It has been a very successful week and most of the work for co-op multiplayer is already done.
Multiplayer
Last week, I put my focus on the user interface related features. This week, I did only some minor adjustments to the user interface. Most of the work time was spent on the communication layer between game's host and the other players. Here are some of the features I made ready for co-op multiplayer:
- When starting the game, all crew members are at the same location for all players and when a player assigns a command to a crew member, it is executed synchronously for all players.
- All crew member skills are now fully functional in multiplayer games! This includes attacking other ships, repairing, healing, resurrecting, navigation and scanning systems.
- Space combat is now possible in multiplayer games. This includes attacks from the enemy ship, attacking the enemy with turrets and combat/shield drone AI.
- Asteroid mining, including mining drones
- Travelling through the galaxy, e.g. jumping to new sectors, getting space events, voting for them, etc.
- Reward system after completing missions, space events, combats, etc.
As you can see, the development progress is pretty good. Starting today, I will work on the remaining tasks like enemy agents (zombies, space pirates, raiders, etc.), planets and dungeons. I will also do multiple test games next weeks to test everything I have done so far. I think I can complete the co-op multiplayer mode in 2-3 weeks. My early estimation (see my last content update in December) was to complete it until mid February and it turns out, my estimation was pretty accurate.
If you want to make a test game with me before I release the co-op mode, feel free to contact me on Steam!
Other features
I have to adjust or check all major features of Galactic Crew to make sure, the game works smooth in singleplayer and multiplayer games. While checking the code, I found a couple of small bugs that I immediately fixed.
Story mode
In the current poll, you can vote if you want to have a story mode or not. As it turns out almost everyone wants to have one. After finishing the multiplayer mode in 2-3 weeks, I will start working on the story mode. It will be a small campaign with different endings and built-in optional tutorial. New players can jump right into the story mode without having played the game before and veterans can disable the tutorial and enjoy the story. The story mode will also reward you with new achievements, new ships, etc. that you can use in normal continous games. Several 3D artists are working on it since end of December and I will give you more information soon!
