With the frenzy of Early Access launch now behind us, now seems a good time to look ahead and discuss what's still to come during the Early Access period itself.
Below is the current roadmap.
So the first priority - with a timescale of approximately 1 month - is to push out a major update that fixes the most significant remaining bugs and balance issues and adds the most requested UI features. Some issues may also be addressed by further hotfixes.
This will be followed by major quarterly updates, focussing first on pilot skills, and then on developing the main storyline, the associated Intelligence faction, and more random mission types.
In general I take a flexible approach to development, and this roadmap is subject to change in response to both player feedback and new ideas on my part.
So if you have any suggestions or comments on the roadmap please let me know either right here on Steam, or in the game's Discord.
I'll share updates or proposed changes to the roadmap as and when required.
Join the Community
To keep up to date on the very latest in Relic Space's development, and take part in exclusive in-game challenges, you can join the Relic Space Discord. During Early Access you'll also be the first to gain access to bleeding edge builds, and of course will be able to discuss the game with fellow fans as well as the developer.
Hotfix v1.04
FIX: bug where 'emergency transmission' missions can occur outside Order sectors, leading to odd results. FIX: bug where arena drone kills are not reset between arena matches FIX: arena drones can no longer flee the Arena FIX: added correct ship class name for arena drones. FIX: ships with inactive engines can no longer flee sectors
Hotfix v1.03
Thanks all for your feedback on the game so far! This patch fixes two of the more serious issues affecting more advanced players at present.
FIX: Issue where soft-lock occurs repeatedly after an enemy faction has enough relics to complete their 'tech tree'. FIX: Some problems related to loading a saved game with an active patrol mission.
Early Access Release!
[High priority message incoming from Captain Jorrell] All Omega pilots please report for duty in the main hangar bay. The hour of victory is at hand!
That's right, the Early Access version of Relic Space is here, the result of more than 3 years of development so far. Though it's been so much work, it's also been so much fun to see this passion project grow, alongside a great community of players who've helped test earlier versions, and to whom I'm immensely grateful!
I hope you'll really enjoy the game as it is so far, and stay tuned as I continue to make it bigger, better and ever more epic during the Early Access period.
For more details of the new features in the Early Access version, check out this previous post.
Join the Community
To keep up to date on the very latest on Relic Space, and take part in exclusive in-game challenges with real prizes, you can join the Relic Space Discord. During Early Access you'll also be the first to gain access to bleeding edge builds, and of course will be able to discuss the game with fellow fans as well as the developer.
Early Access: What's New?
With the EA launch only days away, here are some of the new features and gameplay you can expect from the upcoming version of Relic Space!
Explore a Procedural Universe
First off, you’ll be able to freely explore over 45 procedurally generated sectors, each with their own distinct mix of factions, stations and environmental effects. And of course each with missions generated out of this local context, which you'll need to complete to help your faction to victory.
And I do want to stress the 'procedurally generated' part. During the Early Access period I'll be adding a complex, branching narrative, told through handcrafted missions. But as the game is right now it's best to think of it more as a classic roguelike experience, where the fun comes not so much from the storyline, but the tactical challenge of taking on ever harder opponents, with an ever wider range of ships, weaponry and equipment, in runs that are never the same twice.
Find a Winning Strategy
Speaking of victory, the '4X-style strategy' layer of the game will work, for now, just as it did in the Demo - except you'll need a whole lot more victory points for a win! You’ll need to roam widely and choose the right missions to boost your faction in specific ways - all the while keeping a close eye on the progress of your rivals.
You'll balance regular missions that boost faction stats, with the rarer missions that give you a chance of discovering relics that unlock research goals. Unlike in the Demo, progress through the tech tree is essential to keep pace with your enemies, as their ships will be upgraded with their faction's latest tech.
Game-changing Upgrades
Full access to the tech tree opens up a wide range of weapon and equipment options, including over 50 'base' equipment types, which each come in numerous variants in terms of size (Large/Medium/Small) and quality (Normal/Good/Exceptional).
Combine this with the wide range of ship hulls you'll be able to acquire, together with the fact that many equipment types come with new active skills, or offer entirely new combat strategies (Stealth Field anyone?) and you have a recipe for classic-RPG-style progression that never gets old!
Make Friends - or Enemies
Finally, while on your travels, you'll now discover a total of 7 ‘minor’ factions in addition to the 3 main factions. Just to take two examples:
The Ludist faction structure their lives around games and play: many believe the universe itself to be a game, and the laws of physics its rules. Their stations are well-known for their combat arenas, in which bets are placed on battles between custom-built drones...
The Makers value pure creativity above all. Their anarchic, freewheeling culture often tips over into violence, and their combat ships are deadly works of art.
FYI in case you were wondering after playing the Demo, a fourth main faction, the Intelligence, will be gradually added during the Early Access, and will be integral to the main story.
The countdown begins
Thanks for reading, and watch this space for news of the actual release, along with a range of fun in-game challenges to complete - and prizes to win! - starting on launch day!
Join the Community
The best way to keep up to date on the very latest on Relic Space, including the competitions mentioned above, is via the Discord. During Early Access you'll also be the first to gain access to bleeding edge builds, and of course will be able to discuss the game with fellow fans as well as the developer.
Alternatively sign-up to the low-volume newsletter to be notified of key updates and new releases.
Early Access Release Date and Trailer
It's time! Your first real trial as an Omega. The galaxy lies in ruins, and our Order is now all that stands between civilization and chaos.
We know that you will do your duty. On..
Thursday 9th March 2023
..the battle for humanity's soul begins.
Can it be?
Yes that was the official Early Access release date for Relic Space, in case it wasn't clear, along with the brand new Early Access Trailer!
There'll be further news in the coming days about what you'll be able to do for the first time in the Early Access version, along with a range of fun in-game challenges to complete - and prizes to win! - starting on launch day!
Join the community
The best way to keep up to date on the very latest on Relic Space, including the competitions mentioned above, is via the Discord. During Early Access you'll also be the first to gain access to bleeding edge builds, and of course will be able to discuss the game with fellow fans as well as the developer.
Alternatively sign-up to the low-volume newsletter to be notified of key updates and new releases.
New Demo Update!
Hi everyone - it's a brand new year, and oh wait... the steam page still says Q1 2023 so Early Access really is coming soon - I will of course be sharing the exact date as soon as I can!
In the meantime the hard work has continued on polish and bug-fixes, and as a result can now release a new version of the Demo (probably the last one before Early Access). Here's a summary of the main changes:
Major balance changes
Important balance changes have been in virtually all areas of the game, for example, loot and credit drops, the rate at which other factions progress in technology. Maybe the most tangible balance change is one that increases the difference between more and less advanced weaponry, which in turn makes finding and researching relics more beneficial.
New generators, engines and heat sinks
Some new generators, engines and heat sinks have been added that are currently available for purchase right from the start of the game. This was an important addition because when you start getting more advanced ships and weapons, it is increasingly important to make sure you have enough energy available to power your additional weapons, enough heat sinks to dump the heat they generate, and enough motor power to keep up a good speed despite the increased weight.
UI improvements Bug Fixes
Finally, lots more bug-fixes and UI improvements should make this the most stable and user friendly version of the game to date!
Change log
Full details of the changes can be viewed on the (see Demo 221) website.
Join the community
To discuss the game with fellow fans - and the developer - and get free early access to bleeding-edge builds, join the Discord. Alternatively sign-up to the low-volume newsletter to be notified of key updates and new releases.
TurnBasedFest and a New Demo Update!
TurnBasedFest has just got going and we’re honoured that Relic Space is being featured among the fantastic selection of other tactical gems!
As our contribution to this celebration of turn-based goodness, we're releasing another major Demo update. This update reflects the hard work that has gone towards adding polish to the game in recent months, as we gear up for a Q1 2023 launch into Early Access.
Here are some of the key new features in the update:
New challenging game modes
This update gives a first taste of the new game modes that will be important to generating replayability in the Early Access release. A new difficulty level, called 'Extinction', will provide an extra level of challenge for veteran players who are finding 'Tactical' difficulty too straighforward.
And there's now a full-on 'Ironman' mode where, as usual, you are limited to only one save slot, which is automatically updated as you progress and is deleted if you die. Death is permanent.
Improvements to manual mode
A lot of streamers have been picking up Relic Space over the last few months, and watching those streams has made clear that a number of people are attracted to playing the game using the 'manual' as opposed to 'automatic' weapons mode. That's completely understandable, as tactical players often love to drill down into the details of game mechanics by making every small choice themselves. But before this update, the user interface had been a lot more geared towards automatic mode.
No more! This update brings a big overhaul to manual mode, making it fully playable for the first time by removing some unnecessary delays and required keypresses, as well as by introducing a new weapon-range indicator (see the red hexes in the gif below) that simultaneously serves to make clear when your weapons have yet to be fired in manual mode.
Lore
The lore for Relic Space has been planned out in some detail, though to date has been mostly limited to some dialogs in the scripted tutorial missions. This update for the first time brings lore dialogs to random NPCs. Although these are still quite small in number and limited in scope, they offer a taste of the rich and suprising sci-fi narrative still to come.
Change log
Full details of the changes can be viewed on the (see Demo 211) website.
Join the community
To discuss the game with fellow fans - and the developer - and get free early access to bleeding-edge builds, join the Discord. Alternatively sign-up to the low-volume newsletter to be notified of key updates and new releases.
New Demo for Tacticon!
Relic Space is currently taking part in Steam's latest strategy game festival: TactiCon!
We're honoured to be featured together with so many other high-quality, turn-based games - and to celebrate we're launching a brand new version of the Demo, available now on the Steam page.
This new Demo reflects the hard work that's been going on behind the scenes as we gear up for the Early Access release, with lots of new content and increased variety of tactical challenges. Naturally some of this content will only be accessible in the EA version, but the Demo certainly offers a taste of what's to come.
New Missions
A total of SIX new base mission types have been added to the previous three. The innovative procedural mission system in Relic Space means that each of these 'base' mission types offer a framework that allows for multiple variants and combinations of individual mission 'units' - so the total number of distinct missions available is actually well into the hundreds!
Piracy
There are also a number of new NPC interactions including...space piracy! Urgently need some sodium for a nearby construction project? Try forcibly demanding it from a transport ship belonging to another factions - if you dare face the consequences, that is!
Ruins
Another example of the varied new content in the game is the new wreck models, such as this ruined quantum lab. Each model will have it's own stories to discover, but beware of strange local effects such as quantum teleportation...
Change log
Full details of the changes can be viewed on the (see Demo 192) website.
Join the community
To discuss the game with fellow fans - and the developer - and get free early access to bleeding-edge builds, join the Discord. Alternatively sign-up to the low-volume newsletter to be notified of key updates and new releases.
Post-Next-Fest Update (v184)
So a great Steam Next Fest is behind us, with over a thousand new players trying Relic Space! While there's been lot's of positive feedback, there's also been a number of reports of bugs and balance issues, as well as some really detailed discussion of game mechanics, particularly on the Discord.
So since then (after a bit of a break!) I've jumped straight into fixing what I considered to be the highest priority bugs and balance issues. While not the most exciting of updates, it will make the Demo a more polished and well-balanced experience for those trying the Demo for the first time (still available for download from the Steam page).
BALANCE CHANGES
MOD: all mission types are now more evenly distributed in the system MOD: reduced frequency of ‘stolen goods’ mission variants MOD: reduced frequency but increased difficulty of ambushes MOD: reduced frequency of ambushes further for adventure mode MOD: adventure mode now has a slower event clock MOD: increase loot from enemy ships MOD: voidfliers now have two random light weapons instead of medium laser
OTHER IMPROVEMENTS
MOD: improved character selection descriptions MOD: amended heat warning text display to clarify ability to disable weapons using 'X'
MAP
NEW: added pulses to sector map for additional clarity NEW: display indicating how many sectors have been explored compared to the maximum available (limited to 8 in the Demo) FIX: unexplored sectors are now correctly marked with a glowing outline in the system map, and this is noted in the map key section
FIXES
FIX: ‘too heavy for ship’ message incorrectly shown when selling equipment FIX: bug where pressing R activates equipment skills other than weapon skills FIX: bug where using power shot can lead to weapons being deactivated FIX: bug where incorrect skill level shown for techie trait skills in character selection screen FIX: bug where circle faction stats are initially not shown in faction stat spider chart FIX: bug where projectiles fired from platforms are too small to be visible FIX: some issues with explosion animation for certain ships FIX: incorrect chance of occurrence for certain faction event types FIX: bug causing soft-lock when loading a 'random missions only' game straight after launching the game. FIX: incorrect ship class icon for certain ship and platform types FIX: weight warning sometimes shown when jettisoning goods FIX: bug where cutscene audio is played at full volume irrespective of saved music volume preference FIX: bug where background music in splash screen does not initially load with saved music volume preference FIX: rare unexpected loud sound effect when returning to main view from system map
Thanks for reading and watch this space for more news as we progress towards Early Access!
