On Our Way to Thanksgiving Update

Hey everyone it's update time. The work we did this week was not terribly exciting. It was primarily rewriting code for stellar system spawn and working on some properties that celestial bodies like planets and moons will have. We had our code set up for testing how stellar systems will function adn what value they will generate - now we need to migrate that code from a testing environment to actually generation in game, while also adding features like proper saving and loading of these systems. While this is very important work, it's not particularly exciting to write about in a weekly update. So, like last week, I asked dev Bryon to write about a future Glorious Dawn system he's looking forward to developing. He chose to write about ship design and editing.

Vehicle Editor

For Glorious Dawn, it will always be our intent to give the player as much control and agency as possible. This will extend to every aspect of the game's mechanics and gameplay. Handing certain mechanics off to an AI assistant to handle those concerns for you while you focus on more pressing matters. Another example of allowing the player to doctor their experience will be the vessel and vehicle editor.

I imagine it currently as somewhat reminisicent of the editor in Kerbal Space Program and Spore, both of which are fantastic games and have been a huge inspiration for this title. The player will have access to a variety of pieces and equipment that they will need to slap together to form the weapons and implements of their civilization. The catalog of pieces and equipment will grow as the player researches and develops them, and as AI agents create their own based on their needs or whims.

When first entering the editor, you will likely be prompted as to type of vehicle you are designing. This will determine the environment in which you construct the design (purely for aesthetic purposes), vehicles would be resting on the ground in a workshop, whereas a starship might be floating in a spaceyard.

The first piece that will need to be placed down is the command center, cockpit, or flight seat for the vessel or vehicle. To place an object down in the scene, as with Spore or KSP you will click and drag the item you want for a vertical shelf of options on the side of your screen, releasing the mouse button in the enivronment, thus placing it down. After placing this you can begin to attach whatever and however many weapons, engines, armor plating, recreational hull sections, storage space, fuel storage, FTL drives, that you want. It will all be up to you and your design.

The player will have to take into consideration a large variety of requirements and criteria when designing a starship for their military or otherwise. Fuel storage, fuel use, food supplies, engine output, total hull weight, energy output, energy use, etc. etc. You get the picture. Vessel design will not be boring and simplistic, limited only to what you name the ship and what weapons you slap on to pre-designated hard points. You will have complete control over your civilization's armaments.

As with every other mechanic in Glorious Dawn this editor can be ignored and automated. If you choose this option the game will assign the design of your vessels over to AI agents who then will be contracted to create designs as you request them.

Okay that's what I had for this week. See you next Sunday!