Dev Notes: A brief look at the ship modification framework!

Dev Notes: What ways will DRONE SMUGGLER allow players to modify their ship's performance and features?

Hey there! Thanks for checking out DRONE SMUGGLER... while hard work is underway to bring forth some of the more roguelite-ish features for ship upgrades I thought it was important to share some of the philosophy behind the ways those upgrades will be structured.

Here's a text transcription of the notes from the embedded image as well as a few extra thoughts on how those features will be implemented in the early access version of DRONE SMUGGLER:

Engineering - "ENG"

From the notes:

"A non-stacking, one-at-a-time set of modifications to ship stats (e.g., +2 AGI / -1 POW / -2 HUL). Cannot have RTMs [Resonance Tuning Modifications - see below] directly applied but can be affected by RTMs applied elsewhere."

Engineering will give players a reason to explore, discover, and return to specific shadespace broadcast stations throughout the galaxy, since the effects applied by an engineering modification will be determined by that station's engineer (if one is available at all). A ship can only have one engineering modification applied at a time (though some rare hardware or tuning modifications might be able to bend or break certain rules as you progress through the game), so finding the right engineer to maximize your ship's performance will be crucial to tackling the more challenging objectives and contracts you take on as a pilot in DRONE SMUGGLER.

Hardware Expansion - "HEX"

From the notes:

"Occupies one or more of the ship's expansion slots. Supports one or more RTM but with significantly diminishing returns as more are applied."

Hardware Expansions or HEXes will enable pilots to install upgrades directly into one or more of their ship's expansion slots. The idea for the planned career mode is to start off with two slots. Some HEXes might provide a basic bonus to the ship's stats, such as +2 SPD or +1 POW. Others might serve as a "splitter", opening up 2 or more slots that are slightly less efficient but allow for deeper customization of the ship's capabilities. Others might open up whole new branches of functionality, such as energy shields, autonomous ship repair, resource collection, and rapid-fire or multi-fire capabilities.

HEXes can also support one or more RTM [see below] being applied, although each additional RTM applied to a given H-EX will lower the efficiency of other RTMs applied after.

Resonance Tuning Modification - "RTM"

From the notes:

"A trait or variation of one or more stats, HEXes, or engineering mods that stack and modify or enhance the ship's capabilities."

Resonance Tuning Modifications are where the real synergy and chaos starts to take shape (or lose it) when putting a ship together. Some RTMs might be simple - a small bonus to a given stat, maybe at the expense of a small penalty to another, for example. Others might be conditional - e.g. "Gain a +2 bonus to POW when the combo hit multiplier is 2.0x or greater". Others could be totally random, leaving the pilot to find creative ways to implement and find the right balance for their vessel. As for acquiring them, some RTMs come baked in to certain HEXes, and pilots will be able to collect RTMs from the debris of enemy ships or even, after clearing certain prerequisites, craft RTMs using materials collected from shadespace asteroids.

It is even rumored that certain shadespace regions are home to elusive Resonant Entities, a.k.a. Res-Ents, who are highly sensitive to the vibrations on which all shadespace activity and perception is based and can use that sensitivity to further tune the effects of these mods. However, ambitious pilots should be warned - Res-Ents are not common in the universe of DRONE SMUGGLER; they are often hunted by forces both malicious and well-intentioned and they tend to shy away from new contact. If you seek out the services of a particular Res-Ent to modify one of your RTMs, you should be prepared to return the favor by helping them further their individual goals as well...

I hope this has been an interesting and informative look at this system, which is one of the things I've been most looking forward to implementing in DRONE SMUGGLER and is the first major step towards bringing the persistent, procedurally-generated galaxies of DRONE SMUGGLER in a way that will allow me to start working on Privateer Mode while also continuing to improve and enhance the current arcade gameplay.

If you have thoughts or questions about these plans, I'd love to hear them and discuss further in the DRONE SMUGGLER community hub. See you in shadespace, commander! o7

• agl