Time for another small graphics update. I improved the mining laser shader so it’s more glowy and beamy to better match the overall style.

Currently, I’m spending some time refactoring the AI behavior. I had to split the old behavior trees into multiple ones, each responsible for specific jobs like mining, fighting, etc. This will keep the model cleaner. The major part, as always, is the fight behavior. I’ve currently polished the evasion behavior: AI now scores possible future positions based on which has the lowest threat and flies toward it. Ship also tries to take advantage of the surrounding environment. Next step is implementing missions that allow cooperation between bots.

I wanted to add more depth to my universe, so I added simple shadows to the debris renderer.

For a long time, I had a problem with the stability of asteroid orbits in long-running simulations. I wanted an in-game solution for this instead of simply correcting it on the backend, so I created fireflies. These creatures roam around the system and move asteroids that have drifted away from their designated orbits.

I had to spend some time dealing with the performance of a long-running simulation. The biggest issue was that long-term mining in the system created very complex asteroids that were heavy to simulate. Therefore, I introduced a simplified form of debris. When nothing is too close, I switch to this simplified form. This really lightens the load on the physics engine. Now I can have a solar system with thousands of asteroids without any problems.