I've been really busy with my main job lately, but progress has started picking up again. I've been working on some rocket meshes and shaders that will allow for rocket customization. Once these initial rocket parts are ready, I'll finally be able to start scripting the gameplay around them. I'll be happy to showcase the progress as soon as I have something tangible to share.
I've also been thinking a lot about planetary exploration. To me, there's no point in exploring if planets are too simple. The excitement of exploration shouldn't end the moment you arrive at your destination. I want players to continue feeling that sense of discovery long after landing. I want them to feel genuinely excited that their crazy little creation successfully reached a new world.
Once they land, I want players to start asking themselves questions: What can I do here? How does this planet behave? What are its tectonic, electromagnetic, atmospheric, and geological characteristics? Is this a good place to build a manufacturing facility? Could some native bacteria wipe out my entire crew? And i want that you actually can interact with planetary dynamics and benefit from them if you are skilled. So you can expect to see dynamic planets even continental drifts, huge eruptions, floods and i will see what else i can cram into planet dynamics.
I want planetary exploration to go fairly deep. In simple terms, I want planets to have meaningful content rather than just being beautiful scenery. Every world should feel unique, with its own challenges, opportunities, and surprises. And every now and then, I want players to stumble upon planets that are absolutely bizarre places that look and behave in ways they've never seen before.
A lot of what players can do on planets will also depend on how deep the character simulation goes. I'd like characters to have real needs, such as water, food, and medication, while also being affected by the environment around them. Those survival mechanics naturally lead into other gameplay systems like manufacturing, resource processing, medicine, and base building, creating a much richer and more interconnected experience.
So i am hoping to satisfy your need to craft, to explore, to manage, to make progress, to be silly and to feel that you have many options on how you gonna proceed at any moment.
For rocket building i will aim to allow you being playful with designs without too many constrains and i want to allow you to choose various rocket launching options(various launchpads: regular, centrifugal and other that allows you to gain Rocket speed even before you fired up the rocket Engines which should increase your payload capacity maybe even up to 20-40 percent).