I am currently still in the very beginning of this massive rewrite, and the goal is to lay out the foundations of all the new systems that will have to interact with each other for the whole thing to click.
Here are a couple of highlights of what is already in the oven:
GOAP Based AI System
GOAP (Goal Oriented Action Planning) is revolutionary AI system that allows high flexibility and realism in character decision making and environmental interactions. It was pioneered in F.E.A.R. and used in games like S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Fallout 3 and Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor.
In addition to making the behaviors more emergent, I feel that this system will make the new combat truly shine. It is still a work in progress, and I yet have to port over a hundred behaviors from the old system, but so far the results are very promising and this new AI will open the possibilities of bringing the depth of the game to the next level.
Body Parts Framework
It enables having interchangeable body parts for both robotic and biological life forms. Here's an example of how it will affect the gameplay. Imagine a micro meteoroid hitting your best construction robot. Previously it would deal a fair bit of damage to the robot, the health bar would go to 0 and the robot would become useless. You would dispose of the robot via the Disassembler and get a few materials out of it. Here's what will happen with the new body parts system:
[olist]
[*] Micro meteoroid will hit a random body part of the robot. Let's say it hit the "Mobilizer" body part slot and destroys the installed "Tracks" part.
[*] As a result, the robot cannot move anymore. It can still do work that doesn't require moving, so you can carry the robot to the construction site and it will build what it can reach.
[*] However, you have a better idea. You order removing the "Mobilizer" part from one of your carrier drones - you take out the "MiniJet" part.
[*] You install the "MiniJet" on the damaged robot, and it can now move again.
[*] As you may have guessed, the "MiniJet" enables ability to fly, so the previously grounded robot can now fly around in space!
[*] And yes, you won't have to wait for the micro meteoroid to strike the robot to replace the "Mobilizer" from "Tracks" to "MiniJet", you can do it any time.
[/olist]
And it's not limited to just robots. There are close to 30 body parts in a cat, and a human will have even more. Get ready for some war crimes, cross-species organ transplants, cybernetic body parts and organ trading!
Combat
I am building the foundations of new combat together with everything else right from the beginning. This will ensure that it integrates with the body parts, inventory, health and other new systems nicely.
Let's take a look at a few new combat mechanics.
Directional Cover System
Every wall and object on your ship will have a "Cover" value that it can provide. This data goes into a new directional cover map that fighters will use when taking positions in combat.
Additionally, while fighting, beings will take paths with best cover rather the shortest paths like they normally would.
This opens up a great deal of tactical depth to the combat.
Squad Behaviors
When a combat breaks out, an "Army" will be created for each faction. Then the game will automatically create one or more "Squads" for each army by taking unit proximity and type into account. Each squad will elect its "Leader" that will drive the whole squad towards reaching some objective. The "Followers" will tend to stay close to the "Leader" and will have a slightly different set of goals.
Happy New Year!
I hope the new changes sound exciting for you, I am absolutely hyped about them myself. There is still a long, long way ahead until anything playable is ready for playtesting, but the good news is that there seem to be no roadblocks ahead so far.
The only setback is that I managed to catch COVID, this is why I stream much less for the past week. But it will pass and I will catch up, I promise!
Since the next development update will come out next year, I wish you the best Holidays and Happy New Year! May all your wishes come true!
See you in 2024!
-spajus
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