Here is, a bit in advance, the 1.0 release trailer for Unending Galaxy, which should be out before the end of the month. Enjoy 🙂
Unending Galaxy 1.0 Release Trailer
Author: EsKa
[devlog] 1.0 Release Inbound
Hey !
This is likely the last big devlog before the 1.0 release, which is planned for around June the 15th. Hey, I am only 3-4 months late on what was supposed to be a one year project, that’s not bad. While we are checking the general news, you can now buy Unending Galaxy at the Indie Game Stand (they accept Bitcoins and Amazon virtual currencies, alongside the usual CC and paypal). Also, the SpaceGameJunkie website published a very long let’s play of the beta 5. There’s a couple of mistakes in the video that I corrected in the comments, but all things considered it was good feedback and I will improve a few things in the UI according to it. I still have to make a decent trailer on my side.
Anyway, back to the game itself ! This is full crunch time, and I barely do anything but code and drink energy drinks (I should have asked for a sponsorship to Monster), it’s a good thing that what’s left isn’t that complicated code wise. This is still a tricky devlog to write as one of the major addition is also a pretty big spoiler, so we’ll get to that part last.
Unending Galaxy Gameplay Footage
I let the recorder run during a small play-testing session resulting in this 15 minute long gameplay footage of Unending Galaxy, played as a pirate captain. I was running on the debugging build which, to reduce loading times, has less smooth ship rotations than the release build. Oh, at the 8th second mark, you can see an early prototype of the new map.
Unending Galaxy [Beta 5] Released !
The final beta version of Unending Galaxy has just been released. Beta 4 was supposed to be the last, but recent breakthroughs in the game’ stability and performances require one last large scale beta test before the 1.0 release. As usual, if you bought the game through itch.io or via a direct donation, your key should work perfectly fine.
The major improvements are:
- 2 new factions with their own ships, weaponry and docks
- Heavily improved game stability and performances
- Improved combat systems
- Rebalanced prices and game’s pacing
- Better user interface (so, much, better)
There’s also 160 other changes and bug fixes. However, the procedural map generation discussed a few days ago has been disabled as it’s not ready for prime time yet. But don’t worry, barring any other large issue, the 1.0 is just around the corner. For once, I am not going to write a full article and let the beta do the talking instead. 🙂
Download the Game – Documentation – Full Changelog
Note : While it’s a very large update, the only reason why the beta 5 has been released is to test the stability improvements. If you experienced crashes in the past, it’s probably a good time to give the game another chance.
[devlog] Stability Fix
Hey !
It’s going to be a very short but very important devlog. I spent the last week fixing the stability issues people were experiencing with Unending Galaxy. The main reason why the game wasn’t stable in the first place was because it’s fully multi-threaded (able to use all your CPU power) and because I wasn’t able to make it work 100% of the time until now. Before labeling me as an incompetent coder please look at the CPU usage of your favorite AAA games, yeah not so good either, hey :). Multithreading is hard to get it right, and the more complex your game is, the harder it is. Anyway, after a whole week of debugging, I finally managed to make it work properly. It took its toll on the performances and nearly nullified the benefits of last week‘s improvements, but it was worth it. I’ve been looking at the same game for hours and hours trying to make it crash and it simply doesn’t. More to the point, there’s tons of “please don’t crash” code that I can safely remove now, which should in theory improve performances again.
[devlog] Procedural Map Generation
Hey !
This devlog is a bit late, last time I promised that this update would be about the procedural map and that’s kinda why. I, as usual, got sidetracked into other things which delayed this post by a few days.
Anyway, there’s a lot to look at beside the procedural map generation, which is still in its infancy (but don’t worry I’ll talk about it too). I added the ability to choose the equipment for ships built at player shipyards, made multiple changes to the game’s pacing, added several tools and functions to the game editors, and finally I did most of the optimization pass with very good results.
[devlog] Trading, gameplay and modding
Hi !
It’s taking me more time to find an proper title than to write the article itself, as we are nearing 1.0, the updates are becoming less and less thematic. 🙂
Many of the changes this week are trade related with the new colony imports and exports, and the new dock scanner allowing you to know what you can trade at any revealed dock, no matter the distance. Modding has also been improved, with the addition of a mod manager, damage resistances for shields, dodge chances for ships. And of course there’s plenty of improvement both to the UI and gameplay.
(also I want to publicly thank the person who sent 60$ for the deluxe edition a few weeks ago, you made my day !)
Let’s get to it 🙂