F.A.Q. Last Updated: October 22nd, 2012

		Downloads Development Journal F.A.Q. Vectorzone --- Frequently Asked Questions I've preemptively made a list of questions and answers about Vectorzone which I expect many people will want to ask, but if you don't see your question listed here, send me an eMail at vzone@pixelships.com and I'll consider posting it below! :) General Questions: Q: Ack! My eyes! It's hard to look at this game! A: Some people will be sensitive to the special effects in use. While the whole graphical presentation is reliant on these effects, you can indeed turn them off and alter them. F6 can be used to toggle the glow effect on and off, while F7 can be used to cycle the map drawing mode to one of three settings. You can also permanently change these settings by manually adjusting them in the Vectorzone.cfg file. (Changes made in-game to these settings will be permanent soon enough.) Q: When will this game be finished? A: No idea. Between working on Ancient DOS Games and other projects, it's hard to know how long this game will take to complete. Now that programming has resumed after having to redesign the thing, my guess is sometime after the start of 2013, but I can't guarantee anything. Q: Can I help beta test once the private beta phase begins? A: No. I've already decided who to invite into the private beta. The public alphas will be going for quite awhile though and will still be available during the entire beta phase, so feel free to try them out and share your thoughts! Q: Will there be multiplayer support? A: Possibly. When I first came up with Vectorzone, it was going to be a world-building game, so having multiplayer was essential. Now, with the world-building aspect absent, it's not as important, though it would still be a fun feature to have. It may not make the initial full release but I would want to get it implemented eventually. ;) Q: When will sound and music be added? A: Music likely won't get added until the beta phase. Sound will be added either just before or just after the start of beta. Audio is usually one of the last aspects I implement in my software. Q: How do weapons work? A: Each weapon is actually a combination of multiple modules: One Weapon Module, one Attack Module, and anywhere from zero to four Augmentation Modules. The Weapon Module determines how the weapon looks, sounds and behaves. The Attack Module determines how the weapon fires, such as providing a single shot, twin shots, spreading shots and more. Augmentation Modules alter the weapon in more subtle ways, such as by increasing damage or rapidity, but can also have more interesting effects such as making a shot bounce off of walls or explode on impact. Q: How does the module building system work? A: If you've played Minecraft, its crafting system is similar, but not identical, to how you will build modules. The grid you have to work with is 9x9 big, but the system is designed to guide you along based on what resources you have access to, thus the more stuff you have, the more options you will be given for placing stuff into the grid, and as you place stuff in, options will disappear one by one until you're left with a valid item to make! Because of how involved this process is, once you've made something and know how to build it, you can select it from a drop-down list to auto-fill the grid with the proper resources if you ever want to build more. Q: What's the penalty for dying? A: The game is auto-saved every time you access the Mainframe System Interface, which you will be doing at regular intervals in order to perform upgrades and re-equip yourself. If you die, you simply return to the MSI from the last point you accessed it at. Q: Will there be an on-screen map you can access so you can figure out where you are and where you're going? A: Yes. Once the on-screen HUD is finished there will be a radar in the top-right corner which will double as a mini-map! Until then, use the Tab key to bring up a quick little map. Q: Hey, one of the areas on the map is inaccessible! Your randomization routines are all bugged up! D: A: Actually, that's intentional. Since you'll be able to shoot your way through the walls with enough effort, since you can revisit any area you've previously been to, and because you can upgrade weapons with modules that will allow you to tunnel through walls better, having completely isolated rooms is normal. These rooms will usually have stronger enemies and some kind of reward hidden inside. There can only be one secret room per map and they can't connect through to other maps so you'll never have to worry about being able to break into one in order to progress. :P Q: Will there be achievements? If so, will they be mostly stupid grindy ones or interesting ones? A: There will be an achievement system and the achievements will be a combination of simple, interesting, and a few grindy ones. A simple one would be something like, "Find Gold", or "Survive with overall system integrity below 50%". Interesting ones would be things like, "Discover 5 rare enemy drops", or "Destroy an enemy in a temporal flux while being in one yourself of the opposite polarity". Grindy ones would be things like, "Collect 1000 resources", or "Gain access to all 16 VACs". Q: I recently saw something called "Virtual Terraria". Isn't this just gonna be something like that? A: Very no! Virtual Terraria is a mod for Terraria to make the graphics feel more virtual. While the graphics in Vectorzone have some similarities to this mod, Terraria itself is a very different game as it is a world-building game that focusses on platforming with traditional RPG elements such as swords, bows, arrows, goblins, skeletons, magic, etc. I will admit that some of my inspiration for this game is coming from Terraria, but a lot of my inspiration is also coming from Minecraft, Geometry Wars, Cube World, Diablo, Castle of the Winds, Angband, Seek and Destroy, Tron, and a number of other movies and games. Trust me, when this game is done, it will definitely have its own unique feel and identity! ;) Q: Will there be official support for mods? A: Not at first. Not because I don't want the game to be modifiable, but because I have no idea how to write a proper modding system. As such, this is a feature that could very well show up in later versions after the initial full release if there's enough interest and I can find help in developing a modding system. However, none of the graphics will be encoded in any special way, so texture modifications at the very least will be easy to perform. Q: How much will the full game cost? A: Dunno yet, though $10 sounds about right, possibly $15 if I also add in multiplayer support. Once it's ready to go I will be actively selling it here but will also be looking into getting it onto digital download services such as Steam.

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