I have finished some simple artwork for enemy ships which I plan to use to replace the existing temporary art.

I have also integrated this into the project, and added weapons, collision, etc.

This is working fine.

I will add many more ships, weapon types, etc, later.

The post P0-B2: Part 1121: Artwork, Improvements first appeared on Phoenix Game Development.

I am close to the end of the current milestone, and I have basically finished all of the work that I wanted to do.

One of the major goals of the next phase of the project is to work on the static story elements. This will first of all establish the backstory, the setting, etc, of the world, and it will also serve as a tutorial and introduction to the game.

The games is intended as a roleplaying sandbox, and the games story will eventually be comprised of mostly dynamic elements, but a static story is important to introduce the game.

In order to make this work, I need to add some more improvements to the core of the game itself, this is what I am working on now.

The post P0-B2: Part 1120: Story Elements, Improvements first appeared on Phoenix Game Development.

The steam store page is now basically done.

I have to wait for a review process to complete, which could take a few days, and after that it should be publicly accessible.

I should be entering early access hopefully with the next few months.

The post P0-B2: Part 1119: Store Page first appeared on Phoenix Game Development.

I am at the point where I am ready to create and launch a steam store page for the project.

There is quite a lot of artwork that needs to be prepared for it, and paperwork, etc, so I have been spending most of the week on this.

I am close to beginning the next stage of the project, so it is a good time to get the store page launched.

I am moving ever closer to a release, although initially, the project will be in early access, and will likely to remain there for some time.

The post P0-B2: Part 1118: Store Page first appeared on Phoenix Game Development.

I have finished the improvements to the persistent AI system.

It is now possible to not only travel to other zones with AI companions, but to also leave those companions in those zones.

AI crew members will remain in the location where they were left as the player transitions between zones, and their position is even accurate over extreme distances.

Their position will also show on nav maps, etc, so that the player can easily find them again.

The post P0-B2: Part 1117: Improvements, Debugging first appeared on Phoenix Game Development.

The next goal that I am working on is allowing the state of the players AI crew and companions to be saved consistently between zones.

Currently, they only work properly within the same zone.

I will need to make changes to the server, client, and database, to support the AI’s zone as well as their position, etc.

I have been working on a concept for these changes, however, and it seems to work ok.

The post P0-B2: Part 1116: Improvements, Debugging first appeared on Phoenix Game Development.

I have made several improvements to the gui systems within the project.

It is now possible to select items in menus more easily, and I have made font sizes and colours more legible.

I have also made improvements to the persistent objects in the game, and fixed some more minor bugs and other improvements.

The post P0-B2: Part 1115: Improvements, Debugging first appeared on Phoenix Game Development.

I have been looking into adding LUA scripting support to my project.

I have decided not to add this yet, but at some point in the future I intend to use it to allow players to create their own dynamic quests, stories etc.

It should also be possible to allow the player to create and customise enemies, weapons, ships, etc. This will be crucial for the roleplaying sandbox type world that I am trying to create.

I have also made improvements to the guis system in the project, and added additional options for selecting text in menus.

The post P0-B2: Part 1114: Improvements, Debugging first appeared on Phoenix Game Development.

I have fixed quite a few minor bugs with the project, and made some minor improvements.

In addition, I have fixed one major bug which was in the project for some time.

This was related to the day/night cycle that I have created. Under some conditions, a planets surface would have a different “time of day” than it should.

So, flying to a planet and landing on the “day” side would actually be night, etc.

This seems to be fixed now.

The post P0-B2: Part 1113: Improvements, Debugging first appeared on Phoenix Game Development.

I have added code to the server to allow it to spawn new players on the surface of any planet.

I intend to use this to randomise the spawn locations or conditions of new players, so that they may not spawn in a starship.

I am also considering having a combined tutorial and story for the first few hours of gameplay, which will teach the player how to play the game by spawning them in a random location and gradually providing access to the games features and resources, until they eventually gain full access to the sandbox mode of the game.

This will take some time to implement though.

The post P0-B2: Part 1112: Improvements, Debugging first appeared on Phoenix Game Development.