Time is running out fast! 2017 is nearly over, but we made a lot of progress in October 2017, as you can see in the new status report about the development of our science fiction game, Tau Station. Our focus is (still) on getting the game ready for Closed Alpha. Due to the progress on the backend, the frontend team was able to get several core elements in shape for testing. The art team has created a lot of designs. Long story short: several UIs, core game chat, and a couple more missions are waiting for you, while game design is pushing the skill system and combat even further.
Gameplay
- Combat belt implemented
- Reworking combat into phases, allowing more tactical options
- Skill tree options are designed
- (Note: more core gameplay for alpha is in place, leaving this section looking more sparse than it actually is)
UI and Art
- Combat system UI design finalized
- Improved room design for station ruins
- Station government center layout
- Fine-tune cloning facility layout to handle new clone options
- Security center UI design finalized
Frontend and Accessibility
- Core chat functionality in place
- Core inventory functionality in place
- Standardize form look-and-feel for email, blogs, and forums
- Hash linking—back button should now be more useful
- University inner page update
- Inter-station and interstellar traveling page
Backend
- University skill tree system built
- Vendor/NPC market built
- Anonymous mission started
- Mission editor now supports “number of tries”, allowing actions to be performed multiple times for success or failure
- Converted more code to “economic exchanges”, thus improving their reusability and reliability
- More gameplay metrics have been added
Narrative
- Finished initial mission work for Taungoo Station in the Sol system and Cirque Centauri in Alpha Centauri
- Revised jobs in the Sol system for Nouveau Limoges, Daedalus, and Taungoo station
- Revised jobs in the Alpha Centauri system for Yards of Gadani, Spirit of Botswana, Alpha Centauri Jump Gate, Paris Spatiale, and Ghost of Mali
- Ongoing mission work with København (Sol system), Moissan Station and Bordeaux Station (Alpha Centauri)
- Improved background of corporations
- Alpha Centauri Jump Gate station history finalized
- Paris Spatiale (Alpha Centauri) has descriptions added
Planned for November 2017
- Implement storage lockers in market area
- Continuing work on anonymous missions
- Narrative stories should be done
- Entering last narrative stories in the mission builder
- Mission UI finalized
- Combat UI finalized
- Clone UI finalized
- Genotypes more fully integrated
- Skill tree bonuses and skills to be added
- Economic balancing