New Stars Status

I've fixed the economics page. The last page of the race wizard is also done:



I still need to connect the "All expensive tech start at level 3" button to C++ (there was an engine change needed). And to add the drop down for "Spend extra points".

I've started adding the GUI elements for cargo load and unload:




I need to take changes in these elements back into C++, and add the ability to create these orders from scratch.

Musical Interlude

Everything you know is wrong!
Black is white, up is down, and short is long.
And everything you thought was just so important
doesn't really matter at all.

...

Just as the floating, disembodied head of colonel Sanders
starting yelling,
"Everything you know is wrong!"

New Stars Status

I fixed the oddity in the ship designer.

Here are the next pages of the race wizard:






Still need to connect some of the economic spinners to the C++ code. Then I can finish page 6, and the race wizard will be done!

New Stars Status

Here is the current status of the race wizard:




Steps 1 and 4 are done. The point calculation code is done. I need to fill in the other pages.

New Stars Status

Woohoo! Ship designer is mostly done...



Moving from slot to slot does not work (you have to discard, and re-add). There are also some oddities in the interface after finishing a design off a blank hull.

I will try to fix the oddity before polishing off the race wizard.

New Stars Status

Made some more progress on the ship designer today. The component button brings up the list of components, and the available hull types button brings up the list of hulls. This uncovered a bug in the engine; there is no function to determine if a particular player can build a given hull. This is currently stubbed to always true. I haven't looked into the enemy hull code yet...




Next step is to enable the copy button.

Shocking Interview

I was poking around on the Way of the Master Radio website, and I found this clip. Make sure to watch it all the way to the end, or skip to the end if you've had enough...

New Stars Status

Here is the next screen shot:



We can see: the planetary environment display under the ship designer, the planetary build queue, a packet in the space display, and the ship designer dialog.

The ship designer dialog still needs a lot of work. It will currently display existing designs, but it cannot separate ships and starbases. It will not display enemy designs.

I have the drag and drop code for doing new designs, and I need to plug it into the "Copy Existing Design" and "Edit Selected Design" buttons. I also need to transmit the drag and drop commands back to C++ so that the new design can be saved.

That brings us up to date on the New Stars GUI. I will hopefully make some progress now :)

Stuff I've read lately

Perelandra (C.S. Lewis) - These middle of Lewis' space trilogy. I like Perelandra. It presents a very interesting view of the early fictional view of the solar system (with habitable Mars and Venus). Mars represents the old way, with angels directly guiding people. The intended system on Earth is fuzzier, due to its lead angel rebelling against God. Earth then becomes the place where God is made flesh (in Jesus), for the salvation of all. Venus is the newest creation. The Adam and Eve of that planet are free to choose, but two representatives from Earth are sent to fight over them.

That Hideous Strength (C.S. Lewis) - The last of the space trilogy. I didn't like the ending so much. It did kind of remind me of Stross' "Atrocity Archives" some.

Have Space Suit - Will Travel (Robert Heinlein) - A fun book. I think he could of taken a more serious turn to it, but it is targeted at a younger audience.