Science of the Spheres - development

[NovaSilisko]

Perhaps this is confirmation that having the sots thread stickied makes people automatically ignore it :v

[Vanamonde]

Merged into the existing thread for this game, with some off-topic posts removed. Please confine discussion to the subject of the thread.

Edited July 16, 2014 by Vanamonde

[andrew123]

Merged into the existing thread for this game, with some off-topic posts removed. Please confine discussion to the subject of the thread.

Sorry about that.

Anyways, I think that Nova made an okay game.

[NovaSilisko]

Constructing a new debug spacecraft that's better than a cube with some solar panels. Using whatever models I have lying around to get a general idea for the feel of the final vehicles...

[Duke23]

Interesting. I just gave it a try and managed to land on gently crash into this thingy. From your description it sounds like a pretty cool concept, I'm curious to see where you go with it I'll have to play around some more later and figure out why the camera was constantly spinning on external view. It's probably not anything you did, my computer has randomly done that in KSP too.

[Vaporo]

Interesting. I just gave it a try and managed to land on gently crash into this thingy. From your description it sounds like a pretty cool concept, I'm curious to see where you go with it I'll have to play around some more later and figure out why the camera was constantly spinning on external view. It's probably not anything you did, my computer has randomly done that in KSP too.

Do you have a joystick installed? I disconnected mine and the camera stopped spinning. It might also be a random glitch, though, so try restarting your computer.

[NovaSilisko]

Yeah, it's an annoying problem with unity's input system... unsure how it can be fixed, though for the moment there's only keyboard support in the main game, so it's not worth worrying about just yet.

Forgot to show a picture of the mostly completed lander. I will disappointed if the construction system can't be made flexible enough to build things like this in the end

Edited July 16, 2014 by NovaSilisko

[Whirligig Girl]

So i played this game called "Science Of The Spheres", i forgot the name, i think it was made by some guy called Nova.

Anyway, you're piloting a little lander-probe through another universe. This universe gets its name from it's own incredible smallness. (The entire universe is just 0.1 light-years across, and the planets are 150 meters!)

Anyway, i took some screenshots.

http://imgur.com/a/yMzdE#0

But yeah, It's in alpha.

Nova is NovaSilisko, former dev of Kerbal.

- - - Updated - - -

Constructing a new debug spacecraft that's better than a cube with some solar panels. Using whatever models I have lying around to get a general idea for the feel of the final vehicles...

Nice! Is that a mini-NERVA?

[NovaSilisko]

Nope. It's a clone of the Altair upper stage motor, used on Vanguard and Scout rockets.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Altair_X248-A2_rocket_stage.jpg

[Whirligig Girl]

Nope. It's a clone of the Altair upper stage motor, used on Vanguard and Scout rockets.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Altair_X248-A2_rocket_stage.jpg

Even cooler!

[NovaSilisko]

Updated prototype lander, sans booster

Booster flying distantly past a star system after jettison

[NovaSilisko]

Physics are being rude

Or I could call it quicksand and say it's a feature... hmm

Edited July 17, 2014 by NovaSilisko

[Error404brain]

So, uh, where can we play to it ?

[Vaporo]

Booster flying distantly past a star system after jettison

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

I like the planet with the red atmosphere. It seems ominous.

[MrHappyFace]

Physics are being rude

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

Or I could call it quicksand and say it's a feature... hmm

Nice RTG... I've also noticed a distinct lack of stars

Edit: I meant as in the skybox has no stars

Edited July 17, 2014 by MrHappyFace
Clarity

[NovaSilisko]

Nice RTG... I've also noticed a distinct lack of stars

Edit: I meant as in the skybox has no stars

No stars visible as it's just in the editor view. The ship cameras have stars. Need to write a system eventually to dim the stars as a planet or nearby star is in view.

[NovaSilisko]

[Joey_Penguin]

W... What happened to the terrain gen?

[NovaSilisko]

W... What happened to the terrain gen?

It's just a smooth patch of the planet. There are a few divots and canyon things outside the view of the camera. The big planet in the distance is covered in ocean.

PS:

PPS:

Edited July 20, 2014 by NovaSilisko

[Whirligig Girl]

Lava tides/waves don't really make sense in a universe where gravity is static.

[NovaSilisko]

Lava tides/waves don't really make sense in a universe where gravity is static.

There would be tides, just unchanging ones. The sphere of liquid would be slightly distended. Waves don't have to be caused by tidal forces though here, there would be a lot of convection going on, as well as perhaps some manner of direct effect from the proximity of the sun. Lava planets will need boiling atmospheres too from outgassing of the melted rocks.

edit: I do agree the waves are too vigorous, I've greatly reduced the deformation and made it a lot more subtle now. Looks better.

Edited July 21, 2014 by NovaSilisko

[NovaSilisko]

Stole Chad away from his work on Universe Sandbox for a bit and he helped me improve the lava shader a bit... result:

(greatly sped up for ease of viewing)

[Sylandro]

Nova, could you help me with the development with Scratch Space Program?

[Whirligig Girl]

Nova, could you help me with the development with Scratch Space Program?

Nova works with Unity, not baby's toys.

[NovaSilisko]

New blog post, general progress update http://www.scienceofthespheres.com/july-24-progress-update-screenshot-dump/