Version 3.8 is now almost ready, and we have started its internal testing phase. For the last two weeks work has been focused into making the planet station prototype code into a playable system, and the results are satisfactory.
Full model and tool (re)making for the new build system
The new wall system is now fully integrated into the game, and a new build tool and system for walls has been implemented. A new concept of "room" has been introduced, and a damage model for walls as a mixed tile/object entity.
3.8 rooms are different from former rooms. In 3.8 a room must be 100% composed of:
- Floor tiles over its entire surface
- Entirely delimited by walls or doors
The game checks these conditions on every tile change and auto detects all correct rooms in the map. These are visualized when inside a build tool as green polygons:
This is important because in 3.8 most objects can only be constructed inside a room. The object build tool won't let the player build most objects outside of such a properly formed room.
Since a wall, door or floor tile can be removed at any time, be it from player orders or by damage destruction, a new "environment attrition" system has been introduced:
This is not meant to be a punishing disaster, the damage will be slow, but still annoying enough to make the required repairs to the room structure desirable.
New game options
Since stations are now built on planets, a new game options tab has been introduced. The planet kind selector allows to pick the general planet archetype:
It also allows to disable events from the very start. Once a game has been started they can be re-enabled in a new tab inside the options screen.