Let Me Cook: Your Galaxy, Your Rules

What if you could add a new item to Zenith Expanse, change a recipe, or write an event that surprises your colonists? That’s what Let Me Cook is for. It’s the content framework I use to build much of the game, and it lets you tinker with the galaxy too.

Okay, but what can I actually change?

Quite a lot. Let Me Cook uses readable .lmc files to define things like items, crafting recipes, quests, story events, lifeforms, status effects, ship modules, and points of interest. You can adjust existing definitions or add your own content using the same format the game uses. You don’t need to open Unity or compile C# to change a description, tweak a value, or write a new encounter. The files describe what should happen; the game handles the rest through its built-in systems. Here’s a tiny peek at what that looks like.

An item

This is the kind of file that defines an object you might find, use, or trade:

type: item id: antibiotic name: Antibiotic description: Concentrated antimicrobial agents from frontier biocultures. item_type: medicine rarity: uncommon weight: 0.2 value: 60 max_durability: 100

Change the weight or value, and you change how that item fits into the game’s economy. Or give a new item its own ID and see what your colony makes of it.

A recipe

Items can connect to other systems. Here’s a shortened crafting recipe for Stone Tea:

type: crafting subtype: Kitchen id: stone_tea name: Stone Tea time: 8 skill: Cooking required_building: kitchen ship_craftable: true

recipe: ingredients: item.ancient_moss: 2 item.bottle_of_water: 1 outputs: stone_tea: 3

That’s ingredients, output, crafting time, and requirements in one small text file. You can make a sensible survival recipe. You can also make something deeply questionable. I’m not here to judge your colony’s menu.

An event

Let Me Cook can do more than define objects. Events can react to what’s happening in the world and produce gameplay effects:

type: event subtype: planet id: aurora_spectacle impact: low_impact triggered_by: custom.weather_aurora chance: 0.35 weight: 1.0

modal_title: Lights in the Sky modal_content: The sky above [planet.name] has come alive with green and violet light. modal_button: Acknowledge

results: always(common, 1.0) modify_hex_colonists_attribute([planet.id], [hex.id], morale, 8) -> A reminder that this alien world can still take your breath away

The bits in square brackets pull information from the current situation. Here, the event uses the panet and its location, then gives nearby colonists a morale boost. Other events can have conditions, choices, and different outcomes.

Your turn to cook

Let Me Cook isn’t a promise that every part of the engine can be rewritten with a text file. It’s a way to play with the game’s content using the hooks that already exist. That still leaves plenty of room for new stories, strange creatures, useful gear, terrible decisions, and recipes no responsible captain would approve. Zenith Expanse reads the same LetHimCook folder structure from subscribed Workshop mods. If you’re curious, the game’s own files are a great place to see how things are put together. What would you add to the Expanse first?