Planetary Annihilation

[Invunarble]

Hello Kickstarters!

It has been an amazing ride over the last month! We’ve heard you loud and clear and added many interesting elements to the game design with your help. Today it is time for us to announce the final stretch goals - goals that we think will make this game an unforgettable classic.

Full Orchestral Score - $2.0M

The absolute best way to make a game soundtrack come alive and stand the test of time is to record it using live musicians. We will record the soundtrack for the game using the Northwest Sinfonia, the same orchestra that performed the soundtracks for Total Annihilation, Halo, and many Hollywood film scores.


Orchestral recording is expensive and difficult to produce, but the layers of texture and overall quality of a live performance cannot be beat. We want to deliver the absolute highest quality game experience that we can and a world class orchestral score is truly something Uber.

Also, Howard says he will add +Sing to the game if we can reach this goal!

A Planetary Documentary - $2.1M

And finally we would love to create a documentary about the creation of the game. See inside the studio and get your deepest game development questions answered. This comprehensive documentary will reveal our production process from concept to completion, including design and technical meetings, art conceptualization, music production, as well as community interaction.

The story of Planetary Annihilation needs to be told. Very few games have had their story told from beginning to end and we have a unique opportunity to do that here.

Again, thanks to everyone for your support! We are looking forward to delivering an awesome experience.

I actually like the idea of a documentary for it but that might just be the sad person I am. And a full orchestral soundtrack will make almost everything sound more awesome

Thing is, with most games that don't have a dialogue that requires much attention to, I just play my own music while playing, so the $2M stretch goal wouldn't really matter to me.

I had just hoped for something that wasn't as minor as this to be added as a final stretch goal. :\

[Wildwill002]

I guess it's just different opinions then Although I do like the +Sing bit, its a sort of cheat code that changes the unit dialogue when you make them move. I'm just sad like that

[Aenir_bEPU]

Some of us actually enjoy epic live orchestral music instead of just epic synthesizers. I guess you can just listen to your rap or whatever instead if you truly feel that way.

I on the other hand will be hoping that the surge pushes it over $2mil.

[vallorn]

Judging by the increases in donations we will hit 1.8 Mill in a few hours.

Whether we will hit 2 mill is nebulous but I think we could make it.

oh and Dat Galaxy Asteroid.

[Invunarble]

Some of us actually enjoy epic live orchestral music instead of just epic synthesizers. I guess you can just listen to your rap or whatever instead if you truly feel that way.

I on the other hand will be hoping that the surge pushes it over $2mil.

ok, and I will leave you to just listen to your orchestra or whatever instead if you truly feel that way.

[Lord_Mountbatten]

Some of us actually enjoy epic live orchestral music instead of just epic synthesizers. I guess you can just listen to your rap or whatever instead if you truly feel that way.

I didn't quite hear you over the sound of my eyebrow shooting into the sky.

[Aenir_bEPU]

Some of us actually enjoy epic live orchestral music instead of just epic synthesizers. I guess you can just listen to your rap or whatever instead if you truly feel that way.

I didn't quite hear you over the sound of my eyebrow shooting into the sky.

Is it on a path to annihilate a planet?

[Lord_Mountbatten]

Some of us actually enjoy epic live orchestral music instead of just epic synthesizers. I guess you can just listen to your rap or whatever instead if you truly feel that way.

I didn't quite hear you over the sound of my eyebrow shooting into the sky.

Is it on a path to annihilate a planet?

A planet consisting entirely of people who look like this every day of their lives:

[vallorn]

Pulling this away from the subject of Lord's fascinating Interplanetary Ballistic Missile Eyebrow...

We have reached $1,800,000 and passed it.

The face of awesome has devoured the galaxy and now moved to crush the $2,000,000 violin of orchestra.

[Wildwill002]

Massive amounts of text ahoy!

Spoiler! :

Hello Kickstarters!

It's amazing to think we are about 40 hours away from finishing up the project on Kickstarter. We weren't sure what to expect on Day One, but your response quickly had us believing in ourselves that we were really on to something. Over the course of the project, that something has evolved and gone way beyond our expectations because of your support and ability to dream big.

Really big. Like, Galactic war-big.

We've also updated our reward tiers a couple times since then to better reward the enthusiasm and support of all of our backers, as well as to encourage our prospective ones. We aren't allowed to edit each tier with additional items on the homepage once a pledge has been made however, so we know it's been hard to keep track of them as we update. To help clarify, we thought we'd just summarize and create a simple, single list below. There's also a little more explanation for Add-ons, shipping, etc.

No changes have been made to the tiers in this update.

Hope this helps!


Planetary Annihilation Pledge Rewards

Below is a list of all of the reward tier levels with a full break down of each item backers will receive. Bolded lines have items new to that tier.

DIGITAL ONLY REWARD TIERS
The first few reward tiers include only digital rewards.

$20 Tier (includes $15 Early Bird)

A game key emailed to you & digital download
Exclusive wallpaper download
Exclusive PA Asteroid Pin flair item for Super Monday Night Combat (SMNC)
$40 Tier

A game key emailed to you & digital download
Exclusive wallpaper download
Exclusive PA Asteroid Pin flair item for SMNC
Early download and access to the game during beta stage
Digital download of the soundtrack
Access to exclusive backer forums
$50 Tier

A game key e-mailed to you & digital download
Exclusive wallpaper download
Exclusive PA Asteroid Pin flair item for SMNC
Early download and access to the game during beta stage
Digital download of the soundtrack
Access to the exclusive backer forums
Limited edition in-game Progenitor commander, only available to backers
$90 Tier

A game key e-mailed to you & digital download
Exclusive wallpaper download
Exclusive PA Asteroid Pin & PA Asteroid Belt flair items for SMNC
Early download and access to the game during alpha & beta stages
Digital download of the soundtrack
Access to the exclusive backer forums
Limited edition in-game Progenitor commander, only available to backers
Limited edition in-game Alpha commander, only available to backers
Digital art book
Your name in the credits
PHYSICAL REWARD TIERS
In addition to the digital rewards, all tiers $95 and above have some physical items that will be shipped to you and may require and additional $15 for international shipping.

$100 Tier (includes $95 Early Bird)

A game key e-mailed to you & digital download
Exclusive wallpaper download
Exclusive PA Asteroid Pin & PA Asteroid Belt flair items for SMNC
Early download and access to the game during alpha & beta stages
Digital download of the soundtrack
Access to the exclusive backer forums
Limited edition in-game Progenitor commander, only available to backers
Limited edition in-game Alpha commander, only available to backers
Digital art book
Your name in the credits
Commemorative limited edition full size game box
Exclusive backer t-shirt (Choice of size in one of three unique designs)
Three limited edition commander miniatures each over 3” tall

$150 Tier
A game key e-mailed to you & digital download
Exclusive wallpaper download
Exclusive PA Asteroid Pin & PA Asteroid Belt flair items for SMNC
Early download and access to the game during alpha & beta stages
Digital download of the soundtrack
Access to the exclusive backer forums
Limited edition in-game Progenitor commander, only available to backers
Limited edition in-game Alpha commander, only available to backers
Digital art book
Your name in the credits
Commemorative limited edition full size game box
Exclusive backer t-shirt (Choice of size in one of three unique designs)
Three limited edition commander miniatures each over 3” tall
Your name will be used to generate planet names in game
$250 Tier

A game key e-mailed to you & digital download
Exclusive wallpaper download
Exclusive PA Asteroid Pin & PA Asteroid Belt flair items for SMNC
Early download and access to the game during alpha & beta stages
Digital download of the soundtrack
Access to the exclusive backer forums
Limited edition in-game Progenitor commander, only available to backers
Limited edition in-game Alpha commander, only available to backers
Digital art book
Your name in the credits
Commemorative limited edition full size game box signed by the team
Exclusive backer t-shirt (Choice of size in one of three unique designs)
Three limited edition commander miniatures each over 3” tall
Your name will be used to generate planet names in game
Exclusive full size poster signed by the team
Printed copy of the art book signed by the team
$500 Tier

A game key e-mailed to you & digital download
Exclusive wallpaper download
Exclusive PA Asteroid Pin & PA Asteroid Belt flair items for SMNC
Early download and access to the game during alpha & beta stages
Digital download of the soundtrack
Access to the exclusive backer forums
Limited edition in-game Progenitor commander, only available to backers
Limited edition in-game Alpha commander, only available to backers
Digital art book
Your name in the credits
Commemorative limited edition full size game box signed by the team
Exclusive backer t-shirt (Choice of size in one of three unique designs)
Three limited edition commander miniatures each over 3” tall
Your name will be used to generate planet names in game
Exclusive full size poster signed by the team
Printed copy of the art book signed by the team
Limited edition commander statue over 9” tall with base signed by the team
$1000 Tier

A game key e-mailed to you & digital download
Exclusive wallpaper download
Exclusive PA Asteroid Pin & PA Asteroid Belt flair items for SMNC
Early download and access to the game during alpha & beta stages
Digital download of the soundtrack
Access to the exclusive backer forums
Limited edition in-game Progenitor commander, only available to backers
Limited edition in-game Alpha commander, only available to backers
Digital art book
Your name in the credits
Commemorative limited edition full size game box signed by the team
Exclusive backer t-shirt (Choice of size in one of three unique designs)
Three limited edition commander miniatures each over 3” tall
Your name will be used to generate planet names in game
Exclusive full size poster signed by the team
Printed copy of the art book signed by the team
Limited edition commander statue over 9” tall with base signed by the team
Custom in-game commander designed for you, usable by you and your friends (5 keys)
$5000 Tier

A game key e-mailed to you & digital download
Exclusive wallpaper download
Exclusive PA Asteroid Pin & PA Asteroid Belt flair items for SMNC
Early download and access to the game during alpha & beta stages
Digital download of the soundtrack
Access to the exclusive backer forums
Limited edition in-game Progenitor commander, only available to backers
Limited edition in-game Alpha commander, only available to backers
Digital art book
Your name in the credits
Commemorative limited edition full size game box signed by the team
Exclusive backer t-shirt (Choice of size in one of three unique designs)
Three limited edition commander miniatures each over 3” tall
Your name will be used to generate planet names in game
Exclusive full size poster signed by the team
Printed copy of the art book signed by the team
Limited edition commander statue over 9” tall with base signed by the team
Custom in-game commander designed for you, usable by you and your friends
One of the units in the game named after you
$10000 Tier

A game key e-mailed to you & digital download
Exclusive wallpaper download
Exclusive PA Asteroid Pin & PA Asteroid Belt flair items for SMNC
Early download and access to the game during alpha & beta stages
Digital download of the soundtrack
Access to the exclusive backer forums
Limited edition in-game Progenitor commander, only available to backers
Limited edition in-game Alpha commander, only available to backers
Digital art book
Your name in the credits as one of the developers
Commemorative limited edition full size game box signed by the team
Exclusive backer t-shirt (Choice of size in one of three unique designs)
Three limited edition commander miniatures each over 3” tall
Your name will be used to generate planet names in game
Exclusive full size poster signed by the team
Printed copy of the art book signed by the team
Limited edition commander statue over 9” tall with base signed by the team
Custom in-game commander designed for you, usable by you and your friends
Name one of the units in the game after you
Active engagement with the development team
Lunch with the team at the Uber offices
Access to any future Planetary Annihilation game content for free
Permanent Uber VIP status
SHIPPING

For backers in the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii, shipping costs are included in the tier pledge amount. For our international backers all tiers with physical goods ($95 and above) please add $15 to your pledge for international shipping.

ADD-ON REWARDS

All reward tiers include one copy of the game, and any physical reward tier includes one t-shirt. You can get additional game keys or t-shirts by adding to your pledge over your selected tier amount.

Add-ons for all Tiers

Extra game key - Add $20 for each key
3 extra game keys - Add $50
Add-ons for $40 Tier and above

Extra game key with early access during the beta stage - Add $40 for each key
3 Extra game keys with early access during the beta stage - Add $100
Add-ons for $95 Tier and above

Extra T-shirts - Add $30 for each T-shirt
CALCULATING PLEDGE AMOUNT WITH ADD-ONS & SHIPPING
There has been some confusion with how to calculate the minimum pledge for the rewards they want. For most people this is likely just the reward tier amount, or that number plus an additional $15 for those tiers that require international shipping. If you want additional game keys or t-shirts just add the above amounts for each additional reward. Think of them like you would adding items to an online shopping cart.

Examples
Lets say you just want two game keys for the retail game. The reward tier for a single game key is $20, and a second game key add-on is an additional $20.
$20 : reward tier cost
+ $20 : additional game key
Total $40

Three game keys
$20 : reward tier cost
+ $20 : additional game key
+ $20 : additional game key
Total $60

Now lets say you want four game keys. There is a discounted price for three keys.
$20 : base reward tier cost
+ $50 : three additional game keys
Total $70

For another example lets say you live in the United States and want a planet named after you and access to the game during the alpha stage as well as an extra shirt. The base reward tier for planet names is $150, extra shirts are an additional $30.
$150 : reward tier cost
+ $30 : additional shirt
Total $180

What if you want an extra game key with beta access?
$150 : reward tier cost
+ $30 : additional shirt
+ $40 : additional game key with beta access
Total $220

And you live outside of the United States
$150 : reward tier cost
+ $30 : additional shirt
+ $40 : additional game key with beta access
+ $15 : international shipping
Total $235

Additonal Reward Information

Game Keys: All reward tiers include a game key that will give you access to a digital download of the game on release. Some tiers include early access to the game during the beta and alpha stages of the game’s development, as well as access to the game’s private backer forums. We will be giving exclusive updates on the game’s development available only on the private backer forums.

T-Shirts: Tiers above $95 include a t-shirt which is available in multiple sizes and in three different designs. You’ll be able to choose the size and design of the shirt you wish to receive, as well as size and design of any additional shirts if you choose to add to your pledge.

Progenitor Commander: This is an exclusive commander only available during the Kickstarter campaign. Only those who select the $50 tier or higher will get access to this unique commander. See this update for concept art

Alpha Commander: All game keys with alpha access will get access to the Alpha commander. This is an exclusive commander only available during the Kickstarter campaign to backers who select reward tiers $90 or higher. See this update for concept art

Commemorative Game Box: The commemorative game box will be used to ship physical items to you like t-shirts, miniatures, and art books. The game box does not include a game disk or additional game key as the game key(s) will be e-mailed to you. It also means we can ship out these items to you before we finish the game.

Commander Miniatures: Three unpainted commander miniatures are included with any reward tier above $95. They will be of the Progenitor commander, Alpha commander, and a third commander design not yet announced.

Credits: All backers at the $90 reward tier or higher your name will appear in the game’s credits alphabetically to show you supported the game. Your name can be either your real name or a nickname, though please no vulgarity. Your pledge amount will not be shown.

Planet Names: For backers at the $150 reward tier and higher we will include your name or a nickname in the game as part of our planet generation. Spouses and other family names are acceptable as well. Please note we will not be using anything we feel is inappropriate, so please no vulgar nicknames.

Full Size Poster: This will be a frameable 24x36 poster with a unique design, signed by the development team.

Limited Edition PA Commander Statue: This is an over 9” tall solid statue with the base signed by the development team. The design has not yet been finalized, but here’s an example of the detail and quality we’ll be delivering.

Custom Commanders: At the $1000 reward tier we will work with you to design a visually unique commander appropriate to the game. The unique commander will be tied to a specific account, but will also be sharable with friends for their use.

Unit Names: For backers at the $5000 reward tier will have one of the units in the game named after themselves. This can be your real name or a nickname and we will work with you to come up with an appropriate usage.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/659 ... f=activity

[Invunarble]

Almost at 1.9M with 24 hours left to go.

Shit's intense.

[Wildwill002]

We got 1.9 and loads of people in the comments are basically chanting "Must get orchestra".

[Invunarble]

We got 1.9 and loads of people in the comments are basically chanting "Must get orchestra".

All I can see in the comments are people responding to this guy who made a $1000 pledge then withdrew it since hard copy versions of the game were taken out.

Yup, good idea, feed the trolls.

[Wildwill002]

Lol, he first said that he was taking out his $95 donation XD Ah well, no awesome game for him

[Wildwill002]

Hello Kickstarters!

It’s been a constant swell of excitement over the past few weeks, with each day bringing up a new set of passionate backers from all over the world; every one being super gracious with their pledges and their votes of encouragement. Thank you all again for your absolutely incredible support!

We are now down to less than 24 hours. The time for annihilation is near for this Kickstarter project.

And we have a few last things to announce.

$140 TIER (Digital Only)
This is a special tier created for those who don’t want any of the physical goods but still want the naming rights. This includes everything in the $90 tier. Every procedurally generated planet needs a name and if you contribute you’ll be immortalized by being among the list of those uber enough to have a planet named after them. Just to be clear this tier includes no physical goods at all.

NEW ADD-ON: Game Loaded USB Key - $20 Add-on with $95 pledges and above*
Available to our $95+ backers. We haven’t finalized the design of this key yet but it will likely be in the form of the commander. We’ve heard you loud and clear that you want a physical copy of the game. A USB drive has been on our agenda for a bit and everyone has convinced us that this is a good idea. Get ‘em while they’re hot!

* Does not include $140 Tier which is digital only.

NEW SHIRTS
Awesome T-shirt - $30 Add-on with $95 pledges and above*
Fans have rallied around our Design Commander, John’s awesome face. No surprise, it smashes into planets and eats galaxies whole. Now we want to give you the opportunity to wear it.

* Does not include $140 Tier which is digital only

YOU'RE INVITED TO WATCH THE KICKSTARTER FINAL COUNTDOWN LIVE

Join us as we watch the clock wind down on our Kickstarter project! Watch a live video stream from our studios in Kirkland, where we’ll spend some time talking about the Kickstarter experience and even more time about the kind of planetary annihilation we dream about as game designers and developers, as well as just fans.

We’ll also be happy to do a little Q&A with you.

Countdown starts at 10 AM PST.

Check it out here: http://www.twitch.tv/uberchannel

[vallorn]

passed 2 million.

Hory Sheet.

[Invunarble]

Damn you school, I missed the countdown.

But wow, $2.2 million + $100k paypal donations. That's a hell of alot more then I expected.

Bummer I didn't donate anything but i'll definitely buy this game when it comes out

[Wildwill002]

Heyoo~

Hello Kickstarters!

A huge thank you again to everyone that helped us reach our goal. On Friday we took a big, collective exhale once the project completed and our goals were set. Today, we’re taking a giant inhale as we start to focus sharply and dive deep into design and production.

Simultaneously, we are working out all the logistics to deliver your rewards. First, it’s going to take approximately 10 more days for all of the Kickstarter transactions to clear. Once this happens, everyone is going to get an email with a link to our fulfillment web site. This site will allow you to pick all of your final rewards, give us your shipping information, and make any final adjustments.

IMPORTANT: We are leaving the PayPal links up until this process is complete! That means you have 10 more days to get in on the current deals.

Q: When do I get my stuff?
A: The first order of business is to get all of the details from you about what stuff you are getting. That will happen in about 10 days or so when we launch our fulfillment website. The shipping schedule has not be finalized yet and things may come over time depending on the item.

Q: When is Alpha / Beta / Launch?
A: We don’t currently have locked down dates for Alpha/Beta. These will happen months before the product launch so you can work backwards for an approximate timeline. Once we know, you’ll know.

Q: Can you send my stuff to a different address?
A: Yes. You will be able to select your shipping address on our fulfillment site.

Q: I pledged multiple times, can they be combined?
A: PayPal pledges will automatically be combined. A pledge within Kickstarter is automatically combined. Everyone will be getting an email with all of their pledge details when our fulfillment site goes live in about 10 days or so.

Q: I forgot to add international shipping. Now what?
A: We will handle this through our website when calculating a final total. At that point you will be able to pay for shipping or any other changes.

Q: Can I donate more?
A: At any point you can use the PayPal to donate more or buy other things. All of this will be handled through the same fulfillment site.

Q: How do I specify the details of my pledge? Extra keys, t-shirt size, etc?
A: This will happen through our fulfillment site in about 10 days.


We can’t reiterate enough the thank yous to everyone that has supported us. We are working hard to make the rewards process and your experience as smooth as possible, and will need a bit more of your patience. We’ll also do our best to keep you informed in general as we continue the drive forward to the development and release of an awesome game!

- The Uber Team

[Wildwill002]

Also, this is on the ubent forums

I'm creating this thread to collect confirmed features and so that everyone can contribute their ideas for what this game really should get right.
Information provided on this thread is, of course, liable to change. The list is also biased, but do try to keep me honest. Items are not listed in order of importance, just alphabetically. You might also want to take a look at the wiki, which has a version of this list too (not maintained by me!).

BLUE = Suggestion
RED = Will not be present
ORANGE = Acknowledged, but unconfirmed
YELLOW = Stretch goal
GREEN = Confirmed

Paramount:
{G} Jon Mavor crunching for a solid year: #1
{B} Scathis' head and "awesome" soundbite in-game

Essential:
{G} Order queueing: #1
{G} Planetary annihilation, KEW: #1 #2
{G} Post-launch balance patches and long term support: #1
{G} Zoom support (extensive strategic zoom, etc): #1 #2

Important:
{G} AI for skirmishes, with different types: #1 #2
{G} Assassination game mode: #1
{G} Asynchronous network model: #1 #2 #3
{G} Gravity wells, and modelled planet gravity: #1 #2 #3
{G} Joining games mid-way (saves / mega-games / etc): #1
{G} LAN play: #1
{G} Mapmaking support (and saving procedurally generated planets): #1 #2 #3
{G} Matchmaking: #1 #2
{G} Mega-games (40 player event matches, etc): #1
{G} Mod support: #1 #2
{G} Multi-threading, multi-core support: #1
{G} Offline play: #1
{G} Rate based (streaming) resource system: #1 #2
{G} Reconnection: #1
{G} Spectator/replay UI: #1 #2
{G} Teleportation and long distance travel: #1
{Y} Galactic war: #1
{O} Saving and loading in multiplayer games: #1
{O} Transports: #1 #2
{B} Chat lobbies in-game

Would be nice:
{G} Announcer (original Total Annihilation announcer): #1
{G} D-Gun: #1 #2
{G} Defensive structures: #1
{G} Ice planets: #1
{G} Large/huge planets: #1 #2
{G} Linux support: #1 #2
{G} Mac OS X support: #1
{G} Multiple monitor support (with multiple viewports): #1
{G} Pathfinding (advanced, flow based, etc): #1
{G} Procedural planet generation: #1
{G} Realtime bullet simulation: #1
{G} Scalability (huge maps and LOD depending on computer power): #1 #2 #3
{G} Shared unit control: #1 #2
{G} Starting units still useful in lategame: #1
{G} Terrain deformation, burning trees: #1 #2 #3
{G} Walls: #1
{G} Wind generators: #1
{G} Wreckage (reclaimable): #1
{Y} Gas giants: #1
{Y} Lava planets: #1
{Y} Metal planets, with re-activatable technology: #1 #2
{Y} Naval: #1 #2
{Y} Orchestral soundtrack: #1 #2 #3
{Y} Water planets: #1
{O} Adding orders to the beginning of the order queue (see here): #1
{O} Amphibious transports: #1
{O} Area commands, e.g. per here and here: #1
{O} Bridges: #1
{O} Day/night cycle for solar power (depending on local stars) as per here: #1 #2
{O} Mining/exploiting planets for resources: #1
{O} Mouse-panning as per here: #1
{O} No fly zones (see here): #1
{O} Orbital simulation of planet motion (which can be affected by player): #1 #2 #3
{O} Plans (reusable unit behaviour and waypointing): #1
{O} Satellites (espionage, etc): #1
{O} Steam support: #1
{O} Templates for base-building (see also here for more automated construction): #1
{O} Terraforming: #1
{O} Tutorial: #1
{R} Single player campaign: #1 #2 (replaced by Galactic War)
{R} Water and lava fluid simulation (allowing for tsunamis, etc): #1
{B} Adjustable keybindings
{B} Astronomical formations (black holes, twin stars, even wormholes)
{B} Automated unit behaviours, with icons, as per here
{B} Clan support
{B} Cinematic camera (for observing, replays, or making machinima)
{B} Co-op campaign
{B} Custom campaigns and missions
{B} Custom formations, see e.g. here
{B} Diplomacy and alliances (including donating units, etc, to sway enemies)
{B} Exhausting planets by exploitation
{B} Extra non-skirmish game-modes (e.g. survive AI waves, sandbox)
{B} Ferrying controls for transports as in SupCom
{B} FFA game-type with player discoverability as per here
{B} Friends system, with tournaments and other events (e.g. planned mega-game events)
{B} Fog of war done properly (no unit pop-in like SupCom)
{B} Live TV/replay function (e.g. for tournaments)
{B} Markers (pinging, drawing on the map for teammates, etc)
{B} Orbital constructions
{B} Production tab, as per here
{B} Rotating buildings before construction
{B} Rendering tools (to make max detail screenshots or high quality recordings of replays)
{B} Unit selector in skirmishes
{B} Underwater base construction

Debatable:
{G} Two unit tech tiers: #1 #2
{O} Artillery warfare: #1
{O} Auto-repair for damaged buildings: #1
{O} Experimentals: #1
{O} Rare resource types for specific uses: #1
{R} Research tree/tech tree: #1
{R} Shields: #1#2 #3
{R} Space combat: #1 #2 #3 #4 #5
{R} Multiple factions: #1 #2
{R} Unit veterancy: #1
{B} Army painter (e.g. as in Dawn of War games, see this post)
{B} Automated unit micro and focusing
{B} Commander upgrades
{B} Economy priority system
{B} Limited unit fuel, ammo, energy, etc
{B} Neutral, native civilizations (see here)
{B} Non-global, per-planet economy (with possible resource transport)
{B} Radar jamming
{B} Stealth/cloak

http://forums.uberent.com/forums/viewto ... 61&t=34022

[Invunarble]

Also, this is on the ubent forums

I'm creating this thread to collect confirmed features and so that everyone can contribute their ideas for what this game really should get right.
Information provided on this thread is, of course, liable to change. The list is also biased, but do try to keep me honest. Items are not listed in order of importance, just alphabetically. You might also want to take a look at the wiki, which has a version of this list too (not maintained by me!).

BLUE = Suggestion
RED = Will not be present
ORANGE = Acknowledged, but unconfirmed
YELLOW = Stretch goal
GREEN = Confirmed

Paramount:
{G} Jon Mavor crunching for a solid year: #1
{B} Scathis' head and "awesome" soundbite in-game

Essential:
{G} Order queueing: #1
{G} Planetary annihilation, KEW: #1 #2
{G} Post-launch balance patches and long term support: #1
{G} Zoom support (extensive strategic zoom, etc): #1 #2

Important:
{G} AI for skirmishes, with different types: #1 #2
{G} Assassination game mode: #1
{G} Asynchronous network model: #1 #2 #3
{G} Gravity wells, and modelled planet gravity: #1 #2 #3
{G} Joining games mid-way (saves / mega-games / etc): #1
{G} LAN play: #1
{G} Mapmaking support (and saving procedurally generated planets): #1 #2 #3
{G} Matchmaking: #1 #2
{G} Mega-games (40 player event matches, etc): #1
{G} Mod support: #1 #2
{G} Multi-threading, multi-core support: #1
{G} Offline play: #1
{G} Rate based (streaming) resource system: #1 #2
{G} Reconnection: #1
{G} Spectator/replay UI: #1 #2
{G} Teleportation and long distance travel: #1
{Y} Galactic war: #1
{O} Saving and loading in multiplayer games: #1
{O} Transports: #1 #2
{B} Chat lobbies in-game

Would be nice:
{G} Announcer (original Total Annihilation announcer): #1
{G} D-Gun: #1 #2
{G} Defensive structures: #1
{G} Ice planets: #1
{G} Large/huge planets: #1 #2
{G} Linux support: #1 #2
{G} Mac OS X support: #1
{G} Multiple monitor support (with multiple viewports): #1
{G} Pathfinding (advanced, flow based, etc): #1
{G} Procedural planet generation: #1
{G} Realtime bullet simulation: #1
{G} Scalability (huge maps and LOD depending on computer power): #1 #2 #3
{G} Shared unit control: #1 #2
{G} Starting units still useful in lategame: #1
{G} Terrain deformation, burning trees: #1 #2 #3
{G} Walls: #1
{G} Wind generators: #1
{G} Wreckage (reclaimable): #1
{Y} Gas giants: #1
{Y} Lava planets: #1
{Y} Metal planets, with re-activatable technology: #1 #2
{Y} Naval: #1 #2
{Y} Orchestral soundtrack: #1 #2 #3
{Y} Water planets: #1
{O} Adding orders to the beginning of the order queue (see here): #1
{O} Amphibious transports: #1
{O} Area commands, e.g. per here and here: #1
{O} Bridges: #1
{O} Day/night cycle for solar power (depending on local stars) as per here: #1 #2
{O} Mining/exploiting planets for resources: #1
{O} Mouse-panning as per here: #1
{O} No fly zones (see here): #1
{O} Orbital simulation of planet motion (which can be affected by player): #1 #2 #3
{O} Plans (reusable unit behaviour and waypointing): #1
{O} Satellites (espionage, etc): #1
{O} Steam support: #1
{O} Templates for base-building (see also here for more automated construction): #1
{O} Terraforming: #1
{O} Tutorial: #1
{R} Single player campaign: #1 #2 (replaced by Galactic War)
{R} Water and lava fluid simulation (allowing for tsunamis, etc): #1
{B} Adjustable keybindings
{B} Astronomical formations (black holes, twin stars, even wormholes)
{B} Automated unit behaviours, with icons, as per here
{B} Clan support
{B} Cinematic camera (for observing, replays, or making machinima)
{B} Co-op campaign
{B} Custom campaigns and missions
{B} Custom formations, see e.g. here
{B} Diplomacy and alliances (including donating units, etc, to sway enemies)
{B} Exhausting planets by exploitation
{B} Extra non-skirmish game-modes (e.g. survive AI waves, sandbox)
{B} Ferrying controls for transports as in SupCom
{B} FFA game-type with player discoverability as per here
{B} Friends system, with tournaments and other events (e.g. planned mega-game events)
{B} Fog of war done properly (no unit pop-in like SupCom)
{B} Live TV/replay function (e.g. for tournaments)
{B} Markers (pinging, drawing on the map for teammates, etc)
{B} Orbital constructions
{B} Production tab, as per here
{B} Rotating buildings before construction
{B} Rendering tools (to make max detail screenshots or high quality recordings of replays)
{B} Unit selector in skirmishes
{B} Underwater base construction

Debatable:
{G} Two unit tech tiers: #1 #2
{O} Artillery warfare: #1
{O} Auto-repair for damaged buildings: #1
{O} Experimentals: #1
{O} Rare resource types for specific uses: #1
{R} Research tree/tech tree: #1
{R} Shields: #1#2 #3
{R} Space combat: #1 #2 #3 #4 #5
{R} Multiple factions: #1 #2
{R} Unit veterancy: #1
{B} Army painter (e.g. as in Dawn of War games, see this post)
{B} Automated unit micro and focusing
{B} Commander upgrades
{B} Economy priority system
{B} Limited unit fuel, ammo, energy, etc
{B} Neutral, native civilizations (see here)
{B} Non-global, per-planet economy (with possible resource transport)
{B} Radar jamming
{B} Stealth/cloak

http://forums.uberent.com/forums/viewto ... 61&t=34022

'tis alot of stuff.

[Wildwill002]

This week in the forums! Some highlights from the devs:

Mavor:
o Get Your Engine On - Monday, Oct. 8th: I'm still concentrating heavily on terrain, still mostly geometry at the moment. Steve continues to push on the different terrain types. WJ has started working on coding a UI prototype. Think of it as a wireframe UI but one that is functional (it's already surprisingly functional). William is working on replication/server stuff.

So far our idea of using curves to represent network replication seems to be working ok. The idea here is that every property that has to be replicated (e.g. position, velocity, aiming at, etc) is simply represented as a curve. When a network client sees a unit all it gets is the curve for it's various properties which it then maps to actual graphics on the screen. Rendering a particular frame is as simple as interpolating all of the curves at the current time (t). Of course this implies you might be able to sample t in the past or move it backwards which gives us things like instant replays. As I alluded to in another thread the "save game" is simply a marker for time t within the replay. By allowing the client replay of the curves at time t to be injected into the sim we get a "load game". Technically this would allow splitting off a game from any point in a replay. (http://forums.uberent.com/forums/viewto ... 00#p580100)
o Music Lovers - Thusday, Oct. 11th: Just listening to the SG-1 (ed: Stargate: SG-1) music gets me pumped up. I really loved that show. The music is a bit "tv"-ish although it's hard for me to quantify what that means.

I'm pushing Howard hard to make this the best score he's ever done by a large margin. After all he gets to have a real orchestra record his stuff for the first time. That's unbelievably exciting to a composer and warrants digging deep creatively. (http://forums.uberent.com/forums/viewto ... 12#p582712)

Other Tidbits:
o Hey, did you hear that Sorian has joined the crew? (http://soriandev.blogspot.com/2012/10/c ... -good.html) (http://forums.uberent.com/forums/viewto ... 43#p582343)
o Update 14 was sent out, if you missed it somehow! http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/659 ... sts/326498 (http://forums.uberent.com/forums/viewto ... 61&t=38869)

[Wildwill002]

HEYOOO another update!

Hello again Backers!

The fulfillment site is making good progress, and the first test mails have gone out to make sure that everything is working smoothly. Over the coming weeks, everyone will start to get their emails to go to the website. This site will facilitate fulfillment of keys and physical goods over the duration of the project.

There will be a chance to add additional keys when you go through the fulfillment website, and for people in the physical goods level of backing, additional t-shirts and USB key-fobs. Until that time, you can still go to http://www.planetaryannihilation.com and add to your backer level if there were other rewards you want that you didn’t get initially. Shortly after the fulfillment site goes live, those PayPal backing tiers will no longer be available, so don’t wait!

Why a fulfillment site? Glad you asked, and here are the main reasons:

Kickstarter and PayPal: A Kickstarter survey won’t allow us to get all the important information from the PayPal backers. And there are a lot of PayPal backers in the mix!
A year is a long time! What if your address changes before the game is about to launch and final backer rewards are about to ship? A fulfillment site means, before we’re about to ship anything, we can send out a mail to everyone to make sure your shipping information is up to date, and that the cool items you’re waiting for don’t get sent to Kalamazoo. Unless you live in Kalamazoo, of course.
Linked to your UberNet account. So even if your email address changes, you’re still able to update your information.
We have two additional updates to provide about the game and backing as well! First off, Jon and Steve talked about the progress of the game during the Super Monday Night Combat live stream, and you can watch that here if you missed it the first time: http://www.twitch.tv/uberchannel/b/334446805

Finally, we’re pleased to announce that we’ll be working with Reaper Miniatures to create the commander miniatures that are part of the $100 backer level and up (excluding the digital only levels)! We are incredibly excited to be working with such a talented and passionate crew as Reaper, and look forward to sharing the progress on the minis in the coming months as we get real life (miniature) commanders! This backer level is still available for a little while longer through PayPal at http://www.planetaryannihilation.com, but when it’s gone, it’s gone. These miniatures are exclusive to the Kickstarter/PayPal backers.

Some ways to stay connected, in addition to these updates:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/planetaryannihilation
The forums: http://forums.uberent.com/forums
Thanks again for all your support. It’s hard to express in words how excited we are about building this game that you all have made possible.

Stay tuned, more coming soon!

[Invunarble]

Hearing about the actual game progress and features that are added/going to be added is honestly much more appealing to me then hearing how you claim rewards for donating.

[Wildwill002]

Meh, I'm adding as much as I can as I find it just in case. Any information is better than none, si?

[Invunarble]

Yeah, I understand, and I'm not criticizing it or anything, just saying that it's more intriguing to me then donator info.

[Aenir_bEPU]

Yeah, I understand, and I'm not criticizing it or anything, just saying that it's more intriguing to me then donator info.

There's not going to be much of any "interesting" information for a long while. Unless you're into the more tedious aspects of game development.

[Wildwill002]

Hey everyone -

This is the last chance to get in on the early stage backing of Planetary Annihilation. Read on if you, or friends of yours, wanted to participate but haven’t been able to yet.

In the next 24 hours, we’ll be bringing the PayPal backing tiers to a close. These are the same tiers that were available during Kickstarter. If you have not participated in the Kickstarter and still wanted a chance to get involved, go over to www.planetaryannihilation.com before 9AM Pacific time on Wednesday, October 17th and pick the backing tier you’re interested in through PayPal. If you are already a backer, you will have a chance to finalize, and upgrade, your choices when you get your link to the fulfillment website. All backers will have a chance at that time to upgrade to any of the backing tiers, as well as buy extra keys, t-shirts, and USB keys.

Please help us spread the word, and thanks for participating in the making of Planetary Annihilation. PA will be coming to Windows, Mac OS/X and Linux, Summer 2013.

Thanks again for all your support and for helping to bring this game to life.

[Wildwill002]

Quiet news week as everyone is heads down, working their tails off. This week in the forums, Mavor discusses more about the engine, and our standard development setup.

Mavor:
• As William and I sat around hashing out the design for this stuff we really challenged ourselves to think outside the box. It didn't hurt that I threw down some pretty hardcore technical goals (see my other posts about replays etc.).

One of the big things that you'll realize after thinking about the problem for a bit is that this game isn't a first person shooter that requires ultra low latency. In fact we know that a fairly large amount of latency is tolerable. Most of the reason that fps games have to do client side prediction is to lower input latency. However, if you don't need to worry about latency as much you can take a much more "pure" client/server approach. This is how, for example, the original Quake worked. Carmack fairly quickly realized that he was going to need a hyrbid approach with some prediction to make the game play well (I think he called this rewrite Quakeworld).

So once you factor that in your options open up a little bit. Clients send orders to the server. The server contains the entire simulation state and runs the game. The output of the sim is a curve for each property that has to be replicated to client. A separate process then selects the most important curves, compresses them as much as possible and sends a selected set of them to each client (based on camera location among other things). Note that since this separate process is simply taking the data stream from the sim and sending it out to clients that you could have more than one server doing this (for example for spectating).

Anyway there are lots of other cool things we get from this. e.g. instant replays for example. Want to know how a unit died? Watch the replay for it's death. This is the 3rd generation RTS engine I've been involved with and it's also the 3rd different technique we've used for client replication. So far we've done async (TA), sync (SupCom) and now client/server. (http://forums.uberent.com/forums/viewto ... 86#p585386)
• 90% of the code I've written on PA so far has been on my Macbook pro which only has one screen.

At the office I have a 30" display which is plenty for coding/debugging. I also have a secondary 24" monitor that I use for a my xbox dev kit which I could easily hook up as a second monitor.

William who does a lot of the hardcore engine work runs dual displays, one 30" and one 24". His main display is hooked to a kvm switch that switched between his mac, his linux box and his windows box.

Our "standard" setup is dual 24" monitors. Quad core typically with 12GB, an SSD primar,y a terabyte secondary and a fairly run of the mill videocard to keep it real. The videocard in my main work machine is an Nvidia 9800 for example, which is ancient. (http://forums.uberent.com/forums/viewto ... 39#p591539)

[Aenir_bEPU]

Nvidia 9800? Wow.

[Wildwill002]

Greetings backers!

The day has come, and the first batches of email are going out inviting people to go to the fulfillment site to finalize their backing information and provide shipping information.

NOTE: If you were one of the recipients of the first few mails, the link included was erroneously pointing to a debug site. If you click on the link again, you will be redirected to the correct site and be able to complete the fulfillment finalization process.

What you can do while finalizing:

Upgrade your backing tier
Add game keys for any backer tier $15 and up (1 key and 3 key packs are available)
Add beta keys for any backer at the $40 tier and up; beta keys become full keys at launch
Add alpha keys for any backer at the $90 tier and up; alpha keys become full keys at launch
Add t-shirts and custom USB thumb-drives for any tier above $95, excluding the $140 digital only tier
If you are at the $140 and up tier, you will be able to submit your planet names you’d like.
Add money for international shipping for any where outside of the US if you missed doing that in your initial backing amount -
What you won’t be doing yet:

Providing information on your custom commander if you’re at the $1000 level, or any other work intensive, highly customized rewards. We’ll be working with backers that have these types of rewards directly over the course of development.
We have sent out a few hundred emails so far, and will be sending out more as we become confident that there are no issues in the system.

Thanks again for your support and backing of Planetary Annihilation!