One of the challenges in developing a space 4X game is that the game has to be played on the colony, solar system and galaxy levels. Master of Orion II had separate galaxy map and colony management screens, and the solar system view was a small window that opened inside the galaxy screen. This was handy because sometimes you’d exit out from a planet and want to fast-forward a few turns before returning to that planet. I like this functionality, and want to preserve it in Predestination.
This means I need separate galaxy and colony views, which I can already do with my GalaxyScreen and PlanetScreen. These are distinct screens that can be switched between instantly, but I need to build a visually smooth transition between them. On selecting a planet, I’d like the game to zoom in on the planet before switching to the PlanetScreen so that the two screens look identical and you don’t notice the transition. I also need a solar system window that can be brought up in GalaxyScreen.
Above is a small cut out of a larger screenshot of the current GalaxyScreen (Click for full screenshot). This is the playable galactic field of stars. Details of all the planets at each star are already generated based on a previous project, so the next stage will be to implement the solar system window to draw those planets and their orbits. After that, I’ll have to make the transition for when you click on a planet to go into planet mode.
