Its the end of day 1 for me, I've been working for about 11 hours and want a break.

Following on from my previous post I've gone ahead with the looting salvage from ruined ships idea, using the shadows of asteroids as cover from the suns heat and radiation.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/to8jffawupxyxc5/Day1EndImg.png?dl=0 (If the image above is not working, here is a link.)

I've managed to get a couple of quick models into the game and get some simple movement and controls connected up for the space ship. An early version of the heating/shielding in shadows system is in place too. I'm taking a bunch of sample points from the ship to the sun and testing for any intersections with asteroids. Its pretty simple but seems to be working.

Progress feels good but I'm not sure there is enough gameplay in my idea, flying from one asteroid to another feels a bit boring at the moment. I need to think of how I can extend it whilst keeping it based around the shadows or start again quickly. I might just need more structure in the levels too, rather than the random placement I have at the moment.

Tomorrow I will be adding some collectibles so there is something to actually aim for as well as a few death mechanics and collisions. If I have time I want to add some structure to the map to see if I can have a "full game" that might pin down some ideas for extras to add.