Not sure if this suggestion has been made before, but here goes:
I recently bought:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kapturak.neworbitand absolutely loved the Newtonian based physics with gravity and orbits. It's something I've been yearning for in a space game for a long time, and tempting me to start one myself but I just don't have time with uni. It's obviously really hard to get right and keep it fun. I think this guy has absolutely nailed it, check out this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mwg6kMypgCYSome things that I really enjoyed from playing this game were:
entering orbits, and changing the shape of the orbit just feels perfect, and is quite skillfull. I'm a personal believer in games that are about skills that one can carry over from real life (knowledge of physics), and that one can learn easily in the game (if they don't study physics
) to become a better player. It should be something that a player can get consistently better at with practice and experimentation. This rule applies to a lot to movement, weapon and fleet tactics in starfarer which is why I really love playing it, and experimenting. It brings a lot of joy to watch your own tactics and skills improve in a game.
Landing on planets is not a simple matter of heading straight for it, because your ship is unable to completely counter the force of gravity in time to slow down as it approaches the surface. It's much better to approach from an angle, enter an orbit and gradually descend. This was something I discovered pretty quickly because it has direct parallels to real life (which is fantastic imho)!
Then, even better, this guy has made cargo (mass) affect the acceleration of the vehicle, which ensure that the feeling and mechanics of controlling the vehicle are different, and require more consideration.
So how does all this fit into my idea for starfarer. Well, I think perhaps combat is complicated and entertaining enough without the need to introduce gravity into the equation. But, navigation in the solar-system, which already has some concept of gravity (ship slows down near planets or sun), could definitely be made more fun, and more skilful with the addition of a Newtonian gravity system like this game. It would be more than just a screen to get from a to b, but an entertaining exercise in gravity tactics.
[edit]
As a side note, if there is much stomping and stamping opposition to this idea. A clever way you could make this optional is to have an auto pilot mode which tends to use a lot more fuel and can be slower (routes chosen by autopilot are less efficient) than manually controlling the ship to get to the destination. That way there is benefit to learning how to manual control the ship navigation.
Ok so that was my first, and most preferable/exciting idea.
The second, was for seamless planet landing.
As the player's ship gets closer to the atmosphere and begins to approach the surface, the camera zooms in on the ship, to the point where all other elements of the solarsystem are out of view.
[technical] at this point the flat surface view of the planet could be loaded in replacing the solarsystem view of the entire planet.
Gradually the background turns from space to atmosphere to sky, and the front of the ship heats up (turns red).
Cloud sprites begin passing in front of and behind the ship as it approaches the surface, to dock at the space port on the surface, (or just land on the ground if the planet doesn't have a space port).
The planet view could be a nicely painted, static background and forground, and well, this is getting ahead of myself, the player click on different buildings to access different terminals (upgrades, missions, shops,
whatever a spaceport might have that could be interesting, easter eggs, something different for each planet or asteroid (maybe like a hidden treasure or something)
). It's one of the things I like about Vega Strike, the open source space rpg. When landing on planets it has wonderful painted backdrops with point and click adventure. This keeps things simple from a developer point of view, but still functional, fun and attractive.
The other line that could be taken would be to have the player exit the ship and walk around terarria style, but that's probably getting a little ahead of myself there.
These ideas are ones that I've had for a while for a game of my own, but the thing is, I love the sound design and combat mechanics and the overall feel of your game, that I'm happy enough to share here, and see what happens. Take them or leave them
If I get time, and nothing happens here, I may just have a shot at it myself.