Star Command Galaxies
Star Command Galaxies Alpha 10.2 - Performance Update is Live!
We have just rolled out Alpha 10.2 onto the main branch. We have been hard at work fixing memory leaks and performance issues and we think this should be a huge improvement for most users. There are numerous tweaks and fixes to get us here but the big take fixes are listed below:
• Memory footprint from 8.4 gigs to 2.1 which will make the game more smooth overall.
• Compressed all the sprites in the game so spikes during garbage collection and loading should be much less dramatic which will help with the game crashing.
Load up the game and see what kind of results you are getting. If things look solid here we will be moving onto Alpha 11 addressing many of the gameplay issues that have been brought up through Alpha 10 and focusing on some new additions, improvements and some new content focused around your crew.
Please leave any feedback you have in the Bug Reporting area of the forums!
Cheers,
Warballoon
Star Command Galaxies Alpha 10.1 Released!
Just a quick update today. We have addressed a major issue with memory leaks and performance. Scenes will now clean up much more cleanly when you warp to a new area so that the game doesn't get more and more memory intensive as you play.
The latest is live now. Tell us your feedback in the forums!
Happy Holidays,
Warballoon
Star Command Galaxies Alpha 10 Released!
The Seven month (Eleven lunar cycle) wait is over! We have been working diligently in our dingy work-capsule improving everything in Star Command Galaxies. Literally. Every single element in the game has received some love and attention. So, Let’s take you through some of the biggest improvements!
As you explore the sector in your newly-purchased Starship, new Encounters and Mission events will occur. Some are wonderful, while many more are exceedingly dangerous. Some may need ask for your assistance, while others require your crew's unique expertise. Completing these adventures will earn your crew Experience Points for new jobs, credits to buy new items or ship systems, or stranded castaways to add as your latest crewmembers.
Your crew can now be promoted to different job types, giving them the ability to unique kits and weapons. Melee weapons like brass-knuckles enable your crew to dish out the punishment, East-Jersey, Earth, a.d. 1978- style. Bada-boom!
Your new Station Manager Android D3RP is here to help! Assuming your request falls within his pre-defined working hours. Yes, we have literally added smelly, cold, dark and dank vessel that is your NEW Space Station! On this deluxe "home-base" you can build Stores and Modules to unlock new items, vendors, and ship systems.
The all new scenario in Alpha 10 begins with the discovery an evil Pirate Scout ship. With the location of your Space Station in peril you must find the enemy pirate station and destroy it! Engage multiple enemy ships with our completely redone ship combat and targeting system.
We have completely reimagined the UI based on feedback from all of our previous Early Access releases. Everything should be much clearer, more concise and compartmentalized, but most importantly functioning! Your overall ship-status is now displayed in real-time. Ship Functions like Shields and Weapons have been streamlined to show which crew are assigned and if it is the optimal match-up.
Star Command Galaxies has a steep learning curve. There are a lot of new concepts, connections and responsibilities for the player and we felt that we were throwing far too much at the player too early. The new tutorial should gradually cover all the basics of the game while still leaving a lot of room for discovery by advanced players. We didn’t want to hold your hand but we did want to arm you with everything you would need to not die and feel like you had clear purpose.
The primary enemy of the Galaxy is now in the game - the Grol. In future release we will give you the ability to complete missions for other races and slowly build up resources to combat the invincible enemy that is the Grol. With future updates will we introduce other races like the Cortex, Avarians, Vocar and others.
We have fixed so many bugs that we literally can’t list them. Everything has received attention: crew behavior, pathfinding, targeting, mesh merging, animation routines, gameplay loops, mode switching, asset loading - you name it. We have done our best to optimize and cleanup so that we can take on a bend not break mentality. The game is far from bug free but we think that there are far more quirks than there are “what the hell is going on” type elements.
We will be back to a semi-regular release schedule now that Alpha 10 is out, shooting for a release every 30-45 days. Alpha 11 will be focused on crew missions, crew desires, crew personalities, crew leveling up and making things much clearer on what your crew is doing and why they are doing it. This will include much better mouseovers that will reveal whether a crew member should be using a station, equipping a kit, attacking an enemy or talking to that strange blob monster. After that we will expand into the unknown areas of space introducing the ability to build allies, visit alien ships and stations and begin to fight back against the Grol.
Cheers,
Warballoon
If you are on BETA branch we would highly recommend you switch back to the main branch for the new release, until "Alpha 11: Adventures in Midorian Babysitting" [working title] is ready for testing.
Alpha 10 Release Candidate 3 Live on Beta Branch!
Some last minute changes before we roll out Alpha 10. Take a look at the release notes below.
* Load time reduced SIGNIFICANTLY
* Fix to LUA errors for animations
* Added in new music to encounters
* Various tweaks to weapons, missions, and balance
Cheers,
Warballoon
Alpha 10 Release Candidate 2 Live on Beta Branch!
We watched a lot of twitch streams last week and tracked some new bugs but really focused on performance and refinement of the existing missions. We added in a god mode where you can pick up and move things around your ship to help with some of the inventory management issues people were having. Give a shot and tell us what you think!
Patch notes below:
* Added in hand-of-god movement mode to rearrange ship inventory
* Mesh merge issue should greatly improve performance over the long haul
* Made the object returning into a warning rather than a red error...isn't as gamebreaking as a red error makes it look. Fix to new object particles
* Reduced dead body devolve time
* Fix to heal animations loops
* Crew promotion added into tutorial
* Kits picked up on your ship will auto-swap as long as they have the same function, no matter the kit.
* Kits picked up on other ships will automatically be sent to your ship if the character has a kit equipped with the same function.
* New security hats for females
* Removed nebulas (will reintroduce after some balance and polish)
* Pirate base is a bit easier
* Fixed a default character animation setting that no longer existed in game
* Fix to the CureState Missing Analyze Animation.
* Characters should no longer leave an Attack or Pathing state to deal with someone shooting at them.
* Fix to DialogChatManager and HealthBar Exceptions.
* New pirate encounter
* Fix to Machine Gun collision from ships.
* Added Mouseovers to Player Ship Panel
* Moved the Nav Orbit Panel mouseovers to the left side
* Fix to Mission Panels stacking on top of each other.
* Fix to PlacedObject Console Wrapper issue.
* Weapons no longer insta-fire upon targeting or retargeting.
* Final battle should be a bit more reasonable
Enjoy!
Warballoon
Alpha 10 Release Candidate 1 on Beta Branch!
We’re almost there. We have fixed our biggest issue, Fog of War, added some new missions and addressed some more bugs. This is our second release candidate and we have turned off error reporting. Please try this version out! We are in the final testing area and want to see if there is anything we are missing. Release notes below:
* Fog of War getting stuck on fixed!!!!!
* Fixed a crew UI bug where occasionally personalities would not display correctly.
* Fix to the Space Bar SystemAlertPanel issue.
* Fix to the Improper Crew Body post Kit & Promotion issue.
* Fix to the Kit Mouseover sticking issue on unequipping kits.
* Added in pausing for one liners, as well as the ability to clear either with ESC or Space
* Lowered labels on store
* Added in new encounters
* Modified ship hulls for balance
* Fix to Rank issues on the Crew Panel UI and kit requirements setting improperly.
* Fixed female heads
Cheers,
Warballoon
Alpha 10 rev 14 Released on Beta Branch!
We have what looks to be our second to last patch before we push this from the beta branch to the general public. Some good fixes in store. Game should be very stable and very playable at this point. Love to get your thoughts and any bugs you are running into. Patch notes below!
* Potential fix to Fog of War
* Fixed certain enemies not being targetable
* Pirate station consoles are clearer
* Ship weapon targeting fixed
* Fixed looping animations with medic and engineer
* Heal is a bit faster
* Fix to flyouts not being under Top Bar
* Characters/objects blink when you interact with them
* Added in Xerxes and Falcion ship classes (medium ships)
* Ship walls should blink when damaged earlier
* Fix to money occasionally zeroing out and/or giving improper values on the resource bar
* Improved heal and repair particles
* Food consumption rates adjusted to make food a bit less plentiful
* Scrap rates adjusted to make scrap less abundant
* Modules now take money when used
* Camera pans to ship after you purchase it
* The Grol are out there…..
Happy Thanksgiving!
Warballoon
Alpha 10 Rev 13 Released on Beta Branch!
Just released another patch to the Alpha 10 beta. We are still working on the fog of war being stuck on certain areas of the map (its clearly a tricky one). Some other fixes below:
* Non-Civilian based stations should no longer check build mode erroneously.
* Fix to “Build a Supply Depot” mission not completing if you had already built it
* Small adjustment that should help kit purchases properly spawn on the Player Ship.
* Mouse GUI Caller should now double check itself to ensure that it is actually over a UI object before sending it's information.
* Fix to Targeting issues that could arise when using the target icon to reset the attack location.
* Adjustments to kit purchases
* Testing male crowbar animation sheet being carried around all the time to see if its worth doing this for all weapons
* Fix to Highlights null
* The Assign command should now come up each time at the beginning, rather than occasionally not showing up.
* Captains now properly go to their assigned station when called to do so.
* Slight extra improvement to ensure default commands are loaded for all characters on load and on promotion.
* Assign Bubbles should no longer disappear when a ship system is in use during the assign process.
* LUA improvements, increased weapon charges, increased weapon prices, reduced occurrence of kits significantly in loot.
* Reduced XP, and scrap a lot for all starting missions. ~5-10 xp now.
* Removed Midorian from shuttle repair, modified korsu invader - fixed a hole in the hull
* Weaker initial pirate weapon
* Characters in the middle of PathState will no longer drop what they are doing to fight evil. They will wait until they arrive to do so.
* Fix to Crew Hire taking out money before checking if there is enough XP.
* Missions are now pink
* The text on the Crew Hire screen will now properly turn green or red pending your XP and cash resources.
* Characters should no longer leave consoles to attack someone attacking them.
* Made on objective optional for temporary fix on Pirate Scout, changed wording on destroy pirate base
* New kitchen sound, better xp and money for tutorial
Cheers,
Warballoon
Alpha 10 Rev 12 Released on BETA Branch!
Just a quick patch attempting to address a couple issues that have been reported over the weekend.
• Potential fix to FoW appearing where it shouldn't
• Potential fix to enemies teleporting on your ship and not being able to target them with your crew
• Fix to store items disappearing after mass purchase
• Unpack command now the default action for boxes on player ship
• Some mission adjustments
• Added MG and Torpedo ammo to vendor inventory
Please tell us if you get any more FoW bugs appearing where it shouldn't.
Cheers,
Warballoon
Alpha 10 rev 11 Released on BETA Branch!
- Fixed mesh merge issue at stations
- Adjust PirateScout mission
- Wall building on new stores should be much faster
- Fix to store plots
- Fix to Build GUI turning off all other GUI elements
- Fix to medics not healing
- PirateStation much easier (still hard though)
- New kit Objects
- Kits now keep charge count when equipped or dropped
- Fix to cost panel missing during ship purchase
- Fix to merchants only having a limited expected inventory
- Adjust ship maps
- Adjusted store menus
- Scrolling notification text should no longer stack on itself
- Better descriptions of why ranks/jobs can’t equip a kit
- Pirate station should now self-destruct
- Animations should stop looping when opening and working on consoles
- Clones no longer appear when hiring crew
- Fix to notification text blocking clicks
- Crew now cost XP to hire
- Fix to starting XP
- Bunch of other stuff
Take a look! Love to get your thoughts.
Very close to releasing this to the general public!
Cheers,
Warballoon