Thank you for supporting and following Stationbreak. The last month has been extremely hectic, and I’d like to share a little about what’s been happening behind the scenes in the first ever Stationbreak Steam Dev Blog.
At the end of August a small group of Discord members spent some time testing the core elements of Stationbreak in a closed playtest. The purpose of this playtest was to test different systems working together for the first time with a bit of an overall structure to each run.
Until now, the game’s core systems have been pretty scattered across various prototypes. This playtest consolidated all the disparate systems into a single build where power, thermal, crew and Material logistics all interact with each other.
This version now has a locked set of MVP modules as well as a small Objectives system, which lets you unlock more stuff for your station as you progress.
This playtest also exposes a few different varieties of fleet and star system composition. The screenshot below depicts a choice of fleets, representing different stages of fleet progression you may eventually encounter in the longer campaign.
The screenshot below shows seven different star systems with a variety of Morgan-Keenan (MK) classifications. Currently there are seven spectral types (OBAFGKM), and five luminosity values (I-V). Together these create a wide variety of star systems which each present different conditions and difficulties.
A significant chunk of this month went to improving the stability and performance of the swarm, or more specifically, the systems adjacent to it. The swarm itself has been stable for a while, but the targeting and defence systems have needed some attention. The Point Defence targeting system is now able to much more accurately track movement of individual swarmlings, and missiles are better at estimating the densest clusters where they’ll be most effective.
With this targeting & defence overhaul I’ve been exploring a new target painting mechanic, which in theory lets players prioritise targets. The feedback from playtesting has been mixed on this, though, so there might need to be more thinking on that feature before it goes in officially.
Thermal simulation has also been overhauled, refining how modules heat up and cool down. Module temperatures are now affected by three distinct inputs: environment (radiation & absorption), internal (such as from power generation or active cooling), and neighbouring module influence (such as the new Heat Sink that absorbs heat from nearby modules). ‘Overheating’ and ‘Thermal Stress’ are also now defined game terms with specific effects on crew. So make sure to keep your crew comfortable with corresponding modules!
This closed playtest has wrapped up well and I’m very thankful for all the enthusiastic testers from the Discord community. There’s a lot of helpful feedback and I am currently working on addressing all the newly identified issues, as well as considering all the fantastic suggestions for improvement.
The playtest is over for now, but if you missed it and would like to try out an early version of the game, don’t panic! Stationbreak is still a work-in-progress and will need more extensive testing to shape its development. Join the Discord and keep an eye out for news on the next one!