When Naikari was started as a project, we didn't have a clear vision of what exactly we wanted to do, and that has hindered development focus. This document is being written to correct that by outlining exactly what kind of game we are making.

Space exploration and combat sandbox game emphasizing creative combat personalization.

The design of Naikari will be tailored to make the player feel creative in the way they equip their ship, and feel a desire to explore the galaxy and discover what's out there.

Creativity is the most important aspect of Naikari's vision. After choosing the way their ship is equipped, a player should feel a personal attachment to that ship's design, like it's truly their ship – their design – and not just the "correct" or "best" ship. Star Control's ship design should be considered a good reference point for what we're trying to do: just as every ship in the Star Control series is unique, in Naikari, the player should be able to design their own unique ship.

Exploration and discovery will also be an important part of Naikari's vision. Players should feel a desire to explore and know that exploration will be rewarded. Locations should be distinct and memorable, and experienced players should be able to find what they're looking for without use of a search feature. Along with some other games, Star Control 2: The Ur-Quan Masters is again an excellent reference point: despite being procedurally generated, it manages to have several memorable locations of importance.

Mechanics are subject to change if needed to match the game's vision, but we want to have a rough outline.

The perspective of the game will be 2-D and top-down. This is inherited from Naev's inspiration, the Escape Velocity series, but also matches one of our primary inspirations, The Ur-Quan Masters.

Unlike Escape Velocity, the universe will be designed as a number of large, multi-planet systems connected by jump points. This again was inherited from Naev, but is good for us since it gives more personality to individual systems.

Planets and stations which the player can land on will be separated into differing roles indicated by class. This will serve as the basis by which the player can determine where they want to go for specific things they're looking for, similar to how you might go to a grocery store for apples or a hardware store for lumber. In addition to class, two more factors will affect what is available at any given planet/station: the faction of the planet/station, and branding indicated in the names of stations.

Combat will feature three types of weapons: bolts (which fire projectiles for energy), beams (which create a line that does damage over time), and launchers (which fire projectiles limited by ammo). Each comes in two variants: forward-mounted, and turreted. Weapons will be substantially modified by utilities; the level of modification will need to be so extensive that players can do essentially anything they could possibly imagine with the weapons provided.

In addition to weapon modifications, some utilities will be ship behavior modifications. Some examples that currently exist are afterburners and reverse thrusters. Some other ideas under consideration include Asteroids-style random teleportation, special types of shielding, and strafing. Unlike Naev, all of these features will be implemented in C to ensure that the behaviors can be mixed, matched, and customized in a standardized fashion.

There will be two possible ways for the player to create a fleet of escorts. The simplest way will be thru fighter bays, a heavy fourth type of "weapon" which launches standardized drones. More commonly, the player will be able to hire escorts which can pilot any one of the player's ships. Hired escorts will charge variable rates, with lower rate hired escorts suffering from increased performance penalties to whatever ship they happen to pilot. Performance penalties will be randomized so that the player can attempt to choose ships for them that will not be severely affected by their shortcomings. The most expensive hired escorts will be able to operate ships without any performance penalties, while the cheapest hired escorts will have such widely varying performance penalties that compensating for them in ship design is difficult or impossible. Charge for hired escorts will be based on time in service. The player will be able to fire hired escorts at any time, and also will be able to change what ship they fly at a minimum on any planet with a bar.

Naikari's story will be optional and used to further encourage exploration. The player will begin in the Empire, which claims to be the dominant galactic presence and the origin of humankind. Next to the Empire will be the Frontier, a loose confederation of planets effectively under the control of the Empire, officially independent but under the Empire's "protection". Within the Frontier is a guerrilla force called the Frontier Liberation Front ("FLF") which the Empire classifies as a terrorist group and is at war with. Other than the Frontier, the player is also made aware of the mysterious Sol Nebula, which the Empire warns against venturing into, as well as what the Empire claims is a small Imperial colony a large distance away.