Author: Thilaksha Ekanayake

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.

Its been some time since last update but that is not because of a lack of progress, quite the contrary. This update is very big so I will split it into 3-4 mini updates/dev logs a few days apart.

The first important news to get out of the way is that Star Zeal is no longer attempting to get funded on indiegogo and will release on early access. I decided to do this rather than spending all that time and effort setting up crowd funding which requires its own art, marketing and so on.

If you still want to support the development of Star Zeal, you can do so via the funding page here on this website. Support & Funding
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The other important part/change to gameplay is that the RPG aspect has been made more prominent and the “god” view of typical 4x games has been removed. Essentially the game was split into two parts then joined again. The old 4x style play area now functions as a map only and then in the other is full area as seen bellow is where your character and ships are. This is kind of like an RTS view. However your empire is still controlled through the map including other fleets, colonies etc.

There has also been a lot of other progress on basically all the core features. However as mentioned above I will only make a summary here and dev log them separately with much more details in coming days.
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Summary of progress and changes:

Changes to rpg/character and fleet action.

-Your empire/faction is controlled less directly, but your lead fleet more directly.
-Each ship now has a captain including player him/herself and they can be promoted to commanders of fleets.
-Leaders/characters are more directly involved, and affect not only fleets and colonies but their own ships they captain.
-Ships within fleets are unique and not mere clones of a design. They have their own cargo bays for many different kinds of items, salvaged components, crew level etc.
-Empires/Factions is more geared towards tall style than wide. Thus planets have become much more important. Colonizing is rarer and more difficult but produce much more in return if you get it right.
-Inside warp/FTL travel is now visible/playable.

Essentially what has happened is that I kept to the original goal since this is a rpg 4x hybrid, not merely a 4x with rpg elements. This way its more of an even mix of the two genres. Another good aspect is that it works better with the large procedural galaxy, emphasizing exploration/discovery more.

This is the last major change in development, I am now satisfied with the direction. It was a much harder struggle to achieve a good fit for the hybrid rpg and 4x than I had  anticipated, however it seems to have worked out in the end.

While inside warp all the normal functions are still there. So you can deal with your empire/civilization business while going to your destination.

More procedural galaxy progress:

-Procedural galaxy code is now mostly complete, sectors, clusters of stars, solar systems and planets are now procedural along with that being plugged into a procedural planet texture generator. You can view all the objects from galaxy level to planets on the map and get up close and personal with your leaders fleet.

There many different kinds of planets now, from water worlds to lava planets like below. They are also generated with realistic positions from the main star. For example lava/volcanic planets can only appear near the star and more commonly in young systems in the process of forming.

-The stars and planets are now generated based on more realistic probabilities(not entirely) . You can even encounter neutron stars and black holes which will be a big deal for your civilization when you do find them.

Each cluster of stars now has the possibility of generating many different kinds of stars, some very full of planets and moons and others can be near empty. Some don’t even have planets.

Other major progress on all aspects of the game. 

-The UI got a major update and change. The “god” view map is gone and replaced by more abstracted like UI map.
-Research functions on a capacity basis, so you have to build more capacity in order to hold more research points at a time.
-There are multiple types of research eg: Military, Engineering or Space Time(fancy stuff FTL related stuff), along with a generalized main research.
-Planets and Solar Systems require charting to see whats there. This also provides research points.
-Sensors tech for seeing hidden objects are part of the exploration and military aspect of the game. An entire faction can be hidden to you by this mechanic.

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In conclusion for this dev log: There has been a lot of progress so stay tuned for more as early access looms in the horizon.

If you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask right here in the comments.

Star Zeal development has been quiet for over a month but for a good reason.
There was a lot of coding done on more core features and a few changes.

1: Major change in colony management and resources.

Colony management is now dealt with by points allocation between four priorities, Civil, Industry, Science and Military. You no longer have to worry about constructing specific buildings to mine specific minerals and other similarly mundane tasks. However, the player can still construct special buildings like wonders and other unique objects.

With this change the player essentially sets the direction of the colony depending on what is wanted/needed. You can create different types of colonies based on priority points set and the capability of the planet, after which the colony will gradually develop accordingly. For example, you could create a pure military, or a mining colony that provides resources and production or military support to linked colonies via trade lanes.

Different planets have different capacities or capability that determine the maximum amount of priority points you can set. Many planets are desolate and have little going on but it might be useful to create a small colony on them to get a bit more access to resources. You could even set lower priority points than the max of a planet so it won’t grow larger than you need.

These changes to colony management are meant to allow for more automation and less micromanagment and to make room for manufacturing of certain resources. Previously  there was too much the player had to worry about on the colony level which took away from other parts of the game.

Another change are to resources, as they now function on the basis of availability instead of raw counts, IE the number in mega tonnes. You don’t have to worry about specific amounts of resources, only that they are available to whatever needs it. Trade lanes can provide resources for places that don’t produced or have them on the planet on their own. The player still has control over what resources are available, particularly those which are manufactured as they require certain levels of the colony like production to be reached. Other resources that are special and very rare will have limited counts like void crystals.

The resources themselves have also changed somewhat. Basic minerals are now condensed into metals and gases making way for more important resources like Zorium and Tritanium.

Finally the colony governor dialogue system was added, the governor basically tells you whats going on in the colony and gives you some suggestions or opinions with a bit of personality added to it. Do note the current dialogue in the screenshot above is very early. Proper dialogue will come after more of the lore per faction is fleshed out.

2: Progress AI factions, particularly procedural pirate and criminal factions.

Procedural factions and random fleets that are based off main factions now show up depending on some global situations, like political upheaval, rebellions and particularly factions vulnerable to crime, aka pirates. Also they can be discovered randomly while exploring. These factions are generally not as powerful as main factions and don’t expand much but they can still grow and colonize new systems and given enough time, can become a serious threat… or good ally.

3: Small graphical improvements.

This dev cycle had little art but there were some improvements in the UI and some general progress on other art like planet surfaces and so on.

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Remember, if you want to support development check the funding page or use the direct paypal widget on the right hand side of the website.

This week I have been working on the procedural part of the galaxy IE: The play area of the game.

At the highest level is the galaxy view, then below that are the sectors within a quadrant, then clusters within a sector, then solar systems within the cluster. I had to be quite careful while working on the procedural galaxy. In order to depict massive distances there had to be a lot of trickery and illusion, while taking a lot of care to keep memory usage in check. Efficiency is very important while working on procedural generation, as it can especially become an issue in the late game in space 4xs.

As of now the core system is complete for generation and saving/loading of clusters of stars, sectors and what is inside them along with colonies, fleets and so on. There are also procedural factions based off some of the pre-made ones like the many pirate factions based off the Solarians.

In Star Zeal 4x, exploration is important and the feeling of massive scale and mystery is conveyed through this procedural system with huge distances for fleets to cover, get lost in etc. Who knows what you will find out there, or who/what you will meet. This also allows for escaping enemies even if all your colonies are lost.

Essentially there was a lot of toiling with the code and bug fixing this past week.

This is the first official dev log for Star Zeal!

After about one year worth of progress, and not giving up I was satisfied enough to create a website for the game.

Solarian Heavy Corvettes and new Milky Way background wip.

A military transport inside a gas cloud of the Orion Nebula.

New planet surface graphics style wip, much smoother for fps and gameplay too.

Some toony explosion fx wip and more work done on ship death.

The AI finally shows up to fight 😛

So, for the first dev log, there are some major changes and many minor ones to mention.

1: New cartoon style shaders for ships and other 3d objects. Also more art progress in ship details, backgrounds etc…

2: Replacement of the 3d planet surface with a 2d one. This was done because the 3d one was much too clunky and sapped the FPS a bit too much. Also the new one has more character and fits better with the rest of the art.

3: On the coding side there has been heavy work on the AI! Now the AI factions auto generate themselves with the procedural tech/research. The ships warping in here are from a generated pirate faction using the human designs of ships.

Don’t forget to check the Media(older builds) in order see much more of the progress so far.
–Media(Older builds)