A new major build of The Spatials: Galactology is now available! The central theme of this build was adding depth to the job system and adding a system of job experience for officers. Officers can now gain experience in individual jobs and get better at them as time goes. But nothing is free and as they get better, they will demand more from the station management. Also included are better tools for officer and job management, the ownership system, new art for station decorations, and as always many small details and fixes. V3.2 is not save game compatible with v3.1 save files. But your saves are still there! If you want to keep playing them you can opt out of v3.2 by right clicking Galactology in your Steam library listing, select Properties, select Betas, then select the v3_1 branch. This will force your game installation to be v3.1 forever. When you are done make sure to go back to the default branch to keep getting updates and new features.

Freaking out debuff

When officers hit rock bottom and cannot take it anymore, they don't handle it well. One possible debuff was already in game, making them turn their weapons on their own friends, but it was too destructive, so its chance of happening is low. A less destructive one was needed, so there's now a debuff with random low damage melee attacks with a funny walk included: It will also be useful for other future effects, like drunks.

Decorations revamp

Max has reviewed all V2 decorations and has adapted them for V3. Some decorations that were too specific or that didn't play well with V3 concepts have been removed, and some others have been redrawn to better match V3.

Global production control based on stock keeping

It's now possible to set your factories to be controlled from a global queue. Once you do this, they will receive production orders from the inventory system. In the inventory window you can now set a minimal amount for produced resources. If you have set the appropriate factories to global production, they will start receiving production orders for those items until the minimal amount is reached.

Per-job per-officer job priorities

It's now possible to (optionally) input a priority value for a job for an officer. This allows for very fine tuning of labor in your stations. You can also see in the screenshots the start of work on job experience. The cell background in the table will be more intense the more the officer is experienced in that job. Job XP has been implemented. The more officers perform a job, the more experienced they become in that job, adding 1 XP point for each task performed:
This in turn can give some bonuses, depending on the job. Many of them will receive a speed bonus. Some others, like production-centric jobs (cooking in the screenshot) now divide their recipes into difficulty tiers, and you need more experience officers in order to reliably make more difficult recipes. But getting to high levels of expertise involves being specialized and some sacrifices, like in real life. This leads to a new major feature, officer specs.

Officer specs

The concept of an "officer spec" is now in the game, and all officers start in a certainly familiar one:
Redshirts are jack of all trades, masters of none. The spec of an officer dictates what jobs they can perform, and initially there's no restrictions, but it enforces a cap on how much XP (and thus benefits) can be gained from a certain job. The staff UI now exposes the possible upgrades to the current spec:
In the screenshot, the redshirt officer has 4 possible upgrades, but none of them is ready yet. They must first reach a certain amount of XP in one or more jobs to make the cut. For example, to make a scientist, we can set one officer to be a fulltime cook in our kitchens. After it reaches the required XP, a message will pop up:
We can now visit the staff screen again and see that we can now perform the upgrade:
After the upgrade some jobs will become forbidden for the officer, but the XP cap for some others will be raised, enabling them to tackle more difficult recipes and to work faster. And it will also allow the to further specialized one more time, into a very focused tier 3 spec if desired.

Meta jobs

The concept of meta jobs has been added. Most jobs in the game are about performing tasks in the station, but some others go beyond. For example, combat tasks are not only performed in the station, and they are not part of the work system. For this reason a new kind of job has been introduced, one that's not exposed in the job matrix.
The first two meta jobs are combat and navigation. Combat still needs work and will be the subject of another patch, but navigation has been implemented.
When officers gain experience flying on a space ship, they will contribute to increasing its speed. Redshirts will be very limited in this experience, but if you spec your redshirts into diplomats and then navigators, a large potential speed bonus will be possible.

Ownership

A new game system, the ownership system, has been implemented. Some objects are now able to be setup to use for anybody:
Or, if desired, to be exclusively used by only one officer:
Only the ownership part has been implemented for now, with the usage exclusivity pending for this week (the reason is the complexity of object usage in V3. If you want to make a private shower for only one officer, is the officer also supposed to handle the soap restocking? Or its repairs? Master level specs may not even allow such tasks to be performed by them).

Demands system

Demands, as opposed to vitals, are material needs that officers develop as their prestige and experience grows. Redshirts only demand a low salary, but graduates and masters demand a furnished room. For example:
Providing a room is done by assigning a new kind of bed to the officer, which fills the delimiting area, and automatically changes ownership of all objects:
Not catering to all of the demands of an officer can give them negative feelings:
This is a stacking negative feeling that goes down faster the less fulfilled the demands of an officer are. If you let it go down too much, officers can even go on strike:
Striking officers will refuse to work and will randomly break objects around them, but are otherwise fully abled. The will still satisfy their vital needs and will participate in combat. Having expert officers in your station will be a balance act, between making sure you can provide to their needs and wages, and how expendable labour is for you.

And more decorations

Max has also prepared new decorations. Some of them will have gameplay purpose and become a specific demand from your most experienced officers:
Some others, well, we now have exploding space rugs.

Technical, raw development notes

- vsync default/on/off options in video options - add tooltip to non-button mode for officer slots in bridge view - always enable construction and destruction while on a planet for all officers - non-violent miserable feeling does not stop activities in general change to exclusive high lvl busy with some animation like dancing but random add some low damage melee too - building costs are not being applied for planet construction - production control: global queue toggle factories into global or local queue UI on inventory window a global condition like "stock of X is under Y" logic based on querying current state of global factories bin them by ability to make products then pick one by one based on pending products also substract queued products to not overproduce regular tick from InventorySystem - reports of fuel cell shelves stealing from other shelves fix: inmediately mark deliveries to shops as in-shop - new decors - job matrix new cell states officer X job cell is not available for officer cell is available experience plus per-job prio experience plus enabled/disabled vis cell bg intensity is experience level with circle means enabled, with optional number for the prio model remove jobComponentKinds and use job IDs instead enable per-job prio in officer per-job prio per-job experience allowed jobs - job matrix button for toggling per-job prio settings while per-job prio is enabled, click on job should prompt for prio - worker system must handle officer per-job prio - add max stack size to resource info - visitor dock on off panel - make electric area weapon suck less remove sound smaller area, shorter duration, higher damage keep a spark fx in the center, only spawn other fx when damaging something - repairable object actions trigger broken on purpose to call a repair self destruction - fire now records incremental efforts so it can be extingished in more than one attempt - don't deliver over target max amount, or max stack size - force a stock system update for the target object after every delivery job avoids useless hauling jobs and keeps min/max values real - model for specs add finalization to officer - job difficulty some recipes have a difficulty rating now keep it simple, 1 to 3, to match rookie-class-spec proc for getting officer expertise tier based on the job xp can fail production do red scrolling text, do not produce, still get xp - fix spec-delta-job-xp - job xp xp is expresed in amount of finished jobs counter proc call in job sm - specs raise the xp ceiling for some jobs at the cost of not being able to perform some other jobs model for this, cap is now for all spec jobs - officer tick phase checks jobs xp in order to flag one of the children spec as unlocked alerts when a new spec is ready - test ui in staff to apply a new spec - solve the problem of rookies trying to make too dificult recipes extra filter in job search to avoid picking too difficult jobs - display difficulty capabilities in job matrix - remove tiers from jobs that don't need it - don't display job matrix difficulty for one tier jobs - for research use one tier, to at least allow speedup and then arbitrary values for officer progression - remove xp system from jobs where it doesn't make any sense - make job matrix a window - keep the job component on a job after a cleanup to avoid useless walking and to make sure priorities are considered - job speed opt-in in job model use total xp? use job tier like factory does? phase times a factor depending on job difficulty vs worker experience can be done out of step nodes but affect how many calls they get, interact with phase check the step nodes in all job sm in case they do useful work (research, doctor) make research delta on finish, not on ticking pass the doctor speed to patient sm - job experience influence, recipe influence cooking-job-component: speed, diff research-job-component: speed chemistry-job-component: speed, diff engineering-job-component: speed, diff doctor-hospital-job-component: speed pharmacist-job-component: speed, diff - add icons for specs MiniSuitmaterialgraficoiconosclasesset003subclases - specs rookie scientist chef cooking-job-component chemist chemistry-job-component researcher research-job-component engineer industrialist engineering-job-component medic doctor doctor-hospital-job-component pharmacist pharmacist-job-component fix recipe for this diplomat PR bartender-job-component - sorting job matrix also by xp - staff ui for specs info ui display for spec data show current spec show possible child specs, with a button for the unlocked ones click applies spec, warns about no undo - remove OfficerFrame and do it in scheme - officer frame for listing: display spec instead of obsolete level - badge on officer portrait when an update is pending - darker color for officer bg - redo staff ui header - show xp info for recruits - rookies should have some initial job xp on some jobs - introduce meta jobs jobs registered as usual, but not do appear as a station job in the matrix they can gain xp and appear in the staff screen - meta job for ships: navigation low cap for reshirts, can get higher for diplomats navigator spec for max cap ships increase their speed based on the sum of the navigation xp of its crew appears in the crew display in the fleet view display navigation xp and combat xp in crew picker add xp deltas for ship actions parking on a planet per travel tick delta - job matrix: remove buttons for not allowed jobs - need differentiation for PR job only bartender for now, more in later patches add extra fun increase based on bartender xp increase price - new style job logistic sm with conservative job component deletion appears to deadlock both object and officer pre-check must remove busy (and do a proper clean overall) when no more stock is needed - other pending specs pending on combat xp add meta job #@meta-combat fix specs xp caps for combat and navigation only the soldier spec is pure combat min xp dont try to add specs to soldiers, for now it's just a placeholder other specs need first some station work, then can spec into a base class + combat also still a placeholder but needed to test mechanics engineer-sapper medic-combat surgeon diplomat-ambassador add xp deltas for any attacking direct hit (no LAC empathy, but AOE OK) 0.1 killing blow 1.0 - galaxy ship tooltips display distance to current system if applicable display if under autopilot - change color of explore button when exploring a planet - fix very old leak in ButtonGroup (!) - add subtitle and desc to specs - generic ownership system set of entity IDs or refs per officer owner-component all are references to station entities model API to add remove must remove previous ownership if applies a tick removes destroyed or invalid objects remove ownership on officer death or firing also keeps a room size value for room defining owned objects add can-be-owned-component and propagates-owner-component to subset of station objects info inspector to show and pick owner display owned objects in staff ui add button to center and select in station view display owned objects in also in picker need rules for uniqueness about owned objects (only one bed per officer)? NO, it doesnt matter need rules that disable or "mark bad" an owned object (a room with two beds)? NO, just do it on building time. if the player messes up on purpose, the room will be bad anyway, since objects are single-owned - a system automatically propagates ownership to objects inside owned flood fill rooms add info text to objects that behave like this in order to reduce player surprise, add a scrolltext over the object when ownership changes with name of officer and originating object also make flood fill area appear for a few seconds, while the the scroller is in screen - new entry level bed reemplaces old entry bed. generic for all - new quality bed for tier 2+ officers defines a room doesnt allow more than one in the same room has ownership area system - officer preference for using owned objects vital systems and job systems must always query first over the owned object list and when none matches, the normal query must avoid owned objects this can be done using the custom ordering and filtering support in ecs-query ordering: collect a hashtable of owned ids, if entity id matches, add extra prio filtering: if entity is owned and owner is not actor, filter it out not all systems want this vitals: all jobs: all factories, research all others: not supported - make lockers have min z - display owned room area in ui - ownership concept icon - new decors rug, mats and carpets spec-specific high status object new lamps and small tables redone some cabinets and wardrobes new plants - officer demands: structure base nothing graduate low salary 9+ tiles room officer bed shower master high salary 15+ tiles room officer bed shower officer status symbol (for their spec) 2 other decors - officer demands checker tick that sets a cached state for the demands satisfaction tick that pays the salary if possible and sets the satisfaction room size objects they must be assigned to officer (N or more) must match the demands model name or component plus amount - staff ui for listing demands and check status - missing officer demands must have negative feelings demands sentiment is gathered from cached demand checker each item can have a weight so salary is more important initial feeling is low impact stacking feeling without timeout stack amount is delta at a fixed rate max stack is determined by how bad the sentiment is if it gets too bad, then officer goes on strike uses stack size, can start happening even if not at max put fist icon on head timed so it's not too bad refuses to work, still has vitals covered can do acts of sabotage per strike period (set objects to broken mode) - extreme feelings (with sprite icon) have their icon displayed next to the title in the feelings panel - optional busy icons - new goals and counters: act of upgrading officers - bump save version - fix: after game load or new game, staff ui may show diff focus officer vs detail view - fix: officer recruit screen - fix: have to hit escape twice to get out of placing a building - increase default build priority - fix: stuck research sm make very sure to take a de-owner-ing path in the wait-for-resource loop also fix base sm to stop advertising the job in the de-owner case, and fix repair sm and research sm - fix: officers stuck in strike mode - new gfx: self destroy, break, portrait backgrounds - slower buildup for demands feeling - fix: production tutorial not detecting opening job matrix window - add sound to order creation - fix: test fire button is not a test anymore - reduce required exp for some manufacturing - increase test tourist wallets - increase some entry level prices - fix: do not change floor color on already built tiles - fix: chemistry is not pharmacy - fix: properly remove strike busy status - put officer gold bg in more places - make staff icon gold while one or more officers is pending an upgrade - slash salaries - reintroduce reciprocal auto destroy for job-giver BusyC - add sound to acts of sabotage - introduce modal popups like modal dialog but passes clicks outside of itself and cancels itself also captures esc for cancel determine screen anchor from a node tag flow logic to keep inside screen - various filters and sorters for staff lists filter by No filter needs demands pending upgrade specs sort by alpha mind vital (cached) display in staff view officer picker fix mouse events and priorities (not autoclosing on outside click, but buttons work?) job matrix - disable mouse hover effects when modals are displayed, except for the modal content - center on map button info header in map 20px button over portrait remove action - focus-on-staff button for info header in map - focus-on-map button for staff ui - increase random chance of sickness - decreease again tier reqs for pharmacy, engineering, chemistry - make robots and ship tasks 1 star rated - graduates want 6 tiles - move officer bed to higher tech tier - remove firing of officers, since it removes all risk from bad feelings - increase initial cash to 20k - longer phase for low intensity melee - add cash scroller when spending money - tourists pay entrance when landing - idea: when tooltip parent dies, detach tooltip and keep it around for some seconds - global production: allow interleaving products into an already used factory otherwise cannot do simultaneus orders for the same kind of factory - idea: lazy changed update for non-visible gui-observer and the listing observer check parent chain on dying is always run if any parent or self are non-visible, they wont refresh, but set a flag as pending when the node is visited for drawing, it's implicitly known it is visible clear the flag and call the delayed update proc - make mind visible in info header use cachedMind with the old morale icons - fix: stale tooltips - further increase initial credits - further lower required xp in some tiers - officers flagged as missing demands when they are not object counter wasnt considering min 0 - remove shower from graduate demands - nerf xp rate for combat, research - introduce system for pasive check of item stack busy status if target is not busy, remove busy if target is busy and job-sm, and its item-ref is not us, remove busy - increase disease and miasma chance - too much initial points for some levels or jobs - increase tier 1 research xp - add some explanation about ownership - staff button doesnt go gold sometimes - cannot build extractor in tutorial clear camp area for resource nodes - ships get stuck approaching planets

[ 2016-09-06 20:58:37 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Spatials are back on a new adventure!

The Spatials: Galactology is The Spatials reimagined as a deeper, more rewarding simulation game. With mod support and active pause, Galactology adds new items and structures to build, trade routes to exploit, planets with many new variables, sophisticated AI, civilizations that actually attack your station -- and unique gameplay systems behind every object and room.

Key Features

• Design a space station and watch your crew as they build it in real time
  
• More freedom for your designs: use any room with any objects, color the floor tiles as you wish
  
• Reinforce your space station with new buildings, management decisions, and staff
  
• Assemble robots to assist with station chores
  
• Explore a detailed simulation with many systems to play with -- including manufacturing, research, healthcare, disease, emotional breakdowns, combat, hunger, thirst, cleaning, decay, security, FIRE!, and more
  
• Handle complex logistics, requiring restocking and inventory control
  
• Earn in-game cash by growing your space station’s hospitality business
  
• Designate staff for your bar or your research lab
  
• Visitors and officers have a mind of their own. Make sure their needs are met!
  
• Build hospitals to care for the wounded and diseased
  
• Secure your station with cameras, scanners and turrets
  
• A randomly-generated galaxy with 100+ planets
  
• Build spaceships and explore the galaxy
  
• Explore the surface of planets and asteroids
  
• Engage in real-time combat to forge alliances and make new enemies
  
• Find natural resources, civilizations and ancient ruins
  
• Establish trade routes with your allies
  
• Develop and download gameplay mods from the Steam Workshop
  
• And more, much more is coming!

About Weird and Wry

Weird and Wry is a Barcelona game development studio founded in 2014 by two brothers: Carlos and Max Carrasco. Carlos (a programmer) and Max (an artist) share a love for simulation games and classic play -- which heavily influenced The Spatials, their first project. Inspired by the great classic sim games of the '90s, The Spatials combined classic base-building gameplay (based on isometric tile room building) with a real-time combat system and an exploration campaign. The Spatials was released on Steam in March 2015 and took off! Thanks to its success and growing fan base, The Spatials spawned a sequel -- The Spatials: Galactology, which updates the original concept with deeper gameplay and a whole new take on the space station management business.