BeltScript

I'm a solo hobby developer and avid space simulation/game fan. This project is something I have wanted to create for years and years. Since the time of X2 and X3, I have been enamoured by the scripting available for automating your ships, fleet and the like in those games. However, it was extremely difficult to build complex scripts, as it was a very limited and clumsy language. Very few games I have encountered since then have "scratched that itch". I finally decided to attempt to write my own. 

So here we are, what I present is a proof of concept (PoC) of "BeltScript", a top-down 2D spaceship prospecting simulator where you have code control over various ship components: reactor, life support, thrusters, RCS, and utility tools such as a mining laser or sensors. You can write code to automate all of these components and run the ship completely hands-off. The future will bring the ability to manually fly the ship. 

This is a proof of concept, not a full game. The game lacks a plot, game loop pressure, and other things that make a game challenging and fun. This is only to demonstrate to myself that I can create a tokenised language interpreter running in a secure sandbox, maintain a reasonably usable in-game code editor, simulate the various components and render 2d Newtonian physics without sacrificing speed, fidelity, and fluidity.

HOW TO PLAY

1. Download the game
2. Unpack the game
3. Launch the game
4. Click the "Watch the Demo" button on the title screen
5. Click the "Undock" button on the "OPS" -> "Shore" screen

The ship will undock, scan the asteroids for a few good ones, travel to one, and start to mine it. When the cargo is full, the ship travels and docks back at the station. It will then pause for a minute or two, and you can buy upgrades before it undocks again and repeats the loop. 

During the demo run, feel free to click around, look at things, break things and generally get a feel for where I am going with this. I would appreciate feedback if you'd like. But if you're not happy with it, keep in mind that this is a proof of concept, not a full game. 

The code is a sort of Python lite. I will be building a full code reference and syntax manual in the future, but if you're familiar with Python, this should look familiar to you.

DISCLAIMER

This was developed on an 8-year-old Dell potato-top with an NVIDIA Quadro P(otato)2000 GPU running Linux. Due to the magic of Godot 4.6.2 I can build releases for Windows, macOS, and Linux. I do not hold developer licences for macOS or Windows. This means they will likely show large scary warning dialogs saying the program may be malicious and destroy your files, your grandmother's cookie recipe, your entire computer, and perhaps the universe. This is not something I can control right now. Anything you do to run this on your own system is AT YOUR OWN RISK.

AI DISCLOSURE

I have used generative LLMs in the creation of assets, code and UI of the game. Without LLM involvement I don't believe I would be able to even come close to having a functionable UI. I have also used LLMs for code reviews, pull requests, commits, documentation, to-dos and other project tracking tasks as well as motivation and goal setting. In any and all cases of LLM-generated code, it is human-reviewed and rendered in mentor output mode. I am using LLMs as a force multiplier and not a 'do it for me' tool. If this bothers you, I understand completely. Don't download the game.