Orbital Margins (the game wot I'm making)

[jedidia]

New update out! Now comes with the actual parameters of the starting spacecraft intended for the game. Also, there’s a Codex page now. There isn’t much in it yet, but I’ll be adding some background info on the world with each release from now on. This months featured entry is about the Great Lunacy, the time period during which much of the orbital infrastructure present in the game was built.
Read the patch notes for a more detailed rundown about what’s changed with this release:

Patch Notes 0.12.0 - Orbital Margins by RandomActsOfConstruction

I also heartily recommend the state vector of this month! I had promised last month that I’m going to geek out about the first actual spacecraft designed in-depth for the game, and that’s exactly what I’m doing. There’s pictures, too!

StateVector May 25 - Orbital Margins by RandomActsOfConstruction

[sheralmyst]

I feel like I should print out that diagram and put it up with my other space related collectables

[jedidia]

I feel very honored just by you having had the thought!

[jedidia]

I wish I had Sean’s superpower of getting thousands of people talking about my game by just posting an emoji, but Alas I have to post more involved things for much less return:

In short, graphics are coming to orbital margins, really soon. It’ll only be static backgrounds, and most will still just be dumb placeholder images, but I have a first background image for a space station, and I have the alex, so that’ll make two when the update drops. Not that much, now that I read it. Oh well…

[sheralmyst]

But it looks really cool

[jedidia]

It seems to be my eternal curse that my biggest updates keep being really close to NMS updates… Oh well. Let me come straight to the point:

THERE BE GRAPHICS NOW!!

Some, at least. Mostly still placeholders, making these things takes time!

We also have 3 shiny new orbital depots for remassing, enabling a lot of profitable options for a spacecraft like the Alex. This is acompanied by this release’s codex update, which is an entire section about Orbitography. It’s like geography, but with orbits. I recommend to read at least the logistics page to get a couple of pointers on how to plan your journeys!

Patch Notes 0.13.0 - (some) Graphics! - Orbital Margins by...

In this months devlogs I talk a bit about games that do menus in a way you don’t consider them menus, and about keeping myself in line when my brain is running off with ideas:

State Vector June 25 - Orbital Margins by RandomActsOfConstruction

[jedidia]

Couldn’t decide whether this was finished or not, so I asked my wife. She said it looks finished. So I guess that’s what huanggong’s going to look like for the time being:

Next update will be pretty small, just this new background and a codex entry. Spacecraft updates are coming along, but are certainly not release-ready yet.

[sheralmyst]

It looks like it is finished to the point of working but could be added to later. At least, that is what my brain sees
Happy cake day!

[jedidia]

@sheralmyst

It looks like it is finished to the point of working but could be added to later.

That is… actually pretty much the case! But I certainly had not expected to convey that in the image alone. Didn’t even attempt to!

[toddumptious]

Feel like I’m looking through those old educational books, usually hardback and thin, that had all sorts of space diagrams and visuals, you know the ones, sometimes they have those clear cellophane pages with the objects exterior and flipping it over reveals the interior, etc.

I miss those. If I recall, those old illustrations and representations from the pre-90s is what you were aiming for and youve certainly nailed it, right down to the contoured shading and the faint glow around objects

[jedidia]

Thanks for your encouraging words!

And here’s the promised release. As mentioned, only the new graphic and a codex entryabout the Big Bust (though that consists of 3 parts):

Patch Notes 0.13.1 - Orbital Margins by RandomActsOfConstruction

And this months state vector, right before I sign off and take a week of vacation:

State Vector July 25 - Orbital Margins by RandomActsOfConstruction

[jedidia]

After skipping a month, I’m back on the dev track, with a… very minor update. This adds graphics for one of the smaller stations, kroonhaven:

As well as a couple of codex entries about the busted years. This really starts to go into the meat of the games background history and how the current orbital civilization came to be.

Patch Notes 0.13.2 - Orbital Margins by RandomActsOfConstruction

Right now, there’s no more than that. However, spacecraft upgrading is coming fairly soon. Read all about that in this month’s state vector:

State Vector September 25 - Orbital Margins by RandomActsOfConstruction

[jedidia]

GRAH, I need some help here…

WOrking on the next space station for the game. For all others so far, I had some idea of at least the basic direction, here I had very little. I’m slowly starting to realize what it’s supposed to look like. However, I don’t have any idea of what the shot itself is supposed to look like, and by now I need to know to see where I need to add the details and where they won’t be any use at all.

I’ve tried 4 compositions, but I really can’t decide which one would be best, so you guys will have to help me decide. Note that the images are early WIP renders, the thing isn’t finished yet, so I’m not looking for criticism of the art work just yet. There’s a new habitat ring under construction on the other end of the station, the solar farms on each ends aren’t there yet, and that whole section in the middle with the weird protruding thingies is going to be where most of the work gets done. This station specializes on scavenging and salvage, so they do a lot of EVA work. I plan to put an “umbrella” for shade on the opposite side, but that isn’t there yet either.

In any case, here’s the 4 shots I made. Tell me which one you think is best suited!

Perspective 1 is a bit of a top-down view, with major focus on the habitat rings. May have the disadvantage that it puts the work section too much in the background, and that’s where most of the menu points are going to reside:

Perspective 2 is a more zoomed-out view showing the station in its entirety from a more top-side view:

Perspective 3 is a more “intimate” perspective, looking up the central shaft (errr… no, that pun was definitely not intended But now that it happened, I might as well leave it in). Would have the advantage that I don’t need to do the ring under construction at all, but has the disadvantage that it’s not apparent that there’s a ring under construction…

An attempt to kind of get something in the middle from options 2 and 3. Could probably move that a bit so not quite as much of the wheel is cut off, but some is always going to be to make this work.

So, which perspective do you like best? You can pick two if you can’t decide either. It’s probably still going to help me…

• Perspective 1
• Perspective 2
• Perspective 3
• Perspective 4

[sheralmyst]

So I am torn between 2 and 4. I like seeing the whole thing even though work is in one section but, I also like 4 because it is more focused on the work area but I can still see the 2 rings.

Not being able to see the 2 rings stops me from liking the intimate shaft view and the first one you already explained. It is focused on the wrong area.

[Mad-Hatter]

For some reason my brain wants image 2 but reversed. Sort of a readling left to right thing maybe.

Even though you say certain parts aren’t built yet, you could always take some artistic license with your own work & add the begining skeletal stages of the unconstructed parts, just to add a bit of complexity.

[jedidia]

@Mad-Hatter

For some reason my brain wants image 2 but reversed. Sort of a readling left to right thing maybe.

Hmmm… I see what you mean, but by now it would be a bit of a hassle to change…

@Mad-Hatter

Even though you say certain parts aren’t built yet, you could always take some artistic license with your own work & add the begining skeletal stages of the unconstructed parts, just to add a bit of complexity.

That was the plan (now it’s not a plan anymore, by now it’s modeled…). It’s just that some perspectives would not even contain the parts in question.

[jedidia]

Most voted for perspective 2, so that’s what I went with. Pretty much done now, I think:

Could have a bit more junk and stuff floating around in the work area, but that stuff is just so ridiculously tedious to make…

[jedidia]

0.14.0 is here!

Now with zero-g toilets and other fun upgrades for your sardine can of a spacecraft, along with smaller things like the new graphic above and a minor rearrangement of the UI to make space for some new buttons and getting rid of things that aren’t in use anymore. Read the complete list of changes in the patch notes:

Patch Notes 0.14.0 (spacecraft upgrades!) - Orbital Margins by...

As always, there’s some elaboration on the new feature and the current state of development in this months state vector:

State Vector October 25 - Orbital Margins by RandomActsOfConstruction

[jedidia]

Today should have been another release, but life got in the way. So here’s a picture of Akshaya Patra instead, a station dedicated exclusively to hydroponic farming:

[jedidia]

I’ve finally managed to wrap up all the loose ends for this release. New station (see above), quite a few new codex entries, but most of all completely overhauled job generation and UI. The game now feels more friendly to play, give it a spin if you miraculously find some time this month.

More details in the patch notes:

Patch Notes 0.15.0 - Orbital Margins by RandomActsOfConstruction

And some more information about that station up there, as well as where I’m headed next, in the last state vector of this year:

State Vector December 25 - Orbital Margins by RandomActsOfConstruction