Starcom: Unknown Space News

Betelgeuse 10810 has had a enough testers that I feel it is stable enough to go live on the default branch. It is a relatively minor patch (no content changes) and should be save compatible. As always, if you experience any issues, please them report in the Discussion Forums or via F8 in-game.

• Fix for NullReference exceptions in a late-game scenario
  
• Undo, redo, revert in shipyard
  
• Preliminary Steam Workshop integration
  
• Improvements, fixes for gamepad controllers (particularly the shipyard)
  
• Obstacles registered as targets for AI and controller
  
• Allow submission of screenshot with F8 feedback
  
• Minor UI improvements
  
• Minor performance improvements
  

Eventually there will be in-game help for gamepad controls, however this will be integrated with content changes, so for now there is are (partial) control definitions in the option menu.

Greetings Commanders!

I'm Kevin, the developer of Starcom: Unknown Space, and I'd like to thank you for supporting the game during Early Access.

Starcom, as you might not know, started as a simple Flash game with light RPG elements released way back in 2009. Despite its relatively bare-bones design, player enthusiasm encouraged me to eventually begin work on a full-fledged PC title called Starcom: Nexus, released into Early Access in 2018 and full release in 2019. This was an enormous step up in features, depth, and complexity. After its completion, I realized I still wanted to do more in this space (pun intended). Certain early design and technical decisions made some of the improvements and stories difficult to do with the existing game. I had learned a tremendous amount during Starcom: Nexus' development journey, so I decided to begin work on a new game, which eventually became Starcom: Unknown Space.

I want to make this game the best possible experience of space exploration and adventure it can be. To help me with that, I'd like to hear from you. Please feel free to share your thoughts, ideas, and suggestions. You can submit them anonymously in-game via F8 or discuss them with me and others in the Steam discussion forums (also a good place to ask questions).

[h2]Game Updates During Early Access[/h2]

By the time you read this, there should already be a beta update available for opt-in (ominously titled "unstable", although it should be pretty stable). Once enough players have tried it out, it will be promoted to the main branch. This is a minor update: the most notable addition is the addition of the frequently requested "undo/revert" functionality in the shipyard.

I've already started working on the game's next content update. Although I don't have a timeline for its release yet, I wanted to give you a sense of what to expect in terms of game updates. Due to the complicated interactions of its open-world content, major updates that change the game's core story will not be save-compatible (these are identified by changes to the build name, e.g., "Arcturus", "Betelgeuse", etc.). Once there are a sufficient number of updates that are well tested, the main branch will be updated. Players who were in the middle of a playthrough will have the option of switching back to the previous version to complete their game.

[h2]News Updates[/h2]

During development I will be posting regular small updates in the discussion forums to let you know what I've been working on each week. I'll keep major spoilers out of these updates, but may talk about new features, aliens, weapons, etc.

Larger updates will be posted as news items (like this one here) and sent to subscribers of the game's mailing list.

[h2]In Conclusion...[/h2]

As I mentioned at the top, I'm the game's developer and sometimes refer to myself as a solo dev, but that's not really true. I have been fortunate to work with a number of talented freelance artists and composers who have helped create the game's characters, models and music, especially: Moritz Sebastian (music), Hardy Fowler (portraits), Ruslan Ahmatnurov (prop concept art), and Povilas Selila (ship modules and artifact modeling). And of course, you the players, for supporting the game and giving me the privilege of being able to do what I love.

- Kevin (justkevin)

It's almost here! After almost three years of development and nine rounds of closed betas, Starcom: Unknown Space will enter Early Access next Wednesday on December 14 and everyone who has been patiently waiting can finally experience the game.

The price will be $19.99 (USD, regional pricing may vary), $16.99 during launch week after a 15% discount.

I feel very good about the level of quality of the game so far: while there is a lot of work left to do, play testers have generally found very few issues and reported the game to be in great shape and a lot of fun.

The main reason for releasing in Early Access is that it currently only has about 6-8 hours of gameplay. In terms of story, I'd say it has a prologue and first act. While I have drawn up plans for the rest of the story, the details are very subject to what players want: which storylines do you want more focus on, what kinds of missions are the most interesting, which enemies are the most fun to fight, etc.

Also, while the game has a wide variety of ship building options, there are a number of systems I plan on adding in the near future and I'm interested in hearing from you about their balance and fun factor, as well as adjusting the balance of existing modules and systems.

Finally, there are the myriad little things that can turn a great game into an amazing game: quality of life improvements, easter eggs, lore, character details, and more.

So I hope you'll grab a copy at launch: not just because initial sales are vitally important for indie visibility on Steam (although that is important), but because I want to hear from you on how to make Starcom: Unknown Space the best experience it can be.

If you have questions, suggestions and feedback, I want to hear from you: feel free to post in the discussion forums..

It's Thanksgiving weekend here, so Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who celebrate it! And thanks from me to everyone who has supported Starcom game development over the years, and especially to the playtesters who have put in so much time suggesting improvements for the game.

I'm considering the current version in playtesters' hands (Betelgeuse 10805) to be the Release Candidate. This is the version that will be available to players at the start of Early Access (barring any last-minute discoveries of serious issues).

There's a lot of non-dev work that I have to do between now and then, but things have been ahead of schedule (a rare event in gamedev), so between other tasks I've started working on the first post-launch update. This will initially be available as an opt-in beta. Currently, I'm working on some QoL and minor gameplay changes:

• Improved controller support
  
• Revert, undo, redo in the Shipyard
  
• "Tactical slicing": if there is a module-specific drop, targeted removal increases the drop probability. E.g., if you need a missile component, shooting off the enemy's missile launcher before the ship 'asplodes increases the likelihood of that drop.
  

Thanks for reading, until next update!

- Kevin

Starcom: Unknown Space is now a little less than a month from entering Early Access. At this point, the game feels very solid and players of the latest beta have not identified any critical issues.

This week, after doing a full playthrough and starting another round of close beta tests, I did some minor optimizations and started working on game controller support. I was pretty quickly able to get controller working for most in-game functions (steering, plasma weapons, etc.) and UI navigation for "most cases". This still leaves quite a number of areas where a controller either doesn't work well, or at all (most notably the shipyard).

Since my goal is to have a release candidate "freeze" this week (meaning no changes other than fixing critical issues), and I won't be working on Thursday (Thanksgiving in the US), it remains to be seen how far I'll get with controller support before launch.

Once the release candidate is ready, there will be a (hopefully final) closed beta on that.

All for now!