We've been very hard at work making Star Chart better. We're closing in on our first big update to Star Chart for Vive and Rift. There are of course still some remaining tasks, and we're re-looking at the controls and tutorial, but you can expect to see a major (free) update coming to Star Chart soon! :)
There are a ton of bug fixes and minor enhancements that we won't go into, but from a major feature point of view here are some of the big ticket items you can expect to see added:
• Moments In Time featuring Apollo 11 landing scene and the Curiosity Mars Rover.
• The breaking up of Star Chart into discreet modes available from a "launch room".
• The ability to view Meteor Showers in Sky View.
• The ability to view Messier Objects in Sky View and 'hold' them on your controller.
• The ability to search for solar bodies in both Sky View and Explore Mode
• More planetary moons and other solar bodies
• The addition of "artists impressions" of solar bodies without known surface features (this gets rid of the "Tron line wire meshes" many of you hated ;) )
• An enhanced controller layout and improved tutorial.
We'd love to hear your feedback when it launches, but we're also interested in hearing any more feedback you have now, so we have a chance to address those issues if at all possible.
All the best, The Star Chart Team.
Star Chart launches on Steam!
Hi all.
Today we launch Star Chart on Steam. We hope you download and enjoy it. The experience is tailored to the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, but will also work on PC and Mac.
Please note that although we are not in Early Access, the experience will be heavily extended throughout this year and into the future. Please expect updates across all platforms and provide us with any and all feature requests, bug reports and more as you see fit.
We have worked hard on making Star Chart, and hope that you enjoy it. If not, please let us know why and what we can do to fix it. You never know, we may be able to cram your request into an update soon!
All the best,
The Star Chart Team.
Star Chart Screenshots
Star Chart is huge, and we've scoured the solar system for the best screenshots to show of the experience with, but we'd love to see any screenshots you guys and gals can find yourselves. Please post / share / email us the best images you've found, and we'll see if we can use them.
All the best,
The Star Chart Team.
Tentative Launch date set for the 5th September
Stay tuned for more info, but we have set a tentative launch date for Star Chart on Steam for the 5th September! We're ironing out bugs, localisation and more, and assuming all goes well, we'll be ready to sign off on it shortly. We'll keep you posted!
But please remember that this is only the first launch, and we'll continue to support, update and add new features for VR and desktop throughout this year and beyond. Our plans for Star Chart are as big as the universe itself! ;)
Thanks for all your help and support so far - the team is very appreciative!
Star Chart closed BETA for Vive users
Hi guys and gals,
We're about to open up a closed BETA for testing out Vive specific features (primarily controller support and tutorial atm). Those lucky and intrepid enough to participate will be asked to provide feedback on everything from performance to feature requests, with special attention requested for anything Vive specific. Star Chart will work on Rift, PC, Mac as well as Vive, but again, our current focus is on Vive.
We ask that if you do get access you either wait to share information on Star Chart publicly or if you absolutely can't wait, you make it abundantly clear that you're playing around with pre-release code...
Although Star Chart for Vive works even in seated mode, it is best experienced with ample room for movement. We use about 5x5 meters of space to test in our offices... if you experience any issues at lower room sizes, please let us know.
And finally, please remember that Star Chart will continue to be developed for the foreseeable future, so rather than rant and threaten us about missing features, we ask that you simply send us your feature requests and we'll address any reasonable ones in due course ;).
Thanks for all your help - we really do appreciate your input and time to help us make Star Chart as great as possible - we are a small team, and couldn't do this without the help of all you intrepid dudes and dudettes!
Regards,
The Star Chart Team.
PS if you would like to be considered for the closed BETA, please send us a mail to scvive at escapist games dot com
