Eternity

[linux-man]

Hi again!
This will be (I guess) the first alpha version. You can do something... not much.
Controls are: cursor keys, space to fire.
"Double click" down to stop the engine
"Double click" up to get an expensive turbo
Since this is deep space, and travels are looooong, press x to 10x time (shift+x to reverse). Keyboard don't work when you are asleep (that's right, you are in a cryogenic coma).
z and shift+z to zoom out/in

What do you get:
1 ship
engine
lasers (can destroy asteroids)
Parallax background
a random solar system with up to 3 stars and up to 12 planets.
2000 asteroids.
Velocity
Acceleration
Fuel
Hull (destroyed at high speed, but can recover. You see, it's an organic alloy)
a short range sensor (100000 units)

No collisions, no enemies, space stations or adventures. I get 47 fps (with 200 asteroids I get stable 60). Lots of code to optimize.
It's been a nice ride. Hope you like it.

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[Lafolie]

Wow this has changed loads, good progress. It's really difficult to control for me. I like the idea behind the controls, how you have to control the velocity and such, and it's interesting to have that kinda simulation element whereby you have to pay attention to the virtual dashboard. It just seems a little too difficult to control though. It took me a good 5 minutes until I was able to navigate to a planet and actually 'collide' with it. I was constantly tapping up at this point to alter the direction of the ship. Maybe you should have the default acceleration rate a bit higher like that?

Oh, and the lines when you travel at super high speeds are very pretty. They don't seem to like changing direction though, unless you slow back down. This seems a little odd as I'd expect them to come from which ever way is forward. And perhaps they should fade in/out with your velocity. This would prevent them being seen at slow speeds as well as look cool.

Edit: I got 25fps but to be honest it looked pretty good anyway.

[Robin]

Looks nice, although I found the controls unintuitive (I especially didn't like the fact that you didn't let me use right shift ). Even after I got used to them, it was incredibly difficult to find an astroid, and when I found one, I couldn't destroy it before flying off again.

It might be a good idea to only let the player hibernate if the engine is off, I had that problem quite a few times.

In my game Space, I opted for less realism for more fun. For example, using the engines while pointed in the opposite direction gives you a small, but noticeable boost. This makes making a turn much simpler and less frustrating.

[linux-man]

It really sucks when "Real Life" gets in the middle. So, things are not moving as fast as I'd like to, but it's time to update. Alpha 0.2 You see, your feedback is really important to me.
Thanks, Robin and Lafolie. Your suggestions were included (yes, even the right shift )
What happened in between?
It's still a "simulation" - hard to start
Moved to Middleclass
You can die. How?
Toasted - Too long, too close to a sun
Too long, too fast - hull vanishes
Crash again suns, planets, asteriods (NOT spaceships). And yes, there are spaceships.
Gravity. You can orbit a sun or a planet. Not that easy. Works with v around 100
Spaceship is smaller. I intent to add bigger ones.
To turn fast use turbo - but you'll waste fuel.
Now you have suns, planets, asteroids, asteroid fields (lots of asteroids) and annoying spaceships.
L key - long scanner to see the star system ( for testing purposes you can also see all objects closer than 1000000 u).
When using long scanner, left click will add a navpoint (right click to delete).
The navpoints will be used by a dumb, standard equipment autopilot (a to turn on/off). When autopilot is on you can sleep .
Again, the controls:

Controls are: cursor keys, space to laser.
"Double click" down to stop the engine
"Double click" up to get an expensive turbo
x - 10x time (shift+x to reverse). Keyboard don't work when you are asleep (that's right, you are in a cryogenic coma).
z and shift+z to zoom out/in (view and Long Range Scanner)
c - Normal scanner scale (10000 or 100000) 10000 will be useful for future mining, docking and close combat.
s - Normal scanner information cycle
l - Long range scanner (on/off)
n - Laser cycle (front, rear,...)
a- Autopilot on/off. Must choose a destination on Long range scanner

The spaceships are only following you. You can watch them on the long range scanner (red dots). They disappear because they move too fast (they use the same dumb autopilot).

That's enough for now. See you.

[Lafolie]

Braking seems to be a bit of an issue. The only way I can figure out to slow down is to turn in the other direction and counter the velocity. It's still difficult to pilot but much better. FPS has doubled too!

[linux-man]

Forgot to mention that the ship has retro-rockets (you keep pressing down and the bar turns yellow) but with only 10% of the main rockets power. If you use autopilot you see how it breaks. But you're right: the best way to break is to turn around. With real spaceships happens the same.
Also, 2 of the 's' options give you a direction line on the scanner - nice to point somewhere.

[linux-man]

I've been very quiet, but not dead...
This is just a teaser, I'm slowly joining the pieces but I'm not quite there.

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It seem the same, but code for target acquisition and missiles is done.

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Scanner information.
This was taken when docked in a planetary ring (cool, right?). For now there are 3 station types (ring, satellite and ground).

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The latest code (did it today): the Galaxy! Now it will be a piece of cake to jump to other stars. This is a zoom in, there are over 1000 stars.

[linux-man]

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Last, but not least, the Market screen (functional).

So, what's done:
Phaser and Laser -OK
Planet names and characteristics-OK
Market-OK
Asteroid fields-OK
target aquisition-OK
Missiles-OK
Sleep limitations near planets or missiles/phasers-OK
target info-in progress
hull, v, dv-OK
v and dv proporcional vectors-OK
distance, status-OK
stations - secure v-OK
ships - legal status-OK-> legal, trader, bounty, police, pirate, unknown
asteriods - richness (?)
space stations, planet stations, planetary rings, docking, launching-OK
lights in planetary ring-OK
Dock Menu-WIP
Market-OK
Cargo-OK
bye, sell-OK
cash-OK
Galactic chart-OK
ship equipment-WIP

And for the future:
buy new ship
Billboard
Lasers and phasers (auto-aim, blast mode)
better AI, combat
Minning (mining laser, scoop)
drop cargo (smuggling, pirates) -> cargo holders
comm (send messages?)
save/load
Hyperspace jump (this one is easy)
window size/full screen
game start,intro, menu, options, music

[bartbes]

Looks nice!

[Simtex]

Any chance the "Robot Slaves" could be turned into "Robot Löve Slaves"? Because lets face it, space is lonely.