Seldon Crisis - A game inspired in Isaac Asimov's Foundation series

_-Caleb-_ · Post by **_-Caleb-_** » Tue Oct 14, 2014 8:38 am

Hola.

This: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/seld ... box-mmorpg

Regards!

SeeJay · Post by **SeeJay** » Tue Oct 14, 2014 9:18 am

It looks pretty, but I read that there won't be any atmospheric flights at all.
I couldn't find any images, videos or any description of how the physics/cockpit will be, so I guess
no cockpit view and no Newtonian physics.

To bad since it looks pretty cool.

Post by **DaveK** » Tue Oct 14, 2014 10:53 am

The Foundation Trilogy is one of a handful of saga's I reread every few years (The others are LotR - the 21 x Dune books and Adam Hall's 19 x Quiller series!)

This looks good but . . . the baddies are Klingon warbirds (right down to the cloaking/decloaking effect - wrong universe) and the battleship's gunnery crews wen to the Imperial Stormtrooper Battle College - again wrong universe!

Early days - I'll keep an eye on it. I wonder what the 'fees' will be? I hope it works out

Edit: Had a closer look

love the cool shield hex grid effect and the really cool shield grid fail mode!
not sure about a bunch of small frigates taking out a cap ship's shield so quickly - but it is early days
inevitably 'expands' on the Foundation universe but seems to have a decent mix of major grouping with space for smaller (=indie) groups
if they can stick to it the payment system/level sound reasonable
seems to be totally space-based; does that mean that that planets are irrelevant? - Will they be landable? (is that a verb? . . . .)
gate free and cut scene free travel sounds good - but how does one travel large distances - system <> system?

[Edited on 14-10-2014 by DaveK]

Post by **Marvin** » Tue Oct 14, 2014 2:39 pm

I'm probably a bit more critical. But, assuming the "birds of prey" and other ships were simply coming out of hyper-space (and not de-cloaking), I can tolerate the ship designs ... Asimov never really described his ships in detail. He was more interested in the physics of hyper-space navigation. Nonetheless, space battles were only a small part of the Foundation universe. Asimov concentrated on planetary interactions ... and was very specific about where those planets were located. If a player can't visit Gaia or Terminus or Trantor (Hame) or Kalgan or Solaria or Anacreon or any of 150+ other worlds ... well, then it isn't Asimov's Foundation.

Post by **DaveK** » Tue Oct 14, 2014 5:06 pm

From post: 173739, Topic: tid=11675, author=Marvin wrote:I'm probably a bit more critical. But, assuming the "birds of prey" and other ships were simply coming out of hyper-space (and not de-cloaking), I can tolerate the ship designs ... Asimov never really described his ships in detail. He was more interested in the physics of hyper-space navigation. Nonetheless, space battles were only a small part of the Foundation universe. Asimov concentrated on planetary interactions ... and was very specific about where those planets were located. If a player can't visit Gaia or Terminus or Trantor (Hame) or Kalgan or Solaria or Anacreon or any of 150+ other worlds ... well, then it isn't Asimov's Foundation.

well, actually, there is that.

Also the point about not many other species (any!) exist - they're all human - plus that fact after 500 years the Empire couldn't actually even repair most of its ships never mind build all sorts of new ones . . . . but since Asimov story was very character oriented it's hard to see how you could make a game out of it without taking a few (many?) liberties!

The ships certainly looked like they were decloaking rather than exiting jump space

Post by **Marvin** » Tue Oct 14, 2014 5:26 pm

After further reading:

Where is the Traders Guild? Or, for that matter, any of the factions and/or despots of prominence in the Foundation story?

Killer robots? That's quite an extension of the Zeroth Law of Robotics. With no real explanation as to how it came about. Personally, I'd be interested in learning how Daneel could allow such a thing to happen.

In fact, how can all this conflict happen under the watchful eyes of Galaxia?

Oh, wait ... Galaxia has yet to emerge. According to the game's own intro, Seldon Crisis takes place in the middle of the 1,000 years of the 1st Foundation. But evidently in some area of space not included in Asimov's story. With non-human factions ... a possibility which must have escaped the observations of both the scientists on Terminus and, later on, the residents of Hame.

Hmmmm.

Oh, okay. After reading even further, I found this disclaimer on the Seldon Crisis website:

Initially we were planning on basing Seldon Crisis on a novel by an italian author, and we referenced elements of Asimov's foundation series as both us and the author are huge fans, We were / are speaking with the Asimov Estate regarding a partnership but until those talks are concluded we were asked to not mention certain elements of his novels ... we have taken the necessary measures to fully comply with what has been stated.

Ergo, if they do not get permission from Asimov's estate, then this will become just another space simulation. One which would look a whole lot like the X series with the addition of this sim being a sandbox with MP ... but still without planetary landings. My guess is, since this game is to be pay-to-play, the estate will be asking for a hefty chunk of the profits ... giving the Crisis team something to think about.

Post by **DaveK** » Wed Oct 15, 2014 8:32 am

From post: 173742, Topic: tid=11675, author=Marvin wrote:After further reading:

Where is the Traders Guild? Or, for that matter, any of the factions and/or despots of prominence in the Foundation story?

From the site: Alongside the main four Empires there are a selection of smaller factions such as The Guardians,The Haven Piarates, TheSnake Guard, The Merchant Princes and the Darkness Legion, all vying for their own section of space. (The typo's are in the site!

)

And a bit more detail: 'The Merchant Princes are a very powerful and extensive league of traders and merchants. Their only interest is to grow their trading operations and influence across the galaxy. They have expanded their commercial and technological empire throughout numerous system such as Rigel, Lucreza, Korell, Mores, Langone, Askone, and Helicon. They also own various starbases that act as commercial hubs in the galaxy.

They were originally part of The Foundation where the main activity was trading and commerce. However, when the Foundation changed and evolved into an empire, they refused to follow that evolution. The Princes run a well armed defense fleet of mercenaries who protect their interests. They offer free port and docking rights to everybody. Thanks to this policy their orbital stations are the biggest and most used commercial hubs in the galaxy. There are rumors about intensive black market activities in these stations, since they also offer hospitality to mercenaries, pirates, bounty hunters and other scum of the galaxy.

The flag of the Merchant Princes are two shaking hands as symbol of agreement. The sword in the middle represents the mercenary fleet of the league, that always protects their operations. Their mercenary ships usually use a combination of yellow and blue colors as distinctive mark.

From post: 173742, Topic: tid=11675, author=Marvin wrote:Killer robots? That's quite an extension of the Zeroth Law of Robotics. With no real explanation as to how it came about. Personally, I'd be interested in learning how Daneel could allow such a thing to happen.

In fact, how can all this conflict happen under the watchful eyes of Galaxia?

Oh, wait ... Galaxia has yet to emerge. According to the game's own intro, Seldon Crisis takes place in the middle of the 1,000 years of the 1st Foundation. But evidently in some area of space not included in Asimov's story. With non-human factions ... a possibility which must have escaped the observations of both the scientists on Terminus and, later on, the residents of Hame.

Hmmmm.

I must admit I only read the robots link books once. It's the core Trilogy I really like. I guess there's a delicate line to be trod between being true (for the fans) and making a playable game. I hope they can get it right!

From post: 173742, Topic: tid=11675, author=Marvin wrote:Ergo, if they do not get permission from Asimov's estate, then this will become just another space simulation. One which would look a whole lot like the X series with the addition of this sim being a sandbox with MP ... but still without planetary landings. My guess is, since this game is to be pay-to-play, the estate will be asking for a hefty chunk of the profits ... giving the Crisis team something to think about.

Too true!

Perhaps I'm just spoiled by EM but if you can't actually land on a planet then immersion and realism are shot. Even a cut scene for the landing would be better than nothing.

If it's expensive to play they really will have to pitch it carefully to attract fans or it'll be competing with star citizen etc with nothing unique to attract players.

It's also likely that the man's estate will want a very tight overview and control as well

But, I wish them luck. Who knows? - everything just might click into place! Perhaps the estate will see it as a way to bring a new generation of readers in - even if they only read the books to try to get some info that will give them an edge!

Post by **Marvin** » Wed Oct 15, 2014 5:53 pm

Personally, I would've set the game further into the future ... perhaps after Galaxia "mysteriously" disappeared. Asimov's people would probably be more inclined to allow changes to the cannon if that were the case. As it is, I can't see them agreeing to some of ... wait! You said you'd accept cut scenes? No, no, no. Stop the ship and let me out right here.

Post by **DaveK** » Thu Oct 16, 2014 9:06 am

From post: 173761, Topic: tid=11675, author=Marvin wrote: ... wait! You said you'd accept cut scenes? No, no, no. Stop the ship and let me out right here.

No No No No No
No No No No No
No No No No No
No No No No No

I said -and I quote - 'Even a cut scene for the landing would be better than nothing.'

If the alternative is to have no access to planet surfaces which I wouldn't consider playing at all, then though I personally would be unlikely to play the game at least being able to do something on the planets rather than from orbit would be better . . .

. . . better doesn't mean desirable or good or acceptable - in this case it means less unacceptable - less of a total game killer!

SeeJay · Post by **SeeJay** » Thu Oct 16, 2014 9:21 am

From post: 173761, Topic: tid=11675, author=Marvin wrote:... wait! You said you'd accept cut scenes? No, no, no. Stop the ship and let me out right here.

That is one of the main reasons I probably won't buy SC.

Lot's of cut-scenes expected. They even said that in their forum.

Post by **Marvin** » Thu Oct 16, 2014 2:29 pm

The only cut scenes I'd accept are those which come after you dock ... scenes which are actually more like a briefing. Something which doesn't kill the sense of realism.

Post by **DaveK** » Thu Oct 16, 2014 8:16 pm

I agree, but if the only alternative is space only activities - like the original Elite - and the activities offered on the planet are really really worthwhile in themselves . . .

Kambalo · Post by **Kambalo** » Thu Oct 30, 2014 5:18 pm

This is just another game that maybe couple of years down the road could make it, but now the market is saturated of many of these types of games. Star Citizen is sucking money out of people's pockets and everyone is falling face down for the shinnies. I doubt any other project out there would have any chance of kickstarting right now.