JeromeBollinger
commented
1 year ago @JenWy96 suggested having an abandoned colony to start from (helps to get started for new players). This also explains storywise why there is already a rail and defect train. The player must thus first repair the train and rails (serves as tutorial)
Question What is the core concept of the game?
Context The player should try to grow a colony in this remote place. To achieve this, the player must ensure the colony has the means to provide all the resources necessary to let the colonists survive.
Start Gameplay The player starts out with basic machinery to survive in this place but will soon run out of resources if no new resource sources are found. The player has to find an ice patch (A field where ice can be harvested from) and place an ice harvester on the field. The harvester requires energy to melt the ice and get liquid water from it. With liquid water, the player can apply electrolysis to get hydrogen and oxygen out of it. Hydrogen currently has no use and can be pumped out into space. CO2 can be pumped into the colony for raising plants and thus getting biomaterials. Other metals have to be found to build new machinery and mor complex systems.
The player can only move a fixed distance away from the tracks because his suit is connected to the machinery of the train. The tracks however can move electricity, materials, gases and liquids through it and act as inventory/conveyors for players and the colonist buildings. For the player to be able to move, he has to create new tracks out of available materials nearby.
In general the player has to navigate through an environment with little to no light where some blocks are breakable and some might not be. This should create a large mine in which the player has to navigate through to find new resources and place machinery.
Colonists Colonists may be used to give them a certain job. For the moment this might be the task to just create tunnels and tracks. You might can give them blueprints, like a chain of machinery to place if they find a resource patch.
Enemies Some kind of entity that gets more agressive towards the player the more noise your machines make. They might attack your tracks or chase you through your tunels. (Maybe your endgoal is to harvest resources which giant worms produce on this planet, just like in Dune) Parasite types that are sitting on the tracks and sucking biomaterials out of the pipes etc.
Alternatives