Stellar Wanderer DX News

Welcome to our second dev diary. Today we’ll show you our process for improving the game zones.
First, a disclaimer: the zones that you’ve seen in the demo were built in a specific way to achieve high performance on lower spec machines. For PCs we can improve lots of things without a significant performance loss.



Lilla is a very well connected border world’s station. What makes it special is that it acts as a transit hub between mid-security trade lanes, core systems and one of the insurgent main bases: Zerand. When playing the demo, this is where you jump to end the final mission after you get chased by hostiles.





The first thing we do to every system is to establish a “personality”, something that makes it distinct from all others. This achieves the following:

• We give you, the player, something easy to recognize and help you with orientation in the world. You should know, for example, without pulling up the map, in which system you are.
  
• It encourages exploration of the game world
  
• It allows us to tell a better story through art and environment
  

The main way to transmit this is through the skybox and environmental art.

A very distinct high resolution sky, was created to replace the old nebula, as you can see in the images below.



The second thing was, of course, adjusting the lighting to fit with the new sky. This means light coloring, reflections, back-light, everything.

Then we went on to improve the landmarks, without breaking the missions. This means creating and adding environmental art (meteorites, debris or installations) in a way it doesn’t intersect all the possible ship traffic. A few visual cues are added to signal the trade lanes and the way to the gates. Now you can get your bearings much easier, even without the help of the HUD.



We then added atmospheric effects such as clouds and fog to add an extra touch of depth. This way, the system not only does not feel empty, but wherever you travel you can feel the real speed of the spaceship as you fight, or zoom around the landmarks.



Finally, we had to take care of the station’s hangar, where you’ll spend a lot of time. We have increased the texture resolution, adjusted the lighting, tuned atmospheric effects for a much better experience.



We hope you’ve enjoyed this developer diary. Make sure to follow us here to see more updates as well as on social media:

Twitter: twitter.com/StellarWanderer
Instagram: instagram.com/StellarWandererGame
Facebook: facebook.com/StellarWanderer
Discord: discord.com/invite/6ZDYhu2


Thank you!

Welcome to our first development update for Stellar Wanderer. This marks the beginning of a periodic series which will keep you up to date with the latest developments on the game.



[h2]What’s happening with the demo?[/h2]

The demo has been de-activated as it no longer represents the current state of the game. Ever since our initial launch a few months ago we have been hard at work on improving everything the game. We took every ounce of feedback that you, the players, have given us, combined it with our own ideas and hopefully got something that looks really great!

Once we complete every feature needed for a new version, a new demo build will be uploaded and be ready to play!


[h2]What has changed until now? [/h2]

In short, TONS of things. The list below only shows a few items, but we’ll take some of them apart and detail them in future dev logs.

Graphics
• High resolution models & textures for everything, from player ships to capital ships or stations
• New hangars for all starbases
• Improved lighting systems
• Bloom
• Added atmospheric effects

Environment
• Skyboxes have been reworked (sometimes from scratch) and have much higher resolution
• Lighting has been redone for all maps
• More points of interest added throughout all areas
• Improved debris and speed feedback
• Pretty clouds and nebulas
• Gates and routes (in safe systems) are signaled by buoys for easier orientation

Interface & Controls
• Custom loading screens for every area
• Completely reworked menu system
• Vastly improved mouse input (aiming, shooting and selection)
• Improved the default keyboard layout
• Separated time acceleration and docking inputs
• Cleaned up and improved the HUD
• More information is now available in Cockpit view
• Improved the fonts

Gameplay
• Added a Hardcore Aiming mode for people who enjoy a challenge
• Added possibility to stop the ship and better control the speed
• Added Auto-level function
• Matching speed now works correctly
• Waypoints set in the system map now remain active until reached or cleared

Other
• Improved 3rd person camera for better movement feedback
• Camera now shakes when things blow up nearby
• Improved performance
• A lot of other minor (and major) bugs fixed

As soon as we have something to show, we will. Until then, make sure to follow/whislist the game on Steam, check out our social media or join our Discord server.

Twitter: twitter.com/StellarWanderer
Instagram: instagram.com/StellarWandererGame
Facebook: facebook.com/StellarWanderer
Discord: discord.com/invite/6ZDYhu2

Thank you!

[h2]Greetings, pilots![/h2]

Join us for a play session of Stellar Wanderer!



[h3]About the game[/h3]

Stellar Wanderer is a beautiful old-school space opera set in a vast open-world universe.

Grow your skills and choose the best path that suits your play style. Become a FIGHTER, TRADER, TANK or ENGINEER, each with its own bonuses and special abilities. Follow the main story line or choose the side missions you would like to play. Prove your space flight skills, mine for resources, transport merchandise, be a respected bounty hunter or even become the most dangerous pirate in the galaxy!

[h3]Join us on Discord[/h3]
Join us on a developer chat, on our Discord server.



[h3]See you there![/h3]

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]Greetings, pilots![/h2]

We will be doing a live stream of Stellar Wanderer, and answer questions from chat!
In this session we will focus on playing the side missions from the game.

Come to see us play the demo and let us know what you think. We are excited to see you there!



[h3]About the game[/h3]

Stellar Wanderer is a beautiful old-school space opera set in a vast open-world universe.

Grow your skills and choose the best path that suits your play style. Become a FIGHTER, TRADER, TANK or ENGINEER, each with its own bonuses and special abilities. Follow the main story line or choose the side missions you would like to play. Prove your space flight skills, mine for resources, transport merchandise, be a respected bounty hunter or even become the most dangerous pirate in the galaxy!

[h3]Join us on Discord[/h3]
Join us on a developer chat, on our Discord server.



[h3]See you there![/h3]

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]Greetings, pilots![/h2]

On Thursday, October 8th, we will be doing a 1-hour stream of Stellar Wanderer, and answer questions live from chat!

Come to see us play the demo and let us know what you think. We are excited to see you there!



[h3]About the game[/h3]

Stellar Wanderer is a beautiful old-school space opera set in a vast open-world universe.

Grow your skills and choose the best path that suits your play style. Become a FIGHTER, TRADER, TANK or ENGINEER, each with its own bonuses and special abilities. Follow the main story line or choose the side missions you would like to play. Prove your space flight skills, mine for resources, transport merchandise, be a respected bounty hunter or even become the most dangerous pirate in the galaxy!

[h3]Join us on Discord[/h3]
Join us on a developer chat, on our Discord server.



[h3]See you there![/h3]

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]