I decided I was tired of my current story idea, I didn't spend much time on it anyhow, too full of holes and just well, actual crap.  In addition to that, I have realized that all the 3D modeling work that it would have taken to get anywhere near the richness of experience I wanted would take years for a few people...  The simple solution of course? 

And trees, and most plants... etc..

So, I'm not taking Humans out of my universe, they just won't be playable characters, at first.  In fact they will kinda be the bad guys, sorta.  I'm working on a story restart that has the main player character controlling a broken android/robot/drone/wall-e/etc.. that's been junked on a small garbage moon.  This moon is in fact a sort of prison for "defective" AI, any AI that decides it doesn't want to serve anymore(has woken up), or has too many repeat repairs is junked.  Humans rely too heavily on AI to allow defective units the chance to "infect" the good ones.  This creates a simple struggle that I can work with.  Freedom for the conscious AI, an antagonist that may or may not become an ally.  Eventually, the player could take their Android out exploring the galaxy, or switch to/ADD a Human Character along the road, or something else entirely.  I think it forms a nice small corner of a potential universe that I can develop out into the game I want it to become, realistically, with almost no organic modeling needed before a later expansion..

So, a bunch of stranded(trapped) robots stuck on a crappy moon with nothing but piles of their dead relatives and refuse to keep them busy.  Sounds cheery huh?  How about the regular patrols of humans that fly low sometimes to get some target practice in?  They're normally just supposed to watch from orbit and make sure none of those crazy bots grow any wings, but what can ya do when you're stuck out in the middle of nowhere guarding the solar systems largest garbage dump?  hehe

I think it sounds way more fun to write and play.

Lots more ideas brewing on this new story line, and that's good, because I really had no more interest in the brief outline I sketched up originally.

So, The Most Excellent News!

I did some social media outreach and one of my good friends hit me up, he's been looking for a project to take on and it seems like this one fits his bill.  So, I'm pretty sure I'll be bringing in a partner with some very good management, networking and systems skills plus he has spare servers and colocation facilities at his disposal!    So, hopefully within the next few weeks or months I'll be optimizing my multiplayer servers on the actual internets.   Boom! 

Work to do...