Hello everybody, once again!
As some of you know, I have been developing Stellar Insurgency for the past several years as a hobby side project. Development was put on hold for a few months, mainly because I got lazy, but I’m finally back and working on the game again.
My goal with Stellar Insurgency is to create a procedural galaxy with emergent gameplay driven by simulation. Procedural generation is used to build the galaxy's “stage” automatically, including planets, star systems, factions, and other elements. The goal is to create a galaxy that feels alive and different from one playthrough to another, rather than simply generating a random collection of locations.
Over the past few weeks, I have improved many parts of the game, but the most interesting development has been the Ship Designer.
The Ship Designer
The Ship Designer has gradually become a much more interesting part of the game, so I decided to make it accessible directly from the Start Menu.
Initially, the Ship Designer will be locked and will need to be unlocked through an achievement. Once unlocked, players will be able to create their own ship designs and eventually share them with other players.
There are many different types of components that can be installed on a ship, including shields, engines, weapons, sensors, and various other upgrades.
However, not every component is optional. Every ship needs a core component that defines how it operates:
Bridge → Large ships
Autonomous Bridge → Ships controlled by AI
Cockpit → Fighters and bombers
Brain → Biological ships
These components also affect how the ship interacts with its crew.
A ship equipped with a Bridge requires a Life Support component to keep its crew alive. If the Life Support system is damaged or compromised, the crew will begin to suffer the consequences.
Ships with a Bridge also require a Captain or Commander to operate and navigate effectively while ships with a cockpit require a squad leader.
An Autonomous Bridge, on the other hand, allows a ship to operate without a crew. These ships are controlled entirely by their onboard AI, so they don't require Life Support or crew members to function.
This creates some interesting design choices. A conventional ship can benefit from a crew and their abilities, but it also has additional requirements and vulnerabilities. An autonomous ship eliminates the need for crew, but comes with its own limitations and design considerations.
The Ship Designer is becoming an increasingly important part of Stellar Insurgency, and I'm looking forward to giving players more freedom to experiment with different ship configurations.
Demo 6 is planned for release within the next two weeks. With Demo v6 getting closer, there is still plenty to do, but development is moving forward again.
Some pictures follow.
A battleship in the ship designer.
A biological organism in the Ship Designer with two hearts, two eyes, and a brain. Oh my god, how original.
A fighter in the ship designer. Fighter / Bombers need a cockpit and a squadron leader to operate.
The ship designer is exposed at the start menu. Ship Designer will be locked and will need to be unlocked through an achievement.
A cruiser in a ship-yard during gameplay
I think the project is now in a state where I can realistically aim for an Alpha release before the end of 2027.
Since I plan to continue expanding the game with new features and systems after release, development will continue for a long time. My goal is to keep the game stable and maintain a strong focus on minimizing bugs while the game evolves.
More updates soon!
Tensorial