I’m realizing that once I have my star-field created, I need to figure out how best to run the mouse with a conventional mouse pointer and do hit-testing in the scene. I want to let the user click on a star and then quickly zoom in to a close-up of the star that shows its planets in some detail and any vessels that are in the system.

I’m hoping this is easy to do. It is a bit at odds with most action games, but crucial to any sort of interactive user interface created for the user.

I also hope to put up text floating near the graphical elements to add more information about them. This will include the number of ships of a given type in system, the relevant attributes of each planet and any items located on the planet. I’d like to use floating text with a transparent background and a contrasting outer edge (to ensure visibility even if something unexpected is in the background).