Hey guys!
Here's what's been happening.
Short Summary:
- More work on field ownership - pirates more aggressive in getting fields
- Gate cost, gate permissions and gate hacking
- Object avoidance in Overworld
- Base defense ships improvements/threat response
- Known objects list
- "Far Objects" HUD enhancements
As usual I've prepared a "Dev Update" vid:
https://youtu.be/5l9TSoHQfe4
Direct Link: YouTube
Summary:
For the most part I felt a big need to work on little stuff. mostly on Items that have been recently added, but haven't been refined to the point I wanted. The way I tend to work on the project is in these sorts of "high motivational spurts." Where I'll be super excited to add a feature, but as it gets more and more implemented my excitement wanes a bit and I move on to another exciting new feature - this keeps my motivation up - but often results in features that still need work. The amazing thing about game dev (and the sometimes terrifying thing) is that you can improve things forever. So - in my opinion - it is useful to have a "perfect is the enemy of good" type of a mentality, hop back onto a more motivating item, then revisit when motivation comes back. I think for me this is a very efficient way of doing things - but to each their own :)
Field Ownership:
The previous updates changes to fields - allowing for pirates losing/gaining fields needed some improvements. Mostly in terms of pirates being more aggressive in getting new fields.
Gates:
Gate use now costs money (1k credits - or free if you have less then 1k credits - or simply fly into it when another sucker pays the activation fee). Gates won't allow hostiles to activate them - unless you have a hack active ability :)
Path finding:
Due to more and more objects populating the map (for example 20 gates!) - ships tended to intersect objects more and more. I've always wanted to do something about this - especially when it comes to escort missions and the sun being in the way, but the additions of the gates motivated me to finally add in basic path finding to avoiding certain objects (especially during missions).
Base defense ship improvements:
There's been a bunch of improvements to base defense ships - most notably, they will now respond to threats and engage them. After the engagement they will go back to the base. Also upgrades, custom names, and health (ships will auto repair automatically when at a base) will now save and load.
Known objects list:
There is now a known objects list, allowing the player to more easily select a known object. For example - looking to go to a particular base? Easily find it in the known base's list and away you go.
Far objects HUD GUI:
Improvements to the far object GUI in the ship's HUD. Bit of clean up and a bit of a better presentation. This GUI shows the player nearby (yet not in "local space") objects - including mission markers.
What's next?
There's a few other "little stuff" I have my eye on - so most likely I'll focus on that for a few more weeks. I'm also planning on adding a tiny bit of story - to the beginning of the game (before the current tutorial segment). To more "dramatically" introduce the player to the game - expect explosions :)
Thank you for your support!
Paul