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EVE-Inspired Multiplayer Prototype

A browser-based spreadsheet simulator in the EVE Online tradition, set inside a single persistent galaxy that the server simulates as a living world. The game is played through UI panels, market tables, inventory grids, and chat channels — not by flying a ship. Movement and combat are deliberately rudimentary; the depth lives in the economy, information diffusion, strategic decisions, and a galaxy that evolves around you through dynamic PvE events and emergent world story.

UI-first
Design Pillar
SpacetimeDB
Backend
~3 hrs
Session Target
Player-led
Economy Model
Living Galaxy
World Model
OV-01

Product Vision

Primary recommendation: Build the MVP as a UI-heavy browser game — a spreadsheet simulator. The 3D scene is a strategic map layer for context, not the game itself. Players spend 90% of their time in tables, charts, and panels: market depth, order books, cargo manifests, fitting spreadsheets, route planners, and chat. The 3D viewport exists to give spatial awareness, not twitch gameplay.

Core Pillars

Pillar Prototype Interpretation MVP Scope
Economy & markets Player-led economy with NPC support. Mining → refining → manufacturing → trade. Geographic price differences, contract markets, order books, and information asymmetry between systems create emergent trade routes and speculative opportunities. This IS the game. Era 1 NPC economy, single-player mining/refining/manufacturing
Era 2 Player-to-player market, info diffusion
Social & multiplayer Local chat, delayed PMs, bounty system, emergent player-driven justice. Communication is range-based. Priority pillar. Era 2 All social features require multiplayer
Command-based (not action) Players issue high-level intentions — click a point of interest and the ship autopilots there. Click a hostile and the ship auto-engages. During combat the player manages reactor power allocation (FTL-style) between systems. No manual flight, no aiming, no skill shots. The skill is in what you power, not how fast you click. Era 1 Core combat & movement loop
Ship fitting CPU/Power Grid slot system. High/Med/Low slots with meaningful fitting tradeoffs. Multiple ships, AI crew (post-MVP). Era 1 Basic fitting, single ship class
Emergent lore No server has the same lore as another. The galaxy is a single persistent world with systems, planets, anomalies, and orbiting objects. A world simulation layer spawns PvE events dynamically — faction wars, space anomalies, migrations, raids — that create a living story unique to every server. Lore evolves through both player actions and server-driven world events. Era 2 Living galaxy requires world agents
OV-02

Design Principles

Spreadsheet simulator, not flight sim

90% of gameplay happens in tables, charts, and panels: market order books, cargo manifests, fitting spreadsheets, route planners, ship AI logs, and chat channels. The 3D viewport gives spatial awareness, not twitch gameplay. Movement is click-to-autopilot. Combat is click-to-engage with FTL-style power management. The depth is in the economy and information.

Authoritative backend

SpacetimeDB owns authoritative game state. The browser renders state and sends player intentions. The renderer should never become the source of truth.

Information is the real currency

Market data propagates at the speed of player travel, not the speed of light. Knowing a price discrepancy exists before other traders — that's the skill. The ship AI (Zora) is a living market intelligence tool. See the Economy → 📡 Info Diffusion tab for the full model.

Movement & combat are not action

The player never pilots the ship directly. Click a destination → ship autopilots. Click a hostile → ship auto-engages. During combat, the player manages reactor power allocation (FTL-style: weapons/shields/engines/aux) and subsystem targeting. That's it. Ship destruction is an economic event (ISK sink, insurance payout, loot drop), not a competitive action moment. ISK (symbol ₢) is the canonical in-game currency.

OV-03

Core MVP Loop

Connect → Spawn Ship →{' '} Navigate →{' '} Mine →{' '} Inventory →{' '} Station →{' '} Sell Ore →{' '} Chat
The real loop is economic. Connect → gather information → identify opportunity → act on it → profit. The "mine → sell" cycle is the entry point. The endgame is inter-regional arbitrage, supply chain management, manufacturing empires, and market manipulation — all driven by information diffusion between systems.

Minimum Viable Screens

Era 1 screens ship in the single-player proof of concept (Roadmap phases 0–7). These are the minimum screens needed to validate the core loop is fun.
Screen / PanelMinimum Functionality
Login / ConnectDisplay current identity and connection status.
3D Star-System MapStrategic overview — ships, asteroids, station, click-to-set-waypoint. Not a flight sim.
Ship Status PanelName, owner, status, cargo, current action, location.
Inventory PanelItem type + quantity grid. Sell button when docked. Cargo capacity bar.
Station PanelDock/undock state, sell ore, view market, refit ship.
Market PanelOrder book, price per unit, place sell order from inventory. NPC-only economy in Era 1.
Combat HUDTarget selection, module activation, reactor power allocation bars (FTL-style).
Debug PanelReducer call log, error display, connection metrics, entity count.
Era 2 screens require SpacetimeDB multiplayer infrastructure (Roadmap phases 8–15).
Screen / PanelMinimum Functionality
Market Panel ★Primary game surface. Order book with depth, price history charts, contract specifications, bid/ask spread, long/short positions, margin account, place orders (market/limit/stop). See the Interactive Demos → Market demo.
Commodity TickerScrolling price ticker across all contracts. Real-time price updates. Category filters. Sparkline charts.
Chat PanelSend and receive local/system messages. Range-based propagation.
Bounty BoardActive bounties by tier, place bounty on player, kill feed.
Galaxy MapRegion/constellation/system hierarchy, faction territory overlay, active world events.
World Event PanelActive events in current region, countdown timers, story log access.
OV-04

HUD & View Mode Architecture

Decision: Hybrid diegetic + panel approach. The game uses two distinct view modes depending on the player's state. This resolves the ambiguity between the gamehud demo (which renders diegetic overlays on a 3D viewport) and the spec's description of traditional panels. Both are correct — they apply to different contexts.

🚀 Flight Mode (Undocked)

When the player's ship is in space (undocked), the primary view is a 3D viewport with diegetic HUD overlays. This is what the Game HUD demo validates. The 3D scene shows the ship's surroundings (asteroids, stations, other ships, celestials) while the HUD overlays provide:

  • Shield/armor/hull bars — curved around the viewport center, not flat rectangles
  • Module activation buttons — arranged in a bottom rack, grouped by slot type
  • Overview panel — collapsible sidebar listing all on-grid entities with type, distance, and hostile/friendly status
  • Target lock indicator — centered targeting reticle with lock timer
  • Capacitor gauge — circular arc display
  • Speed/distance HUD — current speed, target distance, ETA
  • Chat stub — minimized chat bubble, expands to full chat on click
Validated by: Game HUD demo · Covers: movement, combat, mining interactions

🏢 Station Mode (Docked)

When the player is docked at a station, the 3D viewport is replaced by a traditional panel-based UI — the "spreadsheet simulator" surface. This is the Overview spec's "tables, charts, and panels" description. Station mode panels include:

  • Market Panel — order book, price history charts, contract specifications
  • Inventory Panel — item grid with quantity, type, value estimation
  • Fitting Screen — ship slot layout with drag-and-drop module fitting
  • Refining Interface — batch processing with yield preview
  • Manufacturing Tab — blueprint selection, job queue, material requirements
  • Insurance Panel — coverage tiers, premium calculator, active policies
  • Agent/Mission Panel — NPC agent list, available missions, standings
Validated by: Market, Fitting, Refining demos · Covers: all station-based gameplay

🗺 Map Mode (Both)

Accessible from either view mode, the map replaces the main viewport with a full-screen 3D strategic map. Era 1 shows the current star system (single system with celestials, belts, stations). Era 2 adds the Galaxy Map (multi-system with region/constellation hierarchy, faction overlay, world events).

Era 1: System Map needed · Era 2: Validated by Star Map demo

Transition Rules

  • Undock: Flight Mode fades in with 3D viewport. HUD elements animate in sequence (shields → modules → overview).
  • Dock: 3D viewport zooms toward station. Fades to Station Mode panel layout.
  • Open Map: Current viewport shrinks into a corner (minimap). Full map overlay fades in.
  • Close Map: Map fades out. Previous viewport mode restores.
  • Combat ambush: If attacked while docked, player auto-undocks into Flight Mode (no safe space abuse).
Why not all-diegetic or all-panel? A fully diegetic HUD (Dead Space style) works for immersion but is terrible for spreadsheet gameplay — you can't read an order book through a holographic visor. A fully panel UI (traditional MMO) loses the spatial awareness that makes space feel like space. The hybrid approach keeps the best of both: diegetic immersion during the action, panel efficiency during the economy game. The key insight is that the game alternates between two distinct cognitive modes — reactive (in-space, monitoring health/modules/overview) and analytical (docked, reading tables/planning routes). Each view mode is optimized for its cognitive mode.
OV-05

Onboarding & Tutorial

The first 30 minutes teach the game through doing, not reading. New players learn by playing a guided mission sequence that introduces each system naturally. There is no separate "tutorial mode" \u2014 the tutorial IS the game. See Economy \u2192 First 30 Minutes tab for the full moment-by-moment walkthrough.

Guided Mission Sequence

  • Mission 1: "Welcome, Pilot" \u2014 undock, warp to belt, mine 100 ore, dock, sell. Teaches: navigation, mining, market.
  • Mission 2: "Armed and Ready" \u2014 accept kill mission, engage NPC frigate, manage power allocation, collect bounty. Teaches: combat, insurance.
  • Mission 3: "Supply Chain" \u2014 refine ore, manufacture a module, fit it to ship. Teaches: industry, fitting.
  • Mission 4: "Price Watcher" \u2014 fly to second station, compare prices, sell at the better one. Teaches: price discovery, trade routes.
  • Mission 5: "Your AI Companion" \u2014 Zora introduces herself, explains her modules, offers first market tip. Teaches: Zora, AI modules.

Tutorial Principles

  • Teach by doing: Every tutorial element is an actual game action, not a text popup.
  • Earn while learning: Tutorial missions pay real ISK and XP. No wasted time.
  • Skip allowed: Veterans can skip the tutorial sequence. No forced hand-holding.
  • Zora as guide: Zora delivers tutorial hints in-character. "I notice you haven't opened the fitting screen yet. Want me to walk you through it?"
  • No dead ends: If a player gets stuck, Zora proactively offers help after 60s of inactivity.
); } window.GDD.OverviewPage = OverviewPage;