This game will not leave me alone. I must continue development.

Sometimes, I become uncertain as to why I want to create this beast. If it even is a beast, or just a figment of my imagination. There is part of the game that could easily be molded into something commercial, and I am really considering doing it. Should I turn to an arcady level-based game design and ship it within a month? The next iteration would probably be better and closer to whatever vision I am having.

On the other hand, money corrupts. This would seem a weak point if not for the fact that I am fearful of what I might release upon the world. There is no doubt in my mind that my game would be amazing, but I am unable to put it into words. Nevertheless, I will try. This is my latest attempt at drawing a picture, of describing and defining my vision of Gravity Break. A roadmap of where I want to go from here, and how to get there.

Where I Want to Go

Society is not an easy concept. On top of whatever society you grow up in, there is a culture which obfuscates the underlying components of society: policy, customs, economy etc., by creating identities around a certain mix of these components. These may be local, ethnic, wealth-based or otherwise hinged on specific cultural values. Society, on the other hand, is a mix of cultures.

A frightening tendency of culture is to attempt to become society. This creates monocultural societies, large or small, which will often combat external societies in a further attempt to dominate. This is basic evolution, survival of the fittest, but it is gross. Our latest and greatest attempt is modern capitalism.

As society has been consumed by the culture of capitalism, our lives are more about work than about living. Statistically, people work more today than they did 100 years ago, 200 years ago or even 1000 years ago. Back when we were hunter-gatherers, we worked on average 20 hours a week. Lots of children died, sure, and our elderly didn't get very old, but our boss was the forces of nature, so what could you do.

Even so, this primordial existence is appealing. I would probably miss my phone, but my children or grandchildren wouldn't. I might crave some simple comforts, but with true want we experience true fulfilment from the simplest pleasures, and not superficial desires. I might not get to be as old, but I would live for longer.

This world we have created fills me with existential angst, and I don't know what to do with it. So I am creating this game, which tries to explore it all.

Maybe it won't work, but maybe it will.

How to Get There

Top-level to-do list:

• Complete the section above
• Write this list
• Fact check everything
• Create a good intro for the game
• Create a good middle for the game
• Create a good end for the game
• Figure out the narrative

Those last points were a bit cheap, and I feel I need to break them down further.

For the intro, I want to give the player the sense of great accomplishment in a short time: Land on the moon within the first 5 minutes of the game. The player starts with the ship landed on Earth, a voice explains the situation, that they need to get to the moon. Next, onscreen prompts and a voice explains how to fly the ship, as the player learns to launch, change orbit, approach the Moon and land on the surface. They have limited fuel, and the steps they can follow are very limited, resetting every time they run out of fuel.

The intro concludes as the player is given a brand new ship with more fuel, and the mission "fly around the earth and land again". If the player has used lots of fuel, they will be told to try again but spare their fuel. If they have use only a little fuel, they will be asked to do it again but use a lot of fuel.

The middle starts with the player being given a mission to do a pickup on Mars. A clear indication of their mission target appears in the side of the screen and / or next to their ship. This introduces a passenger and trade system, which will earn the player money. On the way to mars, they player may pickup space scrap which makes their ship heavier but can be sold for credits. More ways to make money. A signal may appear, giving the player a chance to earn some more credits by exploring, later being used as a way to create events.

From Mars, the player is asked to go to Venus, where they will encounter an explorer who wants them to go find an obscure artefact, and this will be the beginning of a longer narrative. The main points are these:

• A system of economy and environment changes the state of each civilized planet:
  • Trade influences the wealth of the planets it is conducted upon, which strengthens that planets power throughout Sol system.
    • Every commodity traded has an effect on the planet where they are sold such as rate of reproduction, capacity of population
    • Every commodity may have an effect related to the ship, such as hull strength, pilot health, turning efficiency, or other.
  • Exploration unlocks high value materials throughout the system, which strengthens the wealth accessible across the system and for individual planets
    • With return of investment, the richest powers will become even stronger than the others.
    • At some point a power may break into war, if they feel too strong compared to a neighbor.
  • Development creates protection against disasters such as war.
    • Disasters include war, asteroids, solar storms and environmental collapse
  • Ecological disaster is looming on Earth, and only excessive development, to the point where it becomes economically inviable, is required to save the Earth. You must balance trade, exploration and development to save the world.
  • Money can be spent on a limited set of gradually more and more expensive upgrades, which eventually carry a very low return on investment, and is required for fuel, repairs, trade and other resources.
• Signals and points of interest spawn as the player traverse the system, giving the player free resources, opportunities or occasional hazards to encounter and discover.
  • Asteroids may threaten planets and if the player destroys them, resources will spawn.
  • Signals may contain a prompt for delivering a passenger or a lucrative trade.
  • Pirates may spawn, if I want to do combat.
• Through simple prompts and maybe a system of voice over, the player is guided through the world on a linear path, which will lead to the conclusion of the game.
• Player health is impacted by heavy prolonged thrust, the player has a tolerance in time depending on their age, and regenerates through the use of a consumable resource, which they may purchase at the market.

The end depends on the player. The player may die and never play the game again, or the player may survive for 30 ingame rounds Earth years, which leads to a choice: Retire or keep playing. If they keep playing, health of the player is now shown as a countdown, and it will never go up. Thrust reduces health, and health start to decline at an increasing rate. Estimated time of death is always shown as an overlay where mission prompts usually are shown. When they land, they now have the option to retire at any point.

When the player dies, a list of achievements are shown, depicting the Longest Life, Richest Captain, Longest Distance Traveled, People Saved for the players' current and best run. If they exceed certain values for any one area, a reward is given, maybe adding something for the next run, maybe a simple poem.

I have some wild ideas about audio, and some old code for bending gravity that I haven't put to use yet, so nothing is final and everything may change at any time for any reason. This is not a promise.

Roadmap

Q1 2023 - Basic interactive tutorial

• Player spawn on planet
• Reduced fuel in rocket, no fuel on Earth
• Goal is to land on the moon
• Controls shown on screen
• Disabled audio

Q3 2023 - Advanced interactive tutorial

• Better UI (and GUI)
  • Launch by pressing thrust (and make it free)
  • Refuel / Repair hotkeys
  • Limited POI spawn based on player proximity
  • Navigational icons highlight mission targets
• Rework audio
• Expanded tutorial after moonlanding
  • Player must complete an orbit around earth and pick up X pieces of scrap
  • After landing, either complete an orbit of earth with less fuel spent or more fuel spent, depending on how much fuel was spent on previous orbit
  • The player may sell scrap collected for money
  • Player is given a heavy load of cheese and sent to land on Mars
  • Option to buy more cheese is unlocked

Q1 2024 - Trade and passengers

• Expanded narrative introducing other planets
• Trade
• Passengers
  • Player may be approached  by a potential passenger when leaving a planet, asking for a timed trip somewhere. Good pay, gives rating to the player which may allow access to more passengers or further trips by the same passenger.

Q3 2024 - Environmental consequences

• Trade, missions and passengers affect planetary environments, which in turn affects the planetary economy
• Planetary economy affects planetary reach of influence
• Fuel and repair becomes exponentially more expensive the more the player uses, per-planet (should I do this now?)