6/17/2018 - devlog
While Julian is getting the PR material ready for the next, bigger alpha test, Michi is working hard on an ever more versatile flight model. Today's biggest news, even though not game-related, comes from Martin, who has become a father on Thursday!
Michi (molp)
I am still knee deep in code implementing the space station details, particularly the navigation code.
Before, the space stations and the location refactoring ships could only fly to planets and would directly land on them. Now we have way more possibilities: ships can be sent into planets' orbits, they can end up in orbits around the sun and now space stations are valid flight destinations as well. Since space stations can be orbiting the central star or a planet, navigation got more complicated, at least to implement, not for the players.
I wrote a lot of test cases to prevent regression errors in the future and they are all green at the moment, but I still have to implement a few things in the client to see if the visualization part works as well.
Martin
This week, I kind of got involved in another project: My first child was born! So please excuse my de facto absence for a couple of weeks until I have figured out how to do the whole work-life-balance-with-a-baby thing. :-)
Julian (Mjeno)
This has been a rather exciting week for me. I'm done stalking people now, having amassed a sizeable collection of press and other contacts for my PR offensive later this year. I finally got back to things more directly affecting the game, the company, and the present. We are currently working with a freelance game designer who helps us with things like progression systems and balancing. Right now, we're discussing what an average player journey could look like, i.e. in which order they get to know the game's mechanics, how long and how frequent their play sessions will be and ultimately what keeps their interest depending on the player type they represent.
Game design aside, I've been busy rewriting descriptive texts for our homepages, social media channels, press kit, database entries and wherever else you can currently find the game online. Both the game's site and our company page are in for an overhaul, new company logo and claim included. Some of our current material is outdated, and we're slowly getting ready for the next test run, which will be advertised to more players than the ones we held so far. The overhaul has been in progress for a while, but an end is in sight now. Baby steps – but steps nonetheless!
As always: we'd love to hear what you think: join us on the forums!
Happy trading!