Game
Starship Simulator

4 years ago

Weekly Dev Diary - Issue 12

25/09/21


I finally had the chance to start work on the fusion reactor this week, which is something I really want to get right because it's very much the beating heart of the ship. I'm basing the design on real-world FRC reactors, so I've spent a fair bit of time this week studying how fusion reactors operate in detail. Rather than simply being an attractive centrepiece, I'm keen for our reactor to be detailed and accurate to the science/engineering involved.

reactor3.png

Deuterium and Helium 3 gas will be heated into plasma at each end of the reactor, before being fired through accelerator coils and a theta pinch. The two high-velocity plasma volumes will then collide in the reaction chamber and be heated further to millions of degrees, while neutral beam injectors maintain plasma stability and provide additional fuel.

reactor2.png

Ions from the fusion reaction are directly harvested and turned into electrical energy for the ship, resulting in a clean and reliable source of power. It's also very safe, with Deuterium and Helium 3 fusion being aneutronic, meaning it doesn't generate any harmful neutron radiation. All of the fuel and coolant involved is also completely inert, so there's no risk of explosions or a meltdown, a critical point for something like a starship!

reactor1.png


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Weekly Dev Diary - Issue 13

02/10/21

Without a doubt, one of the most common questions we've been asked over the past week is "Will you be supporting VR?" Well, after today we can respond with a resounding yes! 1st stretch goal reached! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fleetyard/starship-simulato…

Casually flying past a random star in our new completely physicalised galaxy. All stars and planets exist in real-time, and you can warp between them at any speed!

If you would like to know more, please join our Discord: https://discord.gg/eDSQvpgdUX

Or Wishlist on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1332100/Starship_Simulator

We are almost at the end of the #100daysofgamedev

In the past 93 days, we have created an entire galaxy system, added multiplayer, designed a new bridge, and almost a complete A-Deck.

Here's a snippet of that.

I'm happy to say you can now customise quite a few individual things. Here's a few examples...

I've updated the warp effect and the warp bubble, which will smoothly distort space while the Alcubierre drive is running. This was an important effect to get right because it needs to be descriptive of how the drive operates.

Step aboard a fully-simulated, realistic starship with 200+ rooms over 7 decks. Explore a 1:1 scale galaxy driven by real astrophysics, in real-time, either solo or with friends.

Wishlist: https://t.co/T1HAbryTlu

Discord: https://t.co/wHPPCmIBoE

Our newest dev video is out now!

https://t.co/c8G4hY8FXA?amp=1

Wishlist us on Steam!

Work continues on further optimising the generation of star systems around the ship. We can now generate 108k stars across 27 sectors without any noticeable performance impact, starting from the middle outward so the player doesn't notice the redraw.