Progress update - 5/11/18
Hi all - just a quick progress update to let you know what's going on with the game. No screenshots or videos this time. I'll be sure to record a video and post it as soon as I get a little farther in this update.
Many of you who have been following the game know by now how I work - content and feature updates and then bug fixes and stability.
I'm currently working on the next content update - opening the FTL gates. I don't have an ETA, though I am finally focusing 100% of my time/effort on getting everything ready.
This means I'm wrapping up a lot of content for the procedural mission system and I'm about 3/4 of the way through the mission sets - so that's great news. Following that I'll be moving them into the game and propagating them into the mission system and out into the universe.
All the various stations (agricultural, industrial, trade, outpost, shipyard, refinery, solar collector and research) have all been modeled and waiting for me for months. I finally have them all rigged and ready to go.
For the FTL update, I'l be wrapping up the Crew Manager which will allow you to recruit up to 20 mercs that you can bring with you on missions. Part of this is making sure new crew members are available for you on stations as you explore the universe. I'll be adding a number of unique crew members that you can find that have back stories and missions, though that won't come until Alpha. I have other plans for crew members and I'll explain more about that once I get a bit further along in the design.
Another part of this work will be implementing commodities trading and the ability for you to mark trade routes on the map and track commodity prices across the universe using Data Buoy's to collect information on price changes in systems you've visited. Right now ore/minerals are in the game and can be mined, bought and sold. I'll also be adding a whole slew of other commodities and goods that can be traded. After all, you are going to need something to fill your cargo holds with besides raw ore and loot. I'll also be working on some QoL features everyone has been asking for related to marking junk items for bulk sale and sorting.
I'm also going to bring the mission system to the next phase so you can mark missions and select them in the log. Selected missions will be placed on the screen in a mission tracker and you will be able to set missions as your destination. Selected missions will be highlighted on the star map and provide visual queues on the screen so you can easily navigate to systems on the FTL map (something you haven't seen in the game yet) and in systems to the actual planet or station where they are located.
In addition to the above, I'll be working on some of the items in the "What's next" pinned post - updated character animations, repair system, new tutorials for space combat and mining and more. I may roll out a few features from this list before the FTL Content update as they become ready.
So, the goal of the next major content update is to get everyone out into the sandbox so you can explore, trade and take missions.
That's all I have for this update. Hope you all have a great weekend and thanks again for supporting Stellar Tactics!
