After writing yesterday's lengthy post, I was left feeling like I hadn't said enough. Yesterday I talked about the systems in place and those yet to be built, but today I'd like to talk about the actual player experience and how I see all of these things working from a gameplay perspective. I'm going to describe things in a zoomed out fashion, starting as a new player. 

At first, the player is met with a cutscene, describing the situation and the player will be left in a room they can't get out of. There will be a number of interactable objects, an "NPC", a vending machine, a tool on a desk. The player will be forced to talk to the NPC to get out of the room. They'll be given a task of two, to pickup food from the vending machine and get the tool. The player will then be forced to make a way out of there.

Once they're outside of the room, they'll be tasked with new things, such as finding certain locations, fixing them up and getting them running. During this time, their tool will get upgrades which dictate exactly what they'll be able to accomplish. They'll start by cleaning up debris, clearing away foliage, repairing things. Each of these will be a "function" of their tool. The player will have skills that level up as they progress, making things easier and more profitable.

They'll unlock a "farm" early on which will allow them to grow their own food as well as other goods they can sell or craft with. Soon after, they'll unlock a factory, which will allow them to produce things with items they find in the world. There's also going to be some sort of fishing available to the player too.

They will then be able to unlock a shipyard, which will allow for visitors, who may eventually become residents of the city. This shipyard will eventually grow to allow the player to design their own space ship. The player will pilot the ship, accomplishing certain tasks and gathering resources. This will be some sort of procedural bullet-hell like gameplay.

There will be a "dungeon-like" area, probably maintenance tunnels or sewers, where a player can delve to fight and collect more resources.

The player will eventually end up repairing houses, which will allow for residents to move in. The player will be able to maintain relationships with residents as well as put them to work in the factory, farm, or even aboard the player's spaceship. 

So, overall the flow will be the player wakes up, talks to the NPC, gets their first food from a vending machine and first level of tool which will allow them to forage. This includes things like cutting vines, breaking down simple obstacles, and collecting goods from things like plants and debris. This will be based on the Foraging skill.

The player will then be granted access to another level of tool, where they can break down bigger/tougher debris, rocks, logs, etc. This will be based on the Scavenging skill. Using this tool upgrade the player will then be able to open up the farm. In the farm, I can envision the player gaining an upgrade for their tool that will then unlock the ability to plant and grow crops. Hopefully by this point the player will also have picked up stuff needed to grow, such as seeds.

After this, the player then has to gain access to the factory, where they finally unlock crafting. This will allow them to make food and items themselves, which will be used to refurbish the spaceport and gain access to fishing with a new tool upgrade.

Once the spaceport is unlocked, the player will get occasional visitors who want to trade. As time progresses the player can use resources to rebuild/unlock houses, allowing the visitors to move in. Additionally, the player will be sent down to the dungeons searching for items to allow repairing a broken down ship and eventually building their own space ship.

I'm certain that this will change over time as I progress with the game. But being able to write this all out is helpful, and I can always look back if I'm stuck and need a little push. This also helps give me a bit of direction on the most important parts of the game that need to be built first. So I guess I need to dig into building out proper interactable items.