Galaxial: Galaxy Map Interface news

Galaxy Map Interface

(150 planets, 1 player, 3 AI)

The sector icons are now colored to show the different planet types. Surrounding each planet there are small circular icons to show if there are any ships in that sector. (green = player, red = enemy, blue = allied, white = neutral)

It hasn't been implemented yet, but you will be able to hover the mouse over the ship icons to display the number and class of ships at the planet. Hovering over the planet icons will also show more information about them.

(25 planets, 1 player, 3 AI)

The jump-gate links and borders are colored based on the owning factions relations to you.

There may be more than one enemy/ally that will show the same colored border and jump-gate links. So to distinguish each faction, the smaller circle at the center of each planet icon will be used to show its unique "faction color".

However this is not shown in the screenshots as the faction and relation colors are currently identical for testing purposes.

Empire Sphere of Influence

(*Very* rough sphere of influence style empire map test)

I have also experimented with rendering some "sphere of influence" style empire borders, but ran into performance issues with the really large maps. I think it maybe covers up too much of the screen, hiding all the stars in the background which look nice as you move around the map. (the stars use 3D positions)

I have abandoned this approach for now, in favor of the smaller overlapping borders you can see in the first two screenshots.

Planet Colors

Colors used for each of the different planet types have been tweaked slightly. Volcanic was difficult as the planet graphics are limited to just one color and no detail. (lava or rock?)

Each of the types (Temperate, Desert etc.) have a few variations so they won't all seem identical.

Miscellaneous

• Galaxy generation code completely rewritten (now cleaner and more efficient)
• Probability distribution working properly for planet types, bonuses and trade goods
• Detailed galaxy log created during generation with lots of statistics (using for balancing)
• Started on the high level AI for factions (aware of all the objects and territory they control)
• Initial design work done for the different government types

Bonus Screenshot

(The leftovers from a large cruiser battle)

Vote for Galaxial

Remember to vote for Galaxial. Relatively few people know about the game, so it would be great to make it into the top 100 list for upcoming games!

Thanks! :)

Development Blog: www.galaxial.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Galaxial
Twitter: twitter.com/stuart_morgan