Tau Station Status Report: March

March is winding down and we’re wrapping up another month’s work on Tau Station. We’ve made some exciting progress this month, including adding more features to the mission builder and nailing down a format for displaying information across the game in a way that both fits with our aesthetic and supports our commitment to accessibility. These improvements, along with other work done this month, pave the way forward for even greater progress on the universe.

March Work Updates

Gameplay

  • Integration of combat into missions
  • Implementation of instanced NPCs and integration in missions
  • Reworked travel visa durations and added the ability to extend a current visa
  • Implementation of public shuttles

     UI and Art

  • Draft of Ruins area design
  • Ongoing inventory design work, including how to show different item types and rarity
  • Background art of 3d printed clones, the Hall, and public shuttles
  • Applying new table styles to the University, Sick Bay, Employment Center, and Brig

Frontend and Accessibility

  • AJAX work for progressive enhancement
  • Work on confirmation messages
  • Work on inventory to make it function without JavaScript
  • Defined table styles for displaying large blocks of game information in a way that supports accessibility and progressive enhancement

Backend

  • Added the following rooms to the Port: Shipping Bay, Docks, Local Shuttles, and Interstellar Shuttles
  • Lots of logging updates
  • Ongoing Selenium work
  • Ongoing work on the economic exchange system
  • Continued work on forums and blogs
  • Added additional admin functions for NPC management
  • Ajax work
  • Work on the “repair” function for inventory items
  • Work on confinement
  • Work on data migration
  • Work on player messages

Narrative

  • 6 more missions written
  • Reviewing all existing missions for clarity and universe fit, selecting which ones to keep
  • Additional core story outline and planning work

Planned for April

  • More Ajax work
  • Implementation of inventory
  • Implementation of the universities
  • Improve dialogue missions design
  • Improve side jobs
  • Additional mission builder functionality
  • Career descriptions and blurbs for all career paths
  • 7 missions
  • Finalize core outline, key events, NPCs, and story details for first “book” of the game
  • Game design
  • Work on player progression