Development release: 3.9
Development version 3.9 was released.
Weekly development report: 2019/07/13
Again, nothing to report in the stable version, which mean one: current stable release (3.0.13) will be last in 3.0.x series. Main reason: the development version soon (soon = around month) will be changed in new stable.
Speaking of which, again, week dedicated to something what can be called "fixing paper-cuts in UI":
- Crew member statistics always was growing very slowly and there was lack of info about the progress. Which caused that pretty often people reported that they don't get any experience in stats :) Now every statistic and skill have own, additional small progress bar to show how much experience is needed to reach a next level in them.
- Added very short info about player ship's crew to ship info. Now almost all important information are on one screen. This should reduce flipping between screens a bit.
- Added, at this moment bit short, "first steps" info to help, to help new players to find self in the game: how to earn money, what to upgrade on ship first, on what focus in early stage of the game, etc.
- Now it is possible to see whole ship, crew and cargo info after player character death.
- As usual fixed some good things by replacing them with bugs :)
- Immortal part: again around dozen of new ship modules arrived in the game.
And as mentioned in stable version info: it is time to release last development version of 4.0 series. In less than 24 hours since this post, new version will be available to download. Since then, work on current stable will be completely stopped and all will be done at development version. Just, there will be no new things, only fixed and (probably) technobabble info about glorious optimizations which save 0.1 sec from player life :)
Weekly development report: 2019/07/06
Stable version: again nothing to report. Which mean one important thing: current version (3.0.13) will be probably last release for the 3.0 version of the game. Soon(TM), new (and last in this cycle) development version will be released and whole work will be only focused on preparing new stable version of the game.
And for now, in the development version: whole week dedicated to breaking and fixing (and breaking again) user interface of the game:
- Bases list got small redesign - mostly to look similar to other info screens. But additionally, it got option to hide or show detailed information about selected base.
- Something under the hood - the game finally can remember did the player was hide details about bases or items and present information in proper way.
- Same with few others UI settings (for example size of help topics list) was added to the game configuration, thus player again, not need to resize UI every time when open the game.
- Some work with ability to shrink the game window. It is still unable to play on post stamp (and similar size screens) but I'm slowly work in this direction :)
- Again, few new ships modules were added to the game.
- Some features are fixed and new bugs added as usual :)
Weekly development report: 2019/06/29
On stable version front: peace and quiet. Probably I miss some mails from players about bugs in the game ;)
Development version journey continue as usual:
- Updated debug menu with option to edit amount of money in selected sky base. And this was almost immediately helped find one bug in the development version :)
- Almost whole rest of the week was dedicated to changes in the game interface. I was always bit not satisfied with main the game font, but by long time I was unable to find anything good. Until now. I finally found a font which looks good for me :) Here is screenshot with comparison: up is the game with old font, below new version with new font. I think it is a bit more readable, thus I set it for help too. This make whole the game interface a bit more cohesive. Other changes with UI are not so visible, mostly small tweaks and bug fixes.
- Copy&Paste from last week: around dozen new ships modules added to the game.
- Copy&Paste from always: caught few bugs and replaced them with new "features" :)
Outside the code: website of the game got small refresh too: mostly by added new fonts, so at least players will be warned from start how new version of the game will be looks :)
Stable release: 3.0.13
Stable version 3.0.13 was released.
Weekly development report: 2019/06/22
Generally, this week was a bit lazy in the game development:
Stable version got nothing in this week, which is good, because it means no new bugs spotted. There probably only old bugs left hidden somewhere. Anyway, it is time to release new stable version with current fixes. In less than 24 hours since this post, new, more stable version of the game will be released.
Development version by whole week got mostly tweaks to existing things:
- Missing priority for training on ship for crew members was added.
- Help, as content and UI got some upgrades.
- Debug menu got option to edit player ship modules. This thing got most of the time in this week.
- Some bugs, especially related to the Linux AppImage version of the game were fixed.
- As usual, around dozen of new ship modules - cabins, arrived in the game.
Development release: 3.8
Development version 3.8 was released.
Weekly development report: 2019/06/15
In stable version - few bugs was caught and fixed. Let's wait one week more, so maybe something other will appear too to fix.
In development version - in this week development was mainly focused on tweaking last changes, especially new ship upgrades system. Now this looks a lot better than was earlier - better scaling and not require few months of play to upgrade one ship module... unless player will set that difficulty level :)
UI got some small but visible tweaks either: mostly options and actions which was by default hidden now are by default visible.
New thing is not too "roguelikish": added option to enable/disable ability to auto saving the game and option to set how often it should be done (on dock/undock from bases or by some in game time). By default auto saving is disabled.
And standard thing: few bugs are caught, few "hidden features" inserted to the game plus again, around dozen new ships modules were added to the game.
Last thing: because since last development release there was almost 4 weeks, now it is time to prepare new: in less than 24 hours since this post, everyone will able to have some fun with new bugs :)
Weekly development report: 2019/06/08
Another week passed after stable release and no bugs reports - it is again time to start challenging fate by announcing that the game has no bugs :) In other words: nothing changed in stable version.
Development version got a lot more things:
- Added ability to set random faction (race) and career (class) for the player character. This is not recommended for new players - it may ends with very rough start, but a lot of fun either.
- Ability to set completely random difficulty setting. Earlier here was added button to randomize difficulty, but now you can just select one option and have hope that this setting will be good. In most cases is not :) Definitely not recommended for new players.
- Biggest change this week: some people were pointed me, that current upgrading system wrong scaling. To upgrade power of best engines you must literally clear all bases from materials. Plus it could take few months in real life to finish it. Main reason: upgrade system was created when there was only few basic ship modules in the game. Now difference between the smallest and the biggest modules is so big, that scaling literally stops working. Thus this week was dedicated to change how ship upgrades requirements are sets. Instead of flat values (yes, bad idea, now I know) it depends on each module standard parameters. In some cases it can made upgrades of simplest modules bit more expensive and time consuming but the best modules upgrades have now reduced requirements (in materials and time) drastically. Back to example with the biggest engine: now it require around 1% of previous materials and time to complete.
- Other things related do the upgrade system: this started as side effect of this change above but I really like it: skill of crew member which upgrading selected module affects not only upgrade time but materials usage too. In other way, skills now have more impact on upgrades than earlier.
- As almost usual: around dozen of new ships modules are arrived in the game, few bugs were fixed and few new introduced (that big change for upgrading ships can't ends without bugs) :)
Stable release: 3.0.12
Stable version 3.0.12 was released.
Weekly development report: 2019/06/01
Well, asking for troubles by two weeks, or in other words: announcing that there no bugs in the stable version, finally brings some effects - few bugs emerged from nowhere. Caught, probably fixed and due to this, in less than 24 hours new, more stable, "stable" version will be released.
In development version: this same bugs were fixed plus work was continuing on adding more owners and workers to the ship's modules: this time for training rooms and medical rooms. Additionally, I started again adding new ship's modules to the game.
Additionally, partially related to the game development: in this week new version of the Ada compiler (GNAT GPL) was released. Fortunately, everything works as expected, just annual time to switch a bit code formatting :)
Weekly development report: 2019/05/25
Stable version: now I'm sure that nobody downloaded it yet - second week without bugs or problems, hard to believe :)
Development version: here, fortunately, bugs thriving and growing :)
- Some of them was fixed - mostly wrong mobs as crews members on some NPC ships.
- As a new development version, lets start with something big: now cabins and all "workshops" (alchemy labs, furnaces, etc) can have many owners/workers. This should reduce a bit micromanagement, especially in crafting. I plan to add this feature to training and medical rooms either, plus maybe few other modules, but this time this will be much more ground breaking change to the game. Additionally, this change caused, that a lot of new ships modules will arrive soon in the game. One good thing about this: even if (obviously) this changed how game data is saved, old saves (from current stable version) still works.
- Rest of week was focused on fixing all this new bugs caused by new owners/workers of ship's modules system.
Development release: 3.7
Development version 3.7 was released.
Weekly development report: 2019/05/18
In stable version, peace and quiet... probably nobody was downloaded it yet, whole week without bugs... weird feeling :)
Development version got some changes as usual:
- Here bugs are almost always, so few of them was fixed - mostly with missing info about some player actions (like dropping cargo, etc)
- Small come back to UI work: added simple info when player trying to sell food or drinks below low level (which of course, player can set in the game options)
- Some other small changes to UI towards "jumping-windows free" zone.
- Added stopping auto-movement on low level of food/drinks/fuel. This should prevent some sudden deaths during travelling.
- Finally, crew is less lazy: they wake up and take theirs positions when combat starts. Even better - they don't leave theirs positions during combat to go sleep. And all this nice things just with "small" drawback - if player will do this too often, crew morale can go pretty fast down.
- Work on NPC's ships crews continue: this time pirates and drones factions got they unique weapons. Inquisition transformation just started.
And one thing - it is almost 4 weeks after last development release. Thus now it is time for another :) In less than 24 hours since this post, new development version will be available to download. You will be able to test all this new bugs introduced to the game :)
Stable release: 3.0.11
Stable version 3.0.11 was released.
Weekly development report: 2019/05/11
Stable version this week got some translations from Engrish to English. Or at least I hope that I fixed this typos, etc correctly :) Additionally, there was fixed some small bugs in UI. Looks like stable version is ready to release again. I noticed that this is best way to encourage people to write some "warm" mails, etc about bugs in the game :) So, in less than 24 hours since this post, new version stable version of the game will be available to download.
Development version report is almost that same boring like stable version this time: same bugs and translations are done. Most time this week was taken by adding new mobiles to the game - the new crews for player and NPC's ships which depends on factions. Now each faction(race) will have own preferred weapon. If I good count, around 100 new mobs are arrived in the game this week.
Weekly development report: 2019/05/04
I think I will start copy/paste information about what's going on in stable version: bugs, bugs, bugs and again bugs fixing (probably literally short for all commits to the stable version). There are still few of them noticed/reported thus expect this same message in next week either. And in next week. And next. And... :)
In development version:
- Porting fixes of bugs from stable version. Plus probably added some new for the balance.
- Almost (only one position left) finished adding new melee weapons to the game. Finally, whole system with damage types will be used (cutting damage = balanced, impaling = best against unarmored targets, blunt = best again heavy armored targets).
- Main work in this week was implementation of difficulty settings for the game. All of them now implemented, plus added system which should be easy to expand if someone or I will have any idea for more options. First tests looks promising, especially with combat: setting player damage to lowest and enemy damage to highest setting and I was mutilated by one of the weakest enemies in the game :)
Stable release: 3.0.10
Stable version 3.0.10 was released.
Weekly development report: 2019/04/27
In stable version as usual: almost whole week dedicated to hunting and fixing bugs. Most and worst of them probably are captured and reeducated. This mean that in less than 24 hours since this post, new more stable version of the game will be released.
In development version week was spent on fixing these same bugs as in the stable version plus:
- Debug menu got options to delete events and save game. This second is done in pretty print mode, thus that save should be easier to investigate. Additionally, whole debug menu got some tool-tips, so it usage should be less cryptic than it was :)
- Started work on new game feature: difficulty settings. Instead of creating artificial difficulty levels, it will let the player select some game behaviors - lower or raise enemy damage, speed of gained experience and reputation in bases, etc. This should give even more replayability to the game (especially when the player will use Random option). Additionally it will help players to tweak the game to they needs: if someone will want short game session, then can set everything to easiest levels and vice versa. Whole difficulty setting will have impact on gained in-game points either. And yes, here is a screenshot of this settings in new game. :)
- As almost every week - added few new melee weapons and crafting recipes for them to the game.
Development release: 3.6
Development version 3.6 was released.
Weekly development report: 2019/04/20
At beginning of the week, stable version was very quiet - as always before storm :) At the start of the weekend bugs were appeared. All should be fixed before next Sunday so new more stable version of the game will be available :) Another important chance in the stable version: amount of experience needed for raising skills and attributes was reduced. This should made the game a bit more balanced (and less grindy) :)
Almost whole week in development was focused mostly on creating debug (or cheat as someone calls) menu. It is at this moment very basic but should allow to edit most of the game data inside the game without fun with save files. And as promised last week: here are some screenshots:
And like usual - added one new skill for using melee weapons and few new melee weapons plus crafting recipes for them.
By the way: it is again time, for release new the development version of the game. Let everyone have fun with bugs and unbalanced new thingies :) In less than 24 hours since this post, new version will be available to download.
Stable release: 3.0.9
Stable version 3.0.9 was released.
Weekly development report: 2019/04/13
Stable version: interrogation of bugs started in last week was a good idea - again, few new emerged from nowhere, caught and tomorrow, in less than 24 hours since this post, new stable version will be released. Additionally, stable version got one important change - use of fuel during waiting in place was reduced (not that much as in development version, but still, this should made the game more playable).
Development version: Same as almost every week: few new weapons and crafting recipes for them were added and one new skill to use this weapons. Bugs from stable version was ported to development so they was fixed here too. And biggest work for this week: started work on debug (or like other can call it: cheat) menu. At this moment it is very basic thing - allow only move ship and edit crew members on the player ship. I hope in next week I will have some screenshots to show.
Weekly development report: 2019/04/06
As usual, for stable version: few days after stable release few small bugs arrived from code. Captured, taken to interrogation and we will see did they tell something about they friends in code :)
Development version is same as stable plus few new things:
- Optimized a bit save game files. It will no longer save default values to file - this should reduce size of save game files, especially for late-game saves.
- Now it is possible to negotiate reward for available missions in bases before accepting them. Player can choice did he/she wants more money or more reputation (everyone likes people who works for free :) ). This should help with gaining reputation in bases either. And after reaching max reputation in base, there still will be sense to do missions in that base.
- Transport passengers missions got some revamp. Earlier passengers were very picky - they demanded exact type of cabin for them during transport. I was done small talk with them and they promised to changed they mind. Now they only demand selected or better quality of the cabin to travel. This should made this type of missions more desirable and fun.
- Filling game data continue: again, few new weapons and crafting recipes for them were added to the game.
Stable release: 3.0.8
Stable version 3.0.8 was released.
Weekly development report: 2019/03/30
In the stable version of the game, just one bug was appeared. Caught, fixed and this mean, that in less than 24 hours since this post, new stable version will be available for download.
In the development version this week was mostly dedicated to learn how to count: one, two, three, many. Better than earlier, was: one, many :)
- Counting time and fuel needed to reach destination point on map now consider time and fuel needed for resting during fly either. Of course it is still estimated calculations - it don't add possible random events or combats on the way to target.
- Much better count for max amount of items to sell or buy during trade with bases or traders ships. This was bit harder to count. Items prices depends not only on their amount, but also from crew member who trade skill and player reputation with that trader or base. Thus if you sell more you can get better price and when you buy more, you can get bigger discount. Additionally, money are used as fuel too, have own weight either. At the end, current calculations for max amount items finally started to counting it too. New code which doing it, is even longer than this explanation :)
- Food and drinks have influence on morale too. Better food and drinks can boost morale, when raw food (eaten only when no other food is available) reduce morale.
- Destroying friendly ship now have bigger chance to lose reputation with it home base than earlier.
- Gaining reputation in sky bases was speed up again. And probably last time :) Now it is almost 20 times faster than first version. But still take some time to maximize reputation in bases.
- Few new items and crafting recipes for them arrived too.
Development release: 3.5
Development version 3.5 was released.
Weekly development report: 2019/03/23
From the stable version: as usual, just after release, the future stable version of the game will be more stable - 2 bugs less this time :)
Development front: still tweaking factions and some changes in the world generation:
- Drones got special ability: sentient ships. Pilot and engineer is optional for this faction to fly ship but very experienced crew members can give a lot more benefits that without. Ships of this faction have some basic "skills" needed to fly, generally, bigger ship = better "skills".
- Inquisition got special ability "fanaticism": they morale go up faster than other factions and go down much slower than others. And because morale have impact on skills and loyality of crew members, this may lead to bit more interesting game-play than earlier.
- Raised start level of Strength of Undead player and crew members by cost of lowering other stats. Now this faction is good in melee combat, especially dangerous for lightly armored enemies.
- Players often complained that they had problems with finding other bases, especially at beginning of the game. Old world "generation" code was just grab bases and throw around map. New is bit more advanced (but still simpler than combat code, heh). It now grouping bases of this same faction in territories. It is much easier now to find bases, unless player starts in very unlucky position, or look below.
- Independents and Pirates got special faction flag "loner": they bases are still randomly located on the map or even sometimes, between bases of other factions. Thus if someone want to bring old world generation, he/she just need to add this flag to other factions either.
- Finally finished adding ships to the game. At least until there will not arrive another faction. Now I'm started adding weapons and crafting recipes for them, lets finally will be some use from my type of damage system :)
And, it is time for release new development version of the game. Why only I should have fun with so much bugs? :) In around 24 hours after this post, new development version will be released. And this mean another thing too: we are in the middle of way to 4.0 version :)
Stable release: 3.0.7
Stable version 3.0.7 was released.
Weekly development report: 2019/03/16
All known bugs in stable version was fixed which means: time for new stable release tomorrow (in around 24 hours after this post). We will see how many bugs will be found this time.
In development version this week was mostly upgrades to the game factions (races).
- Undead faction members was definitely too weak (especially player when selected them as the starting faction). They gained two things: natural armor which allow them to reduce damage taken in melee combat. Second thing is special toxic attack when they attack unarmed and target is not immune to diseases (most other factions members). In that situation, Undead can do a lots more damage. There still is some work to balance this faction but I should finish it in next week.
- Drones got this same special thing: natural armor which reduce damage in melee combat.
All special "abilities" of factions are represented as flags thus they are very easy to add/remove to others or new factions, especially that almost all game data are in XML files.
Additionally, development version got as usual, few bug fixes, few new bugs and few new NPC ships.During tests I was once bit funny situation: during combat my Undead ship against Inquisition, I was sent my whole crew as boarding party on enemy ship. When we arrived, I noticed that there is only one enemy (should be 4). By the moment I was thinking that something is wrong with game data, but then I reminded myself: rest of enemy crew was set AI to boarding either. So, when I boarded them, they are boarded my own empty ship :) This ended in two different melee combats (first on enemy ship then back on my own).
Weekly development report: 2019/03/09
After few weeks of postpone for later, it is, finally, shiny, etc, etc just one ugly 4 mins video of new UI of the game: https://vimeo.com/322418460 created by very inexperienced in making videos person, me :)
And back to the more interesting things - changes in game :)
First of all: release new stable version worked perfect as trap for new bugs - few appeared almost instantaneous. Well, at least there will be some reason to release another stable version :)
In development version I was probably finished fun with UI for this released. Unless I will get some crazy ideas again :) As wrote above, effect of this work is visible on the video.
Probably much more important information: completely redesigned how battering rams works in ship's combat. Earlier this weapon was very unhandy and weak, now it is changed:- Good news: now damage from battering ram depends not only on it, but on speed and the mass of the ship. Thus first attack in combat, when both ships going closer to self may be very powerful. With good hit probably big ship should destroy small one in one hit.
- Bad news: battering rams now attack only every 2 rounds in combat - this weakening was needed to not made battering ram too powerful. Because there is one more thing
- Probably good news again: battering ram now works like something between normal guns and harpoon guns. It made damage plus when it hit unarmored target, it stopping it, allowing to send to other ship boarding party. This should be really good change especially for players who choice Undead faction (their starting ships are equipped only in battering rams).
Thus now we have 3 types of weapon in ship's combat: pure damage (guns), control (harpoon guns) and hybrid (battering rams). This should made ship's combat little more interesting.
And as usual, added few new NPC ship prototypes to the game and replaced some old bugs by new :)
Stable release: 3.0.6
Stable version 3.0.6 was released.
Weekly development report: 2019/03/02
This week in the game development:
- Almost finished User Interface rework. Whole game looks bit darker than earlier, but main difference is removed last game message popup and showing window with last game messages everywhere. Of course, during trying to record some gameplay, few bugs was emerged from deep space :)
- Game finally got full screen mode, with keyboard shortcuts, normally ground breaking change
- A lot of small fixed, tweaks to UI, so, current game looks that
- As usual, the development version of the game gained another few new NPC's ships.
- By whole week there was no bug spotted in stable version, thus it is time for set new trap for them, called release, in next 24 hours. Just keep your eye on this page or on RogueBasin. Let's see how much bugs will be spotted this time :)
- And this is the first news in the game page, yay.
