Well, let me put this strait, I am not a game developer, I am not even a armchair game developer, nor do I claim to be one.
I am a Gamer....Therefor this is from the perspective of such a person.
I like, no I LOVE science, every game that claim to be more to the realistic side I try to play. Some are boring as counting roundabouts, some as exciting as driving
down the high way in the wrong lane.
What make a game fun and exciting for some, will probably be a totally turn off for others. To illustrate my point let me tell you a small story from one of my
game sessions in DayZ.
DayZ is a survival game, the main purpose is to keep you toon alive as long as possible, it's pve and PVP. (yes small caps are deliberately).
I was fully geared up, didn't actually need anything, and was in good health, I left my backpack in my small camp in the woods, and only brought my combat gear
to loot the MIL Base 1K to the North. On my way to the MIL Base I got shot by another player, however I managed to escape heavily wounded, my leg was broken but I fixed it with two sticks of wood and some rugs. I lost a lot of blood, so my vision started to grey out, I needed food and I needed it fast.
Found a cow in the fields close by, killed it and ate some of the meat raw to boost my blood regeneration. FOOD POISONING!, I died that day, 100 meters from my camp, wounded and full of infested cow meat, not a good day, but very exciting game play.
SWOOSH back to the 400 Billion stars!
To move around the galaxy, you need to grind, in this case the grinding are pressing (J) to jump, it's not the distance, it's how you move around, it's the mechanics that drive you from point A to point B. When you get to an interesting planet or moon, you can get to the surface and start to shot rocks to collect materials, after some time it becomes a grind too. The material scanner is a very good tool, and i like how it works, if it works, however you really don't get a lot of options.
Sometimes a POI is spawned, then again they do not always make sense and you feel detached to the mechanics.
Designing a more solid foundation of how you as a player can interact with a planet or moon would boost the gameplay and how you as a player interact with the game. That is why you need a more fleshed out game design.
What scientific arsenal do we have at our disposal? a material scanner, that's it folks! what can we do on the planets and moons? shot rock!
IMAGINE if we could collect science data, build a small outpost where you will need some of the materials you collect to produce modules to build the outpost?
Power plants, HO2 generators, Air Generators, mining tools to extract larger ores of materials, Communication modules to send the data collected and sell it to the CIV's out there, drones to dispatch to map the moon or planet setting up coordinates where you can drive to a POI and investigate further.
Then there are the technical questions:
1. What happens to the outpost when you log out? persistence or will it do like our ships?
One solution could be that you simply hibernate and the outpost activate a force field that hides the outpost, or the outposts are already build underground and the
entrence is hidden.
2. Can other players attack the outpost?
well they should be able to do something, but only when we get legs as they would require to enter the base by foot.
3. How will the materials be move out from the outpost?
Data can be transmitted, if you build a communication unit, mining materials can only be taken out by ship, yours or friends.
4. How do you maintain the outpost?
Modules will deteriorate, they will need repairs and or replacement after some time, modules can be manufactured with a 3D printer unit and materials collected on the ground.
5. What happens when you don't need the outpost anymore and want to move?
The outpost can be disassembled by nano drones and broken down to materials you can keep in your haul.
Nano drones need to be purchased at larger stations, and cannot be manufactured by the 3D printer.
6. How large an outpost can you make?
There are not a limit, the limit is decided by the power modules and HO2 life support generators.
Power generators can be assembled in serial mode, same goes with the other modules.
7. What fuel will the power generators use?
They will use the same fuel as our ships, and we can refill them with fuel drones or make it by syntheses.
8. Will there be a hangar bay for my ship?
No, this is an outpost, your ship will need to be parked in orbit.
9. Can I use the SRV and SLF?
Yes, you can deploy these before you park your ship in orbit, they will need an SRV/SLF pad to park them
10. This has nothing to do with Elite, why even make it?
Because of same reason as teleportation, holograms and pew pew, FUN.
Thank you for reading, have a nice day.
