STAR ZEAL 4X

Finally its time to talk about my progress on the procedural research and tech tree. This is an important part of the game I have mentioned before and wanted to show off a while ago, but I couldn’t get enough done to do a dev log justice until now. I underestimated the amount of coding required to flesh it out. Also the related UI really needed some extra work(as usual). Anyway, the time has come and here it is, so lets get on with it.

The research window does not look like anything special at first glance but it does not work how a typical 4x tech tree does. I guess you could say its more rpg than 4x in that department. Also the simplistic look is so it is both easier for players to use and for me to work on it over time. I doubt a fancy procedural tech tree that can keep going on technically forever is going to end up being good for ones sanity. Also this way you don’t have to scroll around the tech tree window too much to find the techs/research you want.

As of now I have implemented a few different types of main research categories: Basic, Military, Civil and Spacetime (working names). Each of these categories have their own points that you accumulate through doing things like exploring, combat, building labs on ships and colonies etc… There will be many ways to get these points, difficulty increasing for the “higher tech” types. I am also planning to implement at least one more techs/research type as biological science to go with medical related techs. Though it might be best to leave that for updates during early access.

There are two main types of research paths(different to the categories mentioned above), one which is a linear global improvement for some specific technology and the other which provides new components. Linear types have a global effect while the other provides new tech components which can be more varied. On occasion, a newer tech can be bigger, require a harder to find resource and or consume more power than expected than the previous one. Thus the older tech could be more suitable for your current purposes. These paths are where the bulk of the procedural research is and there will be a lot of paths to choose from. You won’t know the exact details of the attainable tech as you progress through these paths up until the particular research is complete. However it won’t be a blind dice roll either as you will be influencing the probabilities of what you will receive with your actions to high degree.

I have also made it so researching requires some logistics and pre-planning, which works in tandem with the resource system mentioned in dev log 7. You will require a place to research, either on a ship or colony and some scientist population including a lead scientist. Labs are required only for ships in order to do research. Colonies on the other hand only needs the player to allocate science capability points. The next achievable technology requirements are also procedural in most cases, thus some techs might need a specific resource to research(thats what that empty square in the branch boxes in the tech tree screenshot above are for). Though I intend these extra requirements only for later tier and rare techs. Another element I plan on implementing is the possibility of mistakes and unintended consequences during research, adding an extra risk. I will leave it until more testing is done though, I don’t want to go too far and end up making research frustrating.

So thats that for dev log 8. There are quite bit more details involved in the technology generation but I don’t want to give too much away, I might spoil it. Overall my real aim with the procedural research and tech is to allow the game to create some interesting situations on its own. Lets just say it could get a bit “fun” in the late game, maybe a solar system or two could be blown to smithereens or a whole civilization wiped out by a disease. Nothing too dramatic.

Thanks for reading, if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask below or in the website pages/links below.
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If you want to support Star Zeal, check out the support page here https://starzeal.wordpress.com/funding/ or use the paypal link to the right of this page.

You can also follow Star Zeal 4x on:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKCFIhlv7VuJpNfMKxeE7qw

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Akuu_D_E

IndieDB: https://www.indiedb.com/games/star-zeal-4x

First of all, happy new year!

Quick bit of info on some changes to the dev log format(excluding this one). Upcoming dev logs will focus on one main aspect at a time. Thus each log will be shorter, more precise and not separated into multiple parts. However there will be more of them.

Now let me explain why dev log 7 took so long, unlike how I planned it out. It was initially meant to be dev log 6 part 2, but things did not go so smooth and it got delayed. Perhaps my explanation will help other devs who read this in regard to potential pitfalls with their own games, especially if they are a one man project.

The main reason it took so much time is due to some underestimation on my part of my own game and what I have already coded in. Due to the procedural nature of Star Zeal, everything important needs to be connected to and accounted for by one another, often in unexpected ways. For example, a mundane issue like a bugged sensor on a colony resulted in me having to fill in many holes in codes related to the procedural tech generators, buildings, and even colony governors. The more I added the more the other scripts already there had to be added onto, to account for the new code and themselves. It is a good thing I preplanned and left open the initial code to accommodate these things, otherwise it would been a real mess.

It was a long slog and I had to complete more of the game than I expected at unexpected times. However, they were overcome eventually, to my relief. Now on to the actual dev log.

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Colony resources and production:

What you see in the gameplay video above is one of the main loops of Star Zeal where you craft space ships for your fleets. The player gathers and manufactures required resources then sends them to the constructor(s) which will build what you want over time. Essentially its about setting a production chain in order to get what you want. In this specific case a colony is producing and moving manufactured resources for a ship being built in a station orbiting it. Note that ships can be constructed on planet surfaces too, if a colony has a shipyard. Also, you can have multiple shipyards on a single ship or colony increasing the amount of ships built at a time.

Resources used to construct things in Star Zeal are split into two types, excluding the main “credit income”. First comes raw minerals and second are manufactured resources. Minerals are naturally found resources, usually ores like metals or uranium and natural gases. Manufactured resources are those that are made from these raw minerals. As an example uranium is required for the production of plutonium, which is then required by ships with components that need plutonium to be constructed, such as reactors. Also a quick note that ship components can vary quite wildly in their resource requirements since they are procedurally generated as tech(I will get into the real meat of that in an forthcoming dev log).

Manufacturing in the current build occurs on colonies with enough industrial capacity and available minerals to produce said manufactured resource. Industry on a colony depends on the capability points of the planet used for it, which takes time to be applied/changed. Also, resources required for construction are needed on location, they are not abstracted, which is why the construction process uses the freight system(mentioned in previous logs) to transfer said resources. Colonies also give production bonuses, mostly in the form of decreasing the time it takes build things. Coding this section/loop was what really delayed the log, it was a pain in the neck, especially the freight transferring code, but worth it in the end.

Finally, another important feature is that resources are not only for producing things, but also for supplying your fleets. Each ship will have its own crew(also considered a resource) and resupply requirements IE: resources for fuel. I will cover this in more detail in a forthcoming log. Its functioning well enough, but needs a bit more work before I show it in action.

So, that’s that for dev log 7. It caused some hair pulling and angst, however I achieved most of what I wanted and Star Zeal 4x came out of it unscathed, thank the indie dev gods. Updates and logs should come more frequently now that these core game mechanics are truly functional. I’d also like to thank those who supported the development so far in any way. Much appreciated.

If you want to support Star Zeal, check out the support page here https://atomic-temporary-150259190.wpcomstaging.com/funding/ or use the paypal link to the right of this page.

You can also follow Star Zeal 4x on:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/akuu_d_e?lang=en

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKCFIhlv7VuJpNfMKxeE7qw

IndieDB: https://www.indiedb.com/games/star-zeal-4x

This time its a general dev log.

Let us start with the main attraction, actual gameplay footage.

What the video shows off is essentially the completion of basic fleet control and main view levels(full, tactical and map). Much of the functionality seen in the video was implemented earlier on in development, about 1.5 – 2 years ago. However the big difference now is that these core elements are connected/go through the more complicated parts of game like the various procedural generators including the research, design, colonies etc… The whole shebang.

Even though most of the work went into completing older parts of Star Zeal, there have been some important additions. One of these is fuel, you can see this via the UI in the video when I give the orders for the fleet to warp. I put some warnings in there too, so you don’t unknowingly send your fleets somewhere and they end up  getting stuck due to fuel running out.

I will be honest, getting it to this stage was quite a bit more grinding than I thought it would be, but I think it will be worth it. Its finally a game one can play like a game, if you know what I mean.
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Areas:

The player can now explore(and exploit) procedurally generated areas like debris fields, gas clouds and other types of phenomena outside of solar systems. Debris fields for example can contain resources, salvageable ships and other peculiarities. They are also in line with the factions and or history of the sector or cluster. You can see the fleet entering into an area, a debris field in this case, near the end of the video.

Graphical:
Atmospheric scattering has been added which is used to show dust, radiation and other environmental effects. These will also affect sensors and ship integrity, so technically its more than mere eye candy.

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Characters/leaders

Leaders now have procedural history specific to them which will accumulate as each character experiences in an important event like a large battle, special missions, promotion or when he/she is killed/lost. This happens for the AI’s characters too. Also dead leaders still keep their history and “ID” in the factions, so they will have a memorial of sorts.

The leader window as seen above(WIP) will allow easy control of active and available leaders. Also note that leaders who are available to be hired/recruited actually exist on a location accessible to your faction. Usually these leaders will show up on colonies and space stations and sometimes in more odd places. Another important point is they can be killed if the colony or object they are on is destroyed, it doesn’t matter if you recruited them or not. I will get into more detail about the leaders/characters in the next log.

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So that ends dev log 6 part 1. Part 2 will continue with more progress on leaders and finishing up even more things in general. There should also be more ingame videos coming. If you have any comments don’t hesitate to ask in the comments section below.

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Quick reminder that if you want to support the development of Star Zeal you can check the funding page here: https://atomic-temporary-150259190.wpcomstaging.com/funding/ or use the papal widget to the right of the page. Thank you.

Part 2 of dev log 5 will deal with progress on ships and their mechanics, which is probably the biggest attraction for most players. However before I delve into it I want to mention for those that might not know that Star Zeal has full 3d, real time ship movement and engagements. This full 3d view is always active, it is basically the view of whichever fleet you are currently in direct command of via a commander character/leader. It is where most of the ship screenshots come from.

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Basic ship combat mechanics:

Ships have multiple attack modes: Currently implemented are boom & zoom and chase & strafe.  There will be more options added but they will come when some more of the weapons coding is completed and I test out the combat more. Each ship in a fleet can be given their own stance which controls the style of combat, however each design now comes with a default (recommended) setting which will be used when the stance is on “Fire at will”.

Ships have also received certain interchangeable external parts which add weapon slots, cargo space and other enhancements (this can be seen in the header image). The types of parts you can interchange depends on the faction, ship hull and class, for example corvettes get corvette external parts. These parts can also be destroyed from normal hit detection, unlike internal components. With this in mind I separated the main engines into an external part instead of being an internal component, so it can get hit directly by incoming projectiles instead of using RNG.  Furthermore engine components automatically multiply in number and cost depending on the design of the hull. So if the hull has 4 engine slots when you install the engine component it gets multiplied by 4. This corresponds to the amount of engines visible in the 3d model in most cases.

As for the actual ship classes, weapons/components and lore behind them, I will show that off in another log. It needs a little more tlc all around before hand and a whole log part to fit in.

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Tactical map:

The tactical map existed for quite some time but only now have I had enough progress on related aspects like ships/fleet combat to really begin filling it out. It is essentially the map of the current “full zone”, the place your fleet under direct command is in. Most of the recent work went into the world space UI, to represent where ships are and what they are doing. Note that height is represented positive and negative depending on whether you are under the alignment plain or above. (Alignment plain is the grid).

Another small change is that ship classes are now represented by symbols, eg: Corvettes are triangles. I did this so its easier to see the types of ships easier both in the tactical and other places. It also saves me a ton of time on 2d icon art.

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Ship graphics:

Textures and shaders have been adjusted on ships and things like the world reflections were made somewhat better than before. This removed the need to use secondary lights unless there is something actually causing extra lights. Basically, the lighting was made a little more realistic. Also, in case anyone was wondering, the dark lighting is a feature, this is a personal touch I guess. I like the mysterious feeling it gives, its meant to suit the lore I have been developing. Space is a scary and dangerous place after all. I have also added remap colors to ships so you can tell which factions they belong to, even in the full 3d view and it allows for some more eye candy variation.

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In the previous log I mentioned that in this one I would talk about progress on the rpg element along with ships, however I realized that would get too long so it will be in the next log. These logs are starting to get a lot bigger than I assume they will be. I will probably have to split some upcoming parts into smaller ones. I guess its a good sign for the depth being gradually built into the game.

So with that I conclude dev log 5 part 2.  Let me know what you think or if you have any questions please leave a comment below. Also if you are interested in supporting Star Zeal, check out the funding page here: https://atomic-temporary-150259190.wpcomstaging.com/funding/ or simply use paypal here:

Belated happy new year!

Its been some time since the last update, so I decided it would be prudent to make a short news article about development progress, and upcoming dev logs.

Since the last dev log a great deal of work has gone into the code. Essentially I have been connecting the main elements of the game together closing out the main gameplay loop, which also turned out to be more complicated than I had assumed. This is not really a bad thing since the higher amount of complexity in the code is due the game having more depth. Most importantly though, Star Zeal development is still hanging in there, important progress has been made.

To show off this work, there will be an upcoming dev log, which is so big that I had to break it up into quite a number of parts. If everything goes accordingly it should be one of the last dev logs before I release into early access.

I will get into more detail for each gameplay element in the upcoming multi part dev log,

Also, in case you are wondering, the header picture is a screen shot from the planet surface view of a colony belonging to a procedural AI faction. Similar to a pirate faction.

Finally, a quick reminder that if you want to support development you can do so via paypal here: https://wordpress.com/view/starzeal4x.com and if you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask in the comments or email me at thilaksha@hotmail.com.