Underspace News

S T A R C H A S E R S

Cat.



You know the drill by now. Special guest Mimi's lil fang.

Continuing with last week's trend of sharing an Underspace video by a content creator, I'll be showcasing Young Sliver's playthrough. He was definitely very excited to play Underspace so that was some fun energy. Give him a watch and subscribe if you feel like; also, if you have other content creators you think should be featured, comment below and we'll spotlight them.

Anyway, Young Sliver:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Want to give Underspace a go yourself? Feel free to play the demo here. If you have any issues with it or just want to chat, feel free to join the Underspace Discord as well.

Onto what I did last week:

Missions, mostly. Like, mostly missions. I reorganized mission code to make it easier, and quests can now call mission code (and vice versa -- missions can call quest code). I've also added scaling settings and new functions (not to mention new scaling functions, which are a separate thing, promise) for missions. Additionally, icons and scripting have been added to tons of missions, and mission descriptions now properly reflected in UI.



Speaking of UI -- I've added a UI assistant, UI alerts are now quieter and make use of the volume slider, and I've fixed issue where UI voice overrides wouldn’t work. Oh, I've also added a small option to enable music when in highways or not.



Not to mention you can mod in whatever voice you want for said assistant. You're welcome.

Some smaller things include flickering model fixes, noise reduction in the intro, and storms no longer grow until the intro is over. I've also added in-game credits and -- be aware -- cargo can now expire. So be sure to sell your stuff before it's too late.



As I've said many times before, I want to thank you all for your continued support, It's really cool to see your videos, tweets, comments, and posts about Underspace. Want to shout at us if you haven't already? Please give the Underspace socials a follow:

[h3]💥💥💥 UNDERSPACE 💥💥💥[/h3]
Twitter TikTok Instagram Facebook Reddit YouTube Discord

And, because obviously:

[h3]🚂🚂🚂 TRAINWIZ 🚂🚂🚂[/h3]
Twitter
Tumblr YouTube

Thanks for reading this week's devlog -- stay tuned, next week we'll have more Underspace updates!

M'Starchasers (oh God I'm so sorry).

How are we already about halfway through October? I swear time moves differently when you make video games.

For the obligatory cat open I offer an additional story -- if the void boy can't get immediate attention he hops up on the side desk and licks me.



Don't worry, he gets all the pets and warm laps he could ever want.

These past two weeks have been pretty cool because a lot of content creators have been... you know, creating content. But like specifically about Underspace, so that's the cool part. And I thought it would be equally cool to showcase one each week as a way of supporting them supporting Underspace type thing.

This week I want to shout out Captain Collins, who I feel like went fairly in-depth in his gameplay video. Cool guy, cool video, gave him a subscribe and, if you want, could totally do the same.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOF1CluYFqI

Onto what I did last week:

The biggest focus this week was on missions. I worked on random missions -- including writing up all descriptions and outlines for random missions -- and rewrote generic mission descriptions. I also implemented general mission stuff: missions can now spawn general objects and track them, they can now override the mission control character, and mission code can be called by quests, Finally, I changed how mission difficulty scales the health and power of spawned enemies.



Only about a third of the random missions are fully implemented at this time. There's a decent amount of variety in these random activities, from participating in ritual sacrifices to being a product tester for experimental ship equipment.

The other thing, though it's still a WIP, is that missions can do some further overrides on the fallback elements of the mission generator system, in particular random missions can have unique characters as mission control, so particular factions will have characters from other quests or storylines oversee one, instead of the generic fallback mission control character.

There's about 130 of these so there's a lot of work to be done, but you can check out what's been done so far here.



Lanelines continue to get more work. Lanelines now have offsets based on the number of travelers, and now players won't have their butt smacked by incoming starships on lanelines. Video of the smooth, non-butt smacking transit here.

Last but not least, I implemented some new tileset stuff.

Well, technically that isn't the last thing I did, but it's spoiler stuff. So if you wanna see it, join the Underspace Discord and go to the Game Updates channel to check it out.

I feel like this devlog was a little light on images, so here's another cat pic.



How do you know it's Mimi's chair? Simple -- everything is Mimi's!

As always, I want to thank you all for your continued support, It's really cool to see your tweets, comments, and posts about Underspace. Want to shout at us if you haven't already? Please give the Underspace socials a follow:

[h3]💥💥💥 UNDERSPACE 💥💥💥[/h3]
Twitter TikTok Instagram Facebook Reddit YouTube Discord

And, because obviously:

[h3]🚂🚂🚂 TRAINWIZ 🚂🚂🚂[/h3]
Twitter
Tumblr YouTube

Thanks for reading this week's devlog -- stay tuned, next week we'll have more Underspace updates!

Ahoy starchasers!

That's not how I talk.

Anyway.

Boy, last week, am I right? That was some crazy news that if you haven't already heard you should definitely go ahead and read.

I mean, I know I'm tired, but the cats are simply bushed.



Sometimes I wonder if that one orange braincell works harder than I do... nahhhhh.

Before I get into things, I just want to give a shout out to YouTuber Aerali, who -- if you saw the new Underspace trailer -- gave us that fantastic quote we used. He's made some great Freelancer videos and found Underspace through that; he's been covering us pretty consistently ever since. If you haven't already, check out his newest video that kind of sums up everything we've been up to this past month-ish and subscribe to him if you feel so inclined.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9o2KQoK8Ic

Onto Underspace -- if you haven't already, you're welcome to check out the latest demo. And, as always, please feel free to join the Discord and share cat photos. Oh, and feedback on the game, naturally.

As for what I've been up to last week:

I added all chapters to the game. Huge milestone. I've also hooked up generalist events and item acquisition events to the game code.

Lanelines continue to get more love, as I've fixed an issue with manual docking not being properly enabled and another issue where players could dock with the wrong lane ring during campaign missions. Lanelines also now reflect what way you go with a waypoint, and I've stopped ships from spawning on lanes too close to players.



Watching a lot of content creators pick up Underspace for the very first time was helpful and inspired me tweak a few things, including removing enemy chasing as a central input due to new player confusion. I've also fixed an issue where players could open menus during the opening cutscene.

Speaking of fixing issues, I've addressed problems with formation points, where NPCs could use missiles in a non-missile context, and where ordinated legendary enemy would just fire off shit like crazy.

I've added new unique weapon lines for various subchapters and characters. Also, starship chapters can now be modded in.



Additionally, I redid some parts of a tileset for the multiplayer main campaign because I really was not sold on how the original exterior bits looked.



Finally, some smaller tweaks -- I've marked various items with proper keywords and increased velocity for ships.

Guess you could say it was a busy week, but when the end result is seeing a game you've been working on since 2017 come to fruition, it's the good kind of busy. I'm not complaining.



Mimi, on the other hand...

I want to thank you all for your continued support, it means a lot to see your tweets, comments, and posts about Underspace. Want to shout at us if you're not already? Please give the Underspace socials a follow:

[h3]💥💥💥 UNDERSPACE 💥💥💥[/h3]
Twitter TikTok Instagram Facebook Reddit YouTube Discord

And, because obviously:

[h3]🚂🚂🚂 TRAINWIZ 🚂🚂🚂[/h3]
Twitter
Tumblr YouTube

Thanks for reading this week's devlog -- stay tuned, next week we'll have more Underspace updates!

STARCHASERS

Remember that big news I mentioned a few devlogs ago?

Well here's a cat instead.



For real though, remember how I said there would be really big news? Well, surprise! We have three exciting pieces of news!


After years and years of development, Underspace is finally launching. It's crazy to think about! So stay tuned for the first half of 2024 to see Underspace come to Steam Early Access.


What's nice about this is now I can focus my efforts completely on finishing up the game and I don't have to worry about marketing or other non-development stuff.


Check it out, leave a comment, give it some love, watch it repeatedly until your phone dies, leave it on loop in public places like a library or an apple store, send it to ten of your friends and then tell them to send it to ten of their friends (who would then send it to ten of their friends)... you get the idea.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Also, if you haven't already, download the demo and give your feedback on it, preferably in the Underspace Discord. You know. If you want to.

So yeah, I guess you can say it's been a busy month with a lot of changes; one thing that has stayed the same, however, is the fact that I am essentially tied to my desk as I code away on Underspace. Here's what I accomplished this week:

I tweaked a few things with the newest demo, including some laneline docking issues. Big thanks to some of the streamers who have tried Underspace for the first time including dadflaps and insanekittens, watching their streams helped figure out that issue.

Some of the biggest tasks I've been working on pertain to multiplayer and quests, including finishing up the first drafts of the multiplayer main quest and the NPC loyalty quests.





Additionally, all party members can now be recruited. And speaking of party members, I've updated appearance of some missing party members. Tenuously related to party members, cutscenes now disable NPC interaction.





I've also started adding new starchasing chapters and have allowed the chapter system to have chapters outside of/independent of the regional system.

Finally, I've implemented some title screen popups and have added new furniture pieces for level designers.

So yeah, busy week and busy month, but it's all good news so can't complain one bit. Next month will see more work on the multiplayer quests and other fun stuff. Hopefully some caffeine too.

If you want to stay updated more immediately with Underspace's ongoing work, please give the Underspace socials a follow.

[h3]💥💥💥 UNDERSPACE 💥💥💥[/h3]
Twitter TikTok Instagram Facebook Reddit YouTube Discord

And, because obviously:

[h3]🚂🚂🚂 TRAINWIZ 🚂🚂🚂[/h3]
Twitter
Tumblr YouTube

Thanks for checking out this week's devlog -- see you next week with more Underspace updates!

Hello Starchasers! Does it feel like time is speeding up for everyone else, or am I just feeling the effects of gravitational time dilation? No? Just me? Right.

Don't believe I'm in space right now? Here's proof:



First images from the James Webb telescope. Haters will say they're fake.

Obligatory cat open aside, some exciting news: Underspace has a new demo 69 days after the last one. Nice.



The game's gone through some significant internal changes, particularly how input and flying is handled. To those more familiar with... classic games, your muscle memory might start to fail you a bit. We recommend for returning players to reset their keybinds in the options menu and do the in-game tutorial again. That should help with most things. As always, note the known issues too before making any bug reports.


[h2]NEW CONTENT & FEATURES[/h2]

• New arcane effects for highengines, drives, and more.
  
• Mining beams: Low range high power beams that specialize in breaking down rock and stone. You can find a few available for purchase aboard Bravenstar Spire.
  
• Full cockpit textures for all flyable ships.
  
• New graphics and effects on space stations.
  
• New deaddrop missions available from Kaisus Circle.
  
• Totally redone character controller, which now has momentum, crouching, and headbobbing options.
  
• Ships and equipment can grant special abilities or skill points.
  
• New quick equipment menu as part of our total input refactor (see below).
  

[h2]CHANGES & BUGFIXES[/h2]

• Total refactor of all in-game inputs. Returning players are recommended to reset their keybinds to default to benefit from this. Benefits include less keys to memorize, new UI elements to make it clearer how to fly, and more.
  
• Docking is now done manually by default, and lanelines, jumpgates, and jumpholes do not require a docking request anymore. Simply fly through.
  
• New contextual based targeting UI. Selecting a target ship, solar, etc, brings up a simple list of interactions the player can perform, greatly reducing bloated inputs.
  
• Inventory, navmap, reputation, questlog, and generally all menus now have quick action keys in addition to normal menu driven interactions.
  
• Flight controls reworked slightly. Highengines are now, by default, double-tapping w.
  
• Internal refactor of the game’s skill system and readouts on items to show what affects what skills.
  
• Introduction tutorial now rewritten to accommodate for the changed controls.
  
• Camera controls are now a single universal key that toggles you between cockpit, backwards, and orbital views.
  
• Pause menu graphics redone to move away from… certain inspirations.
  
• Greatly reduced file sizes and loading times, as well as frequency of loading interactions.
  
• Added indicators to show if a tradable commodity was currently affected by the dynamic economy in some way.
  
• Fixed issues where some stats were calculated incorrectly.
  
• Fixed issues where missions wouldn’t complete correctly.
  
• Fixed errors relating to NPC flight.
  
• Fixed some black screens and softlocks relating to loaded games.
  
• Fixed some mesh errors on ships.
  

[h2]KNOWN ISSUES[/h2]

• Voice acting is currently unimplemented, unbalanced, or placeholder for several quests and dialogue lines.
  
• Interior detailing on a majority of stations are not in.
  
• Joystick and controller support vestigial and more or less not implemented and having a controller plugged in can introduce weirdness.
  
• Trading in ships may have a UI mismatch between ammunition counts on a ship and the actual ammunition.
  

Please take a look at the demo and give your feedback on it -- join the Underspace Discord if you feel so inclined to tell me about stuff in real time. Or talk to other Starchasers about the game and such. Or post cat photos. The possibilities are endless.

As for what else I've been up to this week, I redid tutorial aspects to better fit new input system and hooked up new options to the options menu. I also finished up the cockpit textures (something that was being implemented last Friday).





I've also added the basics of party member recruitment and personal quests. I've also scripted many new quests for party members and recruiting them. More progress on this will be made in the coming week.



Lanelines also got a pretty sizeable makeover. Indicators to laneline routes have been added, some laneline effects have been sped up, and new lanelines for the multiplayer main quest.







On that note, I worked on finishing the multiplayer main quest.

Next week's focus is going to be on finalizing the multiplayer campaign, finishing up all interiors, and getting party member recruitment implemented.

If you want to stay updated more immediately with Underspace's ongoing work, please give the Underspace socials a follow. The engagement helps offset the feeling of shouting into the void (the big void, not the cat void. The cat void gets love, not shouts).

💥💥💥 UNDERSPACE 💥💥💥
Twitter TikTok Instagram Facebook Reddit YouTube Discord

And, because obviously:

🚂🚂🚂 TRAINWIZ 🚂🚂🚂
Twitter
YouTube

Thanks for checking out this week's devlog -- stay tuned for some exciting stuff next week!