Space Station Tycoon
14.03 Testing Branch Patch
*Added patch notes to the main menu.
*Balanced the quantum reactor.
Update 0.3 Now On Testing Branch!
Hello everyone! We are finally back with the big 0.3 update. You can now start testing it by switching your game to the testing mode.
How to switch to the testing branch?
1) Right-click on the game from your library and select "Properties...".
2) Select "Betas" from the left-hand side.
3) Choose "Testing" from the dropdown menu.
4) The game will now update and once it does, you are ready to go.
Give us feedback!
Don't forget to give us feedback about this update. The best way to do that is by joining our Discord!
Patch notes will be out soon.
Development Roadmap
About The Roadmap
Here is the development roadmap of Space Station Tycoon. Game development is a tricky job and getting the dates wrong is always a possibility. So please note that the release dates listed above are all subject to change. Some updates may come out sooner, and some later.
We will share more info about these updates once they are close to being released (like we did with content update 3).
Space Station Tycoon was and still is, a work of passion. We know that satisfying everyone is practically impossible but we will still keep doing our best to make this an unforgettable tycoon experience. Thank you so much for your continuous support.
Space Station Tycoon Dev Diary #4 - UI Overhaul and Big Ships!
UI Overhaul
UI design has always been one of our weaknesses. That's why we are working really hard to create a much more pleasant UI experience for our players. We started things off with a simple HUD redesign.
As you can see, we have managed to decrease the number of icons on the upper part. This improvement allowed us to add some text next to each icon. So you'll no longer have to hover on them to see where it leads.
The missing buttons were moved to the overview section. This is mostly because of the fact that all of these tabs have something to do with your station and how you manage it. We think that they fit nicely in this brand new overview panel. We would love to hear your feedback on this.
Most of the old UI windows, like the finance tab, are also being reworked. Our current focus with this new UI direction is to make use of the empty space we have in order to offer a much better user experience.
Big Ships!
Aren't you bored of always seeing same-sized ships? Yeah, we are too. Here's a look at the big ships of Space Station Tycoon!
These new ships have way more visitors in them. But as you can probably imagine, they are just too big to be able to dock on your basic docking bays. This is where our new building comes in: The large docking bay!
With this new docking building, these huge ships will be able to dock onto your station without any problems.
Thank You!
Thank you so much for reading this quick update. We are constantly trying our best to improve the game as much as possible and to leave early-access as quickly as possible. Your feedback helps us a lot so don't forget to join our Discord and share your opinions with us!
Stay healthy.
Space Station Tycoon Dev Diary #3 : Reputation System and Mission Hub
Mission Hub
A major -and long overdue- update is coming to our mission system. We are planning to make missions a lot more detailed and easy to understand by implementing a mission hub. This way you can see exactly what a mission is about and what its rewards are. Some missions may also affect your relationship with a certain faction, or require a minimum relationship to accept it.
The mission hub is full of opportunities. Some of the missions offered through this panel may also require additional choices to be made. This new panel also gives us a lot of freedom to write some cool scenarios. Expect some neat lore.
Work in progress.
Reputation System
We are finally saying goodbye to one of the most tedious aspects of Space Station Tycoon; unlocking buildings. With the new reputation system, you won't have to wait for items to unlock most new buildings.
Work in progress.
Your station will now have a reputation level that determines its.. well.. reputation. After reaching a certain amount of total visitors, your reputation level will go up. With each reputation level, you will also unlock new buildings.
Some exotic buildings will still be unlocked through the traditional prototyping system.
Staff Quarters
So it appears that employees working in a space station actually need a place to stay...
Staff quarters is a new building we are adding to the game. This building will determine the number of staff members you can hire. It will also be upgradeable like any other building.
Thank You!
2020 was one hell of a year, but it got significantly better with all the support we received from you all. We believe that 2021 will be a great year for Space Station Tycoon. Game development is so much more fun when you do it together with the community. That was the main reason why we released the game as early access in the first place, and it is awesome to see it slowly pay off.
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
0.2.1 Patch Notes
- Fixed major save/load bug.
- Fixed casino text issues.
- Fixed turret bugs.
- Fixed employee re-assigning bug.
- Nerfed police raids.
Content Update 0.2
- Employee System: Recruit new staff members and assign them to various buildings. Each staff member has a different set of buffs and debuffs. Keep your employees happy by occasionally training them.
- Policies: Added a new "policies" section to the overview panel. This section allows you to set some management policies for your space station. Choose them wisely.
- Interactive Events: These new event types trigger on some set conditions and tell a mini-story. You can choose which action you'll take. So these events are basically a random mini "choose your own adventure".
- Loot Screen: This screen will be shown when one of your drones completes/fails a mission. It shows a lot of useful information about the mission.
- Research Rework: The research progression system is now in more of a tree-like traditional style.
- Artficats: Different artifacts can be found in many space missions. These artifacts can then be researched to gain a lot of research points.
- Hygiene Facility: A brand new commercial building that allows customers to take a bath and relax a bit.
- Casino: Pretty self explanatory. One of the most fun ways to lose some money in the galaxy.
- Added more color options to the customization screen.
- Balanced factions.
- 9 new achievements.
- System map is now easier to understand.
- Added a stock indicator below each item in the trade screen.
- You can now change time speed during asteroid events.
- During pirate events, more ships can spawn depending on the number of turrets you have.
- You can now delete your save files.
- Remodeled and retextured most of the buildings.
- Nightmare difficulty is now locked until you complete the game in hard mode.
- You can now see the electricity requirement of a building by clicking on it.
- Added a DPS indicator for turrets.
- Reworked the ship landing animation.
- Lots of new customer ships have been added.
- The UI has been polished.
- Reworked the tutorial missions.
- You will now receive notifications if a price is too high or too low.
- You can no longer change your station name from the overview panel.
- New popup system.
- Traders now sell more types of items.
- Item prices have been increased.
- Hard and nightmare difficulty levels are now harder.
- Nerfed all variations of docking bays.
- Finding the ideal price is now harder.
- Most of the upkeep costs were increased.
- Halved the number of resources needed to prototype particle reactor.
- Research buildings now generate much lower research points passively.
- First asteroid attacks are less destructive.
- Mission durations are 40% shorter.
- Banks now have different interest rates.
- Fixed a bug where you could keep your unlocked perks from the previous game.
- Fixed animation bugs.
- Fixed game-breaking bugs.
- Small bug fixes.
- Performance improvements.
- Turret upgrades now increase security.
- Fixed UI bugs.
Space Station Tycoon Dev Diary #2 : Research System Rework and Polishing
Hello everyone!
We hope you are doing fine. In this dev diary, we'll cover some really exciting additions that are coming soon to Space Station Tycoon. Most of the stuff you read here is already on the testing branch.
Research System Rework
There has been a lot of complaints about the research system of Space Station Tycoon. Reworking this whole system was on our to-do list for a long time and we only recently got the chance to complete it. This new research system now acts more like a progression tree and less like a shop that uses research points for currency.
Graphical Reworks
New Buildings
Hygiene Facility
This is a new commercial building that allows customers to take a shower or even a bath. The hygiene facility in its current state offers nothing new to the gameplay but we have some more plans for this particular building.
Casino
The most fun way to lose some money in Space Station Tycoon. This is a new end-game building that generates huge amounts of money. It requires a lot of electricity and 3 staff members to operate. Some small minigames will be added that you can play inside this building.
Thank You!
Thank you so much for reading this short dev diary. We hope you enjoy our latest additions as much as we enjoy developing them.
Join the discussion at our Discord channel.
Follow us on Twitter.
Testing Branch Now Live!
Space Station Tycoon testing branch is now live and available for everyone.
What is a testing branch?
Testing branches allow users to test some upcoming features beforehand and give feedback about it. Since we are a team of only two, a testing branch can save us so much time.
How can I use the testing branch?
It's pretty easy. Here's what you need to do:
- Right click on the game in your Steam library.
- Click on "Properties".
- Click on "Betas".
- Enter the code "ssttesting20".
- Switch to the testing branch and done! The game will now update.
Note: The code requirement will soon be obsolete. You can skip step 4 if the code doesn't work.
How do I provide feedback?
The easiest way would be to do so in our Discord channel.
What exactly are we testing?
The testing branch will always include some WIP features from our next major update. In this case, you will be testing an early build of version 0.2 which includes employees, new buildings, policies, artifacts, a reworked research system, and much more.
Have fun testing!
Space Station Tycoon Dev Diary #1 : Employees, Policies and Artifacts
Hi everyone!
Welcome to the first post of our new "development diary" series. We have a lot to share with you, but first, let's talk about what to expect from these kinds of posts: We are planning to use these "development diary" posts to share some of the cool stuff we're working on, as well as to share our thoughts on some related topics. We sincerely hope that you enjoy them!
Employee System
This is the biggest system we're currently working on. Space Station Tycoon was always weak on the "micro-management" part, and we always knew we had to do something about it. That's why we're trying really hard to make this system as good as possible.
(WIP)
With this new mechanic, most of the buildings will require a number of staff members to start functioning. Each staff member has 2 perks (which can be either positive or negative) and a monthly wage depending on how good those perks are. Paying them isn't all you have to do though; You have to keep them happy by training them, complying with their needs, and keeping them safe.
There will also be new achievements, research nodes, and events tied to this particular system.
Policies
Policies are basically some crucial decisions you can take to improve your space station. These policies can be toggled on and off from the "overview" panel. They don't have any requirements. Each policy comes with a set of positive and negative effects. You have to weigh them depending on the state of your station and pick the ones you really need.
Here are some example policies:
- Lab Madness: Each lab generates 5 extra research points per week. Could be dangerous. (Each lab has a 10% chance to receive 25% damage each week.)
- Heaven of the Traders: Traders pay 25% less docking fees. Increases trader appeal.
- Biometric Scanners: Increases security levels by 10%. Costs 50c/month per building.
(These policies are not yet balanced.)
Artifacts
The current way of generating research points is way too boring. You just build research buildings and wait for them to generate research points. This will no longer be the case with the introduction of the new artifact items. Research buildings will use and consume the artifacts in your inventory to generate research points.
You will start the game with a few artifacts, so you can begin generating research points right away. After that, you'll have to send your drones to various missions to retrieve more artifacts. Traders also have a chance to sell some low-tier artifacts but it's really rare (and expensive).
These big changes will bring some meaning to drone missions, and make research more fun.
Testing Branch Coming Soon!
We are working really hard on the upcoming updates but since we are a small team of 2, we can't test the game well enough. That's where you come in! We will create a new testing branch for the game so you can find bugs and give feedback before the official release of the coming updates. Stay tuned for more info on that.
Thank you!
Thank you so much for reading. With your support and feedback, we will make an awesome game together!
Don't forget to join our Discord. You can also follow us on Twitter.