As part of the final development weeks before we go public with our Early Access on Steam, I'm adding new user guidance oriented features to Galactology. Goals is a big one. There's not much time now remaining, so polishing and misc fixes are also steadily coming in. - new gfx: pallet v3, recycler v3, storage area
Max keeps making new art for some V2 objects and to placeholder objects. Purely logistic objects now share a color scheme too. - goals a series of goals to give the user guidance includes single page explanation comes from Bernice or other advisors has a ready? checker: displays it in the goals list this allows to have locked, hidden goals to not overwhelm has a done? checker: marks it as done and stops checking problem: cannot use GUI timers, it must be active even when window is hidden hook from game tick throttle checking to not be too much with phasing plus a scheme vector for ids there's a top-level reactive proxy for notifications vis a listing with selection an area for the goal info hook window to top toolbar button add support for 0 to 1 progress can replace done? add support for reward hardcoded to credits for now add some counter hooks production (total, by resource, by resource kind tag) robots production (total, by model-name) build object (plus some categorization) needs model-name in V2 stuff for proper counting, keep in mind when doing goals tiles built resource collection on-planet (as opposed to cargo delivery) recycling (plus some categorization, incl corpse) clean vital satisfaction dances docked ships (both visitors and officers) camera detected scanner detected visitor received repair cargo unload doctor treatment served drinks by bartender visited planet (by level, by category) killed enemy (by civ) reached rep level with X civ job change recruited opened system resource consumption (vitals, jobs, consumerism) add some goals cook/make drinks build robot build some important objects Logistics basics: build one pallet, one storage area and a recycler Security basics: one ceiling camera and one security door Living basics: build 3 beds and a Hygienizer 3000 Factory basics: build a chemical workshop, a metal press and a medical workshop Starter hospital: build a hospital bed, a meds dispenser and make at least 10 pills Dance club: build a bar, 3 bar tables, and 2 dance floors Decorations: build 10 decorations generic small/med/big station goals (n objects plus n tiles) build embassy build recruitment center build extractors extract resource planet by tag (100 of each) fill ship slots recycle/r.corpses/clean basic vitals satisfied dancing docked ships visitors 3t repair cargo unload 3t 10 patients 42 drinks land on planets 4t killed enemies 3t job change recruitment open star system consumerism - add info alert when a new goal is made ready only when it is not a default ready one - stacked alert display - do not use pointy popup bg for alerts - tutorial should point to goals "If you are done with tutorials check the Goals in the top toolbar" in menu - manual claim for completed rewards - shine in gold the goals button when a goal is completed - icons for goal titles Tutorials can only go so far in teaching the game to users. They are time intensive to write, can break depending on the UI instrumentation, are at risk of being outdated (very important when the game is in EA), etc. For this reason an additional layer of interactive guidance is required, and Galactology now features Goals:
Goals are small objectives given to the player, that can also award some small reward once they are completed. The motivation of Goals is to make the user explore the UI and game systems on their own, after they have been introduced to them by the tutorials. Goals will have them clicking on every screen of the game and interacting with many of the tools. Some Goals are available from the first second of a new game, but some others are unlocked as the game advances.
Implementing Goals also required implementing a large number of event counters. These counters will also be used for achievements and statistics in the future. There's approximately 40 counters and 50 goals in the game right now, with more to come as new systems are implemented. - add tooltip to all shell menu bar buttons - fix corner cases for ships with all dead officers a ship with 0 crew can only travel to home, no other path is possible make sure autopilot respects that too - add default 10m wait for new home orders - job-warning-component to display stock failures and similar lack of resources, waiting for worker, etc. generic on job-sm, anybody can display them display from inside existing panels (stock, factory), more relevant this way - new icons for some tools - fix planet tutorial Another week, another batch of fixes, including non-obvious ones like what to do with a dead crew. Many more small fixes remain to be chased in the next four weeks.