Polaris – New game in development

Author: oakwhiz (33 Articles)

I run things around here at Minousoft Software. I enjoy developing games and building DIY electronics.

We’re working on a new game called Polaris, which will be a space travel simulator. Polaris will be my top development priority until June, when we expect to release a public beta. Note that I will probably spend less time improving the site until then.

The main goal of Polaris is to simulate the design ideas and processes that go into planning and launching space missions. We would also like to make Polaris both educational and fun at the same time.

Spacecraft in Polaris are constructed using a revolutionary modular approach. All spacecraft are comprised of small interconnected modules. Each module has its own functions and behavior, and works together with its neighbors. A simple example would be a space probe. It could include a main computer, a communications dish, and a thruster. Each part would be a module, and they would be linked together with special dynamic constraints. The constraints ensure that the modules stay together, even if one of the modules rotates or moves away. If a constraint or one of a constraint’s constrained modules is destroyed, the other modules attached to the constraint will simply disconnect and float away. This allows for some dramatic explosions; i.e. as modules are destroyed, the other modules connected start to break off in chunks and collide with each other, leaving a trail of burning debris.

At this point in development, we have finished basic constraint operations, and I have succeeded in linking five modules and having them interact successfully. This compares to the old physics system, which had major bugs and collided with itself, usually with catastrophic results. But the new physics system is astounding. The individual modules, which move and collide normally, act as one object when a simple constraint object is created between them. Hopefully the rest of it will go smoothly.

The following tasks are on the priority to-do list:

1. Make multiple-object rotation more realistic. This is when multiple constrained modules have a spinning force and moving force acting on all of the modules at once. Right now it works (mostly) but acts a little odd.
2. Improve force propagation. This is when a force on one constrained object causes a force on the other. This should scale automatically to situations when one module is the master to several other constrained modules.
3. Create and test thruster capabilities.