Epic halts development

There is just too much work to finish in the free time I have to give to the project. Thanks to everyone who lent a hand and contributed ideas into the forum. To those who have waited so long, please accept my apologies. It is a bitter choice after so many hours of work.

There are several pieces of Epic that would enhance a game built around future trader and iFleet. The whole Middle States Cluster comes to mind. Or Save Anywhere. I am looking at releasing these pieces separately. Flamineo’s damage mod is still one of the best pieces of POG code yet written. It just needs some ship changes to make it shine. I would be glad to discuss these pieces with anyone.

The main feature of Epic (and the greatest technical challenge) was the AI to drive all the factions. I still think this is the next step that space sims must take to stay interesting. Epic tried doing to much. A baby step is what is needed. And Flux was never built with custom faction AI in mind. With the closing of Particle Systems, there is no chance of that changing. I am planning on spending some time looking over the list of public domain space sims and seeing if they might better support an Epic style of AI (features like custom C++ objects. Or even data structures.)

If you are a POG coder and need some ideas for solving a problem or two, please ask. I tried many, many features while prototyping things for Epic. Such as: Gravity simulation, destroyable station modules, persistent planning tasks, event driven sound, AI for ship to ship communication, fake objects, system localized player inventory for trade simulation, weapons that shoot ships with custom AI control.

-Gtrout