Blue Sky :: good or bad?

[TimTim]

scott will u stop posting the links ive seen them twice in 5 mins in 2 different threads

feedback: if im think of the right website ditch the graphics they take too long on 56k (its all that avaible in my area crappy eircom with there sky-high prices for adsl €108 a month excluding line rental and so on)

[AnthonyS]

It would be great to be able to create Batch files so you can automate hacking tasks, create you own programs that delete all the logs, etc

[coreinside]

Hi.

Thank again for the feedback. I will answer your questions below:

Tormentor :

After the game release, there will be a SDK to code your own features/commands.
Also the engine can be licensed to develop commercial games.

Scottmberry:

You are posting link with your refferal ID to make money and call me an advertiser? I don't advertise here ... if i want advertisement .. i got the best/right place ... and for me it's even free
I got friends with 300.000+ hits/month websites

TimTim:

Graphics will be reduces ... the file size ... don't worry about that

Anonymous:

I will leave game files that way ... who wants to make a mod ... it will be easy for him ... that's the ideea

AnthonyS:

As you advance thruogh the game ... you can buy software upgrades that have additionla feaures

Thanks again.
Cya all later

[Mos]

I just would like to know how you're supposed to get money in that game. None of the servers offer money except the satellite one (I assume), which can't be hacked without buying an upgrade.

Also, ALLOW PEOPLE TO ABORT CRACKING.

(Edited by Mos at 1:24 am on Oct. 20, 2002)

[kaaphi]

first off: bad right now - could end up good.

graphics are cool...

some thoughts-
fix the terrible spelling and grammar in game - it detracts from the overall feel (seems very unprofessional).
ex. "it's main area of activity it's finanace..." ; "wich" ; "phiberoptics"
first "it's" should be "its" and second "it's" should be "is". "wich" should be "which". not "ph", but "f"

I like being able to get a command history via the up and down arrow keys, however I can't use the left and right arrow keys to edit my commands. (left gives me a % and right gives me a ') this makes the command history function practically worthless

gameplay was a little confusing to me. I like the console, (I prefer console to GUI for most things) however, you could provide more in-game help, this would be especially nice first time in the game. Also, kill the interface window. It's much more intuitive to use an "ls" or "dir" command and have the files listed right in the console window. I think all output should be right in the console window.

[coreinside]

You can abort cracking .... type abort
Please read the included Manual.html ... things are explained there.

You need $3500 to pass Insysion ... there is $7000 you can put your hands on ... but have to be one fast guy to get more the 5000 .... getting 3500 is a piece of cake

[coreinside]

The interface is already gone in my current build
All text will be displayed in the console ....

The interface is now replaced with a Visual Interface window to show various visual things there:)

I am also working on giving a good help system in the game ... to make things somewhat easier

Thanks again for the feedback.

[lord_nikon09]

Ahem, what is the url to the site?

[coreinside]

The official website for Blue Sky is :

http://www.terminalzero.com/bluesky

You can download a demo from there

Enjoy

[ee21035217k]

timtim i feel your pain. im stuck on eircom 56k as well.  i just use collage network and multiple zip disks when i want to take something home.

oh and go to www.clanbob.net and buy an evil thong or a vampire thong you know you want to.

[Angry Armadillo]

i would like to be able to delete my logs (like on uplink)

i think the demo is too repetitive ie crack/decrypt then steal money then find new link then mabye delete something then do it again

i have no sound in the demo although i have wav files in the blue sky directory!!

if you type abort/logout when you aren't doing anything you cant connect it kinda gets stuck.

p.s i saw save on the menu if you use it i think the save should be at the end of each level rather than at any time which means the game is harder which= better

[coreinside]

Log deletion ... i think i am going to add that feature ... it sounds cool ... and i don't have much work to add the code.

The full version has a new sound engine with dinamic music ... you will have sound ... great sound + dinamic music based on your doings.

abort/logout bug fixed.

You will ONLY be able to save when level ends ... it will AUTO SAVE actually for your player profile

Please let me know if there is anything else

[lord_nikon09]

when you minimize blue sky and then restore it again, it messes everything up so then you have to cntrl - alt - del it. mabey this only happens when the game resolution is different from what it usually is and it doesn't switch back to the  proper game resolution. Thanks for checking this out, core inside. Good luck!

Edit: spelling

(Edited by lord nikon09 at 5:27 am on Oct. 26, 2002)

[Talesin]

**MINOR SPOILERS BELOW IN DISCUSSION**


Framerate limiter. Big time. I don't need it running at over 100fps steady when my screen-refresh is nowhere near there, having it burn up my extra CPU cycles.

Patches. Don't know if anyone else had this problem, but the 'decrypt' function causes any machine I run the demo on to hard-lock (freeze). Completely unresponsive until it is power-cycled. Have tried it so far on four machines, with varying chipsets and CPU types.

Recordable aliases. Typing out '.internet' for the hosts I've seen is pretty unnecessary.. be a lot more effective to alias that to '.i' and save keystrokes, as is available on most intelligent OSen.

Command aliases. UNIX is designed around typing as little as possible, so you can go *fast*. 'showfile' versus 'cat', 'more' or 'less'. Similar, have an 'ls' or 'dir' command to put the list where your eyes are, so they don't have to waste time looking up at the listing. Same with the output from a showfile.. have it available to be shown in the 'command' area, where you're looking. Perhaps dupe it to the other windows for those who need a discrete area.

Timers. The trace timer is good, but a bit too precise. You know exactly when it's going to expire.. no suspense, tension, or surprise when they get there faster than anticipated. Also, a timer on the keying window would be good, so you'd have a rough estimate as to how long it'll take.. know when you're up against a system that's too harsh for you at the moment.

Passwords. Either make them more random, or allow users to guess when they're partway through, saving those extra few seconds when it's working away but you already are pretty sure what it'll end up being. Preferably both... simple dialup users being more likely to have 'guessable' passwords at seeing part of it and the length, while difficult systems have random alphas... including some that AREN'T only letters, or are case-sensitive. Again, preferably both.

Replayability. Have a list of general-type names for the program to pick out of, so you can't just shoot ahead, already knowing the 'advanced' servernames. Obvious ones are good, but few businesses that I know of are going to name their firewall 'firewall'.

Graphics. Been brought up before, the current ones are a bit hinky.. while this might be an intentional 'retro' look, if so needs to have the graphics designed to convey that. If not, needs higher bit-depth and possibly reconfigurable backgrounds.. if nothing else, the option to select flat-gray, or the classic 'limescreen' of green on black.

Hope these helped!

---
"Hubris is a double-edged sword. Used properly it can take you to heights rarely seen by the timid.. uncontrolled it will lop your head off." -G. Sedge


(Edited by Talesin at 5:52 am on Oct. 26, 2002)