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Cover image for Fun Project: Starship Tech Support (Angular / NgRx)
Matt Eland
Matt Eland Subscriber

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Fun Project: Starship Tech Support (Angular / NgRx)

This is a short post on an Angular application I'm early on in building for fun and to keep my Angular skillset from my past job up to date.

I plan on posting periodic updates focused on specific technical lessons and so I wanted to share it in its early state before then.

The Tech

Technology wise, I'm using Angular 8 with NgRx for Redux-based state with Bootstrap 4 styling. It's my first time working with Redux state and that's a primary learning goal for me. I've written up some early thoughts on this already.

I do not yet use an external API or any sort of a data storage mechanism. That will come later.

What is this thing?

As far as what this project is, that's harder to explain. Imagine a web-browser based work simulation game where you manage an IT troubleshooting / support team - working on priorities and assignments for your staff, encouraging them to grow, keeping their morale up, etc.

Now imagine that this takes place on a starship with your staff basically being the guys keeping the starship running.

It's nebulous and hard to explain, but it's a fun sandbox of Angular development topics.

Ultimately, I picture this thing where you manage a small team, then get more responsibilities such as a pair of teams, then a department, then an entire starship.

It's hard to say what it will wind up being as I'm going to take the concept in whatever way feels the most fun and/or interesting.

What's the status of this thing?

I'm working on it as I can in the evenings, and it's very early on and not even a game in so much as:

  • there's no win condition
  • there's no lose condition
  • there's no way to interact with your staff
  • no new tickets are created
  • nobody resolves any tickets

So yeah, it's kinda a very early placeholder, but it's fun to tinker with, and I should find some opportunities to share some code as time goes on.

Can I see?

This is open source with GitHub source code available.

GitHub logo IntegerMan / Starship-Tech-Support

A computer UI based management simulation game. In spaaaaace!

Starship Tech Support

Overview

A computer UI based management simulation game. In spaaaaace!

Technical Details

Platform

Angular 8 with TypeScript and NgRx for state management

Possibly reliant on a back-end web server written in NodeJS

Targets

This targets a web-based delivery mechanism with possibilities of mobile or desktop (via Electron) support.

This will be deployed to Itch.io as well as to a third-party site of my choosing.

Device Considerations

This will need to support IE 11, Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Opera.

Gameplay

Turn-Based

This is a turn-based management game with the player able to make decisions before clicking "Begin Shift". Once a shift begins, it will complete and you'll see the time cards and updates made by everyone on your team

Work Items

The crew will have a variety of work items to work on including

Crew Members

Player Interactions

Players will take on various interactions:

  • Reviewing the result of…

Additionally, you can view the most recent version in your browser via GitHub pages at https://integerman.github.io/Starship-Tech-Support/

Top comments (2)

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bradtaniguchi profile image
Brad

This is awesome!! (At least for me)

I love Space stuff, and work with Angular+NGRX. Nice combination of both worlds haha 😄

Looking forward to hearing updates on the app/game!

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integerman profile image
Matt Eland

Thank you! Encouragement is always nice. I'm a huge simulation fan and a big fan of things like Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek, etc. My bachelor's party involved a game of Artemis Spaceship Bridge Simulator. This is significantly more turn-based, but... hopefully I can find the fun.