Pixelmusement F.A.Q. Last Updated:
September 3rd, 2013

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Ivxscape --- Frequently Asked Questions

I've preemptively made a list of questions and answers about Ivxscape which I expect many people will want to ask, but if you don't see your question listed here, send me an eMail at ivxscape@pixelships.com and I'll consider posting it below! :)


General Questions:

Q: Why is this game taking so long?!
Q: When will this game be finished?
A: Between working on Ancient DOS Games and other projects, it's hard to know how long this game will take to complete and work on it sometimes proceeds quickly, though more often crawls at a snail's pace, but rest assured that I make progress on it every day and will continue to do so until I either expicitly say I've stopped, or I suffer an untimely demise. :P

Q: How the heck do you pronounce "Ivxscape"?
A: It's explained in-game that there's actually no accepted pronounciation because of how new the term is. Most people say it with a long 'I' sound to start, like I'VE-X-SCAPE, but the hackers who coined the term in the backstory pronounce it with a short 'i' sound instead, like in the word "give".

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, but definitely not in the initial release. 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. Once this project is done though, I have other game ideas I want to move into so there would need to be a lot of demand for multiplayer to be added before I'd take the time to do so considering I've never written networking code before.

Q: When will sound and music be added?
A: Music likely won't get added until the beta phase. Originally, I wasn't going to add sound until near the end of the alpha phase but I'm thinking I might add sound sooner than usual just to help provide in-game feedback. Typically though, audio is one of the last things I worry about adding to a project. :P

Q: What's the penalty for dying?
A: This depends on the game mode. In Standard Mode your upgrades are disabled and you lose some of the purified data spent to enable them, plus you're ejected from the sector you were in. In Elite mode, your VAC is lost forever and you have to continue with another one, though thankfully not all of the purified data from your upgrades is lost so you can just apply it all to a different VAC. If you run ouf of VACs, the game ends. In Hardcore mode you only get one VAC for the entire game and if it gets destroyed it's game over no matter how long you've been playing for. :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. Basically, there will be lots of different ones and most casual players who get to the end of the game should be able to get about 75% of them.

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 Ivxscape 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 but that's highly unlikely. 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 and GOG.
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