Welcome to the new year Starchasers! Hopefully your holidays have been filled with lego trains and fat cats. Mine was. Now, since this is the start of a new year and we could sit around twiddling our thumbs and pretending to look busy, we’ve got a lot of ground to cover (since it’s the new year) so buckle up. First thing’s first, a new year means a new demo version! [b]Demo 2.10[/b] is now out for all platforms! This features… well a lot of new things, but primarily it offers lots of new opportunities for pirate players, including a safe port of call, and battleships being able to annihilate your pirate butt out of the skies. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/7c4ad863e1415b2ad13ce979ae894ec64b7b559d.png[/img] Like any major release, [url=https://pastaspace.itch.io/underspace/devlog/472967/underspace-demo-21-changelog]be sure to check out the changelog[/url]. It’ll be a fair amount before a new demo version, as I want to start adding actual interiors to stations, voice acting, and more finalized stuff. Now, onto… everything. As always, [url=https://discord.gg/34NbWxKkKh]check out our Discord[/url] and [url=https://pastaspace.itch.io/underspace/devlog/472967/underspace-demo-21-changelog]the aforementioned demo[/url]. And as always, [url=https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pastaspace/underspace/posts/3703698]you can read the full article here.[/url] [h1]Year End Overview[/h1] So. Last year around this time I said I was committed to getting Underspace out by 2022. That… didn’t happen. Why? Well, my life has kind of changed. Long story short, I’ve got a lady and a cat relying on me to stay alive. Staying up to 2AM working on the game is no longer something I can do, especially as I get older and the steam-and-gearwork patchwork that makes up my homunculus body starts to decay and negatively impacts my health. I can’t kill myself working on the game anymore, as much as I joke about it. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/a5750960cc425d53ea4786f5d5c106b4f39047d4.jpg[/img] And that’s the long and short of it. The good news is in 2022 a massive amount of actual work got done on the game. We finished the first draft of every sidequest, every boss, every point of interest, the main campaign, and half of the multiplayer campaign. [previewyoutube=9zk_WerqC-g;full][/previewyoutube] So… you can fly to every system, fight every boss, join every faction, do every quest, get every piece of equipment, complete the main quest, explore every space dungeon, and fly every ship. Storms are also more or less complete, you can chase them in every system, encounter every hazard they have, and get assisted by almost every starchaser. There’s a HUGE amount of the game done, with easily over a hundred hours of content in the game as it currently stands. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/99bd929d707888cc2050f2995a3959404e02b1aa.jpg[/img] So, what still remains? There are three major blockers outstanding, not counting things like bugfixing and balance passes. The first is station and planet interiors. There’s around 150 stations in game that need proper interiors, people in those interiors, and dialogue for most of those people. Despite the high number of stations, this isn’t nearly as big an effort as it sounds. We’ll be having additional level designers help out, and most stations tend to pull from common tilesets and templates (remember: On-station stuff is NOT the focus of the game). [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/9a759082e43ef54ac5db9cb0ddb3c4a8c81a43d1.png[/img] The next one is the multiplayer campaign. This is of course, halfway done, but multiplayer boss fights take a fair amount of effort to code. Ideally this’ll be another month to finish at least the first draft on it, as dialogue triggers and the like are already in. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/b7d9e0c244cbfb7306eefc4e593dec64cb79e331.png[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/209bb03fba9abdae840a55a3ad4c2a874cb55de2.png[/img] Finally there’s that bigass folder labeled “misc”. This is things like the racing and arena sidequests, mission types for all factions, dialogue for all the party members. This is where the majority of the work is. It’s smaller stuff, but without it this game will feel significantly less without them. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/b002f0bd3c7320f593820d21c966b072246ed463.png[/img] So, as you can see, the light at the end of the tunnel’s visible, but we’ve still got a bit to go. A 2023 release date is what seems most likely. So, onto progress! [h1]Mission Logic Refactor[/h1] It didn’t seem fair to me that everything else in the game uses the scripting system, but randomly generated missions fell behind. Especially when there’s a lot I want to do there. Missions now use the rest of the game’s scripting system, giving them a total overhaul and all kinds of potential variations. [previewyoutube=sZzHevp45eg;full][/previewyoutube] [previewyoutube=PiV4IuaymIs;full][/previewyoutube] Think of something where you get a mission to retrieve cargo from a smuggler only to find him jumped by police or finding that he hid it in a minefield in a secret stash, or trying to take down an enemy base only for your support squadron to be replaced with an incoming miniboss, or trying to deliver supplies to a base only to get a new objective to raid a nearby cargo depot for them instead. There’s possibilities, and you can see a few of them in the latest demo itself. [h1]Smuggling Circles[/h1] Each major region of the game has had smuggler circles added. These run-down bases are a safe port for any player, and offer ways to adjust your reputation, take low-level jobs for pirate syndicates, or even talk to other smugglers and get advice on how to avoid Space Johnny Law. [previewyoutube=C0zbFgIVLZs;full][/previewyoutube] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/f9ee1179db924026024099ac3bdff3d5571ad3d9.jpg[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/e63c03c02235b20978f7c22f6c0c95bd88615532.png[/img] You can find the first of these bases, Kaisus Circle, in the demo proper. If you’ve ever wanted to get arrested for being a smut smuggler, now’s your chance! [h1]Platforms & Huge Loadouts[/h1] All big things in the game now have proper loadouts. That means every big battleship, boss, and more, all have missile arrays, beam cannons, and more to take you out. We’ve also fully outfitted weapons platforms: Large immobile sentries bristling with weapons. [previewyoutube=WKLrT4uwMJg;full][/previewyoutube] [previewyoutube=iHNXLCkiOAo;full][/previewyoutube] [previewyoutube=TdtAK6G7q9Y;full][/previewyoutube] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/c015ce5869a077af80d11dd6f19be1c93eaf6ce3.jpg[/img] [previewyoutube=Cqll_wQhNfs;full][/previewyoutube] [previewyoutube=JlGFhn2TpOo;full][/previewyoutube] [previewyoutube=lO6us11NiMo;full][/previewyoutube] [previewyoutube=OR_1vD3-0_4;full][/previewyoutube] Big ships can also come with forward cannons, dangerous superweapons that you want to stay well clear of. [previewyoutube=XeN5t5YW0kk;full][/previewyoutube] [previewyoutube=h5aPcPf1ZEM;full][/previewyoutube] [previewyoutube=x1t8Ki-oQJE;full][/previewyoutube] [previewyoutube=qqf70wRBGUs;full][/previewyoutube] [h1]Starchasers[/h1] Finally, starchasers are all (mostly, minus party members and backer-created ones) implemented. You can find these fellow stormchasers/monsterhunters out in storms, and there’s over 30 of them, all with their own unique loadouts and lines. The AI for them was also improved, with them attacking what you attack and avoiding firing directly at you, just in case. [previewyoutube=jR8olwlGPvs;full][/previewyoutube] [previewyoutube=EfDOYk1tfZE;full][/previewyoutube] [previewyoutube=KkfesSGtiZg;full][/previewyoutube] And that’s it for this month! As always, [url=https://pastaspace.itch.io/underspace/devlog/472967/underspace-demo-21-changelog]check out the demo[/url], check back next month, and don’t eat any plastic bricks. Please.