[h2]Hello Starchasers! Salutations and welcome! Other greetings![/h2] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/bd2e911d262e240eb5095d184f597ff41adeb68a.jpg[/img] [b]We are less than a month out from our Early Access launch[/b]. Excited? Sleepless? Suffering from splitting migraines as you try to parse documentation that’s useless to you because Google’s search capabilities have been gutted by corporate ineptitude and your previous talents of being able to figure out solutions and leverage online resources are now useless in the vast overwhelming face of tools that have become completely mediocre in their relentless idiotic pursuit of profits via the lowest common denominator that have degraded any utility to the point of unusability and it’s 3AM and your cat is screaming at you because she wants you to play with a plastic fish she brought you and you’re not supposed to be up this late and you accidentally dropped your last pain medication pill that might have made you at least capable of falling asleep down the drain? [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/874c69a67db1d163f56c4dd42b00c6c6e982bfcc.jpg[/img] No? Well then, good. Yeah. Let’s talk Early Access and what to expect, to better set your expectations and illuminate what’ll be in and what’ll be not-in. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/9743d8415149a5599f4a0abc3bb1ec24c106bffa.png[/img] The thing I want to emphasize over everything else is that we are a [b]very small[/b] and overly ambitious team working on a VERY large game with a scope that dwarves even many AAA releases. [b]As it stands and when it launches the amount of content that will be in, at launch, is massive.[/b] I have no doubt that many of you will be spending hundreds of hours dredging up every perverse secret the galaxy’s hidden away. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/919d49244ba48023ab3e79f1e07b68576c5abf88.png[/img] At the same time, [b]we’re a VERY small team.[/b] Outside of our asset creators, the only person doing coding, bugfixing, UX, QA response, server integrity, mod support, etc, is me. And just me. This isn’t so much a single developer spinning multiple plates as it is a human trainwreck trying to twirl an entire restaurant, to the severe detriment of his health and sanity. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/c8a70a60accd0261dd00713fe53b5c13d24da781.png[/img] With all this in mind, our [b]Early Access launch will not launch with the full scope of features and content planned for Underspace.[/b] Significantly, [b]multiplayer will launch in a very early state that does not include NPCs, bosses, or the multiplayer campaign.[/b] On the [b]singleplayer side, several questlines, extended ship customization and cockpit textures, and many planetside and station interiors will not be included in launch. [/b] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/2828ac70b8ddbe9f81e0830d8b57e2bc3cef7e1b.png[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/6236c1b54450fe22bb386d70c2776da05c85e248.png[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/dc00f551248a53f1904a1148faa9622dae592503.png[/img] These features or content exist or are implemented in a working state, but are often heavily, HEAVILY untested or unpolished, to the point where keeping in game before they’re at least in a state I'd be comfortable with is not something I’m comfortable with. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/451bc0df9270026fcc0d81106fefcf2a626b9b5d.png[/img] Before you go off creating posts on various imageboards and badly rebranded social media sites decrying the Underspace apocalypse, keep two things in mind: [b]these features are not gone or cut from the game.[/b] It’s much like Todd Howard’s kind smiling visage: even if you can’t see it it’s still there. Watching and waiting. When Early Access releases in April, we will be putting out a nice big roadmap showing a huge amount of upcoming updates to the game. [b]These updates will be staggered out as major releases, which will include these missing pieces of content.[/b] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/f78d78bb78f58a26048b2cfb3299ff899911cf91.png[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/2c8b0158a5592db24020ad9cc642105d7124816f.jpg[/img] This also includes features or elements such as voice acting, bugfixes (as Early Access is always buggy), and further mod support. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/6a34b8ab6d12ab76d60b34da9a5856955ec23e16.png[/img] The second thing to keep in mind is that Underspace, when it launches, [b]will still launch with the majority of its content and the vast majority of its game features implemented[/b]. This includes the singleplayer main campaign, over 40 quests, all bosses, all points of interest, all factions, star systems, random missions, storm hazards, equipment, flyable ships, and probably many more things I’ve lost in the hazy maze that is my fried brain currently. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/c6dcb1074e4a4c8d1d12a7941a5af70114b08e34.png[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/d383d1af99b006ed68ac0bf2a669d0bce318f98f.png[/img] It has been a long long time coming, almost seven years in constant development. None of this would have been possible with the support of our backers and community, but there’s still more to go. Contributions, supporting us during the Early Access period, and of course relentlessly shilling it your friends will all help us massively, in no small part because this will also let us dedicate more resources to improving the game and getting it out in a reasonable timeframe that also, coincidentally, doesn’t overwork me to death. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//35321791/8bcdf1e60ff20e82e585f6aac725130fe9036b82.png[/img] And… that’s about it! If I survive, I hope to see you out in the stormy skies on April 10th!