Fog of War, First Playthrough, and Prompt Engineering Wins

Today marked a pivotal moment — initial playtesting of Stellar Throne and breakthroughs in leveraging Claude through improved prompting techniques.

Fog of War Visuals Implemented

A stylized galaxy image now obscures unexplored regions. Grid tiles operate across three states:

• Unexplored: displays galaxy backdrop only
• Visible: complete star, planet, and fleet data
• Explored: known celestial bodies with outdated information

Planet Sprite Sheet Progress

Ongoing development of sprite sheets for gas giants, garden worlds, and desert planets.

Fuel System Testing

Re-evaluated fuel mechanics and determined they felt punitive and strategically insignificant. Removed pending possible permanent discontinuation.

First Complete Playthrough

Exploration felt engaging; however, late-game struggled with visual clarity at zoomed distances. Resource abundance and rapid ship construction created economic imbalance. Research progressed sluggishly, potentially due to malfunctioning Research Labs.

game_screen.zig Refactor

Modularized an oversized file that exceeded Claude's token capacity.

Key Insight

When Claude struggled comprehending the three-layer fog system, using ChatGPT as a "prompt architect" resolved the confusion instantly. The refined prompt enabled flawless execution.

Outstanding Issues

• Construction System Bug: Buildings may fail completion or colony data integration
• Memory Leaks: Allocation and lifetime auditing needed