Asteroid Miners: Progress Days 1-6

Day 1

Started the idea on my lunch break and asked ChatGPT for visual assets and a suggested stack. I tried Godot that evening—imported PNGs, set up a Main scene with Earth and orbiting asteroids, fixed a small GDScript radius-type hiccup, and got clean elliptical orbits on screen. For comparison I spun up an HTML5 Canvas/JS version wired to ChatGPT in VS Code and had asteroids orbiting in ~10 minutes after dropping in assets, which immediately sold me on the vibe. I pushed polish: fading orbit trails, titles, and intentionally arcadey physics; then iterated Earth rendering with day/night textures, clouds, rim light, and a subtle atmosphere. I wrapped by asking ChatGPT to refactor into a modular starter and got back a ZIP with a sensible scene manager and folders—shipped that as the new baseline.

Asteroid Miners — Day 1

Day 2

I stayed up late brainstorming story beats, mechanics, and a ladder of events, then turned it into a concrete TODO list. Implemented the first playable mining loop: M key and a big glossy “Mine” button increase resources while the asteroid depletes, with a redesigned Apple‑style liquid‑glass HUD split into info and actions rows. Added smarter respawn/selection logic with pulse highlights and ticker messages when a rock depletes or the field regenerates. Introduced persistence with saveSession/loadSession via localStorage so resources, money, stage, and total depletions survive refresh. The loop now feels cohesive and testable, with a polished HUD and clear feedback.

Asteroid Miners — Day 2

Day 3

Hooked up OpenAI Codex in VS Code and used it to iterate faster: brainstorm, craft prompts, paste into Agent mode, refine. Built out economy features: a market chart with mean reversion and volatility (ticking every 5s), green/red pulses on spikes, and sane price behavior around ~$1M/u. Selling is now wired end‑to‑end—S key or Sell button converts resources to money at the current price, with cumulative sales nudging market premium. The HUD grew into focused panels (Resources, Money, Active Asteroid, Market) plus a compact news crawl with in‑universe headlines and non‑overlapping startup. Miners now visibly fly out and return with ore; discovery headlines generate automatically, and config knobs expose tick rates, volatility, and crawl size/speed for tuning.

Asteroid Miners — Day 3

Day 4

Added a lightweight dialogue system to introduce narrative context and guide early sessions. Dialogues trigger during key beats (first mine, first sale, depletion) and slot into the HUD without blocking input. Script content is stubbed but the pipeline is in place with simple sequencing, speaker labels, and room to branch later. This lifts the vibe from pure sandbox toward a story‑tinged loop.

Asteroid Miners — Day 4

Day 5

Redesigned the HUD to better balance information density and clickability while keeping the liquid‑glass style consistent. Introduced a first‑pass upgrade system—engines, cargo, beam power/miners—with costs, prerequisites, and tooltip hints so choices feel meaningful. Refactored layout into responsive panels and ensured pointer events behave correctly over glass elements. The result: fewer clicks to common actions, clearer progression, and room to expand without crowding.

Asteroid Miners — Day 5

Day 6

Streamlined the upgrade system based on playtest friction—clearer tiers, consolidated stats, and immediate feedback on purchase. Added HUD elements for automation (toggles and thresholds) and reworked mining interaction so you can alternate between manual bursts and auto‑cycles. Smoothed edge cases in selection and performance under load, and tightened particles/FX to keep the screen readable. The game now supports a relaxed “watch it hum” mode as well as an active “pilot and optimize” loop.

Asteroid Miners — Day 6

Next Steps

See also

Next up: deepen the narrative/dialogue beats, add lightweight mission objectives, and expand the upgrade tree with meaningful trade-offs. I’ll keep tuning the market model and persistence, add core audio cues, and explore a scan/map affordance for discovery. Goal for the next slice is a polished, replayable loop you can complete in a short session and share.