What if you could add a new item to Zenith Expanse, change a recipe, or write an event that surprises your colonists? That’s what Let Me Cook is for. It’s the content framework I use to build much of the game, and it lets you tinker with the galaxy too.

Okay, but what can I actually change?

Quite a lot. Let Me Cook uses readable .lmc files to define things like items, crafting recipes, quests, story events, lifeforms, status effects, ship modules, and points of interest. You can adjust existing definitions or add your own content using the same format the game uses. You don’t need to open Unity or compile C# to change a description, tweak a value, or write a new encounter. The files describe what should happen; the game handles the rest through its built-in systems. Here’s a tiny peek at what that looks like.

An item

This is the kind of file that defines an object you might find, use, or trade:

type: item
id: antibiotic
name: Antibiotic
description: Concentrated antimicrobial agents from frontier biocultures.
item_type: medicine
rarity: uncommon
weight: 0.2
value: 60
max_durability: 100

Change the weight or value, and you change how that item fits into the game’s economy. Or give a new item its own ID and see what your colony makes of it.

A recipe

Items can connect to other systems. Here’s a shortened crafting recipe for Stone Tea:

type: crafting
subtype: Kitchen
id: stone_tea
name: Stone Tea
time: 8
skill: Cooking
required_building: kitchen
ship_craftable: true

recipe:
ingredients:
item.ancient_moss: 2
item.bottle_of_water: 1
outputs:
stone_tea: 3

That’s ingredients, output, crafting time, and requirements in one small text file. You can make a sensible survival recipe. You can also make something deeply questionable. I’m not here to judge your colony’s menu.

An event

Let Me Cook can do more than define objects. Events can react to what’s happening in the world and produce gameplay effects:

type: event
subtype: planet
id: aurora_spectacle
impact: low_impact
triggered_by: custom.weather_aurora
chance: 0.35
weight: 1.0

modal_title: Lights in the Sky
modal_content: The sky above [planet.name] has come alive with green and violet light.
modal_button: Acknowledge

results:
always(common, 1.0) modify_hex_colonists_attribute([planet.id], [hex.id], morale, 8) -> A reminder that this alien world can still take your breath away

The bits in square brackets pull information from the current situation. Here, the event uses the panet and its location, then gives nearby colonists a morale boost. Other events can have conditions, choices, and different outcomes.

Your turn to cook

Let Me Cook isn’t a promise that every part of the engine can be rewritten with a text file. It’s a way to play with the game’s content using the hooks that already exist. That still leaves plenty of room for new stories, strange creatures, useful gear, terrible decisions, and recipes no responsible captain would approve. Zenith Expanse reads the same LetHimCook folder structure from subscribed Workshop mods. If you’re curious, the game’s own files are a great place to see how things are put together. What would you add to the Expanse first?