This update continues to focus on getting the latest build ready for Alpha 6. There is still a major focus on removing the bugs on operating systems that have been causing save issues.
One of the major issues in terms of crew members floating into space was addressed with this latest update so there should be a great deal of improvement with that. In the event this is still occurring please let us know as this is actively being worked on.
Overall this build adds a great deal of polish to the current systems in order to make way for the next major update.
The full patch notes are below.
Graphic improvements The layering system used in order to get the 2D world to appear correctly has been overhauled in order to make future updates a bit better. You should see a lot less incorrect layering in terms of shadows, and stairs etc.
Research Updates The entire point of the game lies in discovery and finding new ways to make space travel a viable option for mankind. Learning what you need in order to get to higher levels of research was part of the exploration with the game.
The issue with a system like this is players unwilling to attempt new things and learn can often become frustrated and irritated by feeling as though they are wasting points. In order to aid with this the next tier of research will now be shown indicating what you need to research first in order to move onto the next level. This is a bit of a compromise by allowing users to have some insight into their decisions and choices without giving away the entire research tree long term.
ALPHA V5.6 PATCH NOTES
CREW
Fixed several issues where crew members thought they were still traveling while sitting resulting in appearing to float into space.
GRAPHICS
Increased door opening and closing speed when outside of combat.
Complete rehaul of the shadow and layering system. Should see a major reduction in bugs where shadows overlap incorrect sprites.
Fixed issue where walking up and down stairs would not properly hide crew upon entering.
Fixed an issue where walking into and out of rooms could occasionally cutoff crew member image.
RESEARCH
Fixed hover issues when mousing over research items.
Unavailable research text bug fixes.
Research will now show the next available entry and the previous required technology in order to unlock specific abilities. This does take some of the exploration out of the trial and error of spending points but overall should help those who were confused and want to make informed choices.
SAVE/LOAD GAME
Additional protections added during save and load game process.
Fixed an issue with Steam users not properly connected resulting in game errors.
UI
Fixed room monitor collision issue with resize buttons
Cleaned up several UI elements.
Steam Update #18!
This weeks updates focusing on finishing out the planned event content for Alpha 5. More content is coming for the additional features of the game and more events with more complex decisions and choices will be added over time as well but this content should already provide hours of entertainment already based on user data.
When adding new events there are many different permutations that occur as there are multiple opening dialogues for each image, multiple, choices, and multiple results. Also some of the event images are used in different ways so they are not always unique. To see all the possible text from the current events would require thousands of events being played out.
More options have also been added to the settings menu which should also provide more overall gameplay customization.
One of the major issues that must be fixed in order to get to Alpha 6 is the crew members appearing to float into space. For the most part it is purely a graphical error but this is eagerly being tracked down.
Thank you all again for your help and suggestions, as they are continuously being worked on and good luck out there!
Alpha V5.5 Patch Notes
CONTENT
Fixed several event text issues.
Additional travel events added.
CREW
Fixed some crew disappearance issues.
PERFORMANCE
Major fix for descynchronization issues when framerate can drop. This primarily occurred during saves or when a large number of objects were being loaded.
ROOM
Fixed an issue where the bartender was not animating.
SETTINGS
Once again enabled the autosave toggle in the event players do not wish to autosave after each event.
Added a Order Tooltips toggle in the event showing crew order tooltips when mousing over objects is not wanted.
TUTORIAL
Added a disclaimer when storing energy to help players understand the game should not be paused in case they are confused nothing is happening.
TOOLTIP
Added a tooltip to the ship build categories when hovering over objects.
Steam Update #17!
This weeks updates focusing on polishing up the remaining features of Alpha 5 in anticipation for the additional game features in Alpha 6.
Additional content has been added for players traveling the stars as well as several AI fixes to help with response times and some graphical bugs.
For ease of use a new hotkey has been added to help with switching the game speed a lot quicker.
As always make sure to add your feedback on the forums as the feedback definitely helps in making something great!
ALPHA V5.4 PATCH NOTES
CONTENT
Additional content has been added to the beginning of the game through out for more unique events adding an additional 5% more content across the entirety of the game with this push.
CREW
Fixed an issue where crew members would float into space. Still investigating multiple instances of this particular bug.
Crew members traveling to a task should now respond much faster when in combat.
CREW MANAGEMENT
Updated the crew management window for quicker schedule alterations.
HOTKEYS
You can now alter the game speed by hitting the TAB button.
SECTOR MAP
Fixed an exploit when loading a save from a completed sector. You should no longer be able to repeat a sector repeatedly and avoid tougher difficulties.
PERFORMANCE
Addressed a performance issue dealing with saving the game and the new tooltips implemented in 5.3
UI
Fixed a UI text display issue in the Hotkey panel
Update #16 Alpha 5.3.2!
Thanks to Community members Fred and Data an issue was brought to the forefront dealing with a massive slowdown issue.
In digging through the issue it was directly tied to the latest patch specifically being the new tooltips to help when ordering crew members to perform a direct order.
Alpha 5.3.2 Patch Notes
CREW MANAGEMENT
Updated the crew management window for quicker schedule alterations.
PERFORMANCE
Addressed a performance issue dealing with saving the game and the new tooltips implemented in 5.3
Update #15 Hotfix!
Just a quick update, to fix an issue where the dialog box for events would show and events could not be continued for some users.
Thanks to community members DS and Profit for helping to track it down!
Steam Update #15!
This weeks update focuses on fan requested features!
A lot has been added to help with clarification and things that you all have specifically mentioned in the suggestions forums. Of course we will continue to pull from the list as some of the features require a lot more work to get into the game but some you will see on the next patch as well as additions to what have been added in this one like the ability to toggle some of these new settings.
Also there is even more content added in this patch that starts further away from Earth so keep an eye out for that as well.
Next up we are looking to round out some of the bugs that were reported as well and begin the next marge to Alpha 6 with more gameplay elements! Keep an eye out!
ALPHA V5.3 PATCH NOTES
BATTLESHIP
Fixed rounding error with initial battleship armor value.
Fixed an issue where it was difficult to place room objects by the door.
Fixed a lighting issue when deleting rooms.
CONTENT
Additional events have been added.
CREW
Crew members will lose a large amount of their fun meter when a fellow crew member dies from a major ship event.
Added additional protections for repairing ship objects when loading a save.
ORDERS
When having a crew member selected a tooltip will now be shown to illustrate the current order you are attempting to give via right click. This will allow for additional information and clarification to be added over time.
SHIP
Doors of the ship will no longer open when crew members are outside of the room and simply walking by them. This should help when the crew size is much larger.
A faint alarm sound can now be heard while the ship is in combat.
Steam Update #14!
Steam Update #14 is now live!
We have seen a lot of new faces over this past week with the summer sale. Welcome to all of you and thank you so much for your support and for many of your suggestions and even bug information. Without the community we would not be where we are at so tell your friends, become active and hopefully we can make something great!
There is a lot of work going on behind the scenes that just missed the deadline for this update. A bit more focus has been put on testing and verification to make sure everything still feels fun and exciting. Sometimes this results in a small bit of rework and minor delays but hopefully more news can come out about that shortly and you can check it out in future updates or on our development blog.
Due to previous updates and patches you now should have the ability to remove old save files. In early alpha there were some major save corruption issues so hopefully this should clear out some of the problems. We are still actively tracking them down and some of the bugs have been tougher to reproduce.
Whats Next? Before we move onto the next major features for the game for alpha 6.0 we want the next update to jump back to your suggestions like what was previously done. Look forward to the next update hopefully fixing a lot of quality of life issues and squeezing in some of the quick suggestions that were made.
If you have more minor things that you may want to see changed write about them in the forums. The forums are constantly viewed and watched as you can see the responses that are made. Bigger suggestions are being woven into the larger features like Power Armor/Marines so don't feel your suggestions are ever being ignored!
Thanks once again guys and tell your friends, the sale is only for a limited time!
Alpha V5.2 Patch Notes
CONTENT
Several Content bug fixes
CREW
Fixed an issue where mechanics were no longer fixing ship objects when following their schedule.
SAVE/LOAD
Multiple Save Load bug fixes
You can now delete save files in the load game option
SETTINGS
The game will now continue to run while in the background to help with traveling. Make sure to pause the game when needed!
SOUND
Fixed shower sfx not adhering to the settings option.
Steam Update #13!
Steam update #13 is now live.
This build completes the balance pass to help make crew morale more meaningful. It also removes the confusion with combat a bit and makes the human ships scale more closely to their alien counterparts.
One of the major bugs that has been reported in the forums and in some of the reviews should now also be fixed pertaining to crew schedules. Due to the complexity of the issue it took a bit longer to resolve than would have liked but it should no longer be a major issue.
Thanks all again for your patience and we will continue working toward alpha 6 with more features and content!
ALPHA V5.1 PATCH NOTES
CREW
Crew members set on a break policy will no longer immediately return to work without fulfilling the need they left for.
GRAPHICS
Various DirectX fixes.
REBALANCE
Shield and Weapon storage increased to 1000
Command Deck weapon and shields increased to 10x
Commander chair increased to 10x
Increased weapon attack cost to accommodate changer
Increased enemy damage to match new changes
Updated monitors to reflect the 10x increase
Increased damage events to reflect new damage threshold
Double check the monitors
Morale will now effect the overall work much closer.
TUTORIAL
Updated the ship protection tutorial to reflect the new balance numbers.
Unstable Version Updated!
The unstable version has now been updated to the in progress Alpha 5.1 changes.
This change revolves around the major balance change stated in the previous update. Overall it should reduce the confusion as far as enemy damage compared to the player ship and also adds more reason to keep the crew morale in tact as the percentage of morale will now directly affect the values much more.
There is still more polish and updates that will take place in the next build's update as well in regards to this polish and we are looking into several of the bugs reported!
Rebalance
Shield and Weapon storage increased to 1000
Command Deck weapon and shields increased to 10x
Commander chair increased to 10x
Increased weapon attack cost to accommodate changer
Increased enemy damage to match new changes
Updated monitors to reflect the 10x increase
Increased damage events to reflect new damage threshold
Double check the monitors
Morale will now effect the overall work much closer.
Steam Update #12! Alpha 5.0!
Alpha 5 has now been released!
Alpha 4 had many changes and continuous tuning done to the overall game thanks to community feedback. We were able to crush many bugs and get the game into a much more workable, fun, and playable experience. We couldn't have done it without the fans so thank you all!
Alpha 5 contains over 20% additional content for you to explore and witness as you play through the game. Alpha 5's focus will be on implementing the remaining features to interstellar travel like meeting stations that can repair your ship and more trade and options that can affect you and your current crew.
There are additional events that start out from the beginning of the game all the way to many sectors out so be on the lookout for the new content. While we work on Alpha 6 in the background more content will be continuously be added as that is the priority.
Alpha 5's cutoff just missed part of the combat rebalance so the next immediate patch will contain some of these balance numbers and changes along with more content.
For those who haven't been following the game here are all changes from Alpha 4 to 5 as well and we hope to continue this trend with the months to come!
ALPHA 5.0
BATTLESHIPS
The previous ship loadout is now saved upon leaving Earth. Multiple layouts will come at a later time.
The default ship initial default layout now has a weapon and storage unit in the engine room.
CAMERA
Right click camera movement has been changed to a pull method instead of push. This can be reverted to push via the settings panel.
COMBAT
Targeting monitors and crew members will now always add bonus % to hit appropriately.
Added scrolling combat text when missing enemy ships.
Additional balancing on initial enemy scout ships.
Fixed an issue where weaponry was not always firing specifically when changing ships.
Increased weapon energy requirements for the Ion, Laser, and Plasma turrets.
The weapon system should now consistently fire on the advanced weapon systems.
Additional balancing updates for enemy ship's firing speeds.
Loading a game while in combat will no longer allow the combat to persist.
Enemy Battle Cruisers damage has been increased by 10%.
Slightly increased enemy shield recharge amount, not the speed at which they increase.
Fixed an issue where enemy ships were not always adhering to current game speed.
CONTENT
Over 20% more content added
CREW
The crew overall movement speed when walking has been increased by 20%.
Crew members that are moving toward work positions during combat will now move at 300% speed. Animations will be updated to reflect the speed and movement increase but should aid in getting crew members to their needed places on time.
Additional AI has been given to the crew members to avoid being "late" in reporting for duty when the ship is in danger. They should response more reliably however additional work will be made to ensure they respond appropriately at all times.
Additional pathfinding checks has been added to the crew members to help aid crew members getting stuck in rooms.
Mechanics assigned to "Fix Ship Objects" will now properly maintain ship objects as well. Previously they focused on tagged broken equipment. Mechanics will now randomly move between rooms assessing if objects are damaged. If so they will begin to repair them back to full before moving to the next piece of equipment.
Fixed an issue pertaining to mechanics fixing random ship objects.
Crew members relaxing should no longer look "stuck" and stop moving all together at times.
Mechanics can no longer be set to fix fighters on ships with the hangar bay. This system is being implemented to work properly with the overall game.
Mechanics in the engine room should now properly fix equipment.
Greatly reduced the amount of time crew members will waste away their life by just relaxing at the bar for long periods of time when their "fun" is full.
Crew members assigned to combat duties will respond faster to battle issues. Your own direct orders will still always take precedent.
Fixed an issue where crew members would not return to work but instead a random room after their needs are met.
Fixed several crew stability issue.
Crew members attempting to use the shower and bathroom will not be able to queue for both blocking other crew members that are waiting.
Fixed an issue where crew members working in the engine room would not always fill storage units.
Reduced the overall experience gained when piloting the ship between locations.
Crew members working on the shield and weapon consoles will stop animating to indicate the systems are full. This also causes the amount of durability loss to be reduced.
The crew should now properly react to changes in work schedule when working a position not ordered by the player.
Crew stats are now distributed in a manner to make specialization a lot easier. Also crew members more represent themselves as the best Earth has to offer. This change only effects new crew members obtained not preexisting ones.
Crew member names can now be changed via the crew management panel.
Fixed a crew recruitment issue when selecting different crew members.
Flight crew members now have the ability to start with piloting skills which was being granted to mechanics for features not quite in the game yet.
Crew members utilizing the shower when their bladder is low are no longer above just holding it and waiting.
Various crew AI updates.
CREW POLICY
Added remove AI orders at combat start to the crew policy settings. This will remove any direct order given to the crew to force them to respond immedaitely to current combat needs.
GAME RESOLUTION
Game window size can now be increased or decreased via settings.
GALAXY MAP
Map difficulty levels will now slightly randomize so that a location of a specific distance away will now have a possible difficulty range making long range scanners more important. This change requires starting a new game.
Updated the completed location color to green to contrast the red on failed locations.
Additional protections added during traveling.
EVENTS
Various text cleanups.
Increased the difficulty rating of two of the alien races. You should no longer meet them upon the first locations around Earth. This should greatly aid in beginning game difficulty.
Hotkeys for the events displayed # can now be pressed on the keyboard.
Event demands should no longer lock out future choices.
Damage taken from an event should now no longer scale to obscene amounts of damage based on distance from earth. They now cap based on the current ship's armor strength.
More communications with Alien lifeforms should begin to appear more frequently.
Larger alien ships will appear much sooner in the game based on distance from Earth.
Fixed an issue where many ship travel events were not showing.
Taking damage from an event should now properly play the shield or hull damage SFX depending on the type of damage taken. This can still be considered deadly if the ship has taken a lot of damage without repairs.
When traveling around a sector each event should be unique for the sector and repeats should very rarely occur.
Updated several event images.
Added a sound effect when the monitor comes online.
Additional sector events have been added.
GRAPHICS
Fixed sprite clipping issue when walking along the front walkways.
HANGAR
Hangar bays are now visible. Additional functionality will be coming later.
HOTKEYS
Spacebar will now pause the game.
The plus (+) and minus (-) keys can be used to zoom in and out.
Event choices can now be activated via the alpha numeric key or keypad.
Left bracket ([) and right bracket (]) will now cycle through current crew members.
LIGHTING
Several changes to the rendering of sprites will monitor to make sure things continue to appear correctly.
MAIN MENU
Skip Intro and Skip tutorial settings are now saved in between sessions.
NEEDS
Overall ship object use when increasing needs have been increased by 10%.
Decreased natural need loss for all traits by 20%.
Decreased additional bladder loss when eating by 25%.
Increased sleep regeneration by 40% when using a bed.
Increased bladder regeneration by 30% when using a restroom.
Increase cleanliness regeneration by 10% when using the Shower.
OPTIONS
You may now return to main menu during ship travel.
PATHFINDING
Additional pathfinding checks when dealing with the hangar bay.
Resolved an issue where crew members randomly would get stuck in
Additional pathfinding fixes using default and previous layouts.
PERFORMANCE
Various performance fixes to the game.
Several performance increases to help with FPs particularly on larger ships.
Major performance enhancements across the game.
RESEARCH
Fixed an issue where opening research window would not always display the currently selected research option.
Galactic communications now currently reflect the current stage of early access. As more functionality is added the levels will increase. This should help with point allocation decisions.
ROOMS
BAR - Sitting at the bar table will now increase fun. You no longer need to converse with someone. The amount of fun gained is reduced when alone.
CREW QUARTERS - Sitting at the game board alone will now increase fun. You no longer need to have additional players however the amount of fun gained is reduced when alone.
ENGINE ROOM - Shield and Weapon storage units will now only boost the current ship to its maximum available energy. Remaining energy in the storage unit will no longer be reset to 0 but instead maintain whatever is left over.
Right clicking an object in the engine room with a mechanic will now order the mechanic to work on all of the objects in the room. They will determine what needs to be fixed or stored in the room. Direct control will return at a later time.
Engine room now only requires the FTL drive. This should open up more decisions when building out your ship's design.
Ship objects will now be repaired when at Earth.
Room supply monitors on load should properly display their correct room supplies.
SAVE/LOAD
Additional ships will now load with proper additional weaponry and storage space.
Additional checks added for saving and loading.
Repairing an object mid loading a save resulted in crew members unable to perform any actions. This should now be fixed.
Current targeted crew object should now properly load.
You can no longer save the game until the initial steps of the tutorial are completed and a sector destination has been chosen.
An auto save has been added after completed a sector and acquiring your reward or fulfilling the demand.
Shield and weapon storage units should now properly save and load with their current filled amount.
Ensured additional ship information is properly tracked and saved.
Additional save issue fix for larger ships using the hangar bay.
Fixed a save load issue where crew members would not perform their current tasks without ordering the crew to perform a separate option.
Fixed several mouse interactions with the load game UI.
Fixed an issue where loading a save mid travel would result in the inability to continue moving.
Remove AI orders when attacked setting added to save/load process.
SECTOR MAP
Increased the minimum distance between nodes by 50%.
Overall travel times have been cut by 60%. This should greatly reduce the amount of waiting between nodes and help with the overall flow of the game while working to maintain the ship.
Sector locations should attempt to adhere to a minimum distance.
SELECTION
Clicking empty locations will now clear the currently selected object.
SETTINGS
The issues that were preventing full screen mode have now been resolved. This option can now be changed via settings in the main menu.
Added text values to audio sliders.
SHIP OBJECTS
Maximum durability should now be properly displayed when a ship object is selected.
Upgraded ship objects will decay at a slower pace based on current upgrade.
Wall monitor durability will now longer drop over time.
Fixed an issue where the food replicator in the cafeteria was not able to feed users after being fixed.
Additional fixes for stability.
New scanning monitor has been added to the command deck. When the battleship scanner technology has been unlocked, scanning monitors in the command deck will provide a bonus to find enemy subsystems.
SHIP LAYOUT
Fixed an issue where the room resizing prompts and new build locations were not always showing.
Loading previous ship layouts will now adhere to the current available research. Turrets and rooms that are not unlocked will not be loaded.
STEAM
Several steam API fixes.
Added an unstable branch to steam for additional updates.
Steam overlay should now properly be displayed.
Completion of Emoticons and Profile Backgrounds. Trading cards will be held off until a later release.
TURRETS
Fixed an issue when changing turret load outs between ships.
TUTORIAL
A new tutorial has been added for storing weapon and shield energy.
Clicking an opened tutorial button should also hide the window if is the currently selected tutorial.
UI
Fixed several tooltip locations.
Added a basic hotkey window for quick references. Will continue to flesh out over updates.
Updated several UI elements.
Fixed an issue where UI Text was not being based on random screen size changes. The text should now slightly scale where needed.
Updated crew recruitment window tooltip to avoid flickering issue when mousing over crew perks and issues.
Fixed an issue with scrolling in crew management window.
UI should once again probably block mouse over effects when the user interface is over top of an object and properly reset the cursor to the default setting.
Escape key should now work to close menus and open the options menu when no other windows are open.
Updated several UI text alignments.
Added a disclaimer page to mimic several other early access development pages in order to promote more feedback.
Added tooltips to Crew selection and Crew management windows.
