Starweb

Starweb is a prototype minimalist RTS game where you link stars together to share resources among them and build a blinking network of links.

Basics:

Use W,A,S,D to move the camera around, and you can zoom in/out with the mouse scroll wheel.

The star with a colored space that the camera starts at is your home star. Your first link will connect to this star.

Select stars with LMB. This brings up the star's resources:

- P: Population

- O: Organics

- E: Energy

- M: Minerals

The panel will show you how many of these resources the star currently has (top row), as well as how much it produces (middle row) and how much it wants (bottom row). The bottom row is user-set, and can be edited with the +/- buttons on the panel.

Links:

You can link stars together by hitting "Link" (and you can cancel a link by hitting "Stop Link"). Select a star that you own (such as your home star), click "Link", and then click a star to link to. It will tell you how much setting the link up costs (in minerals), and, if you can afford it, you can hit enter to finalize the link.

Links run on cycles. Every star has it's own cycle, and when two cycles intersect a link "blinks", allowing resources to move across the link. Adjust the values on the bottom row (with the +/- buttons) to determine the amount of resources shared between linked stars. Part of a star's cycle is hidden, but you can tell how fast a star's cycle is by it's rotation speed. TIP: You may find the most success linking fast and slow stars together. Every blink consumes 1 energy for each star. Energy is the only resource that can't be shared across links, so pay attention!

Resource Interactions (Sustainability) and Losses:

With the sustainability theme, we wanted to make sure to focus on striking a balance, and not over-exploiting the environment. Each resource can benefit resources and hinder others. Population consumes energy and organics, but produces minerals. Organics are produced by energy, and sustain a population. Energy is produced passively, but can grow with minerals and organics.

If a star runs out of organics, its population will die. If it runs out of energy, it will be stranded (won't be able to blink until it passively generates more energy). If a star runs out of population, no additional minerals will be produced. Finally, if a star runs out of minerals, it won't be able to make links with other stars.