Space Architect News

[h2]🚀 Space Architects, this is your moment! 🚀[/h2]

[h3]After months of hard work, improvements, and a complete graphic overhaul, we’re ready to leave Early Access orbit and launch the full version of the game! Full version releases on 21/11/2024! 🎉[/h3]

Throughout Early Access, we listened to your feedback and made every effort to bring Space Architect up to your expectations. Now, your space station is more impressive than ever—and it’s not just the new look! Check out what’s new in the full release:



🦜 Pirates Incoming – *donate or die* mode, either pay the pirates or... well, let’s just say keep a wrench nearby!
🎛️ New UI – redesigned and easier on the eyes (let’s say it’s "okay’ish" 🧐).
🔫 New Devices – defensive turrets to keep the bad guys at bay.
🎨 Brand-new graphics – all sprites redone by someone with real skill.
⚙️ New Options Menu – general, graphics, and key remapping settings.
📜 Expanded Questline – more missions, more to uncover.
👟 Crewmates walk better (no more tripping over thin air).
💬 New Lines for Crew and Station – we invested in their personalities.
🌐 Localization – now available in 12 languages!
🏆 New Steam Achievements – more ways to flex your cosmic skills.
📸 Photo Mode (F11) – hide the UI and capture your cosmic moments.
📖 Available Blueprints Listed in Knowledgebase – for those who like to keep things organized.
🖥️ Ultrawide Support – panoramic players, enjoy the cosmos in full view!
⚙️ Rebalancing and Fixes – a lot of minor improvements and tweaks.

For those who played the Early Access version – jump back in, the difference is truly out of this world! And if you’re still on the fence, now’s the best time to join the crew. The station’s ready, space is waiting – only your designs stand between you and galactic fame as an architect!

[h3]Ready for launch? 🚀[/h3]

Hello there!

First of all, I'm no longer alone, lately, I've got support from guys & gals from PlayWay with redoing graphics, preparing localization, bug hunting, overall help, and bringing the game to a wider public, this also means You my dear Reader,
so cheers to them!


For the past few months we've stayed silent, working toward a version worthy of being deemed Full Release (to be out soon), this involves several major improvements to the game, so it's time to discuss them now :)


[h2]1. Pirates[/h2]



Don't overdo your earnings, or someone might come asking for a donation ;)
Pirates were added as a means to spice up endgame content, now whenever earning cash there is a chance someone might force you to choose: fight for your hard-earned cash or give most of it away to protect space hamsters (I don't believe I even know how they look like).




[h2]2. New Graphics[/h2]

There is a new guy on the team, Sebastian did a phenomenal job redoing all the in-game assets, just take a look at this example (work is still in progress):



Doesn't it look better?


[h2]3. Localization[/h2]

The game got long-awaited localizations into 12 additional languages, with a previously existing English version it comes to the following languages being supported now:

• Chinese (Simplified)
  
• Chinese (Traditional)
  
• English
  
• French
  
• German
  
• Italian
  
• Japanese
  
• Korean
  
• Polish
  
• Portuguese
  
• Russian
  
• Spanish
  
• Turkish
  

[h2]4. Options[/h2]
Game option settings were extended, now you can tweak not only audio but also graphic settings.



[h2]5. Key Mapping[/h2]
Lastly for those of you that want to tweak every last thing to your liking, I've worked hard to implement a way to remap all of the in-game controls.



I am thinking about adding the ability to map multiple keys to a single action, but that has to wait on an ever-increasing ToDo list of mine :)


Speaking about ToDo, there are things I'm working on, but not sure when they will be out:

[h2]Future Changes[/h2]

[h3]Temperature[/h3]
One of the systems that is currently too easy is controlling station temperature, for now, all you have to do is to plop an additional Passive Cooler from time to time. I'd call that boring if anyone asks me, so what can we do with it?

Well, my idea is to redo the station temperature and make it grid-based, where each cell can have its own temperature, equalizing with those of nearby cells as time passes. The device will rely only on the temperature of the cell it's built on, leading to a situation where a power-hungry device will quickly ramp up underlying cell temperature, and as a result, it will easily overheat. Similarly with a cluster of mid-power-hungry devices, not having where to output temperature


Station heat grid, with 2 heat-producing devices circled


To combat this, the player would need to track where temperature hotspots occur and plop passive coolers nearby the place. I'm also thinking about extending it with cooling lines - that increase the tempo of equalizing cells temperature, which are being built under the devices (like how pipelines are laid).


[h3]Enclosed Spaces & Walking Over Stuff[/h3]
Currently, the game doesn't support enclosed spaces, like having another room with its own Airlock, that's not connected to the main room. You can build it fine, but Crewmates won't be able to travel between them (like going out of the airlock, to the airlock of another room and getting inside). I'm planning to change that, but it will require me to redo pathfinding,

And as I'll be touching pathfinding I've thought that it's a good opportunity to teach crewmates to avoid going over stuff - currently, they don't care if they go over a working Furnace or on an empty floor, and for a long time I was choosing it this way, but as I see it now it makes the station a mess of clustered devices. In future versions, I'd like them to go over stuff way slower, and plan to find the most optimal path - avoiding going over any devices unless necessary, forcing players to leave corridors in places they plan crewmates to be, and clustering places where automation is achieved.



So, this would be my update to You :)
I hope to have the full version out soon, and hope that You'll like it,
See you soon,
Albert :)

Hi All!
This big update polishes a lot of game mechanics, hope you'll enjoy it :)


The biggest thing was finally finding an improved way for interaction in the trade window - how to move both small and large quantities of items easily. The solution I came up with is a slider, which pops up after you press the mouse button on an item, it allows you to choose quantity by moving the mouse left & right, and letting the mouse button down confirms the amount. Additionally, it supports setting up fixed quantities by pressing modifier buttons - Ctrl for all, Shift for 100kg, and Alt for 10kg.



Another issue was solving a way to know where the station is, for players that went to explore the ship neighborhood. Thus in the bottom right I've added a compass-like element that constantly points at the center of the ship.



A large part of this update is dedicated to players' feedback & making game mechanics easier to understand.


Changes:

• Changed the way items are moved around in the trade panel by adding a popup with a quantity selector
  
• Added a compass-like thing to show where the station is
  
• All devices in the build panel are clickable to inform you what is missing - technology or resource
  
• Rename Observatory to Asteroid Scanner
  
• Tank containers now have a configurable supply option 'crew-in' (you could disable it so that only pipes can supply the device)
  
• Quest 'Start basic production' changed - got an additional objective to mine 10 minerals
  
• Asteroid drone quest redone
  
• Laser storage full in mining overview was misinterpreted as overheating - changed color and added a tooltip
  
• Updated Guest Dock sprites
  
• A few tooltips in the trade panel were added
  
• Lock buttons to not researched mechanics
  
• Changed Arc Furnance tech description
  
• Added event to notify you when no space is available for a single specific item type
  

Bug Fixes:

• Dont allow to clone device if you don't have tech to build said device
  
• Crew sound no longer playing on pause
  
• UI Fix in the main menu for long player Steam name
  
• Mining laser storage capacity fixed (should be 60 instead of 5)
  
• Fixed trader talking bug when in trade panel for too long
  

Praise for providing feedback in this update goes to Pawilonek, sterik & Gaming with Cola, thanks!

This update continues the trend of me adding more voices, this time it's crewmates who got theirs.
Also, I've made few touches here & there :)

• Crew (male & female) random thoughts added
  
• Button added to quickly build a copy of a selected device
  
• Mining laser now have a voiceover when trying to mine but all mining lasers are already full
  
• Show lasers container state when mining
  
• Game won screen improvements
  
• Clean game log when loading new save
  

Bugs smashed

• Prevent shortcut from firing when using input fields
  

Hi All!

This update brings a lot more voices to the table :)
As well as a few fixes to the job system

Changes & new content:

• Station OS voice changed
  
• Station OS voices her random thoughts
  
• Visitor calling you out when trade is not happening
  
• Visitor got his voice when undocking
  
• Default pipe speed increased x2 (after appearing in almost every feedback I got :D )
  
• Don't stop playing music during pause and game saving
  

Bugfixes done

• Show unreachable jobs in job panel - reported by Pawilonek
  
• Fix bug causing a previously unreachable job to be ignored even after it became reachable - reported by Fodder and Pawilonek
  
• Fix quest hide button not hiding quest completely - reported by Pawilonek
  

PS: Emrys, thanks for suggesting to add more voices :)