Salvage Station

A real-time exploration and extraction game with a native ETAF interface and a headless Godot simulation, built as an independent GameKit application. Recover three power cores and return to the extraction dock; avoid or disable security drones, manage hull and energy, and use repair kits along the way.

Godot owns movement, collision, pathfinding, drones, energy, damage, score and victory or defeat. This application owns selection, tabs, dialogs and all presentation; GameKit supplies only the shared game instance and backend connection.

Capabilities

• One headless simulation with a live HUD for hull, energy, cores, score and elapsed time, and a map for plotting routes.
• Object selection, an expedition panel, EMP and shield actions, and a tactical pause that the game starts in.
• Light daylight and dark deep-space palettes that keep the expedition running across a switch.
• Explicit local snapshots through Save and Load; closing makes no implicit save.

Prerequisites

Requirement	Why	Check
Emacs 29.1 or newer	the ETAF runtime	emacs --version
ecss, ebox, etaf, etaf-ui	the framework and catalog components	every root entry is on load-path
etaf-gamekit and its Godot runtime	simulation host, game instance and state publication	make -C etaf-gamekit engine
Python 3.9 or newer	GameKit's Godot setup script	python3 --version

Installation

git clone https://github.com/emacs-taf/ecss.git
git clone https://github.com/emacs-taf/ebox.git
git clone https://github.com/emacs-taf/etaf.git
git clone https://github.com/emacs-taf/etaf-ui.git
git clone https://github.com/emacs-taf/etaf-gamekit.git
git clone https://github.com/emacs-taf/etaf-salvage.git
make -C etaf-gamekit engine

Add every provider root and this repository to load-path:

(add-to-list 'load-path "/path/to/ecss")
(add-to-list 'load-path "/path/to/ebox")
(add-to-list 'load-path "/path/to/etaf")
(add-to-list 'load-path "/path/to/etaf-ui")
(add-to-list 'load-path "/path/to/etaf-gamekit")
(add-to-list 'load-path "/path/to/etaf-salvage")
(require 'etaf-salvage)

(global-set-key (kbd "C-c v") #'etaf-salvage-open)

M-x etaf-salvage-open starts an independent instance and fits the view to its window. The Godot project lives in native/godot/ and is resolved relative to the application's own entry file.

Keys

Input	Action
P or Launch / Pause	Start or stop the simulation
W A S D	Extend the navigation destination by one cardinal tile
Click deck	Plot a route around bulkheads
Click an object	Inspect it; use Plot route to target to navigate there
1 or EMP	Disable drones within five tiles; costs 20 energy
2 or Shield	Protect the hull for five seconds; costs 25 energy
Cargo → Repair	Use one of two kits to restore up to 40 hull
?, F1 or Help	Open searchable controls and flight notes in the current buffer
T or Light–Dark	Switch between the light daylight and dark deep-space palettes
Save / Load	Choose an explicit local snapshot path

etaf-salvage-appearance selects the initial palette: auto, the default, follows the frame's background mode. The status line and the log panel report events; the minimum canvas is 76 character columns by 30 rows, and narrower windows reflow or expose the panels.

Checks

make check   # structure, compilation, API and real-backend behavior scenarios

GUI scenarios and interaction latency measurements are separate acceptance surfaces; the manual describes them.

Documentation

• Salvage Station manual — gameplay, window adaptation and GUI acceptance.
• Package entry — the supported API inventory.
• GameKit — the shared game framework, its adapters and backend installation.

License

GPL-3.0-or-later; see LICENSE.