February is here once again, starchaser. Be sure to kiss your wife goodbye and give her a big thing of chocolate hearts. In the meantime, you’ve got storms to face. But first, a little announcement: We’ve begun to open up private testing applications! The good news is that testers get full access to the full, current build of the game, and anyone can apply. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/8e69ab32e4599fe36ac647f8416399ac228d16bd.png[/img] The bad news? You’ll have to do this [url=https://discord.gg/34NbWxKkKh ]through our Discord[/url]. We need a way to easily communicate with testers, and that’s currently our best option (since forums went extinct in the great media wars of 2010). But, you’re free to apply and [url=https://discord.gg/34NbWxKkKh ]learn more on our Discord[/url]. And as always, [url=https://pastaspace.itch.io/underspace]you can check out the free public demo we have out. [/url] Now, onto progress! There’s lots of that this month. Not even a thirty-six hour stay in the hospital can slow me down; Death himself fears me. As always, this is a paraphrasing of the main article, which you can read here. [h1]Quest and Campaign Work[/h1] The biggest announcement this past month is the first draft of ALL sidequests have been finished. That’s some 425 pages over some 60 sidequests, not a small feat by any means. Luckily, writing them takes FAR longer than implementing them, and plenty of them have now been added to the game (and we’ve gone back over existing ones to make them work, have more dialogue, and generally be improved). Sundered stars, dead kings, ancient pirate ghosts, and much much more feature in various storylines and plots throughout the galaxy. We’ve also been improving some of the background scripting system, to save space and time on our end. [previewyoutube=fXsVUgOtclI;full][/previewyoutube] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/07d4e03bd8340b85475b244f75c1df7213d0754e.png[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/d1d380ff6ae20bec68e95e0c074e0f7c417fe7c2.png[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/e51ec387119a6004f9385e34d89bfe476171fa84.png[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/1e6872fd220ee6bbc472ed1ba174cc8b975cfa68.png[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/f562a8b60024e6eb1bb1fba5168c20d1a5c59b32.png[/img] [previewyoutube=isaXTteU1SY;full][/previewyoutube] [previewyoutube=9JsX_AaIY40;full][/previewyoutube] [previewyoutube=5WclSXuac-4;full][/previewyoutube] [previewyoutube=d7-FbtQOfQI;full][/previewyoutube] [previewyoutube=03meItk16VQ;full][/previewyoutube] [previewyoutube=6LzJ92jCRfc;full][/previewyoutube] The campaign itself also got a few improvements. Enemies have been rebalanced for the early game, the tutorial system got an overhaul, and the first bits of voice acting tech (tying sound to animations) has been implemented. Check it out. [previewyoutube=takjYd9ROTg;full][/previewyoutube] [previewyoutube=3-pKwT53aFU;full][/previewyoutube] Expect more quests, in fact, expect mostly quests from now on as we edge closer to release. It’s where the majority of the game’s content comes from, after all! [h1]Chapters and Starchasing[/h1] Players can now join various starchasing chapters throughout the galaxy. These subgroups (some created by our Kickstarter backers) have their own subgoals and specialties they specialize in. Players can complete tasks, kill enemies, or run missions for them and in return gain rank and payouts. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/3ba4edd07dc4ad536bc99232b05669949e892d03.png[/img] [previewyoutube=EkQPt6Vq_mc;full][/previewyoutube] You can swap between chapters at any data center, which also lets you now track storms in regions. Conveniently paying a fee to these data centers will allow you to view incoming storms (IE, spawn them in a region of your choice) as well as switch chapters and claim rewards (don’t worry, you can’t lose progress in chapters). [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/e1dae29bf1ae1ce69580d4c287ae1124d6c90a01.png[/img] [previewyoutube=ptK89EnYJgk;full][/previewyoutube] More of these will also be implemented as time goes on, so be sure to always check your local data centers in various star systems. [h1]Gameplay and QoL Work[/h1] In between overcoming various writer’s blocks for sidequests, I spent the month implementing and refining a few new QoL stuff, mostly related to UI and management of such. The player can now for example, have a clear indicator of nearby garages, and can freely swap between ships at any shipyard. I thought about restricting this, but then I realized “wait, why?” [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/4a21e9fa930010d25c6161c899fe710240cc1ad4.png[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/ca7255e477c6d611024e8c85e1412aa8269877ba.png[/img] [previewyoutube=pzYmJIONPxc;full][/previewyoutube] Certain bits of the UI are more informative now too. Scanners show the proper ranges and distances of their upgraded software, and classed weaponry now shows the class of the actual hardpoint it’s mounted on. Scanners also now, of course, can emit damaging pulses: a desperate but often useful AoE attack. [previewyoutube=ynA791Jn3kk;full][/previewyoutube] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/84c4b4f3dd7695db86c17f08c96098aee0d5ee09.png[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/1b9dd3a728579c1d73b9c69d79c2528aa3beab2d.png[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/1cbf5a09ee7c36f3d9ab72463c4505ecba9c958a.png[/img] And as mentioned, the tutorial tip system has been upgraded to apply in more situations. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/793b9726610ca8d8323090e737ca9badafb9bb68.png[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/8b3e52494b757d852cf17749bf3bd7b8e59c88f0.png[/img] [h1]Assetwork[/h1] And finally, assetwork. I’ve redone wrecked ship textures to be based off textures directly, instead of shaders. Why? This allows me to layer those textures AND THEN have shaders as well, while more tightly controlling certain aspects of wrecked ships visually. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/81832f858a7e13b4cf555e19200f178a6e8e9a31.jpg[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/87647d5e44471f30b12195b7c1b3ac6522eb67e3.png[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/7637c015240145c45006f9f7e6426cf06add6a0e.png[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/ba8d93019c8f86c04fc19a2d4cc63371d0fa955d.png[/img] And we’ve got a few… assets being worked on. Like everyone’s favorite religious mushroom zombies: the Us! It’s okay, they’re nice guys, really. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/f918bc3329e6b23cfccb424bc2b7e063b70bab5c.jpg[/img] Or various drafts of ancient, long dead races. But hey, even the dead leave behind corpses, just ask the Us. It’s okay, they’re nice guys, really. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/b42b2ad50e22867130a172415f789bf008dafdd6.png[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/ef0b09859da8e1dcab731c55b67429dd169887a7.png[/img] That’s all for this month, check back next month as we ramp up more content production and whatnot. Again, if you’re interested in testing the game, [url=https://discord.gg/34NbWxKkKh ]check out our Discord[/url], as well as [url=https://pastaspace.itch.io/underspace]our demo![/url]