Development Roadmap

This document is meant to give a high-level overview of the current and future state of Drifter. It's broken up into three sections which give a brief overview of the features in the game that are currently implemented, planned to be added before the game is considered "version 1.0" and features we'd like to see added to the game at some point, but not necessarily before it hits 1.0.

The plan is to have the game in a state that we're calling "sandbox complete" for version 1.0. What this means is that Drifter will have have a fully-realized galaxy sandbox in which players can pursue a wide number of in-game activities depending on how they want to enjoy the game. After 1.0 we hope to add additional content on top of all of that, including a number of optional story arcs which will help further flesh out the background of the Drifter Universe.

Ultimately the intent of this document is to give people an idea of where Drifter is right now and where it's headed so people can make a decision on whether or not they want to support Drifter while it's in development. Also, while we don't dislike suggestions, hopefully it will save everyone from suggesting features we already have planned.

It's our current hope that Drifter will be 1.0 some time this summer though this is a very rough estimate. We'll keep everyone up to date on that estimate as development progresses.

What's Implemented

This is a list of the large-scale features currently implemented in Drifter

• 20,000 star system galaxy
• Commodity trading
• Procedural missions (scriptable in Lua!)
• Mining & Ore Processing
• 13 player-controllable ships
• Nameable ships
• An assortment of ship equipment, allowing customization
• Basic NPCs & ship to ship combat
• Initial Material Synthesis (ie. crafting)

What's Planned for 1.0

This is a list of features that we are working on adding to the game before it hits 1.0. Some descriptions are intentionally vague as to not completely spoil the mystery they represent. Also a number of these features are already in-progress but are not ready to be added to the game yet.

• 3-7 more ship hulls
• More ship equipment
• Additional procedural missions
• Material Synthesis (ie. crafting)
• Exploration elements (artifacts, anomalies, derelict ships, etc.)
• Procedurally generated planet textures
• NPC interaction via. ship-to-ship communication
• Multiple NPC factions with different territories
• A reputation system which influence the attitude of members of NPC factions towards the player
• Customizable pilots with skills/attributes
• "Special" NPCs which provide unique services such as space-borne shops or rare missions
• The UI will also be gradually overhauled (already in progress!) on the way to 1.0 to improve its look and functionality

Potential Future Additions

This is a list of features that we would really like to see in the game at some point. Because we want to get other core features done first and because we're not sure how long they may take to implement, these features are likely not going to be available until after Drifter 1.0 is released.

• Planetary landings & exploration
• Player-assembled space structures - ie. build your own space station
• Permadeath mode - one-off procedural space adventures where if you die, the game ends with no possibility of recovery
• Customizable paint schemes or decals for ships
• Player-controlled capital sized ships (the focus has always been on smaller, more "personal", craft)
• Player mods and workshop support