2024-09-12
I had a bit of radio silence the past few weeks, but that was definitely not because nothing was happening. I was on vacation for a few weeks, but I’ve also been hard at work developing the "strategic layer" of eXoSpace. This part of the game was barebones and not yet well-thought-out, but it is now shaping up nicely.
Even though I had a good idea of the game I wanted to build when I started on eXoSpace, this did not initially involve "strategy." Initially, I wanted a focused combat experience, somewhat like Nova Drift, but mixed with spaceship design.
However, in the way that software development often goes, when I built the first version, it was not much fun. The ship building and combat seemed disconnected and did not go together very well. Luckily, being a solo developer (and having some experience), I can be "agile" and quickly try different approaches. After that, I tried something like FTL: a branching path where the player can choose different routes but is "forced" towards an endpoint where a boss awaits. That worked a bit better but was still missing something.
I finally settled on a somewhat compact map of a sector of space, where the player has a starbase (editable, of course) in the center, and several enemy bases are also on the map:
Your goal is to (1) defend your base and (2) defeat all enemy bases (and fleets and bosses) on the map. Enemy bases will build fleets and send them to attack you. You can build your own fleets and attack enemy bases. What ships to design and build, how to upgrade your base, and where to send your fleets are all up to you. I have many plans to make this map more interesting, with more things to do, but it already works well.
The nice thing is that the new strategy layer connects well with ship designing and combat. You can design any ship and build one or more of that design on the star map. If during combat a ship gets damaged, this carries over to the strategic layer. You can then choose to either return to base to repair the fleet or continue your expedition. During combat, you collect metal drops (the primary resource in the game) by destroying enemy ships and use this metal to repair your ships or build new ones.
I have been tempted to start working on an open world, where you could fly around wherever you like, explore, and fight. However, even though this is highly popular and appealing, I personally do not like how "aimless" many open-world games feel. The plan with eXoSpace Combat Engineer is to create a more focused challenge with a clear path to victory. Actually, many clear paths to victory, as there are various ways to approach it.
Another change is that I let go of my plan to limit the combat area to the screen (again, much like Nova Drift) and opted for a larger circular arena. Additionally, the player can have allies in combat from the same fleet and even switch between ships during combat:
The combat arena sometimes has asteroids in it, and your own starbase will spawn during base defense missions. If it gets damaged, you will need to replace destroyed modules afterward. When attacking an enemy base, this base will appear in the center of the arena, and the player will need to approach and destroy it.
That's it for now. The new strategic layer binds everything together nicely, and the new larger combat areas provide more interesting tactical possibilities, along with intense action when controlling your own ship. Both will be fleshed out more in the time to come!
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