Once again another month has managed to pass by without me even noticing and as such it is once again time for the next update. That being 0.35.0 in this case.

What’s New?

As is a tradition at this point I’ll start this devlog by going over some of the new things you can expect to see in this update. The first of which is as I previously promised, a set of new models for the Human Starfighter along with its associated subsystems. The specifics of which can be seen in the image below. Compared to before, the new models are much more detailed while also having a more distinct style, one which I hope to be able to replicate for the rest of the units belonging to the human faction. I’ll also note that as tends to always be the case the new models are not 100% complete as I’d still like to both make optimisations in terms of the amount of vertices used as well as to add a unique set of textures to both the engine and the tiny laser turret models.

Beyond just model updates this update also includes changes to both the battle setup and campaign setup screens. To be more specific the map previews for both of these screens no longer primarily use an image for building or planet locations but instead build the entire map previews at runtime. One of the main benefits of this is that I no longer need to make a new image every time I change the position of a building or planet on a map, allowing me to make said changes more regularly. Additionally as the maps are now built at runtime I’m also able to add more support for intractability. In the case of the battle setup screen this means you can hover the mouse over a building to see information about said building, while on the campaign map you can do the same thing to locations to see detailed information about them. Such as their name, description, what locations they are connected to and which faction currently owns it.

Last but not least this update also includes the promised notification centre which I spoke about in the previous devlog. As I hinted at before, this new GUI allows you to change a number of settings about the various different notifications which are displayed when a variety of different actions happen on the campaign map. This includes being able to decide if the notification is displayed at all, what colour the text should be, what colour the icon should be and how long it should take for the notification to fade out. I’ll be adding more options to this GUI in the future along with an option to keep your settings if you so wish so you don’t need to keep re-entering them each time you reload the game.

Update 0.36.0

So now that you know what’s contained within the current update the next question is what can you expect to see in the next one? For starters and in keeping with my overall mission to improve the existing unit models a new model will be made for the Human Starbomber. Additionally a set of updated models for both the tiny non-fixed laser and fixed torpedo turrets will be made as both are used by the aforementioned unit. As with the previous update, depending on the amount of extra time I have I may or may not also look into starting work on updating the human corvette model now that I’m starting to have a more concrete style in mind along with just generally having more experience in making complex models. The current plan though is just to update the model for the Human Starbomber.

Beyond just model updates I also plan to make some much needed changes to the ground battle maps in the next update. In particular I’m going to look at possible making use of a heightmaps to build maps instead of just using a premade mesh. If I’m able to get it working in the way I want it to then there should be a number of benefits including reducing the file size for ground maps, allowing for dynamic terrain alterations at runtime (such as allowing me to have large impact craters which affect the physical terrain height) and also giving me a way to map the valid reinforcement area shader onto the map without having to create a separate mesh to try and match the terrains height.

While working on the 0.35.0 update the next version for the game engine I use was also released, that being Godot 4.3 which brought with it a number of different improvements including some changes to how the built in fog system works. As such while updating to this new version of the engine I’d also like to take the time to see if I can’t go about adding some kind of fog of war system to both the space and ground battles. Additionally I think I may also be able to use this system to help mask the edge of ground battle maps so you feel less like you’re floating in the sky and more like you’re actually fighting on a planet's surface. I mentioned trying it before in a previous devlog but I think with the new updates to the fog system I might now be able to pull it off in a reasonable manner.

Last but not least this update will also contain a couple of improvements to existing systems as I continue trying to polish what’s already there before adding new features. To this end trade routes will see an improvement by making them visible on the campaign map without having to enter the tactical view. While the AI will also see improvements allowing them to finally capture buildings and attack your planetary outpost in ground battles. Improvements which I also want to extend back to space battles where while the AI has been able to do this for a while now, I would like to see if I can make the AI a bit more complex in terms of how it decides when it should try and capture a building or when it should try and attack your space station.

Closing Thoughts

Not really much by way of new features for this update but rather some nice polishing of existing ones along with the first set of improvements to unit models. A trend I hope to continue as I try and improve the overall playability of the game before getting back to working on adding new and exciting features.

With regards to the updated unit models I’ll be keeping with the plan I laid about above which is to say that going forward each update will have at least one new unit model along with any new subsystem models that are needed to complement the main unit model. Having said that, I'm hoping that as I start to put more time into working on models I’ll naturally get better at making them and as such later updates may include more than one new model not only for units but perhaps for buildings as well.

With all that said I’m never going to reach such a level by sitting here writing this devlog and so I’ll once again bid you all farewell for another month as I get to work on the 0.36.0 update and try to not get too distracted by the paralympics. Something which as you could probably tell happened over the course of this update with the coverage of the olympics.

As always if you have any questions or queries then don’t hesitate to ask and similarly if you have any feedback for existing systems. Or indeed if you have any ideas, features or changes you would like to see implemented then also don’t hesitate to let me know.

As with all of my updates a full list of the changes made can be found in game, with the changes and additions pertaining to this update listed below:

• Added a new map filter GUI to the battle map setup screen allowing the map list to be filtered
• Added a new notification centre GUI where notification visibility and display settings can be changed
• Updated the model used by the Human Starfighter
• Updated the reinforcement placement restrictions to also take the valid map area into account when in a ground battle
• Updated the reinforcement placement restrictions to also take into account the area around units and buildings where units cannot be called in
• Updated the reinforcement overlay shader to scale to the size of the current battle map
• Updated the reinforcement overlay shader to also take the valid map area into account when in a ground battle
• Updated the reinforcement overlay shader to also take the area around existing units and buildings into account
• Updated the reinforcement overlay shader to allow the fade at the edge of the map to be adjustable
• Updated the reinforcement overlay shader to allow the spawn area around units and buildings to be adjustable
• Updated the valid reinforcement area for squad based units to be larger than regular units
• Updated the valid reinforcement area for space stations and planetary outposts to be larger than regular buildings
• Updated the animated buttons to have an option to automatically switch the text between yes or no depending on if the button is pressed
• Updated the buildings information file to include images for each of the battle map buildings
• Updated the map information file to also include the location of buildings for battle maps
• Updated the map information file to also include the location of locations for campaign maps
• Updated the map information file to also include the connections for each location for campaign maps
• Updated the map information file to also include a description for battle maps
• Updated the campaign map setup screen to pull the location of locations from a file at runtime instead of using a premade image
• Updated the campaign map setup screen to pull the connections of locations from a file at runtime instead of using a premade image
• Updated the campaign map setup screen to colour code locations based on the currently selected faction
• Updated the campaign map setup screen to display the location information when the mouse is placed over it
• Updated the campaign map setup screen to display the location owner when the mouse is placed over it
• Updated the battle map setup screen to pull building location information from a file at runtime
• Updated the battle map setup screen to display the description for the currently selected map
• Updated the battle map setup screen to display the map player count independently of the map name
• Updated the battle map setup screen to display information on a building when the mouse is placed over it
• Updated the battle map setup screen to display a line between the hovered building and the building info
• Updated the battle map setup screen to support filtering the map list by supported player count
• Updated the battle map setup screen to support filtering the map list by maps which have hazards on them
• Updated the battle map setup screen to support filtering the map list by maps which are used on the campaign map
• Updated the campaign map images to be blank as the map layout is now generated at runtime
• Updated the space battle map images to be blank as the map layout is now generated at runtime
• Updated the notifications centre GUI to support changing which notifications are shown
• Updated the notifications centre GUI to support changing the fade out time of notifications
• Updated the notifications centre GUI to support changing the text colour of notifications
• Updated the notifications centre GUI to support changing the icon colour of notifications
• Fixed a bug where the game would throw an error if it was quit after a reinforcement unit had been dragged onto the battle map but not called in
• Fixed a bug where the reinforcement placement restrictions would be overridden if a valid spawn area overlapped with an invalid spawn area