Update 0.820 - Blueprints, space caverns, fishing and more...
Greetings everyone,
As promised, updates will be more frequent in the following weeks, so the start of a new week is a good time to get things moving.
This update targets several game areas where many community members suggested some improvements. New ways to earn credits and other rewards is being introduced - visit caverns on space asteroids, explore them and gather loot. If you get tired of all this hard work, some asteroids will also have lakes where you can relax and fish some nice space fish. They can also be exchanged for a handsome sum of credits later. A little note to everyone here - space caves will respawn loot after awhile, so you can gather it more than once!
Crafting panel has been reworked and some useful data added, so that players have a better idea what is invested into creating an item and what will be the end value.
Along with new game elements, work on tweaking and improving previous ones is also continuing, this time with some campaign missions modifications that affect balancing and difficulty, updates to the encounter system and ironing out several bugs that prevented successful completion of a few encounter quests.
Lastly, some optimization elements are finally ready and we start with character optimizations that will improve framerate during cutscenes.
More details on this update is here:
CHANGES
ADDED: New locations - asteroid caves to explore and get handsome rewards
ADDED: Fishing system to further increase loot and rewards when exploring caves
ADDED: Newly reworked crafting panels with additional information for players
ADDED: The new blueprint system is setup so that you have unique blueprint rewards in all sectors (only campaign blueprints which are marked yellow, might be duplicates for now)
ADDED: Additional Subspace content added
ADDED: Replaced several placeholder models of ships for their actual models (Hurricane, Dummer, Storm)
UPDATED: Numerous optimizations with character loading and performance
UPDATED: Some changes on early Campaign Missions
UPDATED: Adjusted Encounter Quests, modified the possibility player would find them
FIXED: Some Encounter Quests bugs which would prevent the quest from completing
FIXED: Some problems with sector collectables which would prevent player from collecting all collectables in a sector
...and we're off to start preparing next set of improvements that should reach you quite soon!
All the best, LGM Games
Update 0.801 - Series of pre-release jumps initiated
Greetings all,
A few days ago we announced we'll be making a series of updates in the following weeks, in order to prepare the game for biggest single update since we started EarlyAccess - cross to version 1.0
So, here we are, update 0.801 is the first in this series with more to follow. Among required changes for upcoming major features, we'll also be pushing out lots of improvements and fixes. Some of them are based on your regular feedback and this principle will be applied to all updates until release day.
Allow us to use this opportunity to extend our gratitude to all community members that actively support our development process. In upcoming updates you'll notice chunks of your ideas and suggestions, so thank you for all the constructive input.
There is still lots of work to be done, so if we make some mistakes due to relentless pace planned for next several weeks, please feel free to inform us, and give a bit of time to sort everything out.
As for this specific update, in regards to gameplay flow, and difficulty issues, the secret word is money. We've increased the rewards for bartender missions, rewards for every eliminated ship is also increased. Furthermore, we started tweaking the recently added wormholes to further increase how quickly players can pocket some serious credits.
You'll also notice changes to a number of places where the game is saved, especially during the campaign, and also locations during the campaign where you can dock and restock on needed supplies. You can expect more of this in the future.
Regarding LGM's „service shop“ in the last week, we've resolved the crash happening when entering some wormholes, fixed twitching of camera in cockpit view, improved support schematics for several joysticks and HOTAS devices, and worked on eliminating excessive sensitivity of plugged controllers while playing with mouse.
There are numerous other improvements but you'll see that during gameplay itself. Next update will go live sometime next week, so stay tuned! If you feel this announcement is written too fast and with few details, fear not, it's only because we have so much stuff we still want to include to game, so we're jumping back to that!
CHANGES
ADDED: Highlighted visual notification for unspent skill points
ADDED: Weapons from Supporter pack added to all freeroam game scenarios
ADDED: More opportunities to prepare for Ravena fight (first capital ship combat)
ADDED: More saving points in early missions of the campaign
ADDED: Additional hints
UPDATED: Cockpit camera twitch reduced
UPDATED: When controller is plugged in, but not actively used, sensitivity is reduced
TWEAKED: Target lock color when selecting Nav Buoys
TWEAKED: Readjusted the mission where Bold has to retrieve the Urn. Easy and Normal are now easier, while Hard and Insane difficulty is now harder on the mission
TWEAKED: Enlarged the mission area on Ravena fight
FIXED: Radiation resistance now works correctly
FIXED: Objective update where player needed to gain certain amount of experience
FIXED: Fixed a rogue objective which would sometimes ask players to reach Earth
Continue to fly safe! LGM Games
Update 0.800 - Modding and all out improvements
Hi everybody,
We hope you're all well and happy, as we have some seriously good news this time!
First of all, development of Starpoint Gemini 3 has entered its final stages, so excitement and stress are at expected levels! And, this is a good time to include so many talented people from your ranks as well. Hence the arrival of modding support in this update! Unleash your creativity and use the tools we've created to amaze your fellow gamers.
Also, we'd like to announce that this update is likely to be one of the last updates during Early Access! Full release is drawing close, and soon we'll be talking about expanding the full game rather than adding what's missing. At this point, we can say that full release and full unlocking of the game is set for October 14th. Many of you will notice that a few major chunks are still not in the game, but don't worry – we wanted to avoid splitting the remaining pieces into smaller content updates, so you'll get all remaining content at the same time in one huge update. Should be a nice surprise for all of you and allow you to be positively surprised even if you've already played the game. Yes, the entire campaign is nearly finished and will be unlocked on release, player owned capital ships too, and many more things!
Bear in mind that in the following weeks, you can expect more frequent updates as we prepare everything necessary for the implementation of everything that's left to be added.
We'll announce news on this hyperspace jump quite soon. For now, let's get back to what this update brings: as usual, full changelog will be listed below, and as highlights I can mention that besides opening the Steam Workshop, version 0.800 brings improvements of the blueprint system, and an overall batch of new elements to find, explore and gather. Noticed a space anomaly in the distance? Get yourself there, explore it and gather rewards. Then sell the information to the highest bidder.
As per your request, targeted enemy objects will now display additional HUD information regarding that target. It's easier to eliminate enemies if you know them, right?
Another useful addition, also requested by many of you, is the ability to plot your course on the Starchart. If your desired destination is further away, setting a waypoint will now automatically plot the most handy course there, taking into consideration fast travel Nav bouys etc... Never get lost again!
The trading system received a sizeable rebalancing package as well, so get rich in a meaningful and fast way! And don't forget to say hello to Doug Jones, a roaming space trader you're bound to meet at some point...
For those who found drone missions too challenging, your dear ADAH got an early Christmas present – an active deployable shield.
Full list of changes is here:
CHANGES
<*>ADDED: Support for Steam Workshop and access to mods <*>ADDED: Navigation Starchart upgraded with fastest course plotting (with multiple WPs) <*>ADDED: Active shield system for player drone <*>ADDED: Anomaly mechanics now have specific loot drops <*>ADDED: Additional stats information on each weapon <*>ADDED: Wormholes with subspace areas <*>ADDED: Entire Darwin sector with all objects and missions <*>ADDED: Roaming space trader Doug Jones <*>ADDED: Proper derelicts for several additional ships <*>ADDED: Anomaly data items granted for anomaly scanning <*>ADDED: For „completionists“ - track bar on Starchart that summarizes everything there is to explore in each sector <*>ADDED: Loot containers within radiation nebulas <*>ADDED: Templar Outpost in Outerlands sector <*>ADDED: Radioactive nebulas <*>ADDED: Cockpit visuals upgraded (in cinematics) <*>ADDED: Sectors info and completion stats added to Starchart <*>ADDED: Hunter missile now interrupts cut engines mode and auto flight <*>ADDED: Light weapons can now destroy incoming missiles <*>ADDED: Weapons and weapon hardpoints: one weapon per each hardpoint <*>ADDED: Due to weapons mechanics change, rewards greatly modified and balanced <*>ADDED: HUD quick info on locked targets <*>ADDED: Anomaly scanning now grants experience and rewards <*>ADDED: Option to toggle depth of field on/off <*>ADDED: Invert Y axis for player drone <*>ADDED: Additional language localizations for new content <*>ADDED: Additional blueprints in sectors Outerlands, Sora, Extera, Iolia and Mars <*>UPDATED: Character models optimized <*>UPDATED: Additional lootable containers on levels <*>UPDATED: Additional security patrols near key locations <*>UPDATED: Encounters are now properly discarded while in radius of active missions <*>UPDATED: Asteroid update and draw distance now match properly <*>UPDATED: Nexus ship security patrols now have modified and corrects paths <*>UPDATED: Starchart nebula pins <*>UPDATED: Jupiter sector level <*>UPDATED: Added sales lists to Io Moon (Jupiter sector) <*>UPDATED: When dropping game to Steam with SHIFT + TAB, camera mode remains correct <*>UPDATED: Pressing SHIFT displays equipment hint <*>UPDATED: „Specialist“ achievement now unlocked properly on last skill stage <*>UPDATED: HOTAS T.16000m improved config file <*>UPDATED: Available weapons, ship modules and equipment lists updated on several dockable locations <*>FIXED: Upon load, nebulas are now visible correctly <*>FIXED: Boss Starchart marker displays correctly now <*>FIXED: Player waypoint correctly removed after successful jump <*>FIXED: Commlink during campaign mission 6 now displayes correct video <*>FIXED: Radar range is increased to match installed module type <*>FIXED: Camera positions during several cutscenes <*>FIXED: Saving a game doesn't generate fake skill points anymore <*>FIXED: Skill points respec is now locked if you have insufficient credits <*>FIXED: Radiation shied progress now works correctly while Starchart is activated <*>FIXED: Scanner radius regarding radar now working as intended <*>FIXED: Templar faction now uses correct ship types <*>FIXED: NPC AI ships no longer randomly fire while out of combat <*>FIXED: Additional fixes in cinematics regarding player ship modules <*>FIXED: Rendering distances and LOD's regarding asteroids and junkyards <*>FIXED: Derelict detection is now in corelation with scanner stats <*>FIXED: Derelicts now appear on radar as intended <*>FIXED: Ship turret count now displays correct value <*>FIXED: Planet Starchart hint now displays properly in higher then 2K resolutions <*>FIXED: Located blueprints can now be properly collected <*>FIXED: Mission timer and quick action don't overlap visually anymore <*>FIXED: Camera movement removed while in ingame menu during drone missions <*>FIXED: Derelict rotation now correctly follows rotation of original ship model <*>FIXED: Berzerker capital ship now displays correct weakpoints <*>FIXED: Bug with „infinite“ blueprint spawn removed <*>FIXED: Encounter quest cannot spawn inside a planet anymore <*>TWEAKED: Labels on weapon installation menu <*>TWEAKED: Targeted object is now shown on radar <*>TWEAKED: All radar distances now match sensor range <*>TWEAKED: Anomalies balanced and optimized <*>TWEAKED: Crafting items info <*>TWEAKED: HUD radar display objects <*>TWEAKED: Camera tweaks in ship customization <*>TWEAKED: Interior HUD notifications <*>TWEAKED: Nav Buoy positions modified in several places <*>TWEAKED: Weapon turrets positions on enemy capital ships <*>TWEAKED: Balanced asteroid rich nodes <*>
Very soon specific news on the remaining features will follow, and we'll also reveal more on the upcoming D-day, the full release.
Meanwhile, enjoy today's update and stay tuned! LGM Games
Summer news and price change heads up
Hello everyone!
Amidst the summer heat and all of the grim news on pandemic, we wanted to quickly update you on progress we're making. July temperatures still didn't kill us, and evasive maneuvers against outbreak of COVID-19 are still working well. That only means development process on Starpoint Gemini 3 continues pretty much as planned.
We're currently working on several fronts - improving all possible issues and gameplay experience based on everyday testing as well as your feedback. Second major „area of operation“ is completing all remaining story missions and we really can't wait to reveal this to all of you. Lastly, we're preparing player owned capital ships update along with all the changes this requires. These incoming „Big guns“ are coming to life nicely and we're quite anxious to unlock them to public.
One of the sizeable upcoming changes linked to Capships is the upgrade of AI for both smaller ships and capital ships. We'd also like to note that some of the previous player ship modules are now reworked and will be making a comeback. In general, expect a ramp up in update freequency in the near future since there are so much cool stuff we need to "stuff" into the game before it's completed. We're pretty positive many of you will have good fun rather soon!
Another thing we wanted to let you know is that, according to previously announced schedule, Starpoint Gemini 3 is about to receive its last price change. As of Monday, August 3rd, game price will be increased for the last time in this Early Access cycle. This price will be the final one and no more changes are planned until and after the release. So, any of you wanting to try out the game, or planning to get it in full version, you still have a few days to make use of lower Early Access price if you want.
In the meantime, we'll continue to have a very active and dynamic summer. Plans for next couple of months are very extensive, and game will start to change quite fast. There are a lot of features and various game elements that are nearly finished but can't be unlocked separately. So, expect lots of news, good news in the near future!
Stay safe, healthy and in good spirits! LGM Games Team
Update 0.750: Achiever
Hi everyone!
It is almost the middle of the month, so a fitting time for next Starpoint Gemini 3 Early Access update! Since it's summertime, and the pandemic situation shows no signs of easing, we hope you're still keeping yourself safe and healthy. And clocking some good gaming hours is luckily one of the things that can help with maintaining your safety and distancing while still experiencing a bit of good old fun.
There are a number of improvements in this update, we've included a nice list of fixes and upgrades based on your feedback throughout various forum discussions. Two things will stand out though – firstly the beginning of implementation of a second gameplay „style“ that leans more towards simulation.
Note that all these incoming options will be possible to switch on and off in the game options, depending on whether you prefer to play the game as a more pure action game or more simulation oriented. In this update we're adding the radar screen (for both cockpit and 3rd person cameras) with overview of the surrounding situation. Hope you'll find it useful!
Second important thing is the introduction of Steam achievements. There are over 100 of them, and you'll be rewarded with various achievements from the very start of the game, for any number of activities: exploring, using different weapons, destroying enemies, reaching certain stages of the campaign etc... In main game menu you can check out the entire list of reached achievements as well as those yet to be reached.
Hope these additions, along with many other fixes and upgrades will supply you, ladies and gentlemen, with more goals to play for in this summer heat. Meanwhile, we're going back to player capital ships mechanics that was already announced earlier. We've done some good progress there, but it wasn't yet fully ready to be added with this update. If all goes well, it will be the backbone of next one.
Full changelog for this update is here: CHANGES
ADDED: Ingame active radar, can be toggled in game options
ADDED: Steam achievements are now activated and can be gathered
ADDED: An option to turn off shadows, helpful for slower configurations
ADDED: Collectable derelicts throughout sectors. Players can shoot at them, and they can eject loot drops until they are destroyed
ADDED: New mining facility structures with mining effects
ADDED: New batch of German translations
UPDATED: Freelance mission markers don't transfer to different maps
UPDATED: Adjusted level of drone damage received
UPDATED: Drone events added: weapon fire detection range
UPDATED: Cutscene SFX is now bind to overall SFX option slider
UPDATED: Detection markers on interior drone missions improved
UPDATED: Ambient near planet Jupiter improved
UPDATED: Loot drop calculation improved
UPDATED: Rich nodes now hidden when player is too far
UPDATED: Behavior of enemy drones and their awareness improved
FIXED: A few duplicated shortcuts now working properly
FIXED: Several causes for possible game breaking issues resolved
FIXED: A bug with infinite respawning blueprint
FIXED: „Ghost“ loot doesn't appear anymore on interior missions
FIXED: Dockable status of Tgates are now saved properly
FIXED: Frequency of „engine down“ event reduced
FIXED: Upon undocking from Calisto refinery, ambient functions normally now
FIXED: Spawned NPC drones now follow correct path
FIXED: Shortcuts displayed properly in crafting menu
FIXED: Visible mouse pointer during cutscenes removed
Fly safe and stay safe! LGM Games
Update 0.700 - Summer delight
Hello!
We hope to find you all good and healthy! In these challenging times, and on the brink of summer, we're determined to give you, good gaming girls and guys, some good stuff to play with in the upcoming weeks. Our Early Access continues, and time is right for yet another update!
This update also targets general gameplay and freeroam features. Some of the added things are also here to lay a further foundation for introduction of player-controlled capital ships, others are focused on expanding the remaining maps and a more eventful universe. Full changelog will be listed below as usual, but highlights are the addition of the new Jupiter sector in SOL system, a new Templar freeroam mode, updates in crafting and loot drops, new mining options etc...
Some of you will also recognize several additions/tweaks of previously existing features, and if they are familiar, yes, it's because they are based on a number of suggested and commented things on the Steam community hub. We are monitoring everything you say, and we try to answer everybody as soon as possible. And if you do have an idea that can work better than what we envisioned; we'll be happy to adopt it.
We're still a few months away from completing our primary list of planned game elements, so you can expect some major updates in the future, including remaining „big“ features that will have a huge impact on overall gameplay. Until then, enjoy the start of summer, relax if you can, and above all, keep yourself safe and happy!
Full changelog for this update is here: List of changes is next: CHANGES
ADDED: Entire new Starchart map – Jupiter sector in SOL system
ADDED: New Templar freeroam start
ADDED: Item prices are now also added to inventory menu
ADDED: New Rich Junk nodes for mining
ADDED: New Gas pocket Rich nodes for extracting
ADDED: „Continue“ button in main menu that loads the last save
ADDED: New system for discovering nebulas and asteroid fields, and for tracking already discovered ones
ADDED: Hunter missile impact drops player from cruise mode and triggers engine malfunction
ADDED: Using exit game option now has another required prompt, preventing player from accidental mis-click
ADDED: Starchart hints for nebulas and asteroid fields
ADDED: Security ships near major stations
ADDED: Containers with ore that can be looted are placed within asteroid fields or refineries
ADDED: Useable docking points on stations for NPC ships
ADDED: Templar outpost object
ADDED: New blueprints in Jupiter sector
ADDED: New locations for Outlaws ambushes
ADDED: Multiple new locations markers on Starchart
UPDATED: Loot drop scripts to better specify type, amount and origin of drops
UPDATED: Starchart snap now better targets visible markers
UPDATED: Security patrols have updated paths and patrol routes
UPDATED: Berzerker ship now has added rear weapon turret
UPDATED: Multiops Legion ship has upgraded firing arcs
UPDATED: Sector Iolia has upgraded ambient and nebulas
UPDATED: Target lock from waypoint to object now automatically switches when needed
UPDATED: Notification sounds for switching missiles type in mid flight
UPDATED: Saving data on blueprints, derelicts and anomalies to player save file
UPDATED: Radiation damage indicator reworked to be more user friendly
UPDATED: Radiation anomaly deals damage gradually, giving player time to finish scan
UPDATED: Radiation nebulas are now green on Starchart, and display realistic size
UPDATED: Radiation nebulas now have added correct parameters
UPDATED: Distances between nebulas
UPDATED: Loot drops for all NPC ships are reworked
UPDATED: Loot drops from anomalies reworked
UPDATED: Anomalies don't give credits as loot anymore
UPDATED: General Drake station has new items inventory
UPDATED: Outposts all over the maps now have correct names
UPDATED: Localizations for several languages are improved and expanded
FIXED: Asteroids will now be normally destroyed, regardless of current camera position
FIXED: Nebula appears normally, regardless of current camera position
FIXED: Decals in ship customization panel now displays in all selected colors
FIXED: Nebulas are now displayed correctly on Starchart, both in position and size
FIXED: Post effect in in-game menu are now displayed correctly
FIXED: Encounter quest cannot be spawned inside a planet anymore
FIXED: All asteroid types and asteroid fields now have correct loot drops
FIXED: Upon undock, all dockable objects will now display correct object names
FIXED: All outposts now have correct inventory lists
FIXED: All junkyards are now correctly marked on Starchart
Fly safe and stay safe! LGM Games
Update 0.650 - Pre-capship countdown
Greetings everyone!
We hope to find you all, despite challenges this year keeps throwing before us, still well and ready to play some more!
During last several weeks we've successfully „cooked“ another cool update for Starpoint Gemini 3.
Full changelog is posted below, but some highlights would be a number of additions to expand the sandbox experience, several player requested changes to accessibility of freeroam between missions, brand new customization panels so all of you can get crreative with your own ship, and a nice bundle of fresh ship modules to assemble your avatar of destruction!
Also, we'd like to share a quick preview of what's coming next – among other things in the upcoming updates, you can expect steam achivements and finally, the introduction of player owned capital ships!
Full changelog for this update is here:
List of changes is next: CHANGES
ADDED: A number of new player ship modules, available at numerous drydocks at stations/planets
ADDED: During campaign, freeroam is unlocked on more places between missions, to allow players increase in strength and weaponry before fights
ADDED: New encounter quest system with missions that can be picked up and followed
ADDED: New Starchart waypoint for following encounter mission
ADDED: Anomalies are now enlarged and appear throughout all systems
ADDED: Weapon turret platforms are now placed near some stations and objects
ADDED: Space stations now have defined drydock modules to sell
ADDED: New visual effect for both cruise and boost engine mode
ADDED: Experience points when destroying a structure
ADDED: New NPC miner ship AI
ADDED: Miner AI ships now leave miner loot when destroyed
ADDED: Three different types of chatters for drones
ADDED: NPC drones now can have various weapons
ADDED: Both Invert mouse X and mouse Y
UPDATED: All profession ships now spawn as intended – Miners, Scavengers, Gas Collectors
UPDATED: Improved debugging tool for tracking factions and professions
UPDATED: Improved loading procedure for some structures (Scaffoldings)
UPDATED: Correction of entire ambient in the Mars sector
UPDATED: Scenery update in Pyros sector
UPDATED: Scenery update in Earth sector
UPDATED: Improved NPC ship navigation and destination selection procedures
FIXED: After mission, waypoint marker will be in a correct spot
FIXED: Crosshair center added to options
FIXED: Weapon turrets will now always have correct position and alignment
FIXED: Eliminated bug when moving game launcher window
FIXED: Eliminated possible ship dissapearance when they are created far away from player ship
FIXED: Eliminated bug with NPC ships if they perform jump in directly in front of player
FIXED: Improvements to numerous scripts
As always, we invite you to dive into the game, check out what's new and improved, and let us know your impressions and suggestions. All of that will help us prepare next update to be even better!
Fly safe and stay safe! LGM Games
Unscheduled update from depths of isolation
Hello to all of you!
In these troubled times, we hope you're looking after yourself and also after one another. And while we're waiting for „normal“ times to return, our work on Starpoint Gemini 3 continues. Many of you had the chance to spend some more time playing your favourite games, so we also got plenty of your reactions and feedback. Today's update aims to address some of them. It's not yet time for next major milestone, but it is a good time to deploy numerous tweaks, improvements and additions we've been working on for the past few weeks.
We'd also like to thank you all for your responses and posts! They are very helpful during this development process and we encourage you to keep 'em coming!
List of changes is next: CHANGES
ADDED: Game manual is now linked to main game launcher
ADDED: Entire new sector to visit, Iolia
ADDED: New NPC enemy drone with both appearance and behaviour
ADDED: New transport barman quest, with both objectives, quick action and rewards
ADDED: Effects linked to completing transport mission
ADDED: Several new and reworked graphics options
ADDED: Several graphics options are added or reworked
UPDATED: Visual effects when firing from intro ship cockpit improved
UPDATED: Ship panel within journal panel now has improved functionality, lists and stats
UPDATED: New NPC chatters linked to specific events
FIXED: When player dies, camera is now properly centered on player ship
TWEAKED: Boss icon is now visible only when you're in the same sector
TWEAKED: Modified journal when using initial intro player ship
TWEAKED: Modified planet size displayed on Starchart
That's it for now. Stay safe and healthy, and have a good week!
LGM Games
One fine leap forward : Roadmap update 5 - entering beta phase
Hello everybody!
As one awesome man once said: „ That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind. “, our Starpoint Gemini 3 development process is currently at one such crossroad. With Roadmap milestone 5 being reached, we're entering the second half of the entire process.
First of all, you've probably noticed there was a longer pause between the last two updates. That was planned since the amount of assets and features needed for this cross into the beta stage was really huge. After all, you'll get the chance to check it all out!
The roadmap originally called this milestone „Narrative“, but we'll call it „Beta“, since the size of this update grew significantly in the past months. Everything planned for the Narrative update is here, but so is a lot of other cool stuff.
So, what's new? Well, to check this out, you'll need about 5 seconds of playtime - starting with the main character. Jonathan Bold was given a complete overhaul, from the 3D model to animations. The old model has been removed, since, you know... Gemini isn't big enough for two Bolds.
What's more important is that Bold's journey continues further with this update. For the first time after Early Access launch, the main campaign is unlocked several steps further. There are new places to visit, new characters to meet, new intrigues to uncover... In the new missions you'll be able to start noticing changes in the main character’s personality. These changes will become more and more significant later on as we near the final stages of the campaign. The beta game version does not enables the entire storyline, but pushes it several steps ahead.
All of you that already played through the game, will also notice that the first part of the campaign has also been upgraded with new animations and scenes. This is the plan till the end of development - to upgrade and polish everything, including the already implemented game elements.
For destruction-oriented addicts we also have a couple of treats. The first is the arrival of anti capital ship combat mechanics. You now have weakpoints to target and exploit on these juggernauts, but beware - they also bite back and usually aren't alone. Note here that this system is just a small part of what we'll need later for player commanded capital ships. The second treat in this category is the addition of ADAH combat mechanics - our sweet drone can now encounter bad drones and waste them. ADAH can also find and gather loot on her away missions. Oh, and did I mention that the ADAH model is also replaced with a new enhanced one?
Of other important news - we've revamped the loot reward system, mining rewards including „rich asteroids“ system, made changes to the UI and added a number of UI elements, added lots of events, encounters, between-faction events... Basically, the freeroam dimension of the game is also getting a serious boost. More places to visit, more stuff to see and more events to participate in. All of that will generate more opportunities for experience and level gains and ship improvements.
Before we post the intricate details of this mega update, one information for all players - as we already mentioned as expected situation earlier - from this update you, unfortunately, you won't be able to use your old saves. We tried our best to keep the consistency of save files throughout all updates since September last year, but this massive update simply changed too much, both in the campaign and the freeroam mode. Forcing old saves to work with this version would cause a lot of unforeseen issues, so it was unavoidable. If all goes according to plans, this will be the only such situation during development, and we figured it's better to do this synchronization now rather than later when much more gaming hours could be in jeopardy. We hope you understand why we had to do this.
CHANGES
ADDED: New campaign missions
ADDED: New main character model
ADDED: New storyline characters: J.J Digins, Vassily Ratbone, Night Watchman, Glenn Curacao
ADDED: New interior and exterior locations
ADDED: New character animations and voiceovers
ADDED: New interface elements and notification systems
ADDED: New hint and notifications
ADDED: New quest tracking and information panels to Starchart
ADDED: New encounters and random events throughout maps
ADDED: New loot system with more frequent drops
ADDED: New „rich node“ asteroids system for much more lucrative mining
ADDED: New weakpoint system for anti-enemy capital ships combat
ADDED: Enemy capital ship combat mechanics
ADDED: Hostile drones in interior maps
ADDED: ADAH drone combat mechanics
ADDED: New ADAH drone movement mechanics
ADDED: ADAH drone inventory
ADDED: Option to use quick interact button when using drone
ADDED: New loot and reward system for drone interior missions
ADDED: Enemy drones to fight against in interior missions
ADDED: HUD markers for discovered mining and scavenging objects - gas pockets, rich nodes and derelicts
ADDED: Asteroids HP bar visible to player
ADDED: New collisions with asteroids and other objects
ADDED: Ships can now destroy smaller asteroids by ramming into them
ADDED: Collisions from other objects now also add damage to player
ADDED: Large batches of new sounds linked to actions and objects
ADDED: New indicators when locked and targeted by enemy missiles
ADDED: New voiceovered chatter lines for number of events throughout maps
ADDED: Outlaw Guerilla special ship design
ADDED: Outlaws Stalker special ship design
ADDED: Options to scan the scenery objects
ADDED: New cutscenes for additional storyline missions and some revamped old ones
ADDED: Large batches of chatter voices for NPC ships and stations
ADDED: Additional sounds for HUD, cockpit and cutscenes
ADDED: Almost all asteroids yield loot now
ADDED: Encounter system when attempting to use TGate
ADDED: Encounter system when using NavBuoy
ADDED: Enemy space drones spawn system on various locations
ADDED: New Mars sector map, along with objects, encounters and characters
ADDED: Additional civilian and military traffic to various sectors
ADDED: Lock on enemy missiles as they are approaching
ADDED: New hints and HUD feedback information regarding missions and events
ADDED: HUD element - weapons fire range indicator
ADDED: Ship convoys near space stations
ADDED: Ship convoys near structure clusters
ADDED: Ships entering and exiting Starpoint
ADDED: Ships entering and exiting T Gate
ADDED: Ships using Nav buoys
ADDED: New information to stations and planets
ADDED: More additional variety in appearance of derelicts
ADDED: Scanner ship module now has new and upgraded stats
ADDED: New explosion visual and sound effects
ADDED: Derelicts now have special ambient sounds
UPDATED: Revamped experience rewards system
UPDATED: Revamped quest system with barmans
UPDATED: Shortened duration of damage effects on player ship
UPDATED: Modified visual particles when viewing game from cockpit
UPDATED: AI agression levels with ships in fleets
UPDATED: Firing weapons is now disabled in cruise mode and while charging cruise as well
UPDATED: Optimizations to physics system
UPDATED: Lens flare visual effects now depend on surrounding ambient
UPDATED: Weapons targeting against objects is now more precise
UPDATED: Revamped lighting effects and ambients in multiple sectors
UPDATED: Starchart received additional direction lines showing the path of jumps
UPDATED: Prices of numerous missiles reduced
UPDATED: Loot prices and availability increased throughout sectors
UPDATED: Rebalanced difficulty to adjust for new enemies and capital ships
UPDATED: Rebalanced prices of weapons and equipment
UPDATED: Rebalanced experience gain system
UPDATED: Rebalanced enemy weapons and rate of fire
UPDATED: Almost all crafting blueprints are rebalanced
UPDATED: Spin up cycles for Cyclone and Sorm modified
UPDATED: Increased the price of wing ship modules
UPDATED: Increased how much additional turrets influence wing module price
UPDATED: Music system now plays all tracks scattered in various sectors
UPDATED: All missions and other planned actions now yield experience points
UPDATED: T-Gate now has correct hit collision sphere
FIXED: Issues with releasing of 3D sounds
FIXED: Enemy weapons fire sounds now have correct ranges and volumes
FIXED: Mission and object markers on Starchart now are now saved correctly
FIXED: Corrected waypoint tracking and position on Starchart
FIXED: If already initiated, quick action cannot be started again
FIXED: Soundtrack is now properly played throughout sector maps, both combat tracks and ambiental ones
FIXED: Sound issues with playing multiple sounds at the same time
FIXED: Sound issues related to distance of the sound origin
FIXED: Multiple issues and desync during character animations
FIXED: Encounters will now spawn on correct positions
FIXED: Encounter ships will use correct predefined faction
FIXED: Several bugs during Jeepers Creepers Boss fight
FIXED: Lynx wings module now has correct stats
FIXED: Magellan refinery quests now work correctly
FIXED: Trade convoys follow correct paths and behaviour
FIXED: Autosaves now work correctly during campaign mission stages
FIXED: Cutscene on Pyros campaign mission doesn’t cause camera to offset
FIXED: You cannot accidentally sell quest items anymore
FIXED: Vfx from boost engines now shuts down correctly when disengaged
FIXED: Post processing effects from radiation now shuts down properly
FIXED: Iolia factory is now placed in the correct sector
FIXED: Crafting process now has more info on what is gained and invested
FIXED: Skipping cutscene doesn’t break the game anymore
FIXED: NPC AI behavior doesn’t halt indefinitely
FIXED: Target sphere on loot objects increased for easier selection
FIXED: All wings now have correct turning speed information
TWEAKED: Decreased energy recharge of weapon batteries
TWEAKED: Increased energy cost of scattergun weapons
TWEAKED: Increased inventory size for all hull modules
TWEAKED: Increased loot drop value of “ore nodes” and derelicts
TWEAKED: Repair and scan sounds now have normal volume
TWEAKED: Enemy structures now cannot be interacted with
We'd also like to note that, despite the fact that the game is now largely improved and expanded on, development is still some ways off from being finished. All features included in the beta update will now be polished and tweaked according to requirements and feedback from players, plus we still have some major stuff to add, like player capital ship, remaining maps, rest of the campaign etc... A very busy schedule is ahead of us, but hopefully this update will give you all a taste of what's to come soon!
And just like last time, fly safe!
LGM Games
Spring dev leap coming in March!
Greetings captains!
It is high time to give a glimpse into what's coming next for Starpoint Gemini 3.
During March, we aim to enter the beta stage of production. As before, this doesn't mean we're shutting down all feature additions, but including new additions to the feature list will be limited in scope. So here's a little snippet...
NPC Capital ship mechanics
The first part of the new capital ship mechanics is implemented. This means sub-targeting. You will be able to attack and knock out specific weakpoints on any large vessel, causing massive damage, but also a side-effect as well. This side-effect can be anything from a freightliner dropping some loot when you knock out its storage container, to preventing a battleship from using its weapon turrets. The dilligent crews of these vessels will however be ready to start repairs as soon as they can so don't expect to permanently disable a cruiser's weapons. Where would be the fun in that?
As noted above, this is only the first cap ship segment and it will be used on player-controlled capital ships as well, once they're implemented.
Storyline changes and additions
Following a lot of Your feedback on the forum, we've done a lot of changes (and will do some more before beta and final release) to the main campaign. This includes the texts, voiceovers, character models, animations, cutscenes, missions... Basically everything was at the very least tweaked. We look forward to hearing what you think.
Encounters
The entire encounter system has gone through a review and partial rebuild. Again, following Your feedback. To make it easier and faster to add variety into the encounter system, our scripters have redone the system almost from the ground up. We realize the current implementation's shortcomings were too significant to just let it slide. You guys deserve better and we'll do whatever we can to deliver.
Interface
The first parts of the interface have received a facelift in the previous update. Our work on this hasn't stopped and I'm sure You'll notice quite a few quality-of-life improvements as well as changes that are more on the visual side of the equation.
Game world
New maps are also arriving in beta (and a couple more are coming during beta too). As before, the maps will come as finalized as possible in the current stage of production. As we progress more, the available maps will also be upgraded.
Naturally, each update brings a host of fixes and tweaks, and the beta update will be no different. It is however too early to dump the entire changelog here, so we'll just leave that for when the update actually arrives.
We're looking forward to getting the update out to You!
