This is a video devlog recapitulating the "universe" part of development of Antimatter from 2023 to 2024.
Massive work has also been done on the surface aspect ( the 2d side-view) but will be shown on another dedicated devlog, with explanations on how it will communicate with the rest of the simulation.

This is not an exhaustive devlog, a lot more has been done in many other aspects of the game and simulation. But here this is a rare occasion to show some parts of the game as a video.

-----------------------

And also I have skipped posting the last devlog, so here it is :

Politics



Continuing polishing the game (which is not the most exciting thing to talk about)... But this is still an occasion to write about what has been developed for the political system, which has greatly improved from the initial system.

Characters have a major role in the living universe in Antimatter and they even play the ever-changing political game.

The post-Antimatter crisis is bringing the intellectuals and/or the idealists to the first scene, much has to be done in a world where political tradition is banished to the domination of the Urghoghs (giant worms).

In this uncharted political land, intellectuals unburied (sometimes literally) the old ideologies from the XXI, XX, and XIXth centuries as the period of Urghigh obscurantism met a convenient analogy to the European's Enlightenment era.

The political scene is therefore dominated by diverse ideologies, in the most naive way. The old world's political legacy is religiously followed to the letter, even the neo-classic estheticism and symbolism mimicked with nostalgia in the haste to bring humanity to a new order.

The Assembly



The assembly represents all the voting members of an organization, separated into chambers that determine the voting power of the member.



A parliament can be extended or reduced with policies.



Each seat in the assembly is occupied by an actual character.

Ranks & Chambers



A member may be promoted or kicked out of a chamber depending on his influence and the influence of his peers.

A rank can have requirements such as the necessity to be landed, be a captain, have a certain education, etc... These requirements are to be voted as a new policy.

Political Parties



Political parties gather like-minded persons, who share common ethics.



While similar in name to the modern era's political parties, these parties have strong differences. they are an attempt to parrot the old world's political system but are still an emanation of their time. The Urghost party is the exception, they will oppose almost everything.



A political party has its own agenda of policies to enact (or to oppose). The resulting ethic of the party is determined by its set of desired and opposed policies.


Votes and Elections



A vote is taken with all members, many factors play a role in the acceptance of a policy, but generally, a member will vote for his political party.

A debate can extend for weeks or even months.



The player himself can be involved in politics just like any other character, he can propose the enactment or revocation of a policy by spending political power or debate against or in favor of a vote.

Yes, an outpost is a sort of proto-colony and shares a lot of features with it.
However, it functions very differently in some aspects. Changing from an outpost to a colony is not necessarily a viable evolution.
Outpost is not limited in populations and buildings, so in size, it can be compared with other colonies.

(Steam) https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1343010/view/3953664641967738246

Despite the relative calm, things have been productive for the past months. My initial plan to make a video devlog was aborted at Christmas due to real-life issues. As always, I (for now) prioritize productive development over communication when available time tightens.

I will instead post some devlogs spread for the coming weeks of all the recent progress because a lot has been done.

Antimatter is now being polished as I have ceased creating additional major core features for the past 3 weeks. This is excellent news.

An outpost can be created anywhere on a planet or asteroid's surface. Employees and slaves can be housed here, and the local population can also be employed. It functions as a production complex where a range of buildings, including mines, factories, and farms, can be built. An outpost also has a trade node module, which means that commercial exchanges can be made here. Finally, terraforming can be performed from here.


The first thing to do is to reach a viable planet.



Preparation is important; a spacecraft should be loaded with construction materials as its buildings require a lot of resources. Food is also important to support a land expedition.



Surveying the planet from its orbit for a few days can help in localizing a landing area.



The tile where the spacecraft will land is revealed, but it is worth exploring the vicinity to find the best region to settle.



There is at least one gold deposit in this region (Vafir). An outpost's range of activity extends to the entire region of multiple tiles.



Founding an outpost requires a minimum of 10 settlers; it can have multiple statuses that will determine the diplomatic relation to its founding organization.



The outpost is physically present on the planet. Outposts from other organizations can be found too.



Outposts, just like colonies, can be visited with a party or a spacecraft. This is also an entry point to the native population market. If a local uncivilized population is present in the region, they will make part of their subsistence production (which depends on local factors) available to the market where the owner of the outpost gets a cut on each transaction.



Managing an outpost is much less complex than a colony.



The region of Isflen has good mining potential.



Trading can be automated to keep stock high on certain products or to resell production. Price, stock, and trade actions can all be automated.



Buildings/Upgrades are the main components of an outpost. Naturally, the available mines and crops are dependent on the natural resources and the climate of the region. Alternatively, hydroponic farms can be built.



The first initial building to be constructed is a habitat, which requires resources, creating a demand at the local trade node.





An outpost doesn't require food, and its population never starves (no need to micro-manage this), as I assume that any built outpost is self-sufficient in food and water. The whole life support challenge is also abstracted away. Of course, all of this comes at a cost; a proportion of workers will always be allocated to sustain the outpost. The habitability of the planet will reduce maintenance for life support; available water and lush wilderness will help for self-sufficient food production. It is therefore key to establish an outpost in a viable location as it ultimately affects the efficiency of the entire complex.

@Kyle

Is the project dead? Or have you been working on it in secret.
Loved what you were doing!

Kind regards.

Kyle can correct me if I'm wrong but I think "finished" may be more accurate than dead. The goal of quasar was to re-implement the latest planned version of VB6 aurora in C#/C++, which I think has been achieved at this point.

Only a single source of antimatter on the entire map? That's... troubling.

Especially with the implication that the worms have a death grip on it. Or, you know, any other organization that manages to wrest control from the worms. There's really little incentive to provide it outside your faction if it's the only source of FTL travel, it's just such a massive advantage you'd want to squash access as much as possible.

Everything else looks pretty good, although I wonder if the Replicants, if they build up strong enough, could eventually take the Core?