The Great Space Station Redesign

I'm changing gears and getting back to work on graphics, which isn't my favorite thing in the world but it's going well (if slowly) and providing a refreshing change from input & UI work.

Input System Refinements Complete

The final push was more work than expected, but I think everything's working now. There are still a few things I'd like to add, but those can wait for a post full release update some time in the year 3003. The UI is nothing to write home about, but considering how bad I am at UI, I think it's more than passable.

A New Space Station in the Works

With the updated input system finished, it's time to move on to graphics. This update is turning out to be pretty slim in terms of new features and gameplay, and to make up for that I want to put a little extra effort into making the game look better. So, deep breath, I'm finally doing it: I'm redesigning the space stations.

I've been putting this off for a few reasons: first, I'm going to have to do it again eventually with the province updates. Second, it's always a huge pain changing anything that's been in the game for so long, forcing me to revisit old code and untangle my own spaghetti. And finally, because I hate fucking with graphics. But who knows how many years away those province updates are, and this is some pretty low-hanging fruit in terms of making the game look better, so I decided to take the plunge.

And you know what? I don't hate it this time! I'm starting with redesigning the exterior of the small platform stations and I'm actually pretty happy with how it's going.

This is a work in progress. There's still a lot of work to do, visually and otherwise. You can't actually dock with it yet, but I made the landing platform significantly smaller, requiring a much more precise landing and hopefully providing a little bit of a challenge.

Landing Platform Size Comparison

Coming Up Next

Once I finish this station, I'll be redoing the exterior design of the other two station sizes as well. I don't expect to get through more than that this month. I want to redesign the interiors as well, but before that I'll probably revisit the planet generator and get the rest of the planets and moons up to par. That'll all be a lot of work, but I want to be able to focus on gameplay & simulation in the next few updates so getting all of this out of the way will free me up to do that without the game looking like shit in the meantime.

Chugga Chugga CHOO CHOO All A-Fucking-Board

For the first time in what feels like for god damn ever, development is rolling along at a reasonable pace. I lost a good couple of weeks to my job, which is always busy this time of year, but I didn't let it derail me & things are chugging along like a proper train analogy.

Ship Customization System Complete

You can change the color of shit. It's done. On the one hand, I'm frustrated at how lackluster it turned out; the final product is in no way indicative of (or justified by) the amount to time that went into it. You win this one, sunk cost fallacy. That said, it feels good to be moving on, and I think I learned some things about myself as a developer and how to recognize when I'm digging myself into a hole. And, negativity aside, it IS kind of fun to play with.

Optimus Prime

Black Gold

Planet Express

Input System Refinements Nearly Complete

This was one of the major goals for this update and it's been going pretty smoothly. Except that both of my flight sticks are busted, so I couldn't test it all as thoroughly as I'd like to, and I wasted a couple of days opening them up and putting them back together like, "yup, still busted." I can't really justify spending money on a new one right now, so whatever. I was still able to test with a throttle, rudder pedals, and X-Box 360 controller, so good enough, I think.

Anyway, the UI has been revamped to provide the room for growth that the coming updates will require. A slider for deadzone adjustments and a full/split toggle is now available for every bound axis. These were sort of already in the code, I mostly just had to expose them via UI. There's still a little more work to do here but nothing major.

A fun little side effect: as I was adding a few missed controls to the system (most notably the run button), I remembered that I had added a secret flashlight to the game some time ago. I needed it to debug some lighting issues or something, but never got around to including an in-game button for turning it on & off. Well, now there is one!

Spooky!

More Cuts >:D

Adding to list of shit for future me to handle, I've decided not to worry about the pilot reputation system for this update. It will definitely be a thing eventually, but it won't be a major gameplay factor until I flesh out the provinces. For now it was just going to be a number that you can make go up, it wasn't going to add much, and I'd rather get back to focusing on the simulation side of things as soon as possible.

Coming Up Next

Once I wrap up the input system refinements, it's on to graphics work. Space station lighting needs a rework, and I'm kind of thinking about redoing the space stations altogether. I'd also like to get some work done on the planet generator and start revamping some of the old planets & moons. And that'll round out the last of the major planned features for this update! Still a ways to go, but a version release is starting to feel within reach.

Slowing Down to Speed Up: BRS Development Back in the Groove

I'm finally back to making progress and, more importantly, not hating it! Unsolicited life pro-tip: allow yourself to take breaks. Sometimes you have to slow down in order to speed up (that's an orbital mechanics joke).

Scaling Back on Interior Customization

I've refactored the interior design system for color customization only. The model swapping system had some bugs to work out, and complicated the UI; these are both fixable issues, but I just kind of want to move on. I'm trying to get better at recognizing non-critical work that can be saved for future me, and I think this qualifies.

I also reworked the interior design UI a bit while I was at it. It's still ugly and I'd like to give it another pass before release, but it's good enough for now if I don't get around to messing with it again.

SPACE TRUCK

While the current Chonky Boi ship is certainly an improvement over the previous design, I'm still not super happy with it. Since I've decided to mostly hold off on the exterior customization system, I wanted to rework the model a bit for the next update. I made a bunch of little changes, then unexpectedly spent way too much time making this campy new cockpit, obviously inspired by classic American semi trucks:

10-4, good buddy

A bit too on-the-nose, perhaps, and I think it comes off as more goofy than cool, but I actually had fun making it. I feel like my modeling skillz are slowly improving; or, at least, I'm becoming more patient with the process. Anyway, "more goofy than cool" kind of sums up my whole vibe, so I'm sticking with it for now.

Exterior Customization

Work on customizable exterior colors is coming along quickly. I was able to reuse a lot of the work I did for the interior, both in terms of the UI and the actual functionality. It's clearly not quite finished yet, but here's a quick video to show where it's at:

So the code is written and the UI is in place, I just need a little more time to finish hooking them together and to get it all working with the save system. I should be able to wrap this customization nonsense up early next week.

Coming Up Next

With the ship customization boondoggle out of the way, I'll be moving on to input system refinements. I don't think this should take more than a week or so, but I haven't even looked at that code in like 3 years, so ... who knows. After that it's on to another round of graphical improvements; I have a ton of things that I want to do, but I'll be paring the list down to just a few things that I can finish in a reasonable amount of time. What are those things? I don't know! Tune in next month and we'll find out together.

Boring Update - TL;DR I'm getting Back To Work

Spending some time away from development has allowed me to reevaluate what I'm trying to get out this update, and to get some perspective on why I've been having so much trouble getting my ass into gear. No need to go into too much detail, I don't think, but here's where I'm at:

I really don't care about ship customization. I want it to be a feature eventually, but it's not mission critical, and it's just not something that I personally care about as a player. I got it into my head that if it was going to happen at all then it needed to happen now, but it can totally wait. So I'm reducing the scope pretty dramatically; I'm keeping the ability to change interior colors, but not models, and it should be easy enough to do the same for the exterior. That's good enough for now.

I still need to spend some time reworking the input system, and that actually does need to happen now, before I start adding more cockpit controls. This will probably be boring work, but it shouldn't take too long.

I'm still going to do some work on planet/moon redesigns, but only until it gets boring or frustrating. I don't need to do it all at once.

And I've got some bugs to fix, but when don't I?

That's it, that's the next version. Just a minor update before finally moving on to ship systems. I'm still pretty busy this month, so I don't expect to get a ton done, but I'm feeling good & ready to get back in the groove.

The Major Provinces of Solis

Bhumi-Tyran Republic

Now overwhelmingly agnostic, The Republic was formed as a partnership between the major theocratic superpowers of post-Exodus Tyra to form a single, united government for the planet. Once considered a technophobic relic, the natural beauty and plentiful resources of Tyra, not to mention the nostalgic allure of the homeworld of all known civilization, has helped The Republic to grow into a successful economic power as well as a bohemian haven for artists and naturalists. Ruled by a democratically elected 100-person senate, The Bhumi-Tyran Republic has brought the first lasting age of peace and prosperity to the planet.

The Sangha

The Sangha is a loose and far-flung collective of monks and lay Buddhists without a capital city or homeworld, but with presence and influence in every planetary system of Solis. Renowned as scholars and teachers, this collective oversees the largest universities in Solis as well as the Zazen City Nature Preserve, the largest off-Tyra collection of natural flora and fauna. The Sangha enjoys a deep respect, particularly among ship captains, for their at-cost emergency refueling missions coordinated by a monastery of Zen monks known affectionately as ‘Rat Boys’. Although technically an anarchy, the community of The Sangha tends to leave matters of politics and trade to a handful of recognized Lamas, high monks of a lineage of reincarnated leaders and holy people.

Church of the Outer Gods

In the exploration rush of the Exodus Era, tragedy and discovery often came hand-in-hand. The stranded survivors of the wreck of the capital ship Soyuz Tereshkova were the first to discover the Elder Tombs of Zaoth, and spent three generations studying the ruins in secret, cut off from the rest of Solis. The community descended from these shipwrecked explorers came to call themselves the Church of the Outer Gods. Obsessed with the mysteries of their de-facto homeworld, they are openly ambivalent about reintegration into society at large. The smallest of the major provinces, The Church is ruled by a secretive council of scientist priests and is largely uninterested in politics or commerce. While rarely participating in Solis-wide affairs, The Church has openly and enthusiastically shared their discoveries of prehistoric ruins and technologies, bolstering a new era of exploration and innovation.

Kingdom of Midgard

The only remaining monarchy in Solis, The Kingdom is ruled with strict and subtle efficiency by QuEEN, a massive central AI, housed in the near-Solis orbiting Yggdrasil City. While Yggdrasil is the official governing capital of Midgard, only a handful of scientists actually live here at any given time with the sole purpose of attending to QuEEN. The majority of Midgard's population is scattered about the dwarf planets of the asteroid belts, giving them unparalleled mining access to the materials that the rest of the system depends on. Highly respected as scientists and engineers, The Kingdom is perhaps most beloved for their skilled artisans; their handcrafted beer, wine and liquor is served in nearly every station bar in Solis.

The People's United Free States of Solis

The Free States are formed by a loosely connected alliance between the many small, independent colonies and cities of Solis. Any governing body is eligible for inclusion, and nearly everyone not associated with one of the four major provinces falls somewhere under the umbrella of the UFS. Individual states are free to govern themselves; The Free States only asserts itself as a governing entity when necessary for the protection of the rights and interests of these smaller provinces. Political decisions are made by consensus among member representatives, each chosen by their own state. The Free States represent the largest and most diverse collection of cooperating humans in the history of the species.

Potato Clock Games Spring Sabbatical

TL;DR: I'm taking a month or 2 off from Black Road Sky to get my shit together.

I don't want this to come off as too dramatic or anything, but I do want to be transparent about the development of Black Road Sky. I'm just kind of sick of it right now, and have been for a while. I think that's a normal thing to feel from time to time with a project like this. I've been working on this thing on & off since 2017 (see the historic first devlog post here) with no real incentive, financial or otherwise, aside from like, hey, wouldn't it be cool if I made this game? So regardless of any surrounding circumstances, I want to be fair to myself with a 'breaks are allowed' approach.

Aside from generally needing a break, I just need the time right now for other things in my life. Spring is a busy time for us beekeepers, and it's important to me that I respect these living things in my care. I also need to catch up on things around the house; I've been renovating my kitchen since 2020 and I'm starting to feel like I'm taking advantage of my wife's patience. I need to start exercising, read some books, touch some grass. I won't go on, but you get it, my overwhelming to-do list has reached critical mass and I just need to make some space in my life to get back to baseline. Cutting back on BRS development is just one of a handful of temporary adjustments I'm making in my life (also going cold turkey on Tetris, wish me luck) and I'm hopeful that I'll come out the other side with a more healthy, focused mindset than I've had for, I don't know, maybe like a year now.

I plan to keep up with the tradition of 9th-of-the-month-devlogs, but the next couple will be a little different; maybe lore dumps or something, I'm not sure. What I am sure of is that this is a temporary, purposeful break, and regular development will continue soon. And honestly, I think it will be better for the game in the long run. o7

Interior Customization Screenshots

The interior decorating system is complete! Except for the shitty looking UI which I'll deal with later. I've started on the exterior customization system, but more on that another day.

Screenshots

Customization options are fairly limited for now, but you can still achieve a wide variety of aesthetics. Eventually, each province will have it's own set of wall, floor and ceiling styles available only at their city stations, but for now there's just a small set of standard options.

Here are a few examples:

so fresh and so clean clean

Klingon Vibes

Industrial Flavor

Just go nuts, kid

This will all be totally optional, of course, and I know lots of people won't care about it, but I think it goes a long way toward making the ship feel like your own. I'm looking forward to seeing what players do with it!

Coming Up Next

I was hoping to have the exterior customization system done by now, but like, it's not even close. So that's what I'll be focusing on in the next month. SEE YA.