EarthX
EarthX 20% 'Birthday' Discount on February 11th!
in 2020/2021 we did 18% and 19% discounts for my 18th and 19th birthdays. A lot of you liked that, myself included, that's why let's repeat this for this year as well!
EarthX will be discounted by 20% starting this Friday.
Btw. Some of you have asked what's happening with the game, and since I didn't really talk about it since November (0.9.0 Update), let's reiterate our plans:
The game is basically done, there will be no more content updates, as the Moon Update was the last one (which was clearly told for 1 year beforehand). There's still no full release yet, as we are cooperating with our partner 'Pineapple Works' on a Nintendo Switch port. Remaking this game to a different platform will take some more time, but our optimistic heads want to fully release EarthX in early summer.
In March, I will sit down on patches. The tutorial needs to be re-recorded and improved (as it sucks currently), and some bugs need to be fixed. The English/Polish languages will also be improved and streamlined. We will make new steam descriptions and graphics, too.
Meanwhile, I was working on a different project since December and it's shaping up very well. I literally can't wait to start showing it to everyone, but first, we need to sort things with EarthX out.
Again, thank you for being patient, and thank you for 3+ years of continuous support and trust. I went through different phases of my life while making this one project, so it's very valuable to me. I did meet a lot of great people through it, too!
Denis
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas
Denis & EarthX Team
EarthX 0.9.0
I'm a little sick now (again), but I thought I would release this medium-sized update today, as promised.
This update is special because it's the last content update for EarthX before we will be fully releasing the game next year. Before we go to this update's changelog, let's see what's next for the game.
1) I do not plan to add any new features to the game. This update should be the last content update.
2) Improvements and bug fixes will still be released as needed.
3) I noticed that the in-game tutorial needs a little rework. This will be done before full release. I will also add a few new achievements to the game.
4) This update doesn't have a trailer, instead, I will spend more time on the full release trailer.
5) The full release will take next year as we iron out the rest of the bugs and Pineapple Work makes the Nintendo Switch port.
That's it for now, the team is excited as f**k to release our first game!!!
What's new in 0.9.0?
Moon
The most noticeable change is being able to visit the Moon and build on it. The Moon gameplay is driven by Artemis contracts and only Moonship can be used to get there.
You can build 3 types of buildings on the Moon: Solar panels, Landing zones, and Habitats. Sending humans to the Moon is needed to unlock the Crew Spaceship. Sending Cargo Spaceships to Mars is still allowed without going to the Moon. Let me know if I should change anything about this.
New Spaceship Models
Just like the other rockets in previous updates, rykllan worked on refreshed models for the spaceship. All rockets have now been brought to the same level of detail.
New Mega LaunchPad Model
With new Spaceship models, we had to rework the LaunchPad and its animation to reflect the current one at Starbase. Lucas worked on the LaunchPad model and the catching arm and I did a nice little catching animation.
New Special Missions
A lot of new special missions have been added. Adrian worked hard on writing news articles for some of them.
Reworked Special Missions
When adding new special missions I thought that they spawned too randomly and with far too many at once. To change this, I distributed all of them across the gameplay. This means that you will now gradually get them as you play.
Some of the existing and new special missions got new educational descriptions and payload banners.
Launch Profiles when building LaunchPads
When placing a LaunchPad, you will now see in which direction the rocket will launch.
Added Satellite Models to Fairings
In 0.3.3 I removed satellite models because the models were not near the current level of detail. After rykllan and lucas created a few, I added them back. Lucas also made a nice Roadster model with Raptor engine attached to it, because why not xD.
New Droneship/Plane Models
And finally, the last major changes; a new Droneship and Plane model have been added, both made by rykllan.
Improvements
- Some contracts now spawn instantly
- Added Mars resources net change statistic to Mars details panel
- Display more detailed Mars resources stat only in a tooltip
- Improved Assistant and Scrap Engineer managers
- Get full building cost if its destroyed right after its placed
- Allow removing default landing zone on Mars and Moon if there is a different landing zone
- Added confirmation before canceling a contract
- Added a setting for mission reports
- Allow canceling special offers (except gameplay-depending ones)
- Deactivate building panels when you can't buy them
- Remade Spaceship renders
- Added "Requires new booster" indicator to payload list
- Made Large Rocket be able to send payloads to Moon Orbit
- Added "First Moon Landing" milestone
- Remove building construction time from sandbox mode
- Replaced landing upgrade icons with grid fin icons
- Replaced capsule support icons with parachute icons
- Allow free building repair on sandbox
- Remove building tracker from solar farm
- Rebalanced Managers Unlock requirements
- Rebalanced Mars buildings
- Added "Saving game..." in the corner instead of a notification
- Changed save file naming scheme
- Upped booster landing failure rate
- Reordered milestones for them to actually make sense
- Added Roadster Payload model
- Added different sounds for money income and expenses
- Added "Without Interest" achievement back
- Decreased sandstorms amount
- Improved currently built vehicles amount color
- Improved random company names list
- Changed "Earth-like planet" to "Unlimited"
- Recalibrated Spaceship landing sphere
- Up contract spawning amount
- Add pictures to credits
- Removed Earth to Earth feature
- Removed Managers Speed Setting
- Removed some incomplete languages
- Updated SPATE logo
- Added Dimosha to credits
- Added eastereggs...
Bugfixes
- BUG: Main Menu buttons weren't centered... :c
- BUG: The camera sometimes froze
- BUG: Sandstorms appeared when loading a game with terraformed Mars
- BUG: You could refurbish non-reusable rockets when saving the game during its flight and then loading it again
- BUG: Payloads that require a new booster could be invisibly launched on a capsule or spaceship using an already flown booster
- BUG: Managers sometimes didn't launch player's own payloads
- BUG: "Own" payloads check box didn't work
- BUG: Spaceship landed on Mars after delivering its payload to Mars Orbit. It now parks on Parking Orbit and returns to Earth
- BUG: When deleting a launchpad, it still appeared as an option in the Mission Setup window
- BUG: News duplicated themselves
- BUG: Assistant Manager sometimes didn't work
- BUG: You couldn't remove a landing zone after a Spaceship that landed on it was scrapped
- BUG: You could cancel the time cooldown of the Droneships after landing if you start another flight and abort it
- BUG: Rockets were launched in the wrong direction when launching from Medium LaunchPad
- BUG: Parking Orbit tracker on Mars was offset
- BUG: Farm Field didn't have its own building banner
- BUG: Special news didn't appear when accepting or declining a contract/offer
- BUG: Right shift didn't work when holding it down to build multiple buildings or to take action without confirmation
- BUG: "Fairing lost" showed when you launch a capsule or a spaceship
- BUG: Tutorial is English in the Polish language
- BUG: Typo "Buisness"
That's it for now, have fun playing, and thank you for a nice journey that took 3 years :)
Denis
(and rewriting-man Lucas)
EarthX 0.9.0 Snapshot 2
this week I worked on snapshot 2 of EarthX 0.9.0. I fixed a bunch of bugs, completed the missions, and even added a few improvements to QOL :)
Thank you to everyone who tested and reported any bugs. This is probably the last snapshot before the official release next weekend.
Denis
EarthX 0.9.0 Snapshot 1
I promised you to write a small post when the snapshot releases, so I do it now.
There are probably some annoying bugs and I will be happy if you report them if you find one :D
How to play the snapshot?
Simply go into EarthX's preferences on Steam, then BETAs tab, and select "Snapshots" from the list. The game should then start updating itself.
I will upload new snapshots starting early next week, fixing bugs etc.
Also, Snapshot 1 has new missions and payloads, however, they don't have their translated names yet nor icons. You will see a white box and "MISSING: payload_name" pretty often haha
October Devlog
it's been a while since the September devlog, so time to update you on everything. I've been in hospital at the end of September for several days, so I did another break from the projects for about 2 weeks to gain power and focus.
The update itself is currently at ~85-90% completion level. I've completed all main Moon mechanics, added all planned buildings, replaced Starship models, added Superheavy catching animations, and did some other polishing work.
What's left is pretty much only bug fixing and additional missions. I will work on them this week as Adrian sends me new in-game news for new payloads. Once I add new missions, I will do some private testing and then upload an experimental build for everyone to test (if you want to help). I will let you know in an additional Steam post once it's up (and on my Discord server ofc).
Preview into Work-In-Progress Stuff
Firstly, and probably most importantly for me, we've finally replaced the old plane model. Like literally, I did it in like 1 min about 3 years ago "only for testing". It ended up being used in the game for pretty much its entire existence. The plane was currently the oldest model in the game, it was added even before EarthX was released on itch.io;
Lucas also made some new Moon buildings and they were implemented in the game this month. Here's an example of a Moon base you can build.
In October we've finally agreed with the team on how Moon will work in EarthX.
Originally, about 2 years ago, we had plans to add Mars and Moon in one update. We wanted to make a much more complicated game back then. When we've worked on Mars, it turned out to be way more difficult to make and balance than we thought. rykllan spent many days creating all of the Mars buildings, while I tried to make a cool gameplay concept. It partially worked since Mars seems to be playable, maybe not "as cool" as the rest of the game, but it's good enough IMO.
Then we decided to add Moon "later" in the development, and it eventually turned out to be the last EarthX update.
Then, "why don't you make Moon like Mars", you would ask?
Well, the answer is pretty simple and I hope you understand. If we make Moon gameplay like the Mars gameplay, what's the point of flying to Mars after you've conquered the Moon? If the gameplay design/models look and work similar on both planets, it would get repetitive even more than it's now.
We want to avoid that since Mars terraformation is the endgame of EarthX and most of the players would simply stop playing after reaching Moon.
So what's our plan then?
Well, we just make the Moon be a teaser of Mars. Even better, you will still be able to start sending stuff to Mars and build some buildings there before you build a base on the Moon.
However, only after you build a base on the Moon and send a few people there, you will be able to unlock Crew Starship.
The Moon Materials and Moon Crew will come from both Artemis 1 and Artemis 2 contracts you will get when playing the game.
We think this is the best way we can do it. If you have any suggestions, we are pretty open to hearing them, but I will probably not rewrite everything (again hehe).
Full release informations
The full release is close. The hype within our team is enormous and I'm personally pretty excited since this will be the first project that's years old I will actually finish (it's beautiful!).
Let's just keep it short here.
When?
I want to release it on my birthday that's on 11th February, but plans might change. It will be early next year for sure!
Will there be bugfix updates?
Yes, as long as players find some bugs, I will try to recreate them and release a bugfix patch as soon as possible. There will be a few months period between the 0.9.0 release and the full release, so we hope to iron out most of the bugs in that time :D
Cool, but what about content updates?
Sorry to tell you that, but 0.9.0 will be the last content update for EarthX. We might add new missions etc. but that will be probably very rare xD
The reason we're deciding that way is that we just want to move forward. EarthX's code is made mostly by a dumb teenager (hi that's me) and it's very hard to add new content or even extend the current one.
We want to focus our forces and new skill on our next project - EarthX 2. (what an amazingly original name btw!)
Oh no, that's sad, but can I at least have some physical items?
Yes and No. Yes because we actually want to make a few interesting T-Shirt designs and No because we are lazy to do them. However, I hope I will find some time and motivation to make at least two lol
Nice, but when I have an EarthX T-Shirt, I might go show it off to friends or something, can I take EartthX with me? :3
What an amazing question, the short answer is yes, we are in talks with Pineapple Works studio and they are willing to take the challenge of understanding and editing the bad teenager's code and make a Nintendo Switch port out of it. I will personally support them as much as I can :)
Cool, now I have to buy Nintendo Switch... Will I have some moneys left to buy EarthX on full release?
For many months I talk about increasing EarthX price to 17.99€, I think that will change. I might leave EarthX below 15€. The current price is 14.69€ and I just might increase it to 14.99€ and call it a day.
It's only for the Steam version btw.
I have absolutely no idea how much EarthX will cost on Nintendo Switch.
The end
Yes, this is the end. The end of all ends. This year was hard for me, and probably hard for many people as the world goes back to normal and many of you had work or exams or other responsibilities. All I can do from my position is to wish you a good life and thank you for supporting this project.
Byeee and see u next time
Denis
September Devlog
Today we will talk about Update 0.9.0 and the stuff that we did in the past 2 weeks. I will also introduce you to the planned Moon gameplay (how it all will work), and mention EarthX 2 at the end too.
To the Moon! Update 0.9.0
As you know, the latest update was 0.3.3; So why not make 0.3.4 now? That's because 0.9.0 will be the last content update before we fully release the game on Steam. But don't worry! There will still be bug fixes from time to time as needed.
I told you that 0.9.0 would release in late 2021, but the plans did change. I had a lot of time and motivation in the past two weeks, and I also got pretty much all models from rykllan and Lucas. That allowed me to work on EarthX almost every day since the last teaser.
The update now aims to release in October or November.
After 0.9.0, we plan to release a series of regular patches that improve the game and fix the bugs. In one of them, I will rework the tutorial a little (add subtitles, etc.) and record it again with Karolina. This time, amateurs like Adrian and me will not touch the files anymore trying to improve the quality in Audacity. We will handle the job to professionalist SPATE, who knows sound mixing from the bottom to top very well.
Do you have any more of them... update progress?
Of course, I have.
rykllan worked very hard on his new Superheavy and Starship models. They look great and now all vehicles in the game are in similar detail/style (Medium Poly).
As you can see, there's a new LaunchPad with Mechazilla (catching arms) on the tower. It's made by Lucas and he did a great job!
The Superheavy and Tower of course got their new catching animation. It's not possible to upload videos on Steam, that's why you will be able to find a WIP catching demo on Streamable under this link: https://streamable.com/ctazn0
To my surprise, rykllan also made two new Droneship models. Refreshed OCISLY and ASOG. ASOG will not be added to EarthX because I don't want to rewrite Droneship scripts to support more types, but I did replace the current Droneship model.
(new vs old)
I also re-added Fairing payloads.
Moon
I'm writing this here because I saw some players expecting Moon gameplay to look like Mars gameplay (colony/terraforming). I want to lower your expectations, because if I do Moon like Mars, then Mars would get boring. EarthX has been always about Mars and I will let it be that way.
The Moon gameplay will be relatively simple. You will be able to fly to the Moon and build buildings on it (Solar/Small Habitats/Landing Zones only). The Moonbase size will be limited, as you will not be able to produce Moon Materials by yourself. The plan is to add an Artemis-like contract, that will give you a dozen Moon Material payloads that you can launch to the Moon.
Landing humans on the Moon will be required to unlock Crew Spaceship, however, you can completely ignore Moon-gameplay if you want to build a non-human city on Mars. I don't know yet if that's a good idea, but I will validate it during testing.
All of this means that on the Moon, only Moon Materials will matter. You will not have to worry about Oxygen or Water, as these features are reserved for Mars as I mentioned earlier.
That's it for EarthX progress so far. I still need to design & script a few features, but I'm starting to finish and polish everything.
EarthX 2
I have got a few questions about this project and I want to answer some of them.
EarthX 2 is currently during the very early planning phase and we're just taking notes of what works and what could work. We didn't start any work on it yet, except low-quality concept arts that were made for fun.
The game is set to release in 2024+ without early Early Access as we did with EarthX. There will be Early Access about 3 months prior to game release.
But don't worry, we will not be silent for 3 years. The development of this game will be fairly open. We will post monthly devlogs on Steam and do closed tests from time to time to gather some feedback.
I got some questions about what EarthX 2 will be about. I don't want to talk about it yet, but I will say stuff I said on our Discord server:
- It will be pretty much like EarthX, but with deeper mechanics and more content. For example, there will be individual countries, the scale will be 1:1, and the time will be calendar-based.
- While EarthX is only about SpaceX, the sequel will also include Tesla.
- Mod support wasn't quite possible in EarthX because the game wasn't built for that. EarthX 2 will be made with mod support in mind from the ground up. You will be happy.
That's it for now, I will talk more about this project after EarthX's Steam Full Release. Can't wait!
Have a good weekend everyone :)
Denis
Moon Update Teaser
I have been silent for most of the summer. I completed and passed the exams and then visited my grandma/pa in Poland after 2 years of not seeing them :D Haven't really had any time to work on EarthX or be active in EarthX socials.
But now I would like to introduce the Moon Update to you. It will be the last update for EarthX before exiting Early Access. The update size will be rather small/medium since I will only replace a few models, add some buildings to the Moon, and maybe new missions that are related.
During my break, I was thinking about the E2E feature. I don't really like it because it's "too simple", and making it more complex doesn't really work, since there are no countries/licenses or any different logic that would fit it. I think the best way is just to remove it, but I'm happy to hear your feedback.
That being said, if you have ideas for the EarthX 0.9.0 Moon Update, let me know in the comments! I always read them! :)
Denis
[previewyoutube="6fqpulQpnR0;full"]
EarthX is still alive!
Hey,
I haven't posted anything for a pretty long time, so I thought I would update you all with the current project status.
I haven't started working on Moon Update yet, as I'm in the middle of final exams and spending my focus and time towards learning stuff, so I could attempt to pass them. This doesn't mean that EarthX is canceled or anything like that, it's just in "pause" mode since the lastest 0.3.3 update.
As far as I know, rykllan and Lucas are slowly starting to work on the Moon Update models, because they're nearly done with their school as well.
The project pause doesn't mean that I didn't collect any feedback during that time. Everything EarthX players mentioned was added to my Trello TODO list, so I'm aware of current issues (like a strange tutorial for example).
You can of course give any feedback here in the comments or Discord server or Steam Discussions Forum :D
That being said, wish me luck, getting back to work soon. Can't wait because I haven't coded for a lot of time and I'm excited to do it again!
Denis
EarthX 0.3.3.1
First of all, sorry that this patch took so long to release. I have exams coming in June and I had to catch up a little with the school. I also had a big burn-out in April, so I took a two-week-long break :D
The next, and last, Moon Update will be released at around the end of the summer. That's because I will focus on exams in June and July. I just need to get the exams right, I hope you understand. In this time, rykllan and Lucas will prepare the models, so the work on the update will go smooth later on.
What's new in this patch?
- Update all languages
- Increase the Martians you can have in one hotel
- Set factory employees to max on default
- Added Hydrogen Aerospace as a launch provider
- Add LinkLink header to translation files
- Temporarily remove Hebrew language (Problems with displaying the text correctly. Until I solve it, I'll hide it from the menu)
Bugfixes:
- BUG: Managers tab doesn't update automatically.
- BUG: Special characters have a small background behind the letters
- BUG: Upgrading rockets makes them more expensive.
- BUG: Tooltip says LinkLink outline is orange.
- BUG: Build mode ignores the no-clouds setting
- BUG: "Requires new booster!" shows even before you reuse rockets.
- BUG: Production sometimes bugs at the end.
- BUG: EX-37A payload has a wrong description.
- BUG: Cookies oven has a wrong description.
Thanks for your patience and understanding!
Denis