Starcom 2?

In 2009 I released a Flash game called Starcom. It was my second ever Flash game (following a space themed tower-defense game called PlanetDefender) and was fairly popular despite a few shortcomings.

Since it's release, I've received a number of messages on Kongregate (a Flash game portal that allows players to message a game's developer) asking if I had any plans for a sequel. The game has had quite a large number of plays: across all portals it's been played over 2 million times. Nearly 100,000 people have played the game 5 times or more. Based on this, it's not inconceivable that there's enough interest to justify the time and money to make a sequel.

I've created a survey page asking players if they would be interested in a follow-up game and what features they'd like to see. When I released the original game, there was no mechanism by which players could give me their email, so I have no way of reaching out to those hundreds of thousands of potential players. In hindsight, this was probably a mistake.

What would Starcom 2 be like?

My goal for a follow-up is a game that captures the fun of the original, but in a larger universe with much more gameplay options. It will probably not be called "Starcom 2" to avoid putting off players that didn't play the original.

• Keep the focus on the core gameplay of fast-paced tactical space combat.
• Expand on the fun of improving your ship:
• Multiple ship designs and models
• Layout upgrade placements in a way that impacts gameplay
• Unlock upgrade options through research trees (e.g., shields, lasers, missiles, etc.)
• Explore a much larger universe, mixing procedural content with a story line supporting open-ended play (a major complaint of Starcom was no sandbox play after defeating the final mission).
• Add interactions with alien races, including trade, alliances, etc.
• Improved navigation.
• Playable as a cross-platform game supporting much higher resolutions and full-screen play.

If there are features you'd like to see in the game, make sure you let me know via the survey page.

Has development started?

I have started experimentation with very rudimentary gameplay elements using the Unity engine. There's a bit of a learning curve for me, because so far all my game dev experience has been in Flash or Java. Despite that, my initial experience suggests that the benefits will pay dividends in the long run:

• The Unity component system and integrate editor really speeds up development.
• The Unity asset store offers a lot of pre-built time saver solutions. 
• Cross-platform deployment. Unity can create builds for Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, web player and others. 

What's next?

I'm continuing to investigate Unity and define the scope of the project for a Kickstarter. Stay tuned!