Hi all, welcome to my first Developer Diary.
So first an explanation - beyond 'Skyrim without the pretty' - of what the game is.
You're just an ordinary being, trying to make their way in the galaxy.
How you do this up to you.
Want to be a bounty hunter?
No problem.
Smuggler?
No problem.
'Legitimate Businessman/woman'?
Of course.
An actual legitimate businessman/woman?
Yep.
Want to have a crack at all of them?
Go ahead.
Want to be a Jedi?
No; Like I said, you're ordinary.
Want to be a Gungan?
Go away. You're banned from this institution. You and your children, and your children's children....for three months.
You won't be saving the Galaxy, and you won't be a hero........though you may bump into a few from time to time.
The game world is broken up into Planets and Locations; Each Planet can have one or more locations, ranging from a mandatory SpacePort to a run-down Cantina to an up-market Tap-Caf and just about anything else really.
Each type of location will have different actions associated with it: A SpacePort is where you'll buy/repair/store your spacecraft - be it a Starfighter, bulk freighter or anything in-between - and where you'll depart each Planet from; At a Cantina you can talk to the patrons and staff for information on the goings-on in the local area.........if you can afford it.
With that brief run-down out of the way, here is a list of what I've got implemented so far:
- The Planet and Location storage and accessors.
- Travelling between Planets and Locations.
- Location-dependant menu options.
- The game calendar - It currently uses the 'Earth' system for
days/weeks/months, but that's only temporary.
What will come next:
- Spaceships; You'll be limited in your Planet-travelling by the range of
your craft.
- NPC Interaction.
I've got the Planet and Location storage setup to read entries from respective XML files, and this means that future editing and additions - whether by me or the end-user - will be super-easy.
Things like Spaceships, weapons and some NPC and Mission features will also be read from XML files.
There is - or should be - a download available right now, that contains all of the so far implemented features, and it will also show you how the XML storage of Planets and Locations works.
I've also got a blog set-up - Ausdoug.blogspot.com - for posting (hopefully) weekly news.
While I'll try to keep both it and this page in sync, I might forget sometimes so, if you're starved of news, check there.