When can we expect some news?

[Anguille]

Thanks Anguille, the image is from a matte-painting we had for Horizon.

New announcement will be incoming in Q1 2017.

When can we expect some news? Q1 is already well Under way

[Zaimat]

Today is the 3 year anniversary for Horizon's release. So I think I can confirm here that we are working on a new Horizon game.

An official announcement with more details in due time.

[Anguille]

Today is the 3 year anniversary for Horizon's release. So I think I can confirm here that we are working on a new Horizon game.

An official announcement with more details in due time.

Awesome...Horizon is still my current fav 4x and i very much look forward to the improvements and new features you'll bring. Will we be able to make suggestions? Do you plan to make an EA again?

Cheers

[Zaimat]

Will we be able to make suggestions? Do you plan to make an EA again?

Suggestions are always welcome, let us consider all the possibilities. I think I'd like to hear what you (our players) want out of a new Horizon game first, then we will lay out our vision and later as the game starts to take shape. So there will be many stages for input I think.

Hopefully I can do a good job communicating

About Early Access, no decision has been made yet.

[Anguille]

Does that mean you're sill in alpha? I was hoping to see some screenshots already soon.

I think there are two main aspects to consider: a) Improvements on features already in the game (with variances). b) New features. The danger could come from overblowing with new features. The other danger is to implement things that only a few people want.

I am starting now and will edit as soon as i have new ideas:

A) Improvements

- Ship range. I feel that it's too easy to be able to cross the entire map. Imho, Ship range should be very very short at the beginning with the need to build outpost and space stations, stargates to increase the range. Only at the very end of the game should it be possible to improve logistics a lot and even then, i am not sure i would to be possible to cross the entire map.

- Bigger maps

- Make a difference between industrial and mining worlds. Instead of 6, maybe have 7 or 8 slots for improvements (don't know right now could be number 8, maybe Intelligence?) . This would also make the option to colonise asteroid belts interesting (new type of planets).

- Increase the difference in gameplay for each race. Kuntari should have a bigger advantage in going into war and the Barsig should really have a big interest in keeping the other races happy so they can increase the trade. Trade amount could also be linked to the relation....good relation = big trade, bad relation = little trade.

- Make relations more consistent except for erratic races.

- It should be possible for the human player to be selected in the Galactic Council. Only two candidates.

B) New features

- Intelligence. Not sure if i would have visible agents but something like BotF.

- Admirals, colony leaders. But only from the same race, unlike MOO.

- Borders a little more defined (not just the solar system but maybe also surrounding space). Again, thinking something like in BotF.

- Some tactical decisions on ground combat. MOO3 had some interesting ideas

- Galactic Council should be able to take decisions valid for all it's members. MOO3 had some very nice ideas.


That's all for now.

PS: the suggestions thread has a many good ideas too.

[Zaimat]

Does that mean you're still in alpha? I was hoping to see some screenshots already soon.

We are still in full development just over two years now, so screenshots will come but there is more to do and show before that so hang in there!

The new game is being developed completely from the ground up with a new engine, a mammoth undertaking for us but well worth it I think. This means completely new code and design and not bound by any previous design choices except by choice. So this is why I want to hear so much what people like yourself want to see us realize, whether an improvement, a change or something completely new. So thank you for sharing your list, it's some really good suggestions and tells me what's important to you I'm also reviewing the older suggestions.

I hope these forums will become more active again in the coming weeks and more people will participate.

[Anguille]

Sounds great. I guess that some things are already set, right?

Like:

- It is still turn-based?
- The races are still the same? (maybe with some new)
- The storyline is the same or are we in another time period?

Could you please just tell us the base things that are already decided? This makes making suggestions easier.

Thanks!

[Thorn]

Fantastic news! I would love to provide feedback once you start so sign me up for any beta testing!
And, of course, I'll want to know modding details.

[Zaimat]

Sounds great. I guess that some things are already set, right?

Could you please just tell us the base things that are already decided? This makes making suggestions easier.

Thanks!

Yes of course!

The game will be turn-based but different than Horizon. The back-end is running in real-time, meaning simultaneous turns and most actions take effect immediately (moving, combat engagements on the map etc). The AI is also running for every unit constantly making decisions and taking action(s) during the turn and will react immediately to changes within the turn instead of everything after you press turn.

The original races will return though not all of them as playable factions at least not at launch (I have on good authority that the Kuntari are confirmed! ). The playable factions will be animated in real-time.

The time period is in the same era but we currently don't have capacity for storyline as all our efforts are going into the world/galaxy setting and systems which are considerable. Those have to come first and we want to nail them.

Fantastic news! I would love to provide feedback once you start so sign me up for any beta testing!
And, of course, I'll want to know modding details.

You were on my mind for modding The game is very very modular, data driven and independent from the UI so it should be very moddable. We haven't really tested it at this point so I can't say much more except that you will need to know a bit about using a 3d app for importing assets and use Unreal Engine 4 (free to download) to mod. We will have guides to follow on how to import and so forth.

[Anguille]

Fantastic. Really curious to see this come to life. Look forward to play the Kuntari again....

I would like also to mention what i do like in Horizon as it is also very important imho

- Automatic upgrade of ships when they are in orbit of space stations / shipyards
- Quests make explore a lot more fun
- Movies at every level (landing, races description, encounter of races, ending movies, animations for the different levels of buildings (even though they are too small to really enjoy them), planets).
- Diplomacy options that change depending on the relation with the aliens.
- I really like the music and the mood. I just wished the music used for the loading and main menu would come in the game as well.
- Different races with different tech preferences.
- Normal and classic scenarios. I really like to have both options, one more story-oriented and more realistic and one for the classic 4x gameplay.
- Shipdesign options. I really like the flexibility and transparent system. I don't want to create ships from scratch like in GalCiv2-3....too much work for me.
- The various ship orders. I really like it because i really feel i can control what i want the ships to do.
- Planet specialities (old civilization, mining ressources etc). Makes them all unique. I actually would love to see them even more unique: for example a research world should be very important and the loss of that planet would mean a huge minus for the empire.

Some more ideas:

- in Horizon it is only possible to build barracks but on the other hand, there are many different type of army units. I think it would be great to have at least 3 different type of buildings: one for infantery, one for artillery and tanks and one for air units.
- In the settings i would like to have the option to have random races in the game (surprise effect).
- Different type of galaxies (form).
- More information on income and expenses, especially when it comes to trade. What do i get from trade and with who. Also on the colony page (trade, tourism, food trarde etc.).
- Option to ask colony ships to colonize a planet (nearest inactive colony ship) if we are on the planet screen.
- More information on why a race likes us or dislikes us.
- Reducing building time for buildings but increasing the cost for buying it. New colonies should grow slower...the temptation is sometimes to great to just buy improvements. A starbase is a different thing as you could come from the homeword with the material.
- The option to create techs that allow to colonize planets not suited for it's own race (smaller colonies but great for mining, research, outposts, military).

[Anguille]

Do you plan any official annoucement soon?

[Zaimat]

Planet specialities (old civilization, mining ressources etc). Makes them all unique. I actually would love to see them even more unique: for example a research world should be very important and the loss of that planet would mean a huge minus for the empire.

Instead of the fixed number of districts in Horizon (6 civilian, 3 defense, 3 orbital) and global resource bonuses: each planet will now have a variable number of districts (with it's own terrain type and resources). Each district will allow for a Building type (still upgradable) and a Population unit.

Shipdesign options. I really like the flexibility and transparent system. I don't want to create ships from scratch like in GalCiv2-3....too much work for me.

We are keeping the 3 systems (Core/Weapons/Specials) and will mostly work in a similar fashion where you place or change the components. You have the ability to customize your ship colors now.

Do you plan any official announcement soon?

Yes, that is the plan still for Q1. It's hard to predict when exactly that will be until everything is ready though.

[Anguille]

Cool. Take your time

[Anguille]

Mmmh....Q1 is ending soon....got anything ready soon?

[Zaimat]

Sorry for the late reply, despite our best intentions we couldn't make an official announcement just yet.

This is mainly due to some discussions with other parties/publishers and we had to see these through.

I don't expect the delay to be too long but if it does we will move ahead regardless with more information.

[Anguille]

No problem...look forward to some news

[craig68x]

Today is the 3 year anniversary for Horizon's release. So I think I can confirm here that we are working on a new Horizon game.

An official announcement with more details in due time.

Outstanding news, even though I was late for the party.

[Zaimat]

Outstanding news, even though I was late for the party.

Welcome! We are just starting

[Anguille]

Anything new?

I think it's good that it won't be released this year or next year as there have been a lot games released last year and this spring. It seems that it's going to be easier to bring a new game later on (Lord of Rigel should come in Q3). Anyway, i also think it's important to see what worked well and not in the other recent games while still keeping your own style.

I have another suggestion. I am wondering if it wouldn't be interesting to include some kind of turn-based ground battles.

Cheers

[Zaimat]

Making progress on development but holding off on the announcement still.

We have been doing an optimization pass this month to improve game performance.

Having a seamless galaxy (zoom-in from the galaxy level all the way down to the unit) with open travel, units pathfinding (finding the optimal path, avoiding borders and other obstacles) and having a realtime Ai apparently eats a lot of CPU cycles.

Our schedule is mostly driven by our progress and budget but I know what you mean and it would be nice if we can get the full attention of fans when the time comes to release the game.

Regarding turn-based ground battles. I think if it's at a high level strategic decisions with different or multiple phases it could be done well in turn-based format, MOO3 had the right idea I think. The invasion/conquer mechanic we have right now is much more simple so we can focus on other parts of the game but I would love to do something more elaborate later on.