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unmerged(323395)

Second Lieutenant
Jun 1, 2011
194
0
Welcome back,

to another oh so inspirational dev diary post for Starvoid!

Quick catchup for those that hasn't been around too much; Starvoid is a real-time strategy game in a futuristic setting with drop-in/drop-out functionality on dedicated servers. It is played with large teams and focuses on being very easy to just jump into for an instant dose of RTS tactical gameplay.

Alright, now to some more details! This week I'm going to go down into the lore of the game a bit more. Because even though the game won't have a single player campaign, the background story and setting of the world is very important to us.

In the central parts of the galaxy, the so called Nexus Area, society is highly developed with large mega-cities, with billions of people are scattered across different planets. Law and order is highly valued and tons of resources are invested in keeping the environment safe through police and security operations. Starvoid does not however take place in these parts of the galaxy. Starvoid takes place outside the Nexus Edge, in the far Rim of the galaxy. Law and order has not set its foot here for a long time.. if ever.

A couple of hundred years ago, humanity invented the technology of warp drive. It was still in a crude form though, and warp travel was still expensive and still relatively slow. It still took several years to get to the most remote locations of the galaxy. Those that left to explore the outer Rim, in the hunt for adventure or riches, were rarely expected to return. They were cut of from civilization and the people in the Rim quickly got degenerated to low standards of civilization.

View attachment IMG_20042012_125824.png
A colony on the surface of a planet in the Rim.

Then, just about few decades ago, a new, much improved form of warp drive was invented. The technology, and the fuel it required, was called Starvoid. Starvoid was an extremely fast form of warp travel, and cross-stellar transportation could now be done in just a few days. It was extremely expensive though, especially since the fuel it required was rare and had only been found in the Rim.

The people in the Nexus had heard the stories of how life in the Rim was; lawless, dirty and rough. Few or none wanted to move there to relocate closer to the valuable resource. The life inside the Nexus was far too good. Fortunately for the huge Starvoid Corporations, the Rim was already inhabited – since hundreds of years back. The corporations started hiring among the lawless in the Rim. At first, operations went smooth. Harvesting facilities were built and production went well. But it didn't take long before the people in the Rim turned on each other. It was much easier, end cheaper, to raid and steal Starvoid from other workers, working for other corporations. The corporations could not solve the hostile situation, and the need for Starvoid grew larger and larger within the civilized world. Soon, the situation was close-to-war between the corporations, where the harvest workers are more to be considered mercenaries that are hired by the corporations for securing resources across the Rim for them.

The mercenaries (this is where you come in players), or commanders as they usually call themselves, buy and build combat droids to fight other mercenaries. The droids are commanded through interface implants and can be deployed down onto planets through gateway devices known as “Boxes” from the commanders' ships. An experienced commander can fight almost as one alongside his or her droids.

Between the clashes, most of the commanders live in their ships, where they work on their droids to improve them before the next fight and search for the next place to secure more Starvoid for the highest bidding corporation. The corporations does of course pay pretty well for the Starvoid secured, which allows the commanders to always purchase new and better droids. As a result of this, many manufacturers of droids have been established that all focus on different ways of warfare.

But more about these manufacturers in future dev diaries.


Take care everyone. Cya around!

-
Rasmus Davidsson, Game Director at Starvoid
 
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