Unending Galaxy v1.2 has just been released !

As promised, Unending Galaxy is finally available on Steam. This version adds a nice coat of polish over the previous 1.1.5 version alongside many requested features.

The military AI is noticeably stronger. Ship to ship communications have been massively improved, the police and bounty hunters will hail you before attacking you. Police and military response against the player is more proportionate. Graphics, sounds, music and texts have been improved. Many menus got reworked (ship equipment screens in particular). And, as usual, many bug fixes and smaller improvements.

You can buy Unending Galaxy from the download page. For those who already own the game, your favorite store should get the new version shortly depending on how long it takes to upload everything. The full changelog is available below.

Full Changelog

Faction AI

• Military AI should be slightly better at handling hostile pirates and player ships
• Military AI should be much better at defending against invasions and protecting point of interests

Ship AI

• Patrol ships will attack nearest hostile instead of a random if given the choice
• Pirate raiders and bosses can cancel attack if the prey drops all its cargo
• Bounty hunters cancel attack if bounty gets paid

Comms

• Bounty Hunters accept bounty payment
• Bounty Hunters will initiate communications before firing at you (if they are after your bounty)
• Police will initiate communications before firing at you if you have illegal cargo or bounty on your head
• Police will pacify the military too if you pay the fine
• Military ships will act like police ships as long as you’re not at war
• Stations will refuse to talk to you if you have too high a bounty
• Station builders will accept to stop fighting now

Content

• Added pirate variant of Drath Frigate
• Completed Ore Belt map
• Imperium become the default map
• Sanitized ship and station descriptions
• Sanitized tutorial text and hints
• Military Bases and Shipyards get a massive boost to energy generation

Gameplay

• You can move and turn while jumping (NPC ships will gain that ability later on)
• Made heavy missiles easier to dodge in small crafts
• Made tutorial pirate ships hostile, they should be easier to target
• Added warning when entering a hostile sector for the first time
• Response when attacking a trader in a large defended sector lessened

Graphics

• Added another “ship exploding” animation
• Reworked some sprites and UI elements
• Added 2 new planets and updated maps accordingly
• Better looking lasers (beam size based on weapon size, fixed transparency)
• New mission icons
• More detailed rotations

Performances

• Full optimization pass, multiple small improvements all around the code
• Military AI less CPU intensive
• Laser heavy fleet battles render faster

Sound

• Converted all files to OGG because MP3 licensing is a thing, sadly
• Linear Interpolation for moving sounds (removes weird stutters)
• Other small improvements to the way SFX are played
• Added new engine sound for large ships
• Replaced place-holder sound effects
• New additional music tracks

Steam Community

• Cards, screen backgrounds and icons
• Replaced launcher by simple mod manager

User Interface

• Added animation to confirm orders given to your assets
• More informative and accurate loading screen
• Added hotkey to recall last message in tutorial (F11)
• Added skin to build list in shipyard menu
• Made some lists more readable.
• Removed numbers from Save/Load dialog, made the window bigger
• Added sound effect when buying or selling goods and ships (placeholder)
• In galactic map popup : red text if hostile sectors
• Added restore default bindings button to control settings
• Equipment menus display weapon and shield information
• Ship Equip skin overhaul
• Added button to get all bounties on the board
• Added option to disable incoming NPC messages (useful if you plan on being a pirate)

Bug Fixes

• Fixed: Faulty mines (weapon) physics and logic
• Fixed: Multiple very minor glitches
• Fixed: Some small issues related to cargo pods creation method
• Fixed: Crash in last version of weapon editor
• Fixed: Graphic settings menu not centered
• Fixed: Potential error message when closing game from pause menu
• Fixed: Button to load a savegame when no savegame is selected isn’t greyed out
• Fixed: Using Pirate Guild services doesn’t refresh the Guild menu (IP and money not updated)
• Fixed: Error message in carrier setup menu
• Fixed: Some SFX related issues (explosion sfx init even when explosion too far away)
• Fixed: Hints in shipyard menu is too small
• Fixed: new game menu’s faction logo not working well with transparent images
• Fixed: Changing filter in sector info panel doesn’t work when the game is paused
• Fixed: Typos left and right
• Fixed: Trade menu is not on “buy” tab by default
• Fixed: shift key not disabled when window not focused
• Fixed: Bounty Hunter fines
• Fixed: Crash in shipyard template menu
• Fixed: Jump animation doesn’t follow player across sectors
• Fixed: Bug caused by ship jumps
• Fixed: Menu related sound effects could corrupt output (static, reverb)
• Fixed: Some Inconsistencies with dialogs
• Fixed: Word wrapping in multiple windows