AstraX 0.4: Target Update

Buckle up! New AstraX Update just dropped! You can download it below.

Next to the usual UI/UX improvements, it features multiple overhauls of core systems, such as the target acquisition system, star map, how spacecraft and satellites work, how a single game and world is created. These changes will allow me to keep building and extending AstraX as I intended.

What you will notice right away are more complex UI flows to create a new game and options to customize your experience, with a lot of potential for expansion.

Because this is a targeting update, so the way targets in the world are discovered received a major overhaul. Any game object can be registered by ship sensors now and therefore shows up on the map on discovery. This paves the way for adding new galactic phenomena such as black holes, anomalies and alien NPC spacecraft. Because of how drastic that change was, it took me a few months to complete.

Star system generation also received a few internal improvements. In the future, additional logic will determine habitability of planets and also affect generation. Later, you can turn up the frequency of habitable planets in the game settings as well. The goal is to simulate the Habitable Zone, as depicted in the following graph.

You can now pick from different spacecraft! They are visual only for now, but soon each module you see below will have a function. One day, you will be able to construct your own. At some point in the future, they will fail and kill your crew if you do not maintain them.

Spacecraft and space stations are now considered one and the same type. They possess multiple functional systems or modules that define what you can do with them (e.g. a station doesn't have a propulsion system). This modularity will be useful for implementing the construction editor and system failures (a survival mechanic) at a later point. Currently, you can see some of the modules in the spacecraft graphics you can pick in the new game flow, but so far this is graphical only. The logical element of that will follow soon!

The UI received a better overall style and appearance. It looks clean and sleek, although I might need to give it a bit more character.

The next big updates on the horizon are spacecraft modules that can fail, better resource collection, a better Galaxy Map and more content for to the procedural generator. Further, I am a step closer to implementing a spaceship construction editor and also saving your game (I have a good strategy in mind, but I  need to find time to implement it).