Development Log

Updates on Project Moon's progress

Oxygen Consumption System

Added atmospheric pressure zones to buildings with aluminium-based oxygen generation, creating a critical resource management layer.

Oxygen system UI
Oxygen System
  • Renamed zones: InsideZone → PressureZone across all buildings
  • Aluminium consumption: Buildings with pressure zones consume aluminium to maintain oxygen
  • Zone failure: Oxygen zones fail when aluminium depleted (collision disabled)
  • Immediate danger: Units inside failed zones start losing oxygen immediately
Building Details Panel
  • Shows oxygen consumption: "Generates oxygen zone. Cost: 1 alu/10s"
  • Displays oxygen status (Active/FAILING) for pressure zone buildings
  • Updated power display formatting for cleaner units
  • ResourcesLabel repurposed for oxygen info display
Design Improvements
  • Made building UI panel larger to accommodate oxygen and power information
  • Better visual hierarchy for critical system status

This system creates tension between expansion and resource management - every pressurized building needs constant aluminium supply to keep colonists alive.

Game Direction & Technical Overview

Created comprehensive CLAUDE.md document to establish the game's vision, core mechanics, and technical architecture.

Game Vision
  • Soviet lunar colony management with 1970s aesthetic
  • Focus on survival, resource scarcity, and tough decisions
  • Stronghold-inspired colony management mechanics
  • Target platform: Steam (PC), January 2026 demo release
Core Mechanics Documented
  • Resource management: Minerals, food, power, oxygen, aluminium
  • Building systems: Placement, power grids, production chains
  • Unit systems: Worker assignment, survival stats, pathfinding
  • Day/night cycle: 24-hour sol system for pacing
Technical Stack
  • Engine: Godot 4.3
  • Language: GDScript
  • Architecture: Scene-based with singleton managers
  • UI: Custom panels with real-time stat tracking

This document serves as the development north star - defining scope, mechanics, and technical decisions to keep the project focused during solo development.

Food & Survival System

Implemented Stronghold-style food mechanics and individual survival stats to create a compelling survival loop for Project Moon.

Food System
  • Global consumption: 10 food/colonist/day from stockpile
  • If sufficient food → colonists eat, hunger resets
  • If insufficient → nobody eats, health/morale decline begins
Survival Stats (UnitDetails.gd)
  • Hunger: Depletes 33%/day without food, critical at day 3
  • Health: Master stat, damaged by starvation (-34/day) and oxygen loss (-20/min)
  • Morale: Crashes during starvation (-40/day), slow decay otherwise (-2/day)
Death & Game Over
  • Colonists die at 0 health
  • Game over screen shows death causes by type (starvation, oxygen deprivation)
UI Improvements
  • Day counter tracks current sol
  • Resource panel displays consumption rates (e.g., "Food: 500 (-30/day)")
  • Unit details panel ready for stat visualization
  • Debug key ']' to skip days for testing

Timeline example: 500 food + 3 colonists = starvation begins ~day 17, deaths ~day 21

About Project Moon

A Soviet lunar colony RTS built solo in Godot Engine. Follow the journey from prototype to Steam release.

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Development Progress
Overall 65%
Target: January 2026 Demo
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