Hello,
I've been working on the cockpit, the look of the game and the Charter and Ledger systems mentioned in the last update. This is a look at what's changed in the development build, including a better explanation of how those systems work.
You spend most of the game sitting in this thing. It should feel like a place, and quite a lot of it still looked flat. I've been working on the depth of the panels, how the screens sit inside them and where the light falls. The main console now lights the surrounding surfaces. Unlit parts of the cockpit stay darker, and the edges of the panels have more weight to them.
There are also some small physical details. Vents, maintenance covers and a cable that actually connects to something. The panel lights respond to what's happening on the ship and occasionally flicker. That respects the Flashing Lights setting and reduced motion. I wanted the cockpit to feel used and slightly unpleasant to spend time in. It is company equipment that you're renting, after all.
Stations, warp gates and wrecks have had another pass too. The planets already had a visual style I liked, so I've brought the other objects closer to that. Stations have more depth around their hulls and docking bays, with details that reflect their facilities. Gates have moving side assemblies and some movement inside the opening. Wrecks have clearer shape and lighting. These are still the same objects you interact with, but they should sit more naturally in the view.
The main menu has changed quite a bit. I tried a more detailed machine housing first, then stripped most of it back. It's now a dark terminal with the game's existing green text, a faint CRT texture and four commands. Aetrocor is there, along with a reminder that access depends on your rental agreement. That's enough.
When starting a run, you choose a Charter. This is a loose commitment to a type of work. Clean Merchant, Smuggler, Salvage Operator and Relief Hauler are some of the choices. Free Trader is there if you want a more general approach. Your choice influences the opportunities and objectives you receive, but it doesn't prevent you from doing other work. A Clean Merchant can still decide that the illegal cargo looks tempting.
During the run, the Charter offers timed objectives separately from ordinary jobs. You choose which objective to accept and can have one active at a time. A Clean Merchant might be asked to finish clean contracts. A Salvage Operator might need to scan wrecks or recover something from them. You carry these out through the existing trading, job and salvage systems. Completing objectives builds Charter standing and can earn useful rewards such as a voucher for supplied work, an intel lead or some rent relief.
I've been improving how those objectives are selected. Offers now take more account of your ship, available cargo space, money and existing commitments. Later offers can also suggest a different activity instead of repeatedly leading with the same task. The intention is to give you something worth planning around while you decide how to keep the ship running.
The Ledger gives you a way to record a career and its score. Different outcomes recognise different things. You might qualify through a clean operating record, your Charter work, off-book earnings or a strong financial position. The requirements are shown in the game, so you can see what you're working towards. Having a lot of cash is useful, but it isn't the only kind of career the game recognises.
Once you qualify, you can record that outcome as your retirement result. That gives you a point where you can call the career finished and try another approach in a new run. Recording it does not force the current run to end. You can keep operating if you want to. An unsuccessful career can be recorded too, but an unresolved final notice or a repossessed ship won't be presented as a comfortable retirement. Recording a score doesn't settle your debts or undo repossession.
There is also the optional Challenge Ledger when setting up a run. You can take on conditions such as higher rent, stricter manifest checks or more dangerous routes in exchange for a higher score multiplier. Completing Charter objectives with those conditions active builds progress towards further challenge unlocks. Those unlocks give you more conditions to try in later runs. They don't give your next ship free upgrades or extra money.
This is the part I was missing when the game was entirely open-ended. You can now work towards a result, record it and come back with a different Charter or a worse rental agreement. You can also ignore the retirement side and keep playing as a space trading sandbox. Visiting other systems is encouraged through opportunities, but it isn't a requirement for recording a career.
There are more reasons to use equipment you've just bought. Refrigeration can open up a short supplied delivery to try it out, and ordinary deliveries can lead to return freight when there's suitable demand at the previous port. Contract details also distinguish cargo costs from estimated margin. A payment that reimburses cargo you bought isn't all profit, and failure charges for that work now take the margin into account. Failing jobs still has consequences.
There was also a particularly annoying Comms issue where clicking to accept a job could appear to do nothing. That has been fixed. If acceptance is blocked, the reason is now shown in the dialogue. Off-book offers have been shortened too, so you can get to the cargo, price and conditions without reading through so much extra information.
A new playtest is coming next week, so you'll be able to try these changes yourselves. I'd especially like feedback on the Charter and Ledger systems and whether the darker cockpit is still comfortable to read. It should be an unpleasant place to work. Reading the controls shouldn't be the unpleasant part.