RetroFed
MANIFEST, an upcoming hard sci-fi, space logistics management and tycoon game, screenshots and gameplay description on Itch.io.
https://scotchable.itch.io/manifest
Hey all,
I’ve been working on this neat game and I’d like to share with you what I’ve been working on.
Always happy to hear feedback and ideas or chat about your favourite games too!
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Agent_KaryoThis looks awesome!
I love the header visual! Very retro sci-fi. Gameplay is exactly my kind of thing.
Feel free to also post in !space_games@piefed.world, this community covers all a genres not just spacesims.
Awesome thanks mate! Yeah I love the art I got for this, I’m looking forward to the other bits she’ll do for me in the future!
Oh awesome, yes I’ll absolutely post up there too!
One other tip for higher engagement, edit the title to say something like:
Manifest, an upcoming hard sci-fi, space logistics management and tycoon game, screenshots and gameplay description on Itch.io.
InvisibleShoeWill this be available on Linux?
Yeap I see no reason it shouldn’t be, I’m not a Linux user myself but when I get the demo sorted I can flick you a message and see if the demo works on your machine?
That would be great, thanks. I love logistics and resource management games
Username and dev name checks out
Hahahaha yes, two ages making whisky related usernames. A bloody lifetime between them it feels somedays.
AverageGoobLooked interesting but the ai assisted tag turned me away.
I get it, it’s only code and some help writing prose. The art is paid for and done by a human and she did an awesome job.
I’m a data architect in my day job so I’m not up for some heavy vibe coding thing, they’re tools I use.
VeganCheesecakeFor the store page, or the game itself? Cause I feel like a) writing is also art, and b), LLM output just tend to feel so boring and same-y. Looks very interesting otherwise, though.
This is the part where the disclosure is annoying right, really those LLMs are helping me expand stuff, eg I’ve got an event that might pop up that if you arrive at your captain’s home port they might ask for some shore leave. I wrote that event but I had an LLM help me tune it, show me different ways I could write it what kind of emotional register I was looking for.
That kind of stuff. It’s written text, and I don’t want anyone to turn around and say I didn’t disclose, but it’s not like I’ve just let an LLM loose. If you find an emdash that was probably me trying to be cute.
I see. I think I’ll take a look at it when it releases. Definitely sounds like a fun idea.
I kinda get the frustration, but I dunno what the options are, except for maybe a free text field for explaining your AI usage, like Steam does it for justifying Early Access. But even then, it’d be hard to control for had actors just lying.
Oh you’re absolutely right, and I’m not annoyed at being asked to explain, it’s just frustrating trying to do the right thing and getting caught up in the mess of AI.
For example if it was a prose heavy game I’d be rightly annoyed if ai wrote it all with no person doing the work I’m playing.
Those disclosures are probably the best way to capture it, but it’s not always as broadbrush as they make it sound. The more wriggle room you give people the more you’ll find people pushing the envelope. I’m not trying to be deceptive with my disclosures and I hope people don’t pass up manifest just because I used some AI to help me.
I do hope you give it a go when the demo goes live though.
You could just add a more detailed disclosure to the discription on itch, I guess?
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This looks amazing. It seems like it’s not currently in a play test, but I did look at the blog.
some questions I had:
Is there an overarching plot or persistent world lore?
is gameplay run-based or open ended? i see it’s run based now
can we sign up somewhere to be notified when this is open again?
thanks!
Awesome! No it’s not ready in the slightest, an upcoming devlog I’ll talk about it, but right now I’m redoing the whole economy because I got stuck in a design hole.
In terms of lore, no so much I’ve tried to stay away from the stories that say how to play the game. But there’s narratives in the events, some of your captains have less nerve than others and will have different reactions to events/decisions.
I got turned around on those run based words when I was drafting this, so uhh, let me try again. It’s more that you’re planning a lot of routes/runs for your ships and you might need to reroute them. But the game is fairly open ended if you can keep flying you can keep playing.
On itch is the best guarantee, but an announcement like that I’ll certainly come back and post here too. I’m conscious that I don’t want to spam any groups since it’s technically self promotion.
I eagerly await any updates.. good luck o7
The solar system won’t ship it is self
Aw man, Yeap, well at least you all know I wrote that wrong.
I make the same mistake myself almost daily
The Solar System Won’t Ship It Is Self
Guessing that’s a typo.
Doh, that’s what happens when you let a dislexic chap loose with tools that don’t have a spell check!
I feel you there. All the best with your game!
Yeap, I’ve not hidden I’ve used ai coding to help me here. I’m a data architect in my day job. For my workflow I’ve found using specs to define my systems, surfaces, architectures, workflows etc make the coding go smoother (no without some frustration for sure).