Underspace News

Happy summer Starchasers! I know someone’s gonna be like “NO trainwiz it’s not summer yet summer is specifically three days in June when the cicada armada forms into the shape of Jimmy Carter’s left nipple bluh bluh” or something but I don’t care. It’s summer, the sun is warm against my pasty dying skin, and that means I feel energized and ready for TONS of progress.
In other news, our next release is Demo 1.9, which will have more of a piractical focus. As in piracy. For pirates. But that’s a bit of a ways out.


For now, onto progress! Be sure to check out our demo and official Discord. As always this just a paraphrasing of the main article, which you read here.



In the five main regions of the galaxy you can find five main regional bosses. While they vary in strength, each one tests an aspect of gameplay and your skills in it. You can find the first regional boss, Sparkplatform, in the demo already. This past month we made the other four, for a total of 7 current hidden ambient bosses in the game (out of 18).


In the Ijunic regions, you can face down a dangerous stormcloud monster with a crown made of lasers. Which frankly is just pretty dang cool.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


The Macrovari tell tales of a mad naval captain, who welds his victims’ ships to his own to help it from breaking into pieces as he runs it out of control.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


Deep within the Union capital, there’s legends of the ManyShip, a powerful stormwight that tests worthy starchasers by shifting forms and abilities at a whim.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


And finally the Ballden are doing their hardest to suppress news of Cahgurine, a former brilliant sculptor now turned insane hivemind, wielding far too many lightning field generators.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


There’s a lot of underlying systems that were added to make these boys work, but the good news is that such work only has to be done once, and like most trailblazing bosswork only gets faster and faster from here on out.




We’ve also done more with quests, mostly focusing on non-demo quests, which can start to get fairly in-depth, with many colorful characters and often unique mechanics and endings.

A few of these new quests are still being worked on, but a few are in the finished stages. If you ever wanted to participate in a murderhobo death tournament, have we got news for you!
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


The campaign isn’t safe from our questing fingers either, demo feedback often asked for a way to track where to go for the next campaign mission, so we’ve added simple quests to help track that.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

And, for even more help, if you try to leave the initial starting area without going through the tutorial, it will warn you of that. You can still leave, it’s just that if you smack into a planet, it’s no longer our fault.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]




Storms also had more done to them this month. First, unstable jumpholes, which shoot the player to completely random systems, were placed all throughout the galaxy and had special graphics created and tweaked.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


Speaking of graphics, Distant Horrible Objects (yes that is their full and proper name) had full models added, along with better, more color appropriate effects in matching storms.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

The final storm thing we added were ghost ships! These minibosses guard various storm rifts, and can be the reanimated wreckage of ships you’ve previously killed. Just be careful: They’re not happy that you killed them.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]





We’ve been doing some small QoL improvements here and there after the big demo release, mostly based on user feedback. Freeflight has a few changes to its controls, and docking is smart about where it tries to aim you initially.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

We’re also working on yet another flippin’ refactor of spawning code, this time to allow forced overrides of where NPCs can spawn.


Also we worked on some new gun sounds, based on user feedback.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Also, the entire galaxy has cargoboxes around big wrecks now. Watch out for mimics though!





And not too much in terms of assets this time around. We’ve got some plates and dishware, and also I’ve been wrecking a few fixtures here and there for the sake of vignettes. Also I’m working on particle effects for flak cannons, and new background effects for the Shipstar system.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


That’s all for this month, our next month’s progress bits will probably be less impressive than this, but still, check back for more!

Hello starchasers! It’s a sunny springy May this month, so I’ll keep the intro short as we get into the REAL meat and spring potatoes of this month’s progress! There’s not much, but it is significant!

As always, this is just a paraphrasing of the main article, which you can read here.


The biggest news, in case you’ve missed it, is that demo 1.8 is now available on all platforms (that is, PC, Linux, and Macronash)!

1.8 is one of the largest updates we’ve done overall, bringing forth a LOT of new content. It includes the first two (out of the demo’s eventual four) missions of the main campaign, several redone quests, the tentative addition of squadmates, stormchasing and the rewards for such, and much much much more! You can check it out on itch.io and indieDB, along with the changelogs for such.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

In addition: we’ve finally launched an official Underspace discord! Get real time updates, talk to the devs, provide feedback and get help with problems. You can join up here!


One of the things we needed in the new demo was to improve or polish the various bosses and minibosses found within. Giving them new attacks, redoing some of their behavior, you know the deal. We also added simpler, single-purpose mimics hiding amongst the ruins of old battleships. We DID warn you those were coming!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]



Polishing up the campaign meant hooking up or improving elements. Opening cutscenes in missions now have full holograms that play alongside them, new character models are being made for various unique characters, and the in-game codex now works and updates fully (with different entries based on whether or not you’re playing multiplayer or singleplayer).
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


From fixing up UI elements that didn’t work, adding in new storm hazards for lower level storms, writing up a new tutorial that plays during the initial campaign missions, and doing things like fully adding in the basics of the game’s cockbits, or bugfixing soooo many pre-demo bugs. There’s a lot to cover there, so just have some screenshots.




And as always, there’s the usual host of assets. We’ve got big communal plates and dishware for the religious Ballden, along with an illusion generating eyeball boss.

That’s all for this month, check back next month where things will move away from demowork and more towards… nondemo work.

April Fools! For our April Fools joke we’re rolling out said April Fools joke a week after April Fools and instead of a joke it’s completely serious amounts of serious progress. Seriously.

The good news is Demo 1.8 is now in the testing stage. Admittedly a large amount of stuff has to be tested to begin with, so there’s still no ETA for the next release. Of course, that next release will bring TONS of content, so I’d say it’s worth the wait.

Anyway, onto progress! As always this is just a paraphrasing of the main article, which you can read here.


The biggest progress bit this month was capitalship wreckage. Making wrecked variants of these huge ships is difficult, as they don’t break apart as easily as say, a fighter or a transport, and need lots of little wreck pieces as well.


Thankfully, all the models are made and implemented in game where they should be. You’ll find huge abandoned derelicts out in space, their cargo spewed everywhere. But be wary, hazards abound, to say nothing of the cargo containers that are mimics.
]

You can also scan derelicts and turn their data in at data centers for rewards.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Finally, a little unrelated to battleships but not entirely, was the need for capships that have a more rudimentary AI than your typical battleships.


These basic battleships, as I call them, don’t actively hunt down enemies, but will open fire on enemies if they’re within range.


Smart players will remember that the Macrovari regions had both power lines AND pretentious art sculptures, but said sculptures were on a back-order as we worked out the legal snafus because some other pretentious artist owned the copyright to the pigments or something. You know how they are. They’re in the game now though!


We’ve also been writing up a lot of quests and storylines. Nothing too concrete we’re willing to show here JUST yet, but we have added some stuff like headlights being able to activate objects, or damage certain enemies.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


As we edge ever and ever closer to release, I’ve been going over game systems and either making sure they’re fully hooked up, or adding a few last minute QoL improvements to them.

For example, the ambient explosion system that happens when you fight in larger battles now works.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

I’ve been redoing the in-game navmap for readability and utility, among other things.


On the subject of navigation, entering an asteroid belt or nebula now displays its name in the system readout, much like when you enter a station or a star system.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Finally, last month we showed off a few harvester ships belonging to the Tickers, those robotic drones that defend comm relays. Comm relays themselves got better damage effects, and the more you steal from them, the greater the response against you will be.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]



There’s not too much this month in the way of new assets. We’re mostly working on really simple models: dishware, furniture, things to populate the eventual interior of the game world. They’re not TOTALLY low effort though: each race has its own stylings and design philosophy behind their… plates. Plate design theory’s an often overlooked aspect of art you know!


That’s all for this month. Hopefully by next month we’ll have the demo ready to go, alongside more quests, content, and space stuff. This is a space game after all.

Welcome to March starchasers! I quite enjoy March, it’s the month I started my existence in, so it’s pretty good all things considered.

Now we’ve got good news and bad-ish news. You’ll get to hear the bad news first, because that’s how we roll. So the bad news is that there’s about a week of this month where just nothing got done. I’ll spare you the details, but it amounts to there being not as much progress last February (already a short month) as I’d like.

The good news is a lot of milestones have been met in this past month! For starters, the first draft of act 1 of the campaign was finished up (there’s four acts in all). The enormous “to-do” list of tasks for the game to launch also (as far as I can tell) seems remarkably free of anything in terms of actual gameplay features now, the majority of work from here on out is pretty much content, content, content.

Finally we edge ever closer to the release of demo 1.8. There’s a few remaining tasks for this that I want to do before it’ll reach its testing stage, but the big features (the new campaign and such) are ready and working.

With all that in mind, let’s get into all the progress made in the last month! As always, this is just a paraphrasing of the main update, which you can read here.


All flyable ships now have all their basic cockpits modeled out, meaning that first person is, at basic, a viable thing.


What’s more, cockpit customization is now fully hooked up and implemented. You can freely enable aspects of the cockpit as you choose, as well as acquire items to place inside said cockpit. There’s a precious few items right now, but the system is extremely easy to expand.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]



As promised, a lot of quest work was done this month. That means writing, scripting, etc. There’s a variety of new quests added, and will give players the chance to confront a legendary pirate king, resolve disputes over ancient artifacts, and more. To help better support some of the more esoteric quests, I ended up replacing the old quest scripting system with the far more robust campaign scripting system.


Redoing quest scripting meant going back over existing quests and quest elements, giving me time to polish those and add things like new effects, as well as finally make dialogue have some backgrounds (and thus making things much more readable).

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

This also meant redoing and improving things in the game’s event system. If you ever stole from communication relays, you might have encountered the Tickers: a mysterious automated drone fleet that protects them. Those machines have gotten an overhaul, along with new ships with new attacks. For example: grappling hooks that can pull your fighter in and harvest you for spare parts.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


This month we also worked on adding lots of new boss content to the game. Fighting monsters and worse is an essential part of your job as a starchaser, so it feels good to finally get to the point where players can face down against a variety of starry horrors. The past month we worked on and more or less finished two new bosses.


First, you can face down the Haywire Hulk, an enormous rogue construction drone that’s turned into a mad artist. Chase it down, avoid its attacks and art installations, and see if you can’t rid the Haywire system of its unwanted sculptor.


Second, out in the deepest hottest regions of deep hot space, you can find yourself at the mercy of the Hellmouth Prince. If you’ve ever wanted to beat a living mass of fire into submission, wreck its custom-made battleship, and then befriend it, now is your chance.


Both of these are in a near-complete to complete level, and the aim as the months follow is to really dive deep and implement all these various bosses once and for all.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]




And of course, assets! We’re back on with taking ships and wrecking the hell out of them, in this case shipwreck models are being made for larger ships and remaining storyline and quest ships.


That’s all for this month, as always check back next month to see what new wonders we have to offer.

Welcome to February, the shortest month of the year, but hey at least there’s that Love Day or whatever the hell it’s called in the middle!


Part of the work this past month has been what I call an “inventory overview pass”. This doesn’t actually have anything to do with the in-game inventory, rather it’s a passover of each individual star system, checking what wrecks, quests, bosses, and content exists in it. What we’re trying to achieve with that is a good, even distribution of content over the whole 70 star systems, like an evenly spread dab of mustard over the bread of a delicious sandwich.

And of course, part of that pass is also to go back over tons of content and hook it up to be fully working, or add in content that’s planned on paper but wasn’t in just yet. It’s a short month, but this is a big update, so strap yourselves in kiddos.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

As always, this is a paraphrasing of the full update, which you can read here.


You may remember rescuing a certain someone from the depths of a hyperspatial gateway. Starting now, they’ll become a party member. And dear Pyrona is not alone, the entire party member has been redone and is game ready. You can summon forth party members to help you in anything, and they’ll grant bonuses, and additional bonuses when you find and complete their unique loyalty quest.

Your last summoned party member comes with you on docked stations, and you can talk to them to get their opinions, backstory, hopes, dreams, etc.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


A few demo players might have noticed that though we’ve got a system for heavy equipment and ultimate attacks, but basically no heavy equipment. Some didn’t work, some didn’t exist, and some just weren’t implemented. We’ve got back through the entire thing and added in every single heavy equipment piece, got it working, and also added a couple new ones. Fantastical nukes, huge railguns, gatemakers that summon forth anti-bullying robots, even cannons that tear open nodes in spacetime.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


We also added special equipment. These are just basic components that can set their own values and independently bypass the normal equipment system, they’re generally used for aesthetics and quests. They’re also the perfect system for modders, who will probably be able to take advantage of a lot of the stuff they offer.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


There’s been a massive amount of work done across the board in terms of background tech, bugfixes, and QoL features. Let me just highlight the most major ones.

First off, the game’s memory usage has been slashed in half (at the cost of slightly longer load times), going from a whopping 5-6GB of RAM to a more manageable 2.5-3GB on average. Quite the cause for celebration I feel.


We’ve also added in a storage system, which lets you store unused equipment. With it also comes quick-actions, where holding shift + click or ctrl + click will let you quickly sell, bank, transfer, eject, and otherwise perform default actions.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

There was a huge pass on AI pathfinding, solving a lot of key issues while making the NPCs smarting about avoiding things like planets, other ships, stations, etc.



Big ships doing a job will also attempt to continue doing that job, even in the face of attacks. After all, they’re not getting paid to play with pirates,
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]



Do you think I was lying about there being mods? I only ever tell the truth. The game can now process changes to objects and items, put them into an easily shared format and file system, which the game can subsequently read and load as mods.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

You can sort, enable, and change the load order of plugins in the game itself, and what’s more the game will report possible conflicts between plugins, as well as where the conflict occurs. The system’s pretty nascent right now, but much like a baby that grows up into a nine foot tall 400 pound monster that could eat god, it’ll only get more extensive from here on out.



Finally, we’ve added in the finished models for everyone’s favorite nine foot tall robot waifus. They spew pollution, they run a tollroad through space hell, it’s the Veilers!
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

They’re quite popular.


We’ve also redone skyboxes and scrapfield models in a variety of places, in a way that I’m finally satisfied with.


That’s all for this month, check back next month, ideally we’ll have some more campaign missions and quests.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]