Science of the Spheres - development

[Mr Shifty]

Oh hey, a sticky! Pleasant surprise to come back to after a power outage.

Will be making a video of the current state of the gameplay sometime soon.

For now, here's the unfurnished and non-lightmapped interior shell:

http://i.imgur.com/MwSqeNl.jpg

Just checked out the prototype yesterday, and had a blast scooting around those pin-cushioned bodies. I really like the sci-fi concept of fixed bodies with gravitation; for some reason it reminds me of Stephen Baxter's book Raft which takes place in a universe where the gravitation constant is a billion times larger than ours, which results in solar life-cycles measured in Earth years, tiny planets swarming around in micro-galaxies, orbital platforms built out of tin and wood, lowering tethers down into the gravity well to mine materials, etc. I am super excited to watch this game develop.

[NovaSilisko]

Just checked out the prototype yesterday, and had a blast scooting around those pin-cushioned bodies. I really like the sci-fi concept of fixed bodies with gravitation; for some reason it reminds me of Stephen Baxter's book Raft which takes place in a universe where the gravitation constant is a billion times larger than ours, which results in solar life-cycles measured in Earth years, tiny planets swarming around in micro-galaxies, orbital platforms built out of tin and wood, lowering tethers down into the gravity well to mine materials, etc. I am super excited to watch this game develop.

...

I need to read that damn book.

[NovaSilisko]

[Special Agent Sigvan]

Ermahgerd...

ERMAHGERD.

ERRRRRMMMMAAAHHHGGGEEEERRRRDDDD...

Wait...

OH GOD I KNOW HOW THIS ENDS...

All jokes aside, it's looking good

I'll buy this and I don't even like Exploration games!

[NovaSilisko]

Flew 400km away from the central star. Floating point issues are fun.

Note though that this is only the visual part of the ship. The physics are double precision and will be accurate over several billion kilometers of travel (the wobbling of the ship is me being bad a flying). To compensate for this, the visual counterparts to the physics objects will be offset so that the camera is always near the center of the world, while the physics continue to operate on their own coordinate system, in precise beauty.

[Special Agent Sigvan]

Oh boy the Kraken's here too.

[SpaceXray]

I really liked the prototype. I managed to land on some plNets. Though I crashed into the strange planet with a huge gas atmosphere, a tiny metallic but of land and an incredible gravitational pull which the probes engines cannot overcome.

[NovaSilisko]

Writing what will hopefully become the final system generator. Does all of the things the debug one did but more flexibly, takes input from a given star from a generated galaxy. Also wrote a point mesh generator for the galaxy, which as the name implies renders single-pixel points:

It needs a fancier shader, though, using the z-buffer to determine brightness, as well as making them more than just a single colored pixel.

[Kinglet]

The game is really taking shape now. Now we only need the control room, construction and lots of fancy graphics stuff. And creatures. Don't forget the creatures.

[NovaSilisko]

The game is really taking shape now. Now we only need the control room, construction and lots of fancy graphics stuff. And creatures. Don't forget the creatures.

[spaceman1999]

Oh boy the Kraken's here too.

All HAIL THE KRAKEN!!!

[Vaporo]

It appears that the Kraken has managed to cross the dimensional barriers between Unity games. Soon it will learn to penetrate other game engines, and then all physics-related programs, then the entirety of the internet, and then reality.

Nova, you must crush the invasion NOW before it is too late.

[NovaSilisko]

Edited July 11, 2014 by NovaSilisko

[Space_Kraken]

It appears that the Kraken has managed to cross the dimensional barriers between Unity games. Soon it will learn to penetrate other game engines, and then all physics-related programs, then the entirety of the internet, and then reality.

Nova, you must crush the invasion NOW before it is too late.

<------- This

[The Destroyer]

http://i.imgur.com/wP1NyDS.png

My god, its full of rocks!

[Joey_Penguin]

Is that some kind of bug, or are sardine systems a feature?

Also, are you open to ideas for creatures? Because I have an idea for a sarlacc-like monster that can whip your probe off course if you get too close.

[Vaporo]

I think that you mentioned that there would be about thirty creatures in total in the stock game. Since the player will likely be encountering the same creatures on multiple planets, what if there was a system in place that would cause species to be transferred between planets, which would explain the replicated species?

[Joey_Penguin]

Perhaps they could survive the vaccuum of space just long enough to land on another planet? It's a longshot, of course, but it'd just take one or two to seed a planet.

[NovaSilisko]

I think that you mentioned that there would be about thirty creatures in total in the stock game. Since the player will likely be encountering the same creatures on multiple planets, what if there was a system in place that would cause species to be transferred between planets, which would explain the replicated species?

I've got a thought for how to explain it. Some creatures also will indeed have methods of propagation through space.

[Whirligig Girl]

Oh boy the Kraken's here too.

I proved this a couple pages back in the demo.

[Whirligig Girl]

Flew 400km away from the central star. Floating point issues are fun.

http://i.imgur.com/C7sa9th.gif

Note though that this is only the visual part of the ship. The physics are double precision and will be accurate over several billion kilometers of travel (the wobbling of the ship is me being bad a flying). To compensate for this, the visual counterparts to the physics objects will be offset so that the camera is always near the center of the world, while the physics continue to operate on their own coordinate system, in precise beauty.

Might have to implement the "Planet Express Drive". (Move the universe not the ship. It's what KSP uses to handle this problem as I'm sure you know.)

http://i.imgur.com/wP1NyDS.png

They look like crappy Minmuses.

Edited July 12, 2014 by shadowsutekh
No double posts

[NovaSilisko]

Might have to implement the "Planet Express Drive". (Move the universe not the ship. It's what KSP uses to handle this problem as I'm sure you know.)

That's what's already being done. It works a bit differently in our case though. The physics we have are operating off of double precision, millimeter accuracy out to several billion kilometers - but the visual aspects of the scene are not. Thus, the visual parts of the world have to be offset accordingly, while the physics continue to exist in their own frame. It confuses the hell out of me though, which is why I'm not the one setting it up.

[NovaSilisko]

Menu mockup + animation

[Space_Kraken]

Looks very cool. Much better than the current one. (Non-existent)

[NovaSilisko]

Debating whether the final game ought to have a "Planetarium" mode that operates like space engine, where you can just fly around a galaxy and inspect things. It would be fun, but I also feel like it might spoil a lot of the game if you can immediately fly around and discover a bunch of things ahead of time. Part of the challenge of the game will be having absolutely no idea what to expect when you first go through the gate. With the planetarium, you could go inspect the area ahead of time to learn all of its secrets.