What IS Skyport Alpha?

>> THIS IS A LIVING DOCUMENT <<

Skyport Alpha (SA) is a space sim game featuring both single and (limited) co-op multiplayer game play, that sadly I have been designing and working for more than a year. The game is being designed and developed from the ground (or space) up as a co-op multiplayer. SA is not another EVE® clone nor is it just another space shooter.

Game Mechanics:

• Player death <- we are still working on this and frankly we've gone from a simple "re-spawn at last space station(save point)" to "permanent death, ship and contents and pilot; gone forever". The point is; we want it to be fun and enjoyable HOWEVER, every decision you make must affect you and the 'verse around you.

Game Play:

• Trading (of course) - of goods, passengers and other cargo.
• Exploration - explore unknown regions of the universe.
• Mercenary - hunt down raiders.

Nearly all will be driven by an organic contracts system, that will be influenced by your interactions in the galaxy.

Multiplayer Features:

• Mission based, 2 to "x" (4-8 most likely) player (short) sessions.
• Open world, 2 to "x" (4-8 most likely) player defined sessions.

I say limited because SA is NOT an MMO or at least not my definition of an MMO.

As you've read the other posts we are using Unity 3D has our engine, focusing primarily on Unity 5. While I do hope to get some (tech-preview) web builds released, SA will not be a browser based game.

Game pricing: (yet to be determined)

• Monthly fee for online multiplayer (small amount)(1)

Notes:

(1) Small fee to offset monthly user fees - if you don't want to play/access the multiplayer features then you don't pay.

Still going... strong?

Actually, the recent Unity beta's (both 4.6 and 5.0) have re-energized my development process. That new UI "stuff" is great! I just never felt comfortable with any of the old options (NGUI, dfGUI and OnGUI).

I'll be posting a lot more (refined) game design ideas and concepts over the next few days.

Stay tuned...

New Seven-Eleven Space Sim??

So... it seems everyone (including the "slurpee-jerk" down at the 7-11) is making a Space sim AND making more progress than I am!

WTF!

I really just have to get something coded up and then move forward... seems I'm in a perpetual-design state... meaning I'm not getting anything done! :(

In the mean time; check out Astrox on Kongregate - he's basically got everything I want Skyport Alpha to be except the multi-player.

Sooner rather than later...

Couldn't pass up the pre-purchase offer for Unity 3D 5. With that, not only do we get Unity 5 once released but we also get Unity 4.x Pro, plus the next couple of 4.x (4.5 and 4.6) releases.

Ready or not... here we come!

ScriptableObjects - you shiny cute thing!

Given my ultra-lack of experience with Unity (and C#) I spent a couple days researching and working on ScriptableObjects. There are useful pages on the Unity site along with some excellent blog posts and found a great YouTube video.

Working example:
I got my "factions" example up and working and can easily create new factions and alter the existing ones via the editor. (As seen in this video).

...and then it hit me!

SCRIPTABLEOBJECTS ARE FOR READONLY DATA!

Sadly it wasn't until I actually got my example to update an existing faction that it hit me. All scriptableobjects are stored in the READONLY bundle. FFS!, what an idgett!

EDIT: They are of course still very useful in reducing memory as described HERE.

Universe Creator - close to pre-alpha status

The Universe creator is coming along nicely. Just resolved the faction sub-division problem by using what I called a "FactionMatrix" prefab. This guy has "sub cubes" layer out in random patterns that use OnTriggerEnter to report a newly created "sphere" (system) so that I can set the systems ("sphere's") faction properly.

This gets into the fundamentals of the design; as to how many factions and their layout based on the universe "seed" number. Given that every galaxy will have two additional factions:

1. None
2. Unknown

If the GC (Galaxy Creator) aka player chooses to use three factions, the galaxy will actually contain five total.

Creating and debugging the faction alignment process was fun and had me stumped for a bit but the solution is rather light-weight and fast. Especially since it only has to be run on the creation of each new universe.

Oh and StartCoroutine() and yield are my new best friends... :-)

Hey, don't be a SQUARE man...

Working on developing the method to sub-divide the galaxy into the appropriate factions. I started our thinking okay... the galaxy is like a sphere so hey lets sub-divide the sphere...

WTF was I thinking... sphere's are just a PIA to figure out location, volume, size, etc...

...and then... it HIT me!

What about a CUBE??? FY! Let's use a cube and fill it with sub-cubes and whatever systems are in each sub-cube belong to the appropriate faction!

Sweetness..... behold a WIP

So now all that's left is to add a box collider; run an OnTriggerStay and collect the objects (aka systems) that are inside (each box) and they all belong to that faction!

OMG, it's looking like a real flippin' galaxy! super-sweetness!

BTW - I freakin' love this shi, er stuff.... :-)

EDIT: Galaxies are NOT usually inside spheres but laid out in a flat disc like structure and so...

there we have a shiny new "flat" Galaxy dics.

For the love of While loops!

Wow... I suck at C#, there's just no sugar coating it!

I spent several hours this afternoon modifing the system generation function to add in a DISTANCE check (e.g. so that two system are not too close to each other).

Sounds simple right? Sure....

Um yeah... I've never had to FORCE QUIT Unity more times than this afternoon than in ALL the times I've been using Unity.

So... here's what I learned:
To use a WHILE loop inside of a FOR loop - create a separate function and have that function run the WHILE loop and RETURN the result (solution).

Here's some screenshots of code:

        if (i > 0) {
            Vector3 validPos = ValidateNewPosition(ExistingPos,i,newPos);
            newPos = validPos;
        }

And here's the function:

    Vector3 ValidateNewPosition (Vector3[] ePos, int currentIndex , Vector3 target) {
        // Yeah - this frackin' works!!!!
        while(true) {
            bool FoundOne = false;
            for (int sysNum = 0; sysNum < currentIndex; sysNum++) {
                if (Vector3.Distance(ePos[sysNum],target) < distanceBetweenSystem) {
                    Debug.LogError("[" + sysNum +"] Failed Check " + Vector3.Distance(ePos[sysNum],target));
                    FoundOne = true;
                    sysNum = currentIndex + 1;
                }
            } 
            if (FoundOne) {
                target = ScalePosition(urand.PointInASphere());
                ExistingPos[currentIndex] = target;
            } else {
                break;
            }
        }
        return target;
    }

Finally! Progress...

Back on track and (finally) making measurable progress. Here's a screenshot of the Galaxy Creator tool. Using a seed based random generation we will be able to replicate the start of any universe created in Skyport Alpha.

Here's the high-level overview of the Skyport Alpha Universe[1]:

• Single Universe in each game
• "X" Number of Galaxies (now set from 1-3)
• Between 16 and 256 Systems per Galaxy
• Travel between galaxies will require a GALAXY PORTAL
• Travel between Systems (in same Galaxy) will use a JUMPGATE

Notes:

[1] Game design is in fluid state and can (and probably will) be changed or altered.

Unity and PlayMaker

Layout...

Just needed to link a quick image to the PlayMaker forums while they repair the attachments function.

More images below:

Um, yeah seems this is how to NOT design an FSM ;)

This one seems to be working sweet!

Another screenshot

Still working...

Just a quick update that we are indeed still working on this project.

We've rolled back to the design stage and are reworking the games objectives and re-scoping the project.

It will indeed still be a Unity 3D project.