flaws. The action can’t really be controlled because each turret required a target to be lined up to fire which meant that the ships had to keep moving. If the ships stayed still like they need to then they couldn’t fire at each other because they were rarely in each other's turret arcs.

Making an RTS is hard enough without having to worry about all that stuff.

The engine would have worked really well for a cockpit-style FPS and if you remember we were going to go there for a while; make it a hybrid thing. I think that’s where we failed with 2.0. We abandoned the hybrid idea (give ourselves twice the work for the same game… hmmm…), but we kept the engine and it wasn’t suitable.

We tried to balance that anyway and turn it into a game with measurable objectives and unsurprisingly it just would not be tamed. Plus it lagged, lots of computational effort was required to calculate all that; it couldn't scale in the way an RTS should.

Then we laughably tried to strap multiplayer to the sides and we ended up with a hot mess.

So now we have to rework what we have, somehow stay true to the original ideas but tweak the execution and simplify the game at the same time (if we ever hope to complete this thing!) All this means changes, and we talk about how in this FAQ post over on the blog. It’s frank, open, and honest but gets a bit whingey at times, maybe even a little bit cringe; we’ll let you be the judge.



Shallow Space 3.0 in many ways is like the lovechild of 1.0 and 2.0, I guess it’s yet another evolution.

Shallow Space 1.0 was all about the strategic play areas, the sort of thing we’re used to seeing in a traditional RTS. This is the part of the idea that is starting to feel refined in 3.0.

We’ve chopped it right back to the bare essentials; this time we’re not wowing you with flashy graphics or working on stuff that’ll impress. This time we’re picking tasks that are essential, giving it the minimum amount of attention and code it needs to be functional and moving onto the next thing.

It's working well; progress is rapid.

Visually it's nothing to look at: you won’t find turrets rotating or projectiles flying; that stuff is the icing on the cake, it comes last. What comes first is working out the game-loops, how conceptually we want the thing to play and then building something that fits the vision (without going off at the deep-end!)

We talk about game loops over in this blog article if you’re interested, it’s what will make this latest incarnation actually feel like a game.

In the reworked strategy experience we took out all the stuff that added nothing and started again, reworking it like a professional piece of software. Previously the game told us how it wanted to be played; it was a romantic idea but unworkable - this time we will define exactly how we want this thing to play.

We feel like we have a good baseline there, things are working as we foresee them, so we wrote up a detailed piece on the blog called the ‘anatomy of a sector’, you can read that here.

So in 1.0 we had these strategy play areas. But we wanted to go bigger. Rather than have the average map-by-map experience of the average RTS, what if we made it so the Player could visit the different maps in realtime - we asked ourselves ‘what if they had background traffic and felt more like a 4X setting?’



In Shallow Space 2.0 we introduced a 'tactical' layer map with concurrent 'strategy' play in multiple areas and we are keeping that in 3.0, but this time we’re flattening the map to make it more controllable, so gone are the confusing 3D ‘space-lanes’ and we’re looking at having a more conventional tabletop style ‘war map’ so it’s easier for us to realise the idea of play areas that evolve as you mission around.

We talk about this a little more in this biog post, it’s a working idea and it’s still early days and needs some more love; it’ll likely look completely different once finished.

So yes, we might be lurking in the shadows here but that’s only because we have a ton to do before we make the Steam page inhabitable again. We need to rebrand, rework all the text and images, get a working version of the game up for you guys to play; until that happens, expect summary updates like this every couple of months or so.

We went through the Greenlight process like an express-train and released far too early, it turns out that we weren’t nearly done working the idea up. In many ways this break was exactly what we needed to step back and admit ‘OK, this wasn’t going to work.’

The team is very much back together now: regular calls, excitement, discussion of ideas, etc. But this time, with us having gone away and gathered some experience, it’s being run as an actual software project.

Thanks for giving us your attention. We’re super confident that we can evolve this thing into something incredible and it’s great to have you here with us on the journey!

Does anyone still use e-mail? Sub to the newsletter on shallowspace.co if so!

If you’re new around here don’t buy the game, it’s unsupported and a mess in its current form, we’re working hard to put it right.

Since thought a little more about the last post here when we mentioned that it’s too distracting to code and write blogs at the same time. I’m not happy with it that, I’m just not sure it’s true.

To stay focused this time, we’re splitting development into manageable chunks called sprints.

In the opening stages, a sprint will focus on adding a bunch of related gameplay elements - we implement only what’s planned and not a line of code or graphical detail more than needed. It’s not beyond the realms of possibility to incorporate some blogging about said elements at the end of a sprint.

It might even be useful to help clear ones head in preparation for planning the following sprint.

The truth is that writing to you is enjoyable and a major part of the journey, but is Steam the place for such posts? Especially when there’s a game client up that isn’t currently supported - we don’t want to market that, I wish there was a fat pause button on Steam but there’s not. So it might be best to leave up a ‘this is currently f**ked’ post and come back here when we have something concrete and playable.

Phoenix, flames, all the jazz.

The news everyone is waiting for here is ‘the new game client is here’ and as mentioned it’ll be a little while before we see that.

But there is plenty to talk about along the way, and when the cogs of the machine are oiled and we’re moving with gusto, it’ll be time to scour the comments and forums for your opinions (good and bad) and that can’t be done unless you have something to talk about.

Maybe the answer lie somewhere in-between, I don’t know - has anyone ever tried to resurrect a game from the dead?

Anyway, the last update was a bit lame, so I come to you with PROOF this time, proof of life if you like.

We’ve relaunched the blog, filled it with all the various short stories that John Harper, our resident scribe, has written over the years. There is hours of lore to read already and i’m hoping John will come back and help put even more together.

Like you I’ve got to build his trust too, I’ll keep you posted on that.

There’s also an entry on the progress of development so far on the server components. Along with another article musing about the parts of the game we plan to pull into the new game client, and we talk a bit about the parts that don’t quite work. We also get a sneak peak at the game client just to prove there is actually some activity happening there.

I’ll try and keep the posts shorter this time around, 500 words or under - I know I can waffle on a bit.

That’s better, this is a better way to end the year - apologies dished up, a shiny new blog and a renewed sense of focus. Next year we’re going to KICK ASS.

Work is still going on here on the server side of things, still writing tests and implementing base functionality. We have to set expectations here, this is going to take a long time. If you're new DON'T BUY THE GAME - the projects in a weird state and i'm not even sure it's playable right now.

Some might say a mistake was made showing up empty handed 6 months ago and I would agree with that. The majority of dev is really boring to talk about and it's going to be less about the showmanship this time around.

It’s not really worth coming to you with regular updates on this because it’s simply too distracting to code, write updates and interact with the community at the same time. The guy (me) who had his head in the code was previously also trying to run things and write comms, not a wonder I had a breakdown really.

So this time its fun game first, flash graphics, details and suggestions later.

Don't get me wrong, I care about community feedback, ironically there’s distance now because I care too much about what you think. But mentally and financially, this game sent me off the rails once and I can't let that happen again. I could go toe-to-toe with the community, armed with fiscal reports and proof of this and that, but it’s a waste of time and energy and at the end of it all, I would still owe you a game.

The good news is, the project has been running a long time and this all feels very easy to put together now (if not a bit time consuming,) the major lessons have been learnt. Still some challenges but we have what we need for victory.

Lot's of exciting new ideas and there's a lot we can pull from the original client(s,) think fleets hiding in asteroid clusters and that 'living sector' feel, but on a much grander scale. We have to start out small, a core game that is fun to play with multiplayer from the start (if you want that, it'll be subtle) and we'll roll in features in a much more planned fashion with planning sessions held with some external scrutiny.

Minus getting all the assets made, this does effectively mean starting again - but I promise you it will be worth it.

So for some real updates:

- Going to be sticking with Unity3D for the game client after all, we have bunch of assets all ready for that game engine - the game client can be turned around quickly because of that. We should take that win.

- The ship models and other game assets are intact, what we need now is time to assemble the assets into a game. I’ll own that as my penance (even if it takes another 5 years,) but we expect to bring on a dev or two in the new year to assist.

- We planned to make it free, maybe we'll just make it super cheap instead. We want to avoid getting hung up on business management but it's inevitable and we have someone to handle that now. When we get back to a release cycle, we'll need to pay for development somehow - i'll fund that out of pocket for the time being. Plus a multiplayer free game has some pretty big considerations.

I’m hoping there will be something to show Q2/Q3 in the coming year, but it’s going to look like block wars for quite a while yet, and when we update steam it’ll need to be with something that exceeds what is currently on show.

Note that we won't be supporting the current game client, we're currently rewriting to fix some game design issues which will make it easier to control and play. We're also making it a multiplayer game from the start.

Massively appreciated the messages of support, also appreciate that there’s many of you feeling annoyed - trust me we're working hard to put it right. Enjoy your holiday season, I’ll personally be coding like a madman for the duration.

You’ll be hearing from us again in the New Year.