2017-09-21 23:36:04

Hello all, guys! I'm happy to present you a game, called junction gate. It's developer is vertuosy media, and it is really accesible! some spots of it, i saw 2, is not accesible, but the developer is more than likely will fix this essues. The game is in active developement, currently you can play only alpha, soon you will be able to play beta. Go, play, share feedback!
www.junctiongate.com

2017-09-22 00:26:42

What exactly does this game involve? Lol.

Prier practice and preparation prevents piss poor performance!

2017-09-22 02:11:08

Hello.

It's a resource game. Kind of like crafting kingdom if you've played that.

I'm gone for real :)

2017-09-22 20:58:15

and how exactly can you play that game? could you provide more informations?

don't wish to become like the oceans, the flowers, or the sun. oceans will dry out, flowers will die, and the sun will be extinguished. be yourself and nothing and no one else and hope for a better tomorrow.

2017-09-22 21:31:44

Hi,
Are you playing the alpha or beta?

2017-09-23 07:09:13

Hello. You can't play beta for now, it's still in developmend. About playing, well, it's a space strategy, where you have to do deplomatic, investment and combat/defend activities, mining and building ships from blueprints also is implemented. That's pritty cool game i have to say.

2017-09-23 16:30:13

is it a browser game or what?

going in to the wilds, collecting pokedex, and capturing them are my kind of thing,
training them, making them evolve, and generally making them stronger is my ultimate goal,
fighting other manamon tamers, winning the tournament, and fighting octoros are what these manamons like to do,
and ultimately, I become the master of mana!

2017-09-23 17:22:42

so, this is puraly browser based, but when i select a menu tab on you iphone nothing is happening, only the intro text is still displayed. doesn't seem accessible to me.

2017-09-23 19:47:28

I don't know how well it works on iPhone at the moment. Maybe it works better in the chrome app?

2017-09-23 20:54:58

Hi.

The game is kind of accessible. I do wish they had tones for when you click on something and nothing happens but they don't so you have to kind of guess.

I gave up on the game after playing it for about an hour.

I've realised I prefer incremental games on my Iphone compared to my laptop.

IN this browser bassed game, you have to build things like robots to help with ore mining, and air clearing. Make it so that people perform tasks and check the log for storie updates.

I have wrote on the developers reddit page about this game and making it more accessible. I have not received any answers yet and honestly don't think I will, but I thought it was worth trying to write to them.

I'm gone for real :)

2017-09-23 20:55:27 (edited by JasonBlaze 2017-09-23 20:57:58)

it is playable here.
just hit begin the game and you will hear a beep and a well,   little chilly ambiance sounds haha,   , press h, and you will see your first log.
the game is pritty mutch like castaway except there's no map. you could pause and unpause the game, set the game speed to normal or fast, to do that, find Pause Game Toggle, it is around the top of the page, below that, you will see 1x, 2x, 4x , that will set your game  speed when you unpause the game.
so first  thing first, you have to unlock the foods and air production building, by upgradeing your first two buildings, one on station tab, and the other on Resources tab.
press h  to jump on the building name heading, and arrow down to see what that buildings does.
to see what you need to unlock your next building, you will see an Unknown Facility  on one of the tab, down arrow once and you will see it, like Requires: Resource Platform (2), so you need to upgrade your Resource Platform  to level 2 to unlock that fasility.
you need ores to upgrade a building, to check how mutch you have, enter or space on the menu itemResources it's on the top of the page. then arrow down till you see the ores and the number.
if you low on ores, unpause the game, and wait till you gain some ores. careful though, your airs and foods are going down if you unpause at this time. also, upgrade will take 1 energy space , you could  see your energy on the same tab as your ores.
note: you could upgrade your building even when the game is pause, haha.
I can't explain mutch cause of my english, so, please check out the tutorial.

2017-09-24 21:53:15

Hello guys, there was some updates to accessability to junction gate. They include labeling all buttons, and some more things. Developer wrote me an e-mail informing that he will implement some more changes, but he's concentrating on beta now.

2017-09-24 22:20:43

Hello.

Here are the answers I got on reddit when writing to the person who made this game.

Hi Bradley, thanks so much for playing and adding your feedback! Glad you like the game!
Sorry about the delayed response. I just did another update for the game to improve accessibility (please let your forum know). You'll need to clear your cache and refresh your browser to get the update.
Here are the changes:
• All station government buttons are now labeled as your requested
• All worker management buttons are now labeled
• All buttons in all windows (stocks, corporations, windows, etc) are now properly labeled
• All research buttons are also now labeled
• Upgrade buttons are now labeled and will tell you if you can upgrade or build or if you can't, it'll tell you why.
• Diplomatic contact buttons now let you know who you are contacting.
You can currently switch between some menus using landmarks hotkeys, but I agree that your suggestion would make it easier to play. There are a few small additional changes I'd like to make, including your keyboard shortcuts, but I'm about to go away on a business trip, so it will be a few weeks before I'm able to implement them. However, I won't be able to make too many more changes after that as I will need to concentrate on the next version of the game.
If you want to sign up for the beta, you can do it at the bottom of this page: http://www.junctiongate.com/beta.html It'll be a few months before the next update, though, and I'm not sure how accessible it will be right away in the beginning. That may have to be something I try to add later, but we'll see. I can't make any promises 100% on how accessible it'll eventually be as I am experimenting with 3D gameplay. Either way, if you want to sign up for the mailing list, you'll get an email when the next update goes out.

Oh, one more thing. The game won't be very playable on the iphone or any mobile device. It's made for a laptop or desktop browser.

I'm gone for real :)

2017-09-24 23:54:08 (edited by matt1211 2017-09-25 00:47:51)

This might be a dumb question, but how do I, make more cash? I've got the economy stuff all set up, but I'm making very little

Prier practice and preparation prevents piss poor performance!

2017-09-25 16:40:08

Hi,
I wish it would tell you what type of unit something actually costs, it just says 300 without saing ore or energy or whatever it's meant to be. I think this could be why I'm strugggling to build some of the facilities.

2017-09-25 17:44:51

It's only ore and credits.

2017-09-26 18:43:04

How can I restart from the beginning, mid game, in case I want to try other strategies?

2017-09-26 21:22:14

Just select begin a new game on the play page, and not load.

Hail, Daughter of Hatred. Creator of Sanctuary. Hail...Lilith.

2017-10-01 17:44:47

Has anyone figured out how to begin mining properly? I have the required ship, and I'm pretty sure the required drive systems, but I am still told the system is not mineable. Am I missing something obvious?

Prier practice and preparation prevents piss poor performance!

2017-10-06 02:32:36 (edited by Virtuosi Media 2017-10-06 02:33:40)

Hey everyone, I'm Benjamin, the developer of Junction Gate. At Skylord's suggestion, I've downloaded NVDA and have been gradually learning how to use it, but I'm far from an expert. I'm trying to make some accessibility improvements to the alpha version of the game and I'm looking for your pain points with playing it.

I just pushed some updates with better event notifications and improved text for upgrade pricing (you might need to clear your cache to get them if you've already been playing). I'll be releasing some changes sometime next week with keyboard shortcuts and I'd like to make some additional changes as well based on your feedback. It's a complex game, so I'm especially looking for things that could be considered easy wins - tiny accessibility changes that would make huge difference in your ability to play without having to rewrite the whole alpha version of the game.

For a quick explanation, the alpha is more like a dirty prototype that allowed me to quickly explore game mechanics without paying much attention to good code. While not 100% complete, it's served its purpose and so lately I've been focusing most of my effort on the beta, which is cleaner, more systems based, and will eventually turn into the completed game.

That said, I'd like to improve the accessibility of the alpha where I can. I suspect that there might be some additional wins in regards to some forms and tables, but my inexperience with screen readers is coming up there. So basically, please let me know if there are areas of the game that are completely unusable and I'll see what I can do.

This was actually the first time I've used a screen reader and it's been a very informative experience for me as a developer. The beta is most likely to transition into a 3D game from the text version of the alpha, but this experience has me thinking of different approaches and if it might be possible to make the 3D version accessible as well. Being as I'm still early in the development of the beta, it comes at a good time. While I can't make any promises about the eventual outcome, I'm going to try experimenting with making the beta accessible and your feedback with the alpha will be very helpful as well.

I saw a few questions earlier in the thread. There is a tutorial for Junction Gate on the website, but I'd be more than happy to help you out here as well.

Regarding mining, the Saladin System isn't mineable, but the rest of the Commonwealth is. You'll first need to send a scout ship and scan it. If the location is uninhabited and has resources, you'll be able to mine. If it is inhabited, you'll need to destroy any ships first before being able to mine.

In general, the later game is the least polished and there are some unfinished features and bugs there. Diplomacy and trading are a little wonky. The stock market is somewhat exploitable. I've learned a lot of lessons there that I'm carrying over to the beta version of the game. I hope to learn a few more from all of your feedback. Thanks for showing interest in the game and I look forward to hearing your suggestions!

2017-10-07 15:39:48

Hi Bejamin.

i'm just trying the game now, love the atmosphere and the writing, and I can't wait to get into the gameplay, especially with procedural generation.

I do have one access suggestion, which  is either a textual or audio way to know when you've toggled something, i.e.  the game is paused or unpaused, since in my first two games I managed to get everyone while exploring the menu and reading the help big_smile.

It might also be nice if there was a way to know whichtabs were or were not disabled. One reason I got everyone killed is that I was trying to access the page and thinking "hay why isn't clicking on things working?" and I only later realized that things like the command tab were  disabled until you build the correct facilities.

I also have a question.
In the game settings I see you can set the type of game you have, exploration, economy or survival, this isn't mentioned at the start of the game and I was wondering what difference it makes?

I look forward to playing more of the game and seeing more of the universe, also if you have any questions related to the beta or future development feel free to ask.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2017-10-08 01:51:41

Hey Dark, thanks for trying the game out and for the feedback. I think I'll be able to implement those suggestions, so stay tuned.

Regarding the game types, they represent how far advanced you start in the game. The breakdown is as follows:

Survival = The normal game start.
Economy = Start just after the economy has been unlocked.
Exploration = Start when you are ready to build your first scout ship (you'll still need to set up a blueprint).

2017-10-08 11:42:43

Hi.

Thanks for the info on the game.
I've been playing a while longer  now and have unlocked science and economics.
One thing I do notice access wise is that where as the screens for  resource facilities and workers are very good for landmarks such as buttons and headings, the ones for assigning funding research or investing in stocks are a little more confusing, then again I'm not sure how this works exactly, eg, it seems you can only assign one lot of cash to funding, but each project has a listed cost?
Or do you basically just have to pay the entire cost of the project, then assign workers the projects will eventually complete?

Then again, I do confess I'm not sure how these aspects of the game work, and thus far my main problem is lack of credits, since I'm not exactly certain what I should do in terms of stocks and coorporations and still am only getting a basic income per credits a second, indeed I'm not exactly sure what the economics buildings such as the stock share prices and trading exchange are for.

I know the principle is to buy stocks in corporations and then sell when they're doing well, but I'm not sure what to buy or indeed whether I'm investing, and the screen is something of a wall of numbers there.

I would like to sell some of my excess resources, since I tend to have a lott, though I suppose I need to get to the point of actually constructing ships for that.

On another access front, I notice that I can use the I key, move to list item in nvda to go through all of the various tabs, as well as change the top display, however for some other odd reason I also skips between the numbers  for resources and rates and the speed buttons, making it not much faster than arrowing down. Usually with a screen reader to get to information quickly you will use page formatting such as headings, tabula elements etc (headings especially), eg, to find your last post in this topic I simply hit shift h to go back to Virtuosi Media and then  down arrow a few times to read.

This means that while it's generally very easy to quickly get to the info in the main tab, eg, the list of buildings by hitting h  heading or b for button, it's not so easy to find the amount of resources or ratings without going to the top and either having to hammer the I key or down arrow. Since it's important to keep tabs on both  amounts of resources and rates of production at all times, this is info you need a lot, and need to check sometimes in a hurry, so I was wondering if perhaps a heading could be added to the top of those displays so that they're easy to get back to instantly.
I admit this is more in the matter of a comfort than a necessity, still anything that speeds up page navigation can help.

:Lastly, You could also consider adding a ping for new log entries,  as I've missed a couple going on.

I'm really enjoying the game, it's great to finally get a single player 4x style game, since thus far pretty much all accessible versions have  pvp heavy online hacks of who can minimax the best, so a game like Junction gate is extremely welcome.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2017-10-09 12:09:28 (edited by Virtuosi Media 2017-10-09 12:23:49)

Hey Dark, thanks for the additional feedback. I just pushed another update live which should address a lot of your concerns. (Just refresh and clear your browser cache to make sure you get them). I'll list the changes below, but first I'll answer your questions.

The best stocks to buy are those with a good CEO rating. Those stocks will generally do better. You can buy low and sell high as one strategy, but I find it's easier just to buy and then collect dividend payments. The stock market in the alpha version of the game is highly exploitable, so you won't often lose money. I'm hoping to make improvements there in the beta.

For research, it is one lump-sum of funding. All active research projects (those with researchers assigned to them) will draw money from the same pool of money. Each research project will list the amount of funding it needs to be completed or move to the next level. How you manage your workers is a reflection of your research priorities. More researchers will deplete funds more quickly, but will also complete the project to which they are assigned more quickly as well.

Now on to the updates:

I added shortcut keys for each of the main menu items as well as each of the information panels at the top. There are also new hotkeys for toggling music, sound, play/pause, and cycling through game speed. And, I'm hoping you'll like this part, I added hotkeys to get current information on each of the resource types: air, food, credits, helium, energy, population, and ore. This way you won't have to cycle through them in the tabs if you just want to get one of them. A list of all of the hotkey combinations can be found in the Log tab under the Game Settings link.

Additionally, I improved the research cost labels. And I also added a half speed setting for game speed to allow you more time to react. Also, when you toggle game states, it should now inform you. New log entries should also ping you, but sometimes it might be easy to miss if there are a ton of updates all in a row and your speed is set higher as they can string together pretty quickly.

Let me know if that's an improvement! Thanks again for playing!

2017-10-09 13:01:07

Hi  sounds ccool however at the moment I'm afraid the game doesn't seem to be working at all.
When I hit "begin game" I am stuck on the station tab and I just get told "loading event log" and the game just sits there, no sound or music and all the game buttons inert.

I thought it might be this machine as I cleared my browser history, but I tried on my laptop and had the exact same problem, is the game updating versions? or is there a problem.

I hope it is back soon.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)