We’re giving you the chance to take pictures of the cosmos and note down your adventures in your own Captain’s Log. Because as a player I want to know when I took my first pirate down, or discovered a comet, or bought my first battle cruiser, or had my first battle cruiser destroyed due to some suspect piloting, and anything else important that’s happened to me. To remind me of my story so far.
Many games create an auto-log or journal that gives you general information about where you’ve been, or what you’ve done. Often linked to single player story lines, yet also sometimes mixed with other information on what you’ve been doing in the game world. These can always be difficult to read for me. It’s hard to find the information you want, and there’s no way to really see how your career has flourished. Mostly because they’re presented in a book format which means actually getting the information you want is near impossible.
With that in mind we’re going to have a “proper” history screen. One that will remind you of just about everything that’s happened to you thus far, in a quick, easy to read and accessible format.
The history screen works on a timeline. You’ll be able to look back through every important event that has occurred during your career. Scroll along it to see when, and where, all sorts of stuff happened. It will include landmark achievements – “Vigilante : Took out a Pirate Nest”. Or that you committed your 10th act of piracy yourself!
A brief example shows how it works:
- 15th Jan 3459, 13:17 – Bought new large fighter vessel
- 15th Jan 3459, 13:18 – Renamed large fighter to “The Kraken”
- 15th Jan 3459, 13:24 – Hired new crew member, Jock Hanko
- 15th Jan 3459, 13:24 – Hired new crew member, Marrak Oblar
- 16th Jan 3459, 09:24 – Discovered new System, Fostcir
- 16th Jan 3459, 09:31 – Defeated 2 ships in battle in the Fostcir system
- 16th Jan 3459, 09:32 – Crew Jock Hanko improved his battle tactics knowledge
- 17th Jan 3459, 14:00 – Awarded Imperial Medal of Valour for services rendered to the Imperial Navy.
- 18th Jan 3459, 18:01 – Relations with the Llod faction (peaceful) improved. Bartered successfully with trader.
The format in the UI won’t be a flat list though – it’ll be a 3D timeline showing markers with these events that you can scrub along or filter to find what you’re looking for fast and easily.
Anything shown in italics there can be clicked on and you’ll be taken to the screen that relates to that in-game event/data. When we have crew members you’ll see their profile screen, and you can also look at their own personal history screen. You’ll be able to see what the NPC has been up to before you hired him, and since. This information will be available to you before you hire anyone too. It’s basically like looking at their CV! Which means the history screen can be an important tool for you. Always do some research before you hire new crew!
Information Types
I’ve added a few examples of what you can expect to appear on the history screen. This isn’t a complete list as there are a few surprises that will appear too!
Mercantile: Bought/sold vessel, bought/sold station, made xxx credits (5000, 50000, etc), bought/sold black market goods (type).
Criminal acts/Law: Committed (1st, 5th, 10th, etc) act (type), fined, arrested (reason), imprisoned (length), community service (type).
Crew: Hired, fired, left [of own accord], promoted, died (reason).
Trade: Set up a trade route, trade route broken, trade route attacked (by).
Exploration: Discovered (system, anomaly, etc).
Jobs: Completed (type, reward), shared.
The in-game database can and will track more data than you’d want to see – and more, we can use that data to forge more data about your exploits by forming relationships between things that happen as you play to provide more interesting things, such as in-game articles or news-feeds related to your actions – or things that may happen in systems you’ve visited or flagged.
Dark and Shady Past
What’s more – because your history in the game persists forever – things you’ve done in your dark and distant past may well be dragged into the present to haunt you. Remember taking out that cruiser which fired on you six months ago? Well – the captain’s relatives do… and now they’ve tracked you down they are out for revenge.
Another fun thing we’re keen to explore is that your characters in the game leave a permanent mark on the universe. So – if you start a game for “Commander Bob” and end up toasted – Commander Bob’s exploits can persist in the next game you create. So if Bob was a nasty piece of work who blew up a station and left a wake of destruction behind him – that station is still dust in your new game.
Of course, you can always “Reset” the game universe, and start again fresh out of the box 🙂
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