Quartz 4

Buzzing beesgodot questions

6 min read

🌌 STAR SAILORS — MASTER DESIGN QUESTIONNAIRE

For narrative, mechanics, systems, legacy features, and future expansion

🧠 I. Big Picture Vision

  1. What is Star Sailors, in your own words?

  2. What problem does it solve for players?

  3. What kind of emotional tone should the game evoke — awe, solitude, community, curiosity?

  4. Do you consider Star Sailors more of a platform or a game?

  5. How important is scientific accuracy versus poetic license?

  6. What is the balance between game loop satisfaction and citizen science contribution?

  7. What do you want a returning player to do first?

  8. What do you want a new player to do first?

  9. If Star Sailors had a Netflix adaptation, what would it be about?

  10. What’s the “seasonal arc” you imagine for this game world?

🧪 II. Science vs Fiction

  1. Where does science end and fiction begin in Star Sailors?

  2. Do you plan to allow intelligent life anywhere?

  3. How abstract should “research” be? A number, a set of resources, a lab scene?

  4. Would you allow terraforming later?

  5. Are time periods fixed (now/future), or elastic?

  6. Are any real-world missions/collaborations off-limits (e.g. NASA, ESA)?

  7. Would you ever allow faster-than-light tech?

  8. How long should it take to reach a newly discovered planet — narratively?

  9. How much of the data comes from real astronomy vs imagined?

  10. Is “Earth” still inhabited in this universe?

🛰 III. Mechanics: Existing Systems

  1. What are the current major gameplay systems?

  2. Which ones are fully implemented?

  3. Which ones are partially built but abandoned?

  4. Why were certain systems abandoned (e.g. colony sim, life evolution)?

  5. What features are fun for you to build but maybe not essential?

  6. Are there any legacy components you wish you could rewrite?

  7. Is there any single mechanic you’d double down on if forced to focus?

  8. Are there redundant mechanics you’ve noticed?

  9. What do players tend to engage with most?

  10. What’s the most misunderstood feature?

🧩 IV. Mechanics: Future & Possibilities

  1. Would you like users to ever design anomalies?

  2. Would you allow players to build ships or structures?

  3. What role might factions eventually play?

  4. What does long-term progression look like?

  5. What’s the “prestige/reset” mechanic, if any?

  6. Should a user’s inventory be mostly cosmetic, functional, or both?

  7. How important is leaderboard-based competition?

  8. Would you add time-based or location-based events?

  9. Would you allow community voting on feature unlocks?

  10. Should player actions affect the shared world (e.g., colonizing a planet)?

🧰 V. Technical / Programming Style

  1. What is your preferred way to structure components?

  2. Do you lean toward vertical or horizontal component trees?

  3. Do you use global state often (e.g. Zustand)?

  4. How do you handle mobile responsiveness by default?

  5. What code smells do you dislike most?

  6. What tradeoffs do you make most often?

  7. How do you prefer to handle Supabase types — inferred, manually defined, or hybrid?

  8. What parts of the codebase have the most tech debt?

  9. What part are you most proud of?

  10. If someone else had to take over the codebase, what would you need to clean up?

📦 VI. Assets & Aesthetic

  1. What’s your design palette or theme? (e.g. Nord)

  2. Do you prefer line icons, pixel art, minimalist?

  3. Do you generate assets via AI? If so, how do you prompt?

  4. Are there any icons or assets you wish you had?

  5. Do you want to support user-created assets someday?

  6. What kinds of animations feel “right” for Star Sailors?

  7. What parts of the game need visual polish the most?

  8. How do you feel about audio — soundscapes, SFX, music?

  9. Would you allow users to customize the UI skin?

  10. What games visually inspire Star Sailors the most?

📜 VII. Narrative & Worldbuilding

  1. Who are the Star Sailors?

  2. What factions, if any, exist?

  3. Are players exploring known space, unknown space, or a different dimension?

  4. Are anomalies physical, spiritual, conceptual?

  5. Is this a post-human society? Post-collapse?

  6. Is Earth important in this setting?

  7. Do different factions have different philosophies?

  8. Are anomalies part of the worldbuilding (e.g. alien tech), or just gameplay elements?

  9. Do players ever meet other players in-universe?

  10. Are there NPCs with memory or arcs?

🧭 VIII. Minigame: Expansion Game

  1. What does “Control Deck” need to add to the Star Sailors experience?

  2. What parts of the current game could move into the standalone?

  3. Should the standalone have more simulation than classification?

  4. Is the standalone more about managing systems or exploring anomalies?

  5. Would the standalone game have save slots or sync only?

  6. Could players earn research points usable in both games?

  7. Would Control Deck have crew? Can they die?

  8. What’s the pacing — daily play or long sessions?

  9. Could the control deck influence anomalies in the web game?

  10. How often do you want the two games to “talk” to each other?

🔁 IX. Cross-Game Connectivity

  1. What tables should be shared between the web and the standalone game?

  2. What data should not be shared?

  3. Could there be in-game mail/messages between players?

  4. What happens if a user plays only the standalone game?

  5. What happens if a user never touches the standalone?

  6. Should new players be funneled into one version first?

  7. Should rewards ever be locked to only one platform?

  8. How would progress carry over if the player switches platforms?

  9. Would you allow real-time notifications (e.g. satellite is back)?

  10. Do you want players to be able to access the standalone offline?

🧑‍🚀 X. Player Lifecycle

  1. What should the first 10 minutes of gameplay look like?

  2. What does a player do on day 5?

  3. What about day 30?

  4. What are the key motivations to return?

  5. What do lapsed users miss out on?

  6. Should the game be completable?

  7. Is there a point where players “win”?

  8. What do whales/spenders get?

  9. What does a free player get?

  10. How long is a session intended to be?

🔮 XI. Your Own Motivation

  1. What part of this project do you enjoy building most?

  2. What parts do you dread?

  3. What features have made you happiest once finished?

  4. What are your long-term goals for Star Sailors — community, research, profit, creative outlet?

  5. What kind of player are you building for?

Let me know if you’d like this exported as a .md, .txt, or .pdf file to fill out on the flight. Or I can split this into smaller sections (e.g. narrative, gameplay, etc.) if you prefer.

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