After taking a break to write Cyborg Arena (which will be released on 1st October), I got back to working on Beyond the Chiron Gate this month. I’ve added some new content and made a lot of changes based on playtest feedback. Here are some of the changes I’ve made:
Tough explorers, fragile ship
In response to basically everyone‘s feedback, explorers are now more resilient. Most negative conditions (such as injuries) can be gained multiple times, and will kill the explorer only after they acquire a certain number. Inspiration grants a smaller bonus but no longer wears off.
On the other hand, the ship is more fragile, and is destroyed the third time it’s damaged rather than the fifth. When playing through, I’m finding that I’m about equally worried about my explorers being killed and my ship being damaged, rather than only worrying about the explorers.
Travelling between planets and landing on them costs more fuel, and the amount of fuel depends on the planet’s and the star’s gravity and the length of the journey. I’ve added a special event that triggers when you don’t have enough fuel to get back to the wormhole. You don’t want to get that event.
Names
I’ve replaced the two-random-greek-letters naming scheme for stars with a list of 400-odd star names, mostly taken from real stars. (If you notice a real star name attached to the wrong star type, I’ve decided it’s because astronomical records were lost in the civilisational near-collapse of the early 22nd century, and later astronomers re-assigned old names to new stars.) I’ve also replaced the single list of alien names with a collection of lists of similar-sounding names. When the game creates a civilisation it’ll pick two names from the same list for the civ and its homeworld, so they sound like products of the same language. In both cases the game will avoid re-using a name until all have been used, and the lists are long enough that that will only happen if you keep going a long time in the post-game sandbox mode.
Explorer name lists are unchanged, although the game will now avoid re-using first names so there’s less chance of it being unclear which explorer is being talked about. Last names can still be re-used, but explorers are never referred to by just their last name.
Interface changes and clarity
I’ve changed the game text and tutorial boxes to clarify a few things that playtesters found unclear, e.g. the fact that losing all crew is a game over and that you need all three gate drive upgrades to get to the endgame.
Dangerous planet traits are now highlighted in red, unless you have the upgrade that negates the hazard (e.g. powered exoskeletons for a high gravity planet).
Civilisations and Discoveries now occupy different tab on Data view, rather than one being below the other.
Binary stars and nitrogen planets
Systems can now have binary, trinary, or quaternary stars, and can include neutron stars and pulsars (which have their own special icon, as do black holes). Regular stars now used different sizes of the icon based on their size.
Planets can now have surfaces covered in frozen nitrogen (e.g. Triton) or sulphur (e.g. Io), and can have helium or methane-ammonia atmospheres. Large gas giants can turn out to be brown dwarf stars, with limited nuclear fusion in their cores. Planets can have evidence of a runaway greenhouse effect, which might be due to natural causes (e.g. Venus) or artificial global warming.
Road map
The main thing left to do is add more content. Among other things, I’m planning to add:
- Alien megastructures and signs of large-scale alien engineering, which can occur very rarely in most of the game but commonly in spacefaring aliens’ home systems, and will hopefully make alien home systems feel properly special.
- New content to do with alien derelicts, including learning learning the fates of the individual alien ships you find.
- Rework to extinct life, so it’s not just life but in the past tense.
- Better end-game encounters with the Gatebuilders.
- Lots more events along the lines of what’s already there.
I have about two and a half months left if I’m going to make by self-imposed deadline of mid-December. There’s still a lot to do but I’m feeling confident.