Hello everyone, here are the progress notes of the week 6 of 2022!
This week's progress notes show all the major the features, additions and improvements currently in the works. The features have been roughly divided into categories and in the beginning, we list both new and recently completed items from the past two weeks. We hope that you enjoy these snippets of the Starbase development!
Please note that the "Progress Notes" are different from the Starbase "Patch Notes". Progress Notes are snippets from the development team and what has been worked on during the previous week, and many of the features might not be present in the current or upcoming builds of the Starbase Early Access. Some features, especially in the design portion, can be subject to change as the development continues.
Starbase Progress Notes: Week 6 (2022)
February 7 - 11
Below we have listed the different states, and an explanation of what that state means in terms of development process.
The weeks marked in the "Time in development" column show only the active development weeks during which the feature has been worked on and include all phases of development. The time is rounded up to weeks, so in other words, if one day has been spent on a feature during the week, it still counts. Therefore, please treat the week counter as a rough estimate only.
| Feature | Description | State | Time in development |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capital Ship destination visualization | Visualization to indicate the spot where a fast traveling Capital Ship is about to arrive. This is to alert other players and let them know that they should vacate the area quickly, since staying within it when a ship fast travels there results in death. | ✔️ | 5 weeks |
| Capital Ship creation confirmation | A confirmation pop-up about creating a new Capital Ship when entering an empty Capital Ship Dock. | ✔️ | 1 week |
| Adjustable paint area size for Paint Tool | Allows adjusting the size of the area that gets painted when using the Paint Tool. | ✔️ | 5 weeks |
| Heat sinks | Large devices that can be used to store great amounts of heat produced in a ship with relatively high transfer rates. | ✔️ | 3 weeks |
| Missing UI sounds | Adding UI sounds to spots that have been missing some of them until now, for example the chat window, the quickbar and Ship Designer. | ✔️ | 2 weeks |
| Paint Tool outline highlight | Adding a highlight around all the objects that the Paint Tool's current paint area reaches and which would therefore get painted. | ✔️ | 1 week |
| Paint Tool options | Separate Paint Tool behavior settings under Tool Options. | ✔️ | 1 week |
| Option for ambiance volume | Option for adjusting the volume of ambiance audio. | ✔️ | 1 week |
| Feature | Description | State | Time in development |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reconstruction Machine for stations | A new station version of the Reconstruction Machine. To be able to use it for respawning, you need an Endo Kit, and the machine should be connected to a generator for electricity through a Supply Conduit network. Unlike ship machines, you can be linked to multiple station machines at once. | Art & Programming | 2 weeks |
| Decorative hologram projectors | New hologram projectors with various themes, for example plants, that can be used to decorate your stations and ships. | Art | 2 weeks |
| Salvage Tool | Equippable tool that can turn any object into nuggets of ore, which can then be collected into crates. | Design | 1 week |
| Ship repair time adjustments | Adjusting the time required for a ship to be fixed at the Ship Repair terminal. Missing ship parts increase the repair time, while having replacement parts in your storage cuts it shorter. | Configuration & Programming | 1 week |
| Anti-gravity and Ship Designer areas to Moon City | Adding anti-gravity areas to the ship despawn zones in Moon City, as well as Ship Designer zones and terminals to the workshops that can be found there. | Configuration | 1 week |
| Feature | Description | State | Time in development |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moon Base BM improvements | Improving the Build Mode of moon bases further. For example support for both grid and snapping placement of objects, and polishing the support plinth building logic. | Programming | 3 weeks |
| Minable moon rocks | Rocks found on the moon surface are also mineable by players. | Programming | 2 weeks |
| New mining materials for moons | Moons in the universe will get unique ore distribution profiles and often their own unique raw materials. Often moons will also have their own unique raw materials. The moon belts and the moon ground may have different ores and they pose their own challenges when mining. | Design & Configuration | 29 weeks |
| Moon city apartment rental | Allows renting units from the city towers. Art assets for the first set of modules are finished, and the next step is support for renting and creating apartments inside the towers. | Design | 17 weeks |
| New moon terrains and geometry | New looks from new assets like rocks and from new textures for the moons. Currently working on planet landscape concepts and new rock assets. | Art | 15 weeks |
| Moon terrain generation & customization | Development tools for creating different terrain types to enable a lot more variety to moon terrains. | Programming | 23 weeks |
| Feature | Description | State | Time in development |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capital Ship access page | Access controls for choosing who can access Capital Ships and for example control and build on them. | Programming | 3 weeks |
| Capital Ship flyby audio | Audio system for the sounds of Capital Ships fast traveling. | Programming | 5 weeks |
| Capital Ship Dock orientation visualization | Capital Ship Docks gets an orientation indicator similar to Ship Designer to show where the center of the dock build area is and which direction is front and up. | Programming & QA | 5 weeks |
| Capital Ship expansion minimap | A "minimap" in the UI for Capital Ships in the Build Mode to visualize available build area expansions for the player. | Design | 4 week |
| Capital Ship fast journey start | Players can embark on a fast travel journey quicker, without charging, but this comes with the downside of a slower travel speed. | Design | 4 weeks |
| Feature | Description | State | Time in development |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warzone interactions | The warzone forming in the beginning of the siege causes the Safe Zones of both the attacker and the defender to get disabled. Restrictions are also placed on any civilian Capital Ships within or close to the warzone. | Programming & QA | 10 weeks |
| Capital Ship and station size classes | Capital Ships can initiate siege only against stations of the same size class (or smaller). | Programming | 7 weeks |
| Siege timeslot mechanics | Mechanics for initiating the siege by choosing a timeslot for the attack. The defending station is able to change their preferred timeslot for battles. | Programming & QA | 12 weeks |
| Capture gameplay | Mechanics and visuals for the capture gameplay. When a siege begins, both the target station as well as the attacker's Capital Ship become capturable for the other side. Capturing proceeds one layer at a time towards the center of the structure. Visuals and effects will indicate if an area is capturable and who is currently in control. | Programming & QA | 12 weeks |
| Teams and outsider players | Players other than the original attackers and defenders can pledge allegiance to either team, and then help them in capturing areas for their victory. Captured areas have all access rights temporarily removed so that any other players, who have chosen to stay unaffiliated, can raid the warzone. | Programming & QA | 7 weeks |
| Siege aftermath | When one side fills the win condition for a set amount of time and siege minimum time has passed, the siege ends. | Design & Programming | 8 weeks |
| Siege Terminal | Similar screen view as Capital Ship Fast Travel Terminal, where a Capital Ship can initiate a siege battle. | Programming | 8 weeks |
| Siege HUD | During siege battles, the HUD will show e.g. the area capture progression, siege time and victory countdown. | Design & Programming | 5 weeks |
| Feature | Description | State | Time in development |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ownership and Salvage Deeds | Selling spaceships in the Auction House or through personal trade by using no-cost items called Ownership Deed and Salvage Deed. The Ownership Deed can be used for selling despawned ships in storage, and the Salvage Deed for unstored ships anywhere in the universe. | Programming | 8 weeks |
| Hacked Deed | Stealing spaceships with a new craftable item called a Hacked Deed, which allows temporarily claiming a spaceship outside of the Safe Zone as long as the owner isn't present. | Design | 4 weeks |
| Test Fly Deed | A no-cost item that can be used to let other players test fly your ship in the test mode, for example when trading ships. | Design | 4 weeks |
| Blueprint chips | Allows storing blueprints for trading or manufacturing. Chips can be either secure or non-secure. The secure chips can only be used for manufacturing, while content from the non-secure chips can be further edited in the Ship Designer. | QA | 9 weeks |
| Saving blueprints outside of Ship Designer | Allows saving changes made to ship blueprints outside of the Ship Designer. Blueprints can be saved to three slots, and the updated blueprint can be used to repair the ship in the Repair Shop or with tools. | Programming | 20 weeks |
| Drive-in designer | Ships with non-secure blueprints, or with blueprints owned by a player, can be flown back to a Ship Designer for updates, and the existing ship is used to cover some of the manufacturing costs. | Programming | 8 weeks |
| New binds menu for ship quick binds | Replaces current pilot seat binds menu with a new, much more versatile system | Design | 13 weeks |
| Ships towing ships | Allows towing other ships with a towing device. This makes it possible to carry discovered or broken down ships elsewhere for repairs, for example. | Art & Programming | 8 weeks |
| Casual Mode for Spaceship Designer | An option to toggle between the current Advanced Mode and a new Casual Mode, which is similar to building with modules like in the Easy Build Mode. | Design | 1 week |
| Ship Designer Decal Tool improvements | Several improvements to the Decal Tool in Ship Designer, for example support for seamless decals and more precise movement options. | Programming | 2 weeks |
| Feature | Description | State | Time in development |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stations | Player-made stations, the first iteration. | Programming | 27 weeks |
| Build Mode HUD | Ship and station Build Mode gets consistent HUD that has buttons for most of the operations as well as some controls tooltips. | Programming | 7 weeks |
| New modules for station, moon base and Capital Ship building | Designers and artists create together new blocks, furniture and single items for stations, moon bases and Capital Ships. New station blocks will also include more decorative elements. Most furniture comes pre-assembled. | Art & Configuration | 22 weeks |
| Improved Factory Halls | Building various factories inside stations, bases and Capital Ships by utilizing Factory halls and additional features. For example, with the upcoming blueprint projector and its additional tools, a ship building factory is possible. Most recently, support for pipes and cables inside Factory Halls has been added. | Programming | 30 weeks |
| Hangar Halls | Hangar Halls can be used for ship spawning and despawning, as well as for ship repairing and the Ship Designer by adding different terminal modules. The hangar becomes occupied when a ship gets inside, stopping others from entering. | Programming | 7 weeks |
| Station blueprints | In-game blueprints for stations and Capital Ships, so that they can be fixed in the game world for example after siege battles. | Design | 2 weeks |
| Station clusters | Station cluster is a group of stations that form a special, larger area with a Safe Zone that can span several kilometers. | Design | 2 week |
| Object style selection | While building, players can easily scroll through the different modules of the same type and the upcoming decoration styles for them without having to open the crafting menu or storage. | Design | 3 weeks |
| Fast deletion in (E)BM | Holding down MB2 in (Easy) Build Mode activates a faster deletion of modules. | Programming | 1 week |
| Feature | Description | State | Time in development |
|---|---|---|---|
| Furnaces to create alloys | Alloys are a combination of two or more materials. Alloys usually have better stats than single ore materials, and for example the Capital Ship frames and hulls are both built from alloys. In addition to the raw materials, furnaces require also a lot of energy and sometimes special conditions or a certain type atmosphere dust cloud. | Programming & QA | 20 weeks |
| Blueprint Projector | Casts a blueprint for manufacturing, or just for fun, from a blueprint chip. For manufacturing purposes a number of other devices are needed as well, such as a 3D printer and an item spawner, and of course a ton of energy. | Programming | 13 weeks |
| Refueling tools V2 | Tank refill tools that can be used to fill the Liquid Exorium Tank, Hydrogen Tank, or the Haderite Propellant Tank of a Capital Ship. Initial, single-use versions are already in the game, and the next step is making the tools refillable like other resource containers. | Programming | 5 weeks |
| Grid displays | Bigger screens made possible with new grid displays, where the grid containing the characters can extend beyond the boundaries of the physical screen. Basic functionality is now finished, with new visuals and other polishing in the works. Some additional features are also in the plans. | Programming | 6 weeks |
| Updated heat mechanics | Updated mechanics for various devices, ship weapons and thrusters generating heat and becoming overheated. | Design & Configuration | 7 weeks |
| Device overheat VFX | Visual effects for different devices, such as generators, overheating. | Art | 2 weeks |
| Feature | Description | State | Time in development |
|---|---|---|---|
| Combat balance | Started with damage reduction for the Tripod Autocannon and continues with new materials and weapon progress from the Tripod Autocannon onwards. The latest adjustment has been made to the Tripod Railgun to make it similar to other Tripod weapons. | Design & Configuration | 11 weeks |
| Armor balance | Enhancing the attributes of some armor materials in relation to balancing out combat. | Design & Configuration | 6 weeks |
| Resurrection with endokits | Allows players to resurrect others by using their endokits. | Programming | 2 weeks |
| Single part missiles and torpedoes | New single-part missiles and torpedoes. | Programming | 6 weeks |
| Ball Turret | The ball turret is a secured gunner position that can be used with gunships, stations, and Capital Ships. | Art & Design | 5 weeks |
| Feature | Description | State | Time in development |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cosmetics | Allows painting of weapons and armor, and adds a lot of new armors. Enables cosmetics shop. | Art | 18 weeks |
| More tutorials | New tutorials for new features. Currently working on, for example, a Moon Base Tutorial, Capital Ship Dock tutorial, and a guide to siege. | Design | 8 weeks |
| Inventory V2 | Completely overhauled inventory system. Allows stacking items, accessing containers directly, improved sorting and searching functions, etc. | Programming | 46 weeks |
| Item crates | Allows hauling items in crates. This is included in the new inventory system. | Programming | 46 weeks |
| Company and personal storage access | Access controls for company and personal station inventory. Companies can give access rights based on ranks, and both companies and single players can set their preferred rules of access for any individuals or for example friends. | Design | 2 weeks |
| New Fast Travel VFX | New visual effects for using the Fast Travel gates and for Capital Ship fast travel. | Art | 4 weeks |
| HUD menu buttons | Buttons for different menus (such as the inventory, crafting, CV, etc.) are added to the HUD in an editable box similar to the quickbar. | Programming | 1 week |
| Priority snap points for single items | Priority snap points for certain single items to improve their usability and make them snap in correct orientation regardless of player position, for example for YOLOL chips snapping into YOLOL racks. | Programming | 1 week |
| Interaction UI | New UI elements to guide players when interacting with items in the game-world, such as the pilot chair. | Design | 1 week |
| New player CV | A new logic and format for the player CV, which will include for example a new player rating system, player tags and medals. | Design | 3 weeks |
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How balancing shakes out is ultimately up to the devs, not you or I, so we can only contribute by sharing what we think might work (or being respectful about the flaws of others' suggestions). 