Starpath Ship Yards started out with a handle based system similar to 3d editing tools like Unity. It still has these controls, but they can be cumbersome to use. To solve this problem we’re introducing a snapping system where possible. Individual pieces have particular snapping shapes similar to snapping bricks like Legos. Different ship parts will fit different snaps in multiple orientations, but will ultimately align to a basic setup. This allows for some flexibility, but gives a much more game like and entertaining experience overall.

“Manufacturers”

I’ve experimented with three different asset packs as the basis for ship building. My absolute favorite so far and now the default pack is Triplebrick’s The Big Spaceship Builder. The math for all of the snap points works out super well so as a modular system it is very well designed. My only grudge is that they don’t already have prefabs with transforms for the various snap points and I had to do the work manually.

How they Work

There are several size groupings of snaps. 1×1, 2×1, 2×2, 4×1, 4×2, and a couple “capital ship” configurations for bigger pieces.