Release notes:
https://arcengames.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=Stars_Beyond_Reach_Beta_Phase_2_Release_Notes#Version_0.901Miscellaneous stuff, in the main. We're going to be hitting a dry spell in terms of some of what we release over the next few days in particular, because we're going to be gearing up for the International Relations Grid and the things that are going to be coming along with that. I've finally figured out a visual way to represent the diplomacy stuff (and victory conditions) all in one screen that is not spreadsheet-feeling, and that is actually more informative due to not being spreadsheet-feeling. And that is more informative than having the info on the main gameplay area, where it would be spread apart too much.
Plenty is still going to be building-based, but I feel like I finally have had the breakthrough I was looking for on a "diplomacy" (really it's more than that, which is the idea) system that is blindingly simple to look at, has really clear goals, and yet has a ton of depth. And which has plenty of room for character text and dialogue without making it a text-based interface that's in your face.
The earliest versions of this are going to be ugly as sin in a lot of ways, because I'm not even involving the artists until I have it where it's functionally where I want it (they are quite busy for the moment anyhow). But I think that within a month it should also
look really really slick. I'm excited, and feeling like I have traction on this difficult issue for the first time. It will be able to look good, it seems to match what you guys and other folks on the internet in general are looking for in terms of immediacy and consistency of the AI (and clarity), it's technically feasible, and most importantly of all it's actually something that I personally will enjoy playing in a one-more-turn sort of fashion I'm 90% sure, so that's the biggest hurdle met. If I find it fun, I can refine it; if I don't find it fun, I don't know what I'm doing. Obviously the proof there will be in the pudding, for you and for me when we try it out, but it's clear enough in my head that I have a high amount of confidence in it. I imagine v1 of it is going to need all sorts of tweaks and changes, like territories did, but I have that same sort of feeling of rightness about this.
Anyway, enough of that. That's what I've been up to today, and mostly I wasn't able to do anything other than just solve that very challenging visual aspect of things (since literally
everything else feeds into that). Now that I have that and the play flow worked out, it's going to be getting down to brass tacks tomorrow developing the actual content that goes in that frame and flow. Keith, meanwhile, will be tied up implementing the frame for a bit, so that's going to hold up the pipeline on most everything else until we pass that hump.
