November 2025 Update

Hi everyone.

The game has finally recovered from having the new building system implemented. I’ve spent the last week making sure that the controller and keyboard/mouse work well with each other because there were a lot of conflicts. It’s much better now, and the game is back to a “playable” state. Of course it still needs a lot more work to make that experience a fun one though.

The new grid based levels used for building allow for some really cool things, though.

Base Building / Planet Map Editing

This is already implemented, but more building components and architectural styles are still coming. The building works best with mouse, but the controller does also work. The controls will be refined over time.

The key points are:

1. Planet maps that are edited in anyway are saved to the save game folder. One planet loading zone takes up only about 25kb of space, so the amount of planets/areas that can be saved to this folder before the file size gets bloated is pretty big.

2. Towns can be edited or new towns built on uninhabited planets or areas. Shop counters can be placed inside a building which will spawn a shop sign and shopkeeper automatically, and beds placed in houses which will spawn unique NPCs.

3. Saved maps can be copied from your save game folder to a shared folder, so that map is available to all of your save games.

4. Saved maps can also be shared with other players. So if there are enough players it would eventually be possible to have a massive galaxy hand built by many different players, but curated by you.

5. If you want to return to original planets, you just remove the map from the relevant folder.

6. All architecture styles are available at the moment but the idea for the full game is that the player scans architecture on different planets which makes that style available for building.

7. Building is without cost at the moment, but will eventually cost credits to build each component. I don’t want to use mining/crafting to allow you to build. You can mine to earn credits if you want, or you can trade, or you can hunt pirates. Then the credits are debited by the fabricator whenever you use it to build something.

Mining

Mining is now different. Previously there were rocks that you shoot to mine, but now you mine into the terrain to find resources. Doing this allows for mining tunnels, or even building inside the excavated areas.

There are only three levels to the terrain. Ground level, the mineable layer, and the layer above that which remains in place after the layer below is mined. The higher layer is current very basic and plain, but will have

Planet Terrain Generation

I’m using a different method for terrain generation now, which I think looks a lot better. While there is still loading between areas, the shape of the terrain now connects to the terrain in neighbouring areas.

Farming

Not implemented yet, but the grid based save system will allow for very easy implementation of a farming system. It won’t be overly complex as it isn’t a main focus of the game, but it will involve harvesting seeds from plants on worlds which then can be planted on other worlds for farming or just landscaping a nice garden or park. Plants are likely to be specific to climate types.

Town Generation

Initially the towns on inhabited planets will be chosen from a assortment of hand built maps. I will be able to design the maps using the same equipment available to the player in game, and copy the maps to another folder reserved for the default maps. There’s only a couple at the moment, but I will add more as time goes on. The layout and architecture styles will change depending upon the planet.

Linux Build

I’m sick of Microsoft Windows trying to force feed me AI features. It was the final tipping point for me, and I’ve converted over to Linux for the majority of my computer needs – including game dev. The transition has been pretty smooth overall.

The important thing is, though, that now I’m able to build native Linux builds – something that I had struggled to do in the past without a dedicated Linux machine.

Safe Journeys

Dave