Planned Changes: May 2023

This upcoming update will mark the third and likely final update in the series of overworld improvements. Where February was focused on creating basic system-to-system movement, and March was all about getting random events up and running, April will mostly be focused on improving quests as well as polishing up misc things from the first two updates. I expect this month's update to be on the lighter side, as I work on the side to prepare for May which will likely be the start of another multi-month themed sprint.

Quest UI improvements

Better Quest Arrows

As of right now quest arrows just point in the the exact direction of the target, which is a very primitive approach since the target could be very far away. I'm going to instead do a check on entering and leaving systems, which will then update to display either the next fast travel point or track the object in system. This would work much how modern quest markers function.

Improving Quest Dialogues

The station quest UI through dialogue is kind of lacking. At a minimum I'd like to solve some of the display bugs in it with regards to quest previews. I'm considering moving on to displaying quests in a selection window similar to crew selection, which should scale a bit nicer. We'll see if that happens or not.

World Map Screen Enhancements

Additionally the UI on the world map and quests tab could stand to be better. It's still got a bit of jank I need to iron out. I also want to include both long and short descriptions for quests, as currently I only have a catch all description. Instead of "kill bountied fleet" which works well for a quick and dirty objective list, I can instead do a paragraph about how he wronged a certain faction by stealing 40 cakes when nobody was looking, and other fluff or useful info. This will also be good for much later in development when I begin to add story quests.

More quests

In general I'd like to have more quest objectives. TBH most of it will ultimately boil down to "go here kill stuff", "bring items to a location",  or "go here and do a skill check" but ultimately there's only so much one can do in this genre. Given the limitations of actions a fleet can perform, I want to mix it up as much as possible and do it in a way that encourages combat and exploration. Some ideas I'm playing around with:

• System and faction bounties. Either kill enemies from a given faction, or kill enemies in a system that are enemies of the quest giver. Not sure yet if I'll have a continuous quest until time expiration, require exactly X number of kills before expiration to get a reward, or grant per kill up to a limit.
• Research/Survey quests. Typically involves going to an isolated planet or system and performing a survey using the science or mining skills. Can give items occasionally. Ideally I'd like little random sub dialogues to happen occasionally just to break up the monotony.
• Rescue quests. Go to a system and help a fleet in need of fuel.
• Trade quests. Bring some commodity to a colony or station, typically at an inflated rate, or buy items in bulk. I intend for these missions to be the primary form of income for trader oriented players. Standard trade is not intended to be profitable, more as a means of offloading unwanted junk while buying expensive faction specific stuff.
• Black market quests. Same as resupply but with less than legal goods. I don't currently have a contraband system in place and probably won't for a while, so it'll be functionally identical to standard trade quests albeit with a different item pool.
• Hack firing array quest. Hack an automated firing array in the hopes of causing some damage and political unrest

The plan is that expanding how many quests there are will serve to get my foot in the door for other systems down the road, primarily improved trade mechanics and faction/NPC relations.