Welcome to April starchasers! Hopefully you survived April Fools intact, and if not, there’s always superglue. Meanwhile, we’ve been chugging away at getting the game done. We’ve chosen our first round of testers and handed out the alpha build of the game to them, and a huge amount of progress was done this month. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/eedbe99123a083a2f3175ea06fb7a53760fb94a1.png[/img] Before we get into that, I’m announcing a small delay in the release of our next demo. 1.10 has some bugs to work out, and notably the Linux and Mac builds are both lagging behind due to some texture packing errors. The good news is when it releases, it should have a lot more features (including the new painting system among other things). Now, onto progress! As always this is just a paraphrasing of the main article, [url=https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pastaspace/underspace/posts/3476038]which you can read here! [/url]You can also [url=https://pastaspace.itch.io/underspace]check out our demo[/url] and [url=https://discord.gg/34NbWxKkKh ]check out our Discord![/url] [h1]Even More Quests[/h1] While not the focus this month, plenty more quests were added, and we’re closing in on a respectable 40/60 completed. A lot of the more complicated quests are being completed now, and those occasionally need new tech and extensions of the scripting system. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/f210334672bae73f4bfc1c4675cf4ebc5e33a807.png[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/39d0c07907fbab249b18e877d2dae6ee4b31ca50.png[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/797a277c457269d0f0dc3597d4f0f70bcb5d9265.png[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/dba4a5e0fc333e467ac1bfe51c07194b42dbfaa1.png[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/e969baebe7d4924a296eb4258be34a85dd35fd28.png[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/4046162c5f0f35b50c19a9892a4431747a53158f.png[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/e18094dd11445d8c3ae38867ba8b2f84ffb72c31.png[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/279cab3106fd511746b357e12dad76ec596217c9.png[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/b26f9a6f5df559b87656f83d0cac062850d03bc5.png[/img] More of course, will get implemented later on. [h1]Those Usual Bugfixes, Improvements, and Such.[/h1] Our first testing build was given out to testers, and with it, a whooole buncha bugs have been found. In between fixing those, I’ve taken the time to do some additional QoL and reworks of things. The UI has been improved, with the hazard readouts reporting radiation damage per second, storm level, and the number of missiles or mines currently targeting you. Bandit holdups also now display the time until their generous offer expires. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/033724925489f81aa372adc3c05ddbb266e903c5.png[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/2f06c8c98253f1c7b84ff2cf9afa05bd3b2f02ab.png[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/b3d2a031d43e0c9fafcf00d553dc28c55505e45a.png[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/43ea45a8a11642b7e54e15d254e51b08c05fce37.png[/img] Testers really loved the fact that you could enter formation with a hostile ship and use that to chase them. Except that was a bug, not a feature. So instead, I made it a feature. [previewyoutube=mFd1-lP4MDs;full][/previewyoutube] I refactored how large ship AI worked, allowing it to fire a variety of projectiles and choose targets far more efficiently. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/4945d6bf44bbd3a5d3e4983cc2ffa97c29afff74.png[/img] [previewyoutube=HHWD_oM4Sfc;full][/previewyoutube] Painting is also getting a rework. Ships will now have three color channels while decals are far more efficient and work a lot close to how I want them to. [previewyoutube=ZIi4nONPx9g;full][/previewyoutube] [previewyoutube=oDrdwcGjXqw;full][/previewyoutube] I’ve also just been passing over and polishing, redoing, and reorganizing systems in places to fit better. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/5bcde6a0fcc6d7bc4074657a163d6207df1f8b48.png[/img] [previewyoutube=y8NRDzei-pk;full][/previewyoutube] [previewyoutube=CXV_ow_563c;full][/previewyoutube] [previewyoutube=uMpRMFKr7hQ;full][/previewyoutube] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/defed113294e247458e2f8d8f900d02b0f826ea5.png[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/c12d0369c56556eaf116dc1b4ae050972f4e147a.png[/img] Finally, things like gunboats, large drones, and more are getting proper explosion fuses worked out. [previewyoutube=4rtk82LboFU;full][/previewyoutube] [previewyoutube=HvRM_z7gcN8;full][/previewyoutube] [h1]Tons of Assetwork[/h1] Last month as you recall, I promised to texture and model out every boss. Unlike SOME people, I keep my promises. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/be393cee0afc0a0b7158f297d94968751572e433.jpg[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/522475d57cf62997e7818ee2e68d8f2548a63dc8.jpg[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/e4ede8039df5a9d8f31c78e90cbfed17eec3fbf6.png[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/d10b4b2e04b7f7f16225cd8a83f6aedf05ee2a16.png[/img] And while I was on that texturing binge, I textured a lot of assets that were missing said textures: missiles, NPC enemies, drones, and more. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/d355ff05bc54e02ad4840a215a5e09ecc8ac13ac.jpg[/img] Robotic characters, including both characters themselves and portraits for Hal-9000 AIs have gotten modeled out and textured (though they’re yet to be animated). [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/c35fca12d43dc82f0ea932adee81187f3ba4362d.png[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/785d8d54eb8c3106da12e700739ca4413d2a661a.png[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/7707766789bfb84d0e70c5b10b73333dd26d3e5b.png[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/5e4334f33938e9eeb92bbf29131de3ff1a03f4e3.png[/img] I’ve also been largely unsatisfied with how the game’s girder scrap models were. They used an alpha shader to simulate detail, but you couldn’t fly through so that means they’re bad. So I redid them to be properly detailed via geometry. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/385e1b9acf5b4b9a908d9ebce13d63f47305ebab.png[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/9228fb9cfdb1de4fa89afa211b5f3fc7492996a9.jpg[/img] And that’s all for this month. Check back next month, for more updates, more content, and possibly even some… space dungeons? We’ll see.