This past week was devoted to smaller system-level features, and some non-development tasks.
Steam Cards!
Max has advanced a lot the work on adding Steam Cards to Galactology. Here's a sneak peak at one of the cards artwork:

We will probably add the cards to the game on the v3.4 release or a bit earlier.
Looting
Now that there's an item system, looting items dropped by enemies is back in the game:

First an item generation and spawning proc was added to enemy deaths. This is straightforward for the station, and it actually doesn't involve any looting at all, since everything that falls on the station floor is yours to keep.
For planets a similar system to V2 was adopted, you need to order your officers to walk near the dropped items to loot them. They are then added to the exploring ship cargo (with zero mass), and dropped on your station when your crew goes back.
Master item making bonuses
Items can now have extra bonuses over what is provided by the basic item template:

In the example screenshot, the item is "Strong" because it includes an extra health bonus (no gun has +health, by default), and it's "Epic" because said health bonus is +2 levels above the item roll. For now only master engineers are able to produce such items, with a chance proportional to their experience.
Revamped alerts
The remake of the alert system is underway, and it's looking much better already:

Alerts should be useful, not something that gets in the way, and the old ported over system from V2 wasn't very good. Alerts are now a lot more robust and have new features. Clicking any alert popup will automatically change the screen and focus on the correct object. Alerts are now also displayed as icons at the top of the screen. Clicking the icons has the same effect, plus also bringing up again the alert popup. Inside the popup you will also find buttons to hide it again, or to delete it forever.
Carlos at IndieCade Paris
Carlos is traveling tomorrow to Paris to visit IndieCade!

Say hi if you are around!
[ 2016-11-17 19:53:19 CET ] [ Original post ]