Dev Notes
Introducing the New Research Screen!
The new research screen is here! I still need to add research trees for 2 anomalies that are currently in the game, but now that I've finished this new UI, I can move on to focusing on core content once more, and also fixing all those terrible bugs. The game also needs a bit more optimisation work, which will take a lot of brainpower and draining evenings to crack. But I turned this game from a 5 fps lag machine to a 10 fps lag machine, and then to a 20fps lag machine. And if I learnt anything about the power of exponentials in school, it's one thing: most of the change comes right at the end when you least expect it. So hopefully that notion carries over to optimising the game further.
Anyway, here are some screenshots of what the new UI looks like.
Tree Selection
Below is the first page you see when you press the research tab. Here, you select the anomaly you want to open the research tree of. The stats that get displayed here at a glance are how much "refinement" progress you have made; that is, how complete the research tree is. The small bar shows the progress on the current research project you are researching within the tree, just for convenience. I will have to make adjustments as more anomalies get added to the game; who knows how messy it will get.
Research Tree
Here are some screenshots of the research trees themselves. Pretty close to the mockups, I'd say, other than no visible scrollbar at the bottom. I am too stupid to figure out how to make that work, so I just silently omitted it. But, in a stroke of genius, I realised the page was missing a back button! So I went and added that in.
That's all I have to say about the UI. It honestly took a lot quicker than I thought to implement. Definitely a lot more usable than the previous one. I will miss the unique presentation of the old one greatly. The 3D architect paper aesthetic was really cool. I think I will reuse it for the world map, maybe? Hmmm.
What's Next
So what's next? Actually quite a big update, at least game design-wise.
Lowering the Bar for Experiments
A big problem I noticed with the game, and its something I noticed only after doing my own playthrough the game (I should really spend time to do that more often), is that every other pillar of the game (Containment & Profit) where able to be satisfactorily engaged with within an hour of playing the game, but the remaining pillar (Research), took hours of buidling, hiring, contract completion and overall setup to actually engage with. And that is a problem, not because it takes time but also because it places more burden of knowledge onto the player. The player needs to know how experiments work, how intern intake works, and how science and research work, all at once, to understand just how to complete their first research. This makes no sense! So what to do? How do we fix this problem?
Introducing Science Modules: Experiments Made Small
It's quite simple, really. We need to do science. But science is too big. So what do we do? We shrink the science. Experiments, in the early game, will be condensed into small "Science Experiment Modules", which can be built inside containment cells as permanent fixtures. These modules can run experiments independently with a simple press of a button, wherein an intern or researcher will walk up to and activate the experiment, and the experiment will run for X amount of hours. After the experiment is done, it will spit out research points. Easy!
However, nothing easy comes for free. There is a chance that the experiment can fail. Much like proper big-scale experiments. If they fail, they may irritate the anomaly and cause an incident. Or the experiment module itself may malfunction and explode, or leak fluid or do something entirely unknown. And the biggest catch, every time you activate an experiment, there is a short startup phase of a few ticks where this risk is doubled. And if things go sour, you'll very likely lose the nugget you sent to activate it. Oops.
Though each time you activate and complete and experiment with a science module, it will improve a stat called its "rating". This stat will make it less prone to failures, but make its failures more catastrophic when they do occur. But every anomaly will have research nodes that can reduce experiment failures. And each module will be able to be upgraded every 10 rating levels to either: Reduce failure chance, or reduce failure magnitude, or speed up experiment time. The highest rating will unlock an upgrade for remote activation, allowing you to complete the manual activation process.
So there's a small progression I can add to individual modules. There are more interesting mechanics I can envision for this, like experiment modules being able to interact and complement each other. Maybe certain modules in combination with others can increase the science output of all of them.
The more I think about it, the more I see it might even just be able to completely replace the existing experiment system! But I think for now keeping both in the game is fine, I am apprehensive to making big design removals like that without seeing how it plays.
These were my ideas for the experiment modules to add for now.
Gray Goo Containment Unit,
Barostatic Thermometer,
Atmospheric Barometer,
Correlative Gravity Detector,
AE Rift Energy Anomalometer
Those who have played Kerbal Space Program might see the inspiration.
Each module will have slightly different stats, probably a linear increase in cost, experiment length, risk and science rewards. And each one will probably take up more "room space", making them harder to include in containment cells. And I may even add some "crowding" mechanic where science modules too close to each other get a negative debuff, and the more science points a module creates the bigger this crowding radius is. Maybe I'll call it "Instrument Interference".
I think there's a lot of interesting stuff with such a simple system. Thanks, Kerbal Space Program!
Case Closed
Hopefully, that gives a good idea of where the game is headed. The basics of the experiment system will make their way into the next patch, and hopefully a few bug patches and optimisations too. Depends on how much time adding the science modules takes. There are also some optimisation issues (possibly only in build?) for certain hardware, which I need to address.
I have been slowed down by various life stuff, so the development pace will be quite malaise for a few weeks. But I'll try my best to get patches out every 1 or 2 days. But if there are a few days where I am MIA, then don't be surprised :/
Anyway, ending on a light note. Please try and break the research page!
Patches
Overhauled Research screen
Fixed bug where builders would fall when climbing up ladders
All anomaly files are viewable from the database screen
In-game screenshot of the current research tree
Research Tree from Civilisation V
