The first 2 detailed alpha tests are finished and I implemented a few new systems and changes as a consequence.
The biggest issue by far was not to know what to do so the biggest change is a tutorial and a mission system. The goal was to reduce the mental stack and introduce new systems one by one instead of starting with every option available. This meant that I had to rework most systems of the game...
Changes:
Tutorial
The player doesn't start with 2 characters but with only 1.
The base is dark and the first task is to start the generator. It ties in with the story of the game and some parts are described by shorts texts of narration. Step by step, more systems become available and the complexity rises.
Furthermore, this meant to saveguard the player from doing "wrong" things so I implemented dozens of checks that force the player to follow certain tasks of the tutorial. For example:
Select both robots for the first expedition to the outpot
Pick up and bring back a resource crate as well as both robots...
Activate the heating in the base
In general, there were a lot of things that could go wrong if the player didn't know any better and as Murphy's law states:
If anything can go wrong, it will
Besides the actual tutorial, this also meant that I had to remove any kind of confusion, which for example included a few UI issues. I thought them to be unimportant but to a new player it's just confusing.
For example, simply writing "Repair" or "Abilities" at the robot detail view increases understanding a lot.
While all of the above was simple to implement, it took A LOT OF TIME to test but I'm glad I did it (REALLY A LOT!). Time well spent in my opinion. The 2nd playtest performed was using the tutorial system and it went much better, but still needed some refinements, which are now included as well.
Mission System
The tutorial is accompanied mainly by a new mission system.
Previously, there were a few rudimentary missions at the outpost. I implemented a more sophisticated and scalable mission system that allows me to have missions for the home and the outpost. This also as a progress system (for example the research station is unlocked by completing a specific mission).
Outpost
Worked mainly on the map design.
Added two new structures:
Resource packing station: The resources mined by the mining drone are dropped off at this station. A robot can execute a task to pack the resources into a crate that can be brought back to the home base.
Bridge: Blow up the bridge with explosives. An optional task to destroy the connection of 2 map parts. The player either blows up the bridge or destroys a spreader and a nest on the other side.
Events
I added more events at the homebase randomly that are selected during a playthrough. I also refined the event system itself so it is more scalable for the future and supports more event types (for example timed events).
Elevator repair task: One of two elevators breaks down and requires a repair (requires a repair kit and a character to perform the task). Elevator stays unusable until repaired.
Temperator control repair task: The temp control station is inaccessible until repaired, which is more severe if a temperature setting is set in a bad way (for example set to "Warm", which costs a lot of energy while the player might be at low energy).
Generator seal repair task (TIMED EVENT): A security seal is broken and radition is spilling into the rest of the station. A timer ticks down. When not finished in time, all characters become sick due to the radiation. Whoever is chosen to repair the seal, will get radiation sickness.
Events can also lead to DECISIONS. A survivor appears at the outpost in a life support capsule. He can be brought back to the home base. The medbay systems reveal that a medkit is required to heal the survivor but there is only a 50% for success. The player has to decide what to do. Based on the decision, the survivors will approve or disapprove based on their MORALES.
Characters
Characters can become ill / sick. This can happen during events (generator seal repair task) or because of low temperature ("freezing" or "cold"). Characters can heal using medkits in the medbay. When a new day starts, the sickness can become worse or better based on traits and temperature setting and whether or not the character was selected as a robot operator during an outpost mission.
I implemented a simple morale system based on three concepts:
Altruistic vs. Self-interest
Idealism vs. Pragmatism
Courage vs. Cowardice
The idea is that each character has an approval rating. If the rating is high, they are more happy (which may lead to less stress, illness) and if it is too low, they are less happy or might even leave the station to fight on their own.
Steam and game build
I mean the platform...
All future playtests will be performed over Steam so I had to setup everything.
Most importantly, I had to build an actual game build in Unity, which (as expected) caused a few issues. The biggest issue took me a few days and was caused by a custom shader I created for the contamination system. In the Unity Editor, everything worked fine but in the game build, the material wasn't displayed and it took me a while to find out, why...
In the end, it was a single line of code that led to the fact that Unity wouldn't compile the shader. No idea why it worked in the editor but that's Unity magic I guess.
That's basically it... except... wait, what's that?
Is that a portal ... to another world?
XCOM meets This War of Mine meets Stargate?
Next
Alpha version v.0.1.1 ready for testing! After that, there might be some big news upcoming...