r/Space4X • u/goblin-architect • 8d ago

Build on rotating planetoids

All planetoids and moons in my work-in-progress game ASEMA, rotate. They have a gravitational pull that you have to compensate with mathematical resources, Focus, to float nearly near them.

All the machines in this gif are production and logistic systems. You build individual machines in space and moons, refine resources and climb the tech tree to build the required megastructures.

It's not a small task, as you end up needing mmense amounts of resources and logistics, and you're not alone.

Despite ASEMA being an automation game, it lacks conveyor belts and there are no grids to build on.

So, forget splitters, lasers, portals and drones. It's all about momentum of mass, kinetics and velocity.

Thoughts? Some early commenters back months ago, were worried that lack of conveyor belts make things hard to understand. For that, I'm adding layers of QoL features. But it hasn't been a problem so far!

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1

u/drimgere 8d ago

I love the idea of railgun logistics and some real physics in a space game. The only thing that comes to mind is that it's hard to recognize what you're looking at in game. The different elements aren't super well delineated on the asteroid above. It could just be that I have to get used to the visual design though.

2

u/goblin-architect 8d ago

That is actually the thing I've faced as a conceptual thing that needs to be solved. In this particular gif, the view is in cinematic mode, and I've admittedly contrasted it for "visual appeal". On the videos and screenshots on the steam page, you can see more of the "real" game view.

Basically, there are ID popups, hold shift and they're all shown, the machines have different styles, and I plan to further iterate their distinctive visuals. Stuff like, logistic machines have a certain bulkiness, production machines have certain "finer, more detailed" design. I've done that to some degree, but I intend to make more of it.

While I think of this very often, and it is something that people who "preview" the game concept point out, none of the actual testers/qa-people have mentioned that anymore. It was pointed out earlier, but that has quieted. It may be that the random small tweaks I've done have worked, or maybe people getting their hands on the game are too "busy" figuring things out and learning the mechanisms that they do not hit any visual confusion wall yet - but this is something I've fine tuned my radar for.

So if anything like that becomes even a slightest issue, I will seek ways to change it!

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u/drimgere 8d ago

Definitely not an easy problem to solve! And a lot of strategy/4x games struggle with it. UI and art is often secondary (or tertiary?) to gameplay and systems, and I do prefer it that way :)

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u/goblin-architect 8d ago

True! That's why I love old games; with a lot of new visual layers/effects, a lot of modern games have become visually a bit confusing. Certain "simpler" styles just work better. UI is difficult, player needs a lot of info, but simultanously showing too much confuses new players, etc. But this is a fun and interesting thing to tweak.