Seven months?!
I knew I was being neglectful but I thought I was still posting at least once every other month!
Apologies! Apologies everywhere!
As is always the case I have been quite busy; apparently even busier than I knew. Last weekend I visited the AnimeNorth convention for the weekend, and for much of the past few months I even had a job! Just a temporary contract thing, but still, real money!
I haven't stopped working on this project, though the pace has been forced to slow down. I've been working mostly on back-end improvements (still!) to ensure that the best future is built on the best foundation.
Here's a few of the more recent things I've been working on.
Names : To help prevent unwanted name overlap and simplify management, all names of significant entities (planets, stars, empires) will be collected into a single database table. A name which is currently in use cannot be used for something else. I believe I have stated in the past (or otherwise written somewhere) that there would be an exception to this, that a planet and its star could have the same name; while I thought it was a nice idea, it would and add unnecessary complications to navigation for both coding and player experience, so instead I'll just skip that option and say there can't be any overlap. This no-name-overlap policy will not apply to ship designs and names, and only might apply to outposts/cities. Having name management centralized into one table also allows for easier monitoring, to make sure people aren't abusing the name feature and check for inappropriate labels and messages being applied in names.
Logging : I toyed with the idea in my head for a while, and originally I wasn't going to do it but now I have decided to... After observing in various other games and platforms how useful the data can be, I've decided that I want to install basic logging in the site. Basic logging would just record when someone loads a page, how long it took for the page to load, maybe report little page or data errors, and really just give a bit of statistical data that would allow me to monitor how the game is being played, where people spend their time, what pages need optimization, and anything else like that. Such logging would eventually extend into transaction records when the market gets together, collecting economic data. It also has applications for things like account security.
Resources : I'm very much considering adding some tiered resources in the future; that is, resources produced by combining/processing basic resources. Right now the list is only 4 long, consisting of [volatiles] [minerals] [light metals] [heavy metals] ... I'm thinking these could comfortably be refined and combined, calling those metals ores and having a list of 'usable resources' which might look like [water] [simple chemicals] [complex chemicals] [crystalline compounds] [soil] [structural metals] [heavy metals] [active metals] and those would be the resources used to actually build things (list not finalized!) and some other products could exist, like [rations] which is another idea playing in my head, as supplies are really a big deal in large-scale warfare.
NPC Factions : I know I've mentioned that long ago somewhat, but I'm closer to having some identities for such things. For example, some might be outright aggressive raider factions which attacks players seemingly at random, while another might be some sort of semi-benevolent nation who tries to enforce peace (by punishing violence) between others in its territories.
Tools : Devising and building tools for admin (and users) is an important part of safely managing complex systems.
Stories and Lore : Any game with depth has a background story, so I've been putting some thought into the history of things in the UNIVERSE. Right now I'm leaning towards a core theme about something like ... some sort of civil war and a general crumbling of humanity occurred some generations ago, a few major organizations survived [which would be represented by NPC factions] but most colonies have been decimated or abandoned or lost or whatever and we - the players - represent those who have survived and grown to a point where they are ready to join the interstellar community and establish themselves as a power of their own.
I'm really sorry for the long period of blog neglect, and I hope this has been enough of a glimpse to convince everybody that I haven't given up! No promises, but I'll try to make my next posting somewhere in the near future; if you get tired of waiting, feel free to poke me through the internet!
Alright, off to bed...
