Planet Environment Life Cycle

I decided to flesh out the environment surrounding the play space, to ground the action in a more believable place.

I implemented a custom skybox shader to allow for rotations around the x axis, which allowed for me to simulate the background stars rising and falling throughout the day.

I also added 2 stars as light sources, and rotate those around the planet (yes, I know!) at the same speed that the skybox rotates to simulate the impression of the planet itself rotating.

In the video above I've sped it up for effect, in game it takes a few minutes for a full planet cycle.

I'm quite happy with the results, it also provides some nice lighting to glint off the player ship as the stars move through the sky. Oh yes, there's also a new player ship model. Seeing as the enemies are UFOs, I thought the player ship should be something less alien :)