Last week, I covered Stellar Fortune's job system. It is basically responsible for moving goods from point A to point B using the player and NPC's. This week I focused my development efforts on the overall economy. Read on for more details about Stellar Fortune's economy.
Below is a breakdown of what I was up to this week:
Buy and Sell Orders. Similar to EvE Online, the player and NPC's can create Buy and Sell Orders to obtain or sell commodities. At this time, they are only in effect on the station where the order was made.
Warehouses. Players and NPC's can purchase warehouse space on stations, which acts like an inventory. Right now, this is primarily used by NPC Traders, who need to store goods they purchase.
Factories. A Factory is purchased on a Trade Station. It gets assigned a Recipe and will use materials in a specified warehouse for production. At this time, only NPC's can own factories. There will be a rank beyond Trader which will allow a player to own and operate them.
Currently, I only have a single Recipe in the game. Machinery is produced using 5 tons of Iron. Once produced, it is put up for sale using a Sell Order. Traders or Merchants will then take it from there. Mining Stations, for example, have Buy Orders for Machinery as it will increase their efficiency.
Agricultural Station. I added a new station type to the game, Agricultural. This station produces a new commodity called, you guessed it, Food. Every station has a need for food. You gotta eat.
Ship Equipment. The player can now drag and drop ship equipment from their cargo bay to a component slot on their ship screen. This is similar to most MMO's.
I think that covers the major additions to the game this week. It is starting to shape up nicely. Below are a few screenshots. Remember, the models and UI are just placeholders.
