Underspace News

November: Everyone’s favorite Christmas month. Except if you hate snow, which if you live in Wisconsin, you probably do. Still, it makes for a perfect excuse to turn on a heater, lock yourself in a dark room for six weeks and chug away at a fantasy space game.

Now, before we begin I have a fairly significant announcement I’d like to make. We mentioned in a previous update, but I’d like to reiterate it as the year approaches its untimely demise: Underspace will not be released in 2019. At the time we made that decision, there was always the chance for a 2019 release, but doing so would involve some serious rushing or releasing it in early access. Obviously, with December coming up, a release really isn’t possible and we early access is not a viable option, hence the delay. I will be trying however to get the next demo out before the year ends, and as always we’ll have these monthly updates detailing progress on the game. If they don’t happen, assume I’m dead. Though that probably won’t stop me.

As always, you can read the full, detailed summary of all that on our Kickstarter page here. This news page will be a brief summary of the things being worked on.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pastaspace/underspace/posts/2677632



A huge amount of internal work was done this month, including a redux of our skill system (mostly decoupling skill logic from ships and pilots and making it more generalized), how damage checks it sources, functions to retrieve and track loot table data, hardpoint type passes, more advanced NPC spawning, and more. Of course all these new systems meant going back over them and getting rid of bugs both new and old.
With all that out of the way, I could properly implemented the remaining bits of equipment and weaponry that your ship was lacking, including things like:
Automated Systems (including AI turrets, mining, and fishing drones)

Mines (persistent little buggers that they are)

And things that don't really have screenshots, like smuggling holds and cargo containers.



While you've always been able to color your starships, you haven't up until now been able to really paint them with things like decals, but that's all changed! At any customization station you can scale, rotate, and place a variety of paintjobs and stickers, which are unlocked through play.



A variety of particle effects and graphics have been gone over, looking for both visual error and things that have clarity issues. This includes engines, weapons, equipment, etc.


Additionally, a few UI windows weren't up to the same standards as the rest of the game, such as news and mission windows, but that's changed and fixed. The UI itself is also having its last few assets done up, to be in line visually with the rest of the game's interface.


Fish have also been improved, and are no longer just animated statics but exhibit proper flocking and boid behavior.


And of course our various artists have been hard at work with lots of new assets. Things like new station pieces, battleships, and space deer.



And that’s all for this month! There's lots more to cover in the Kickstarter page proper, so check that out. As November continues to freeze everything, we’ll be moving forward on things like suns, nebula passes, redoing asteroids (they suck right now), more models, better explosions, wreck models, etc, etc.

As mentioned we’ll be trying to get the next demo to you ASAP. The tutorial mission is written out, but still needs to be implemented and scripted.

Until next time!

Whew, how about that September month huh? With all its... stuff. Honestly if something happened I wasn't paying attention, too busy working on this game and making all this progress.

As always, you can read the full, detail summary of all that on our Kickstarter page here. This news page will be a brief summary of the things being worked on.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pastaspace/underspace/posts/2646207


The biggest new thing made in the past month is all the work done on stations. Out of the 150 (give or take) stations in game, all of them now have proper exteriors, station bounds, and are all ready to be explored and docked at.


Of course these stations just have prototype models right now, but don't worry, that Kickstarter money is going towards rectifying such a massive issue.



And on the topic of models, all fixtures (celestial bodies that aren't stations) are also getting their models reworked for a nice, pretty experience.




I believe I mentioned last month that I was working all up on the big bulky utility ships known as freighters. I'm happy to announce their basic models are not only finished, but all freighters have been put in game and are now flight ready and NPC ready. With the next demo (which will be coming... sometime), you'll be able to encounter and fly freighters, making your fortune by trading all the chorm your body can handle.


We're also hard at work greyboxing out the remaining starships, which are mostly capitalships and quest-specific entities.



The next big thing after stations are nebulas. The tech is fine, but they need some visual variety and clarity. Starting now, there's 10 new cloud types, offering a greater level of variety. Plus they're kinda pretty.


The volumetric lighting and sun shaft system is now applied to the nebulas proper, both for normal ligthing, as well as lightning.



Finally, all seventy star systems have had a pass on their lighting and nebulas, to stop issues where things were blindly bright or (in places without suns) the ambient lighting wasn't good enough.



And that covers the big points! As always, check out the Kickstarter link for a more in-depth look, as we've also got new camera effects, new sun types, UI changes, and much more. Ideally within the next month we'll have even more shiny assets for you to ogle.

Another month gone, another round of progress to show off. Though no demo patch this time, you can get a preview of all the new changes coming.

As always, you can read the full devlog here.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pastaspace/underspace/posts/2616959


This'll mostly be a brief summary of what's being worked on, because there's a lot being worked on.


With last month's trade UI all done up to be nice, it was time to bring the rest of the UI windows up to parity. The inventory, objective UI, character UI, information UI, and so much more have all been updated with more readability and functionality. There's a huge amount of new features, so go check the devlog for more detail.


Their full graphical assets will hopefully be implemented in the next month or so.


New suns! New camera modes (that control quite close to an old favorite game of ours). There's been a bunch of changes, improvements, and fixes, some of which we can't really show without a proper video. In that case, just take some images of like, our new sun graphics and such. Check the devlog up above for a full overview, I think you'll like what's being worked on.




With the Kickstarter money all safely in the bank, we've begun work on implementing and redoing the art assets that haven't gone through Sarah, our artist. This includes things like lamposts, buoys, and our ever-popular windmills.


The basic models for more battleships, as well as freighters, are being worked on, and in the month will be, though not polished, flyable.

Bombers are now also implemented. These specialty fighters are ideal for taking down larger targets, thanks to their ability to slot two heavy equipment pieces (at the cost of two of their normal gun ports).


With the UI overhaul finished up, we've also started on the next big endeavor: finishing up station exteriors.


And finally, a new tutorial level will be added to the game, giving novice starchasers a more hands-on experience for how the game works.


That covers the major points for this month's update. Once again, you can check out the Kickstarter devlog for some more in-depth information.

Hello Starchasers! It's time for our first post-Kickstarter monthly devlog.
Monthly devlogs cover progress made, and go in-depth on the things being worked on. As it's been only a few weeks since the Kickstarter ended, this particular log is going to be a teensy sparse, mostly covering all the new UI changes done.
You can read the full devlog here.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pastaspace/underspace/posts/2589159

As noted in the devlog, please don't expect a new demo patch every single month. Patches will be released as major updates, or hotfixes for any gamebreaking bugs encountered.

That being said, this month does have a new patch, patch 1.4 is now out.



As always, you can download it off IndieDB and itch.io, with Mac and Linux builds to follow. A huge amount of new features and bugfixes come with patch, but the major changes with this update are ship customization and a new trading UI.


With the ship customization system, your ship's headlights, paint, and engines can now be colored. You're also able to rename your ship. Decals will be following soon, as well as other features such as controlling paint reflectively and similar.



You can customize your ship by traveling to any station with a shipdealer.

The new trading UI is a complete overhaul of the existing system, allowing for more readability and functionality all across the board. It also features a new preview hangar, that lets you view your ship and any equipment on it.





You can filter by specific equipment hardpoints, compare stats, search, and much much much more!

That's all for this month. In September, we'll be posting another devlog, mostly covering new graphical assets, as well as a redone inventory, among other things.

For those unaware, yesterday was the end of the funding period of our Kickstarter, and we managed to reach over $12,500 with over 300 backers!



So, as always, a big thanks to everyone. Thanks to your donations and such, we have an even greater opportunity to make this game the best it can possibly be. And at over $12,500, we've also reached stretch goal #2, which brings forth new high level bosses and challenges in Hyperspace.



You can read the full news report here, as well as information about updates, new demos, and more.



Here on Steam, I'll continue to link and paraphrase those monthly reports, as well as update you on the status of both the eventual Steam release and demo. Our forums can also serve as one avenue of feedback.