Vidiot_X

@Polix ya the next round has started and we are not listed . But I am pushing for an editors pick for 'up and coming' which is not a member vote. So we still have a chance. Thanks though for posting PUSC on steam. I will have a demo out here very soon and then onto server testing. I think you will like the preview demo as I have kept as close to SS game play as possible. The new game engine is really preforming well and with all the extras like GUI and global chat it should go a long way to a rebirth of SS I hope. @All Thanks for voting for Phoenix USC. We did pretty well and still may get a "up and coming" editors pick. If I had had a demo out we would have done really well but that won't be ready until next month. At any rate we picked up a lot of followers and had a top 100 rank for the last four days which on Indie DB is hard to maintain. I'm very close to getting the preview demo out and once that's available PUSC should do really well there. Thanks for all your support! - Rich -

Hi, You rock bud Thanks! - Rich -

Hi, Here are two videos showing animated weapons. Each bullet/bomb can have it's own animated image which allows all kinds of effects to be possible. The first video is bots vs me outside the base and the second is me battling inside the base. Not to late to vote for PUSC on Indie DB, vote here. Just click on the "Vote for this game". Thanks, - Rich -

Hi, Currently #50 in the rankings. Please come by and vote on my page for Phoenix USC in the 'Indie of the Year' contest on Indie DB. . Still a day to go and the top 100 make it on to the next round. Tell a friend http://www.indiedb.com/games/phoenix-universe-of-space-combat Thanks, - Rich -

LOL.. I have a headset on order. Only had a Walmart mic and had to get the video out. Take two.

Hi, I have a map editor introduction video posted here on Indie DB. Part 1 of a series explaining how to make maps and how the Phoenix USC engine works. Look for part two and three soon. Be sure to vote for Phoenix USC as 'Indie of the Year' on that page. - Rich -

Hi, You can vote for Phoenix USC as Indie of the year here on my IndieDB page here. Just click on the "Vote for this game" button in the Indie DB banner near the top of the page. Thanks. - Rich -

Hi, This is a development video of the Phoenix USC preview demo I will be releasing . It shows the basic experience you will have playing the demo. I will be adding more weapon types/classes and ships as well as shield impact effects. I will also coordinate the weapons colors to match the team color of the ship. I also have several new ships to add, but I am getting very close to having the demo done. You will also see some of the GUI features and the global chat (IRC gateway) used in the game. All available on the Phoenix USC preview demo coming soon. The demo is a stand alone version of the Phoenix USC client and will include 100 bot's for you to obliterate as well as capture the flag. This should help you get the basic I idea of what Phoenix USC is about. Total space combat, realtime, online with hundreds of fellow pilots battling it out for the thrill of victory! I also hope you can see how closely I have followed the SS style of play. I can also say that the performance of the game engine is very good as I am running the demo in 1200x700 windowed and recording the game video all on my humble E-Machines dual-core with on-board video. That kind of performance is good enough to support tablet devices down the road. I also believe I will be able to release both a Linux and Window versions of the preview demo. Linux is a little more difficult to get compatible but I have it running solidly on my Debian 6 wheezy setup. You can also support Phoenix USC at my official site. - Rich -

Hi, there is a good chance of a Linux demo as well this next month, I have Phoenix USC working in Linux and see very few issues. Any Linux users here? - Rich -

Hi, Here is a bunch of bots using the rendered Star Hawk ship ( see this thread ) surrounding my Star Lion ship. Being used to playing Continuum the ultra sharp and detailed look of the rendered ships is quite pleasing. This board for some reason makes the images a little fuzzy, so you can see this image and a few others on my site. Just, check out the the slide show on that page. - Rich - http://www.phoenixusc.com/images/header4.jpg

Hi, I am working on some concepts for the design of ships used in Phoenix USC. The following images are early concepts for ships in the game and will change over time but are looking pretty good so far. The names are internal development names for the ships. More soon. - Rich - Star Drifter: Fighter/Interceptor Class http://www.phoenixusc.com/Personal_Post_Data/star_drift.png Star Fox: Fighter/Interceptor Class http://www.phoenixusc.com/Personal_Post_Data/star_fox.png Star Hammer: Fighter/Bomber Class http://www.phoenixusc.com/Personal_Post_Data/star_hammer.png Star Hawk: Fighter Class http://www.phoenixusc.com/Personal_Post_Data/star_hawk.png Star Lion: Fighter Class http://www.phoenixusc.com/Personal_Post_Data/star_lion.png Star Tank: Fighter/Bomber Class http://www.phoenixusc.com/Personal_Post_Data/star_tank.png

Hi, I was just cruising by and thought have you looked at Blowfish as an encryption method for passwords? - Rich -

Hi, I post semi-regular updates on IndieDB.com so if you are looking for more information about Phoenix USC you can follow me there. The latest update shows the new radar zoom and HUD features. You can check it out here. You are also welcome to follow me on www.phoenixusc.com. The above update is also available on the Phoenix USC site located here. Pushing hard to get this demo out the door. - Rich -

http://www.phoenixusc.com/Personal_Post_Data/CLA_10_17.jpg @Axe Demento ^ @All Here is an image of the current main screen (that star field is animated). I just need to add username and password text fields under the ship selection box. The images on the right are info boxes that automatically download and can be used for ad space, zone promotion and more and are click-able and linked. The CLA also downloads a news feed so you are always up to date on whats going on. Rock on, - Rich -

Hi, I am shooting for the end of November to release a preview demo of Phoenix USC. This preview is a stand alone demo that will let you see how the game engine works and what you can expect to see in the beta release some time spring 2014. Although not able to connect to a server you will be able to get a good idea of the direction I am taking. One special feature is the IRC gateway that allows global chat outside of a Phoenix USC zone server. It will be working in the preview demo and sits in a fully functional window thanks to my custom built GUI system. You will also be able to sample several ships and test drive them in the multilevel map. I'm in the home stretch and I have been wanting to release something for sometime. So this is a preview of what is to come and should give you a good idea on what Phoenix USC is about. Look for it at the end of November (possibly a bit later, but not by much). Regards, - Rich - Image of Phoenix USC and global IRC chat in-game.

LOL.. Fixed.

Thanks. Fixed. Late nights coding

Hi, Here are a few shots of the client launch application (CLA) development. The CLA features a cool star field background and custom GUI components. The CLA will let you call up a list of zone servers and quickly launch the client and login to a server. It also allows you to modify game, graphics, sound and other settings. The GUI components are also used in the Phoenix client (windows, list boxes, sliders, buttons and more). I wish I could post the CLA as it is much cooler looking then the images and features translucent panels and a very cool animated star field effect. - Rich - http://www.phoenixusc.com/Personal_Post_Data/cla1.jpg http://www.phoenixusc.com/Personal_Post_Data/cla2.jpg http://www.phoenixusc.com/Personal_Post_Data/cla3.jpg

Hi, We have setup a Phoenix USC chat channel on IRC. You can reach it at irc.freenode.net port 6667 . Join #phoenixusc . You can discuss Phoenix USC and get answers to questions about the games progress and the up coming demo. See there, - Rich -

So true, but understandable. My hope is that many will embrace change and I get a lot of support for just that. Some just want it to all stay the same which in SS (server)/Continuum's case means no change and really no future. Add in there is no path to modify Continuum and I think many can see why I started this project. Really there seems to be two schools of thought about developing a new SS (style) game. Keep it compatible and just upgrade the client or write a new server, client and editor and just start from scratch. I choose the later mainly because if your going to seriously develop the next step it has to be a fresh start. As I get closer to the first wide scale test it is my hope that everyone will see that Phoenix USC is a labor of love and a tribute to the SS game. The upcoming demo I hope will help to at least allay concerns that Phoenix USC is dissimilar to SS. The look and feel is just like SS, that said Phoenix USC has many features that SS players have always wanted. Such as zoom (display in/out), rotation (free or static), lighting and shadow FX, vivid static backgrounds, tiled background, enhanced any shape vector collision, second level of map play (bridges, levels) and a in game GUI system complete with buttons, list boxes and movable scalable windows. You can even change the resolution in game. Some other features are DX10/11, OpenGL support and alpha support for graphics. So anyway, Phoenix USC is a whole new game and it's my hope that we can all enjoy and support it. - Rich -

Hi, I IP (htaccess) banned China, Russia and the Ukraine which really reduced the spam and other bots by quite a bit. - Rich - Edit -- I use this site for the ranges - http://www.incredibill.me/htaccess-block-country-ips.php

Hi, That's just not possible with Phoenix. Aside from Phoenix using a whole new server the collision system is vector based. SS/Continuum uses a square/right angles kind of simple collision. Phoenix uses a much richer and more complex vector collision system which lets you have map objects with high degree of precision as regards the objects shape. This image shows the map editors 'part editor' with vector collision lines added to a map part: http://www.phoenixusc.com/board/albums.php?image=4&album=2 As you can see it's not like SS's simple square objects. This approach lets you really define almost any shape for a map objects collision. In addition to collision there are a whole set of features just not supported by SS such as a 2nd level of play, lighting, shadows and more. That is also not going to happen. Phoenix USC is a whole new server, client and map editor. An entirely new design. You will be able to port at least the graphics/sound from a zone but that is about it. Phoenix USC is not a client. It is a whole new game engine and system. I have tried to keep Phoenix USC as close as I can to SS's game play so aside from the fact it's all new it still will look and feel like SS in many ways. - Rich -

http://www.phoenixusc.com/Personal_Post_Data/news_db_07_11_2013.jpg Hi, I will be releasing a 'look and feel' non-networking demo of Phoenix USC on 8/20/21013. After this release I will be releasing Phoenix USC beta 1 (TBA) which will be the first wide scale test of the Phoenix USC server and client. You can follow the demo release on it's event page here: Demo Release. Rock on, - Rich -

I changed the front page and I think that looks better. Although I might use a different background behind the logo and I'm not sure what to do with the slideshow. Make it smaller on the width? Really I need to add a description to that page maybe it could fit in between the logo header and slideshow box? As to the forum section I'm open to ideas. The download, gallery and support pages have yet to be made and link to temporary pages. Edit- Put in a fixed CSS menu bar. Much better then all those buttons. - Rich -

Hi, I would agree and I'm thinning it out as I go but it is better then it was for sure. That's why I post 'hey come look', to get some feedback. I have started to integrate the webpages into the message board system and I think that is a good way to go. With that in mind if you or anyone else has some examples of a site that is simple and good looking let me know. - Rich -