Minor Update (v.0.5.1.)

I added an inspirational message at the start.

Also i realised that app.js was so messy and approaching 2000 lines so I did major reformatting and restructuring.

Nothing much else was added, but I did do some stylistic edits to make the UI more approachable and remove the dumb gradients and stuff like that.

Major update (v0.5.0)

(new features)

• Not really many
• But, it’s now on Github!
• Most stuff in this log is preparation for critical system generating step

(Bug fixes)

• Star pos is at y=0 now so yay
• No more weird popups that I implemented and forgot existed
• UI refined
• asteroid clusters generate naturally now

(to fix)

• Collision detection with asteroids
• Makes stars more massive, or make the ring more spread
• Replacing old filthy looking UI with my own more sleek one

Minor Update (v0.4.1)

Sorry for the delay!

Most bugs are now fixed.

I provided a better screenshot so you can see the asteroids a bit better!

Major Update (v.0.4.0)

(added)

• Asteroid generation! Yay! (Just perlin noise with isohahedron geometry)
• Asteroid belts, fields and rings
• Improved UI functionality (with overflows, so it is usable now)

(new bugs)

• I realised star’s y is actually ABOVE that of the planet, so the asteroid rings for smaller stars will give you really weird results. Easy fix, though: just reset pos to y=0 and recode the belt around the star so it accurately reflects the new position. (in the image the small rock things are the asteroids; sorry if they’re not very clear!)

No bug fixes for this update unfortunately. I know in the last one I said there would be an intermediate minor update for bug fixes but I guess I made this instead. Next time, I probably (?) will fix the bugs.

Major Update (v0.3.0)

(added):

• Gas giant generation! That took way longer than expected, but it was ultimately mediocre, and I really want to improve the shaders still.
• There’s 4 main types of gas giants, each generated on seeds, and the shaders should be dynamic.
• With gas giants, we also have ring-like generation! We can generate saturn-like rings now.
• Small spaceships that tour the system! So it doesn’t feel that lonely.
• Basic pathfinding for those spaceships.
• Nerf up the player’s spaceship speed and thrust.
  (so you can zoom round the system)
• Moons are now optional.

(Bug fixes)

• Fixed spaceship glitching problem wherein orientation was flipped.

(new bugs)

• Moon does not go away when you regenerate without the moon parameter
• FOV too wide for spaceship leading to clipping issues (again) [easy fix]
• Idk, Gas Giant shader needs to look better
• Annoying nonfunctioning orbit parameter at the start.

Sorry for the long delay, but I think it was worth it. I aim to improve the gas giant shader by adding localised spiral storms and etc. and fix the above bugs for the next devlog and minor update. Heck, I have plans for this to become a game now, given its satisfactory results: stay tuned!

Minor Update (v0.2.1)

(Bug fixes)

• We fixed the shader issue, yay! Turns out the near plane of camera was too small, affecting depth buffer precision so we changed that and now it works very well.

Next step: more planet typessss, for the next big update. I will begin versioning now and I have edited my previous devlogs to reflect this.

C y’all very soon!

Major Update (again!) (v0.2.0)

We added stars! Woo! But the shaders are now broken again. :(
(Bug fixes)

• Reduced size of spacecraft.
• Now lighting works, it’s from the star! Not from a random light anymore!

(Added)

• Procedural star generation given seed. My favourite is the Class Bs.
• Fresnel+complementary shader.
• (A bug): aliasing of liquid???

Major Update! v0.1.0

I aim to be a bit more serious when posting this stuff now, but I have officially:
(Bug fixes)

• resolved all of the shader issues (that I’ve identified)
• made it more aesthetically pleasing (i.e. darker colours, etc.)
• (after spaceship mode) used a transformFactor on top of OrbitControls since for some reason when I transfer from third to first person the camera goes from front to back.

(Added)

• A flyby (spaceship mode) so you can explore the system! (in the future)
• Our second celestial body: a moon! Now it looks like our earth. :)
• wrote shaders (mostly copy paste the main planet’s) + noise generated moon and put it in perfect circular orbit around the earth
• added an inspirational message at the start (quote-worthy) as an orientation screen.

That’s all for now. I also added some more screenshots and a recording, hope y’all like it.

First Update (v0.0.0)

Got the basic system up n running. Prolly this is going to be my shortest devlog because I got the easy stuff done… Oh well it looks OK for starters.

Need to improve water shader though in top priority. It does not work as good as the land shaders, it’s not dynamic so need to change that too.