Array 0.3.4 Shape of Space Update Out Now! - Devlog
Array - 0.3.4 Shape of Space by Obsidian Star Digital
Hello everyone! Once again thank you all for the support that you have been showing to Array! The Shape of Space update is finally here and with it comes a whole new level of generation possibilities, new space phenomena, and changes to the core of Array!
I am very excited to get into this update as it is jam packed full of goodies for everyone, let's get right into it!
SystemBuilder v11
SystemBuilder is the custom space engine that has been powering Array from the very beginning, finally it is getting a massive update with SystemBuilder v11. There are many new things coming in this update which bring some really fun things in-game and change generations as a whole!
System Age
This expands on the previous SystemBuilder v10 update which added Proto-Systems, and dying suns. At generation each system is assigned an age which quietly influences everything else in that systems generation.
This is a massive change that makes each system feel more natural in its generation. A systems age is visible in the galaxy view.
Gravity Wells
Space itself now misbehaves. Gravity wells tear open at random, they drag nearby starships and asteroid miners toward their center, resisted by ship thrust, warships punch through while freighters slow, stall, or get pulled off course.
They are pure disruption by design: a well never destroys anything, and a trapped ship drifts free when it expires. But a well sitting on a trade lane or over a battle will reshape it!
Trojan Asteroid Clouds
Rather than rings these asteroids spawn as clumps. With their own orbits.
System Anomalies
Roughly one system in fifty hides something that should not be possible. Eighteen distinct anomalies can now generate:
- Hot Jupiter skimming its star
- Colossal ring system visible across the map
- Binary planet pair locked in mutual orbit
- Moon larger than its parent dwarf
- Captured rogue world on a decaying orbit
- An interstellar object passing through
- A planet orbiting BACKWARD against its whole system
- Nearly polar orbits
- Twin adjacent belts
- A molten impact remnant ringed by its own debris
- A broken planet reduced to a dense shattered ring
- Brown dwarf companion carrying its own miniature system of moons
- Habitable worlds warmed by two suns
- Planets plowing through an asteroid belt
- A moon with its own moonlet
- Comet-like eccentric planets
- Dead ancient systems with almost nothing left
- Perfect resonant chain of orbits.
The galaxy tooltip names the anomaly, and the first time you enter such a system the game announces it. Happy hunting!
Expanded Asteroid Belts
Belt generation got a full overhaul. Systems can now stack up to three stellar asteroid belts, planets and moons keep their own local belts, and black-hole systems, previously empty of belts entirely, now guarantee one to two 'shattered' debris belts placed just outside the anomaly clearing making it prime but dangerous mining real estate.
Belt identities are collision-proof, and multi-belt systems name themselves properly (Belt II, Belt III).
Outer System Generations
When generating new systems SystemBuilder will now generate outer system debris and POIs!
Black Hole Palettes
Black holes recently got a massive update and look really awesome, however they all spawn looking the same with nothing setting them apart, now each black hole spawns with a distinct ring color!
Flight 2.0
Flight mechanics have been a staple since version 0.2.0, but they have always felt a bit too rigid and blocky for my liking. With Flight 2.0, space travel finally feels much more fluid! Fleets are no longer just a single sliding blob; instead, every individual vessel now calculates its own flight-model arc to find its place in the formation.
https://i.redd.it/1i9zq4vadfjh1.gif
Whether fanning out from a stack, swinging wide through high-speed turns, or settling into staggered positions upon arrival, the movement is dynamic and crisp. When entering orbit, fleets now string out beautifully along the orbital ring, creating a convoy wrapped around the world where each ship maintains its own tangent.
Every single transition glides perfectly, ships should never teleport, blink, or stack through one another! I am very excited to hear your feedback on these changes! What else should I tweak to make the flight experience even better?
Galaxy View QOL
Players can now toggle wormhole routes and starship gate route views in the galaxy and universe view for a cleaner gameplay experience while navigating these UIs.
UI Clean Up
Across the game buttons and other UI elements have received some polish, this is the first part of a much larger modernization of the UI coming in the 0.3.5 Cleaning House update but wanted to call it out as most in game UIs have already been touched in some way.
