Introduction

In 'Dynamic Star Systems & Surveying Gas Giants' I detailed a long list of tasks that I planned to complete by the next devlog, being:

• making the system list always be in distance order;
• fixing performance issues;
• overhauling the tutorial;
• changing mutiny mechanics;
• adding multiple new SIMPLE, INTERMEDIATE and COMPLEX anomalies;
• adding the first Rendezvous Point character event for Security Officer Walker.

This devlog will cover the most technically and visually interesting tasks that I worked on, including illustration work, art direction and some smaller tasks that were all absent from my goals at the end of the last devlog. I failed to account for one task upfront: 'fixing performance issues', and where it sits will be stated in the conclusion. I will also explain where the project sits in regards to time management. The topics covered in this devlog are:

1. illustrations;
2. anomalies;
   
3. star system changes;
4. mutiny mechanics; and
5. tutorial overhaul.

Illustrations

With a new drawing tablet, I was able to make some progress on dialogue illustrations. I think that a visual aid to summarise the many paragraphs of dialogue text is 100% necessary for some players, so the progress I've made below is only the beginning. As an amateur digital artist, I developed a simple style utilising default pressure brushes and uncomplicated colours. Nonetheless, the small amount of art that I did make took ages! Progress comes at a considerable time lag.

In the future, I would like to adapt my style to the time constraints that I have placed upon myself. With so much dialogue to show via illustrations, I will have to take a far more streamlined approach to creating them. I am considering rendering scenes in Blender and then drawing the important aspects of each scene over the top - a kind of 'hybrid' style. The hope is that this will ensure compatibility with the drawn illustrations below and the rendered illustrations that were already in the game. As for the present, I am happy with the progress.

Anomalies

I think that a wide variety of anomalies are absolutely vital to 'spice up' the gameplay of Stellar Cartographer. I would argue that without them, the game is a monotonous cycle of scanning bodies and traversing wormholes with no substance to maintain engagement. In 'Dynamic Star Systems & Surveying Gas Giants', I described a process of efficiently creating new content, which was used when making the new anomalies. I also found it necessary to classify the 'types' of anomalies, as seen below. I reckon that abiding by these two structural rules made it easier for me to develop more anomalies in a shorter amount of time. 

In v0.5.0.0, I added:

• Three new SIMPLE anomalies.
• Four new INTERMEDIATE anomalies.
• Two new 'Seeder Ship' anomalies.
• One new miscellaneous anomaly.

I am very happy with the progress, but there are still improvements that could be made. If the goal of anomalies is to 'spice up' gameplay, the new anomalies might have too little (or too pointless) of an impact on the player to qualify. Additionally, there is POSSIBLY an issue with the RNG system - it feels like two-step anomalies are geared towards the fail state (despite the apparently 50/50 chance), and that is a problem whether it's true or not - the player shouldn't constantly feel like they are losing. These two issues are, of course, only supported by empirical evidence, so I will have to do more investigation. A real issue is that I haven't dedicated much time toward COMPLEX anomalies, and a fix to that will be stated in the conclusion. Overall, I am happy with the progress, especially in terms of variety and the number of events added when compared with previous devlogs.

Star System Changes

The following modifications are related to both starSystemAPI and the SYSTEM LIST component of the UI. 

Orbit Speed Fix

The orbit speed of moons annoyed me for a long time and I finally got around to fixing it. The old system was completely broken - moons orbiting planets further from a star would do so incredibly, stupidly slowly. This was because the calculation did not take the 'orbit speed' of the planet into account, and the 'orbit speed' was seen as scalar speed and not as a change in rotation each frame (which is how it was actually interpreted by the game). I used some physics-y equations, Pythagoras theorem and the sin-cos-tan rule to fix this (somehow), replacing 'orbit speed' with 'orbit angle change' for all bodies - a much more apt name. The new system is much less jarring, and I am very proud of it.

System List Order

At long last I added SYSTEM LIST sorting. For a prolonged period of time, playtesters have pointed out that it would be easier to navigate star systems if the SYSTEM LIST was in order of increasing distance from the star. In my implementation, I decided to use insertion sort, as most of the list (stars, planets, moons) was already generated in order. I think the result is sufficiently performant. 

Mutiny Mechanics

I added and revised some of the changes to mutiny mechanics explained in  'Achievements, Better Generation & More Dialogue'. There are now three types of mutinies encompassing different regions of security officer standing, with the least chance of survival at the lowest standing. I decided that each type would have a default option - 'Wait' - which would decide if the player survived based on the mutiny type, and would also kill all of the player's senior staff if they survived. The idea is that there will be other options with supplementary favourable or unfavourable outcomes for each mutiny type - however, I haven't added them yet! All other changes were consistent with my plans in 'Achievements, Better Generation & More Dialogue'.

It is important to not lose track of what mutinies are. They are firstly a way for me to justify writing dramatic character moments. They are secondly a more forgiving way of punishing the player for falling to 0% morale rather than a simple 'game over' screen. The supplementary options which I will add should either kill the player or make it much more difficult for the player to win. They should not let the player continue on as if nothing happened. Thankfully, I do think the 'Wait' option achieves this design goal. Mutinies should make it harder or impossible to win after they transpire.

Tutorial Overhaul

Overhauling the tutorial was a mammoth task. I built an entire new star system, put effort into creating a reasonable setting, spent half of my holidays writing the dialogue and added multiple new songs and sound effects. I am very pleased with the results.

One issue with the overhauled tutorial is length. Not everyone wants to read all of the worldbuilding included and that position has to be respected. In the future, I might add a switch between a 'simple' and 'advanced' tutorial, where the 'simple' version is cut short after the first star system. On the whole, I think the overhauled tutorial is great, despite the length.

What Next

There are two primary factors affecting what to do next: focus and time management.

Focus

I am relaxing my assumption that anomalies are the only way to create engaging gameplay for Stellar Cartographer. I can throw the most well-written dialogue at the player, with the most impactful options and outcomes, and I still think that the core repetitive process of scanning bodies and traversing wormholes wouldn't be properly covered up. Of course, I have already taken strides to mitigate this! The CME hazard and asteroid belt slowdown both bring much needed strategy and variety to the actual game, not just to the dialogue. I feel genuine dread whenever I can't find a wormhole fast enough with the time-to-CME alarm ticking down. It is evident that real interruptions to the gameplay loop are important for engaging gameplay.

I plan to spend more time on two things: changes to the core gameplay loop and physical interruptions to the gameplay loop. I want to keep the core loop as simple as possible - the game is meant to be a 'somewhat simple, puzzle-like experience', after all. But I think an extra step or two wouldn't be too detrimental to that aim. One possible addition is the 'VIS/RAD scopes switch', where the player has to press a button to switch between detecting small bodies (stellar phenomena, space anomalies, etc) and larger bodies (planets, moons, etc) - I will have to implement this first to see if it's a positive change. As for physical interruptions, new system hazards should go a long way. Non-dialogue updates are important for gameplay.

It is important to note that dialogue is still a vital component. I will focus on new anomalies and events to a similar extent - ship encounters, maybe aliens, COMPLEX anomalies, etc. Dialogue interruptions to the gameplay loop are key.

Time management

It has been nearly five months since the last devlog and it is pretty clear that I am NOT going to be meeting the goal of releasing v1.0.0.0 by the end of 2025. This year has been unbelievably busy for me and I have had next to no time to work on the project. Thankfully, next year is a break from the seemingly endless study and I will hopefully be able to dedicate a lot more time to the project during it. I think that most of the additions I have planned build upon existing elements of the game, so they should be easier to implement. That is to say, I think v1.0.0.0 by the end of 2026 (or earlier!) is achievable, and that is exactly what I plan to do.

As a side note, I really need to stop spending so much time on music and sound effects. I find audio easier and more relaxing than any other aspect of game development, so I have wasted a lot of time on it this year. In the future, I will try and contain music track additions to those that are actually necessary.

Roadmap

Instead of the usual list of goals, I decided that a roadmap (below) would be more helpful to guide the completion of the project. Keep in mind that this is a guide! With each update, I will revise the roadmap by adding, moving or removing additions.

* Bold additions are related to failed goals and uncompleted features from this devlog.

* Italic updates/additions are speculative.

My goals for the next devlog are the additions for update v0.6.

Thank you for taking the time to read this devlog.

End Notes

This devlog is the culmination of two updates: v0.5.0.0 and v0.5.1.0. For future reference, their change-logs are below:

Change-log (0.5.0.0):

• Added sound effects for LIDAR rotating and arc changing. 
• Added the 'Pressure Sealed' achievement for unlocking the Gas Layer Surveyor module during a run.
• Selling exploration data at a space station now has a corresponding sound effect.
• Expanded space anomaly name and flair pools.
• Added player supercharging.
• Dialogue options can now be selected via number key.
• Cosmetic changes to rules.txt.
• Added sound effects for dialogue option clicking, option hovering and for invalid key selection. 
• Improved the system list by sorting bodies in distance order. 
• Added a debug interface to consolidate the many debug keybinds.
• Added leitmotifs which play when you enter the 'Frontier' and 'Abyss' regions for the first time each run.
• Added three new SIMPLE anomalies.
• Added four new INTERMEDIATE anomalies.
• Added two new 'Seeder Ship' anomalies.
• Added one new miscellaneous anomaly.
• Added a credits and attributions screen accessible through the main menu.
• Overhauled the tutorial to incorporate new narrative, visual and auditory elements plus new objectives and other guiding forces to teach the player more about their mission and how to complete it.
• General changes to new and existing achievements.

Change-log (0.5.1.0):

• Added loading screen tips.
• Added sound effects for repairing at a station.
• Fixed body orbit speed, especially for moons.
• Star systems now contain a minimum of one space anomaly and one planetary anomaly.
• Implemented the first Rendezvous Point character event for Security Officer Walker.
• Implemented preliminary changes to mutiny mechanics.
• Several new ambience, dialogue and leitmotif music tracks.
• Miscellaneous changes - particularly fixing small colour issues in the UI.