New Stars DevLog #1 - January
After hundreds hours of development working on many new features, this month has been the busiest and most expensive month of development. Here is a list of some features we have been working on in January.
[h2]1) Ubiquity (Part One)[/h2]
Ubiquity adds new level of depth for New Stars, and will be the foundation for future updates. This is only part one of the 'Ubiquity' update, due to the scale of the content being added. Ubiquity also includes dynamic orbits, moons, binary star systems, and more.
This is just the beginning of 3D simulation in New Stars. We have lots of exciting things planned with 'Ubiquity'. Stay tuned for more updates on New Stars, or join our community Discord!
Note that after the screenshots were taken, moons now have a letter suffix, and planets that orbit a star have the full star name as a prefix.
[h2]2) Colony Events[/h2]
We are also working on natural disaster events! There's nothing wrong with a bit of chaos every now and then. In some events, the player will have a choice to act to lead to different outcomes. Some choices have different costs, or none at all.
Everything going too well for one of your colonies? Not when there is climate change. Climate change can change a planet to an ice world.
Think your colonies are safe from damage while not in a war? Think again. There are multiple outcomes to these events, and the best outcome may require the highest cost, although it there is a chance things won't end up going well...
Note that these features were added before Ubiquity, and the old toon-style planets may be replaced with new assets in the coming weeks. They will be missed. Click 'Rate Up' below to pay respects.
[h2]3) Space-based Natural Disasters[/h2]
New Stars now has natural disasters. They may not be disasters after all as they can unlock new resources.
Solar storms can block sight of fleets within systems, which can be useful for staying hidden.
Other disasters can create white dwarf stars, which are very valuable, or create black holes, which may not always be beneficial. Note that white dwarfs have been in the game since October.
[h2]4) Special Resources[/h2]
Owning any surplus of a special resource will grant empire-wide bonuses. These are essential for getting an edge over other empires.
Antimatter - void matter; found in void worlds, and black holes.
Pink Plasma - found on pristine worlds, or rare Class-O stars.
Crimson Stardust - found in ancient ruins, broken worlds, and other secret locations.
Golden Spice - precious stuff that grows in small quantities on Arid worlds.
[h2]5) Wormholes[/h2]
Wormholes act as two-way portals from one system to another. They can enable access to otherwise closed-off regions of the galaxy. Be careful to with star systems with wormholes, as they can make it easier to gain entry to other regions, for better or worse.
[h2]6) Whiteholes[/h2]
Whiteholes are the opposite of black holes. Just because we haven't discovered one yet in reality, it doesn't mean that it can't be added to New Stars, where the game starts in the year 2100.
In the context of New Stars, white holes are one-way wormholes. Once you enter them, you cannot go back the way you came. This gives a great advantage to an empire that controls the whitehole entry system, but a disadvantage to whoever controls the whitehole exit system.
[h2]7) Void Worlds[/h2]
Black holes are probably not good for supporting life, or are they? Void worlds are dark worlds that orbit black holes and are less suitable than regular worlds, but can still be colonized.
[h2]8) Graphics - URP Upgrade[/h2]
Also, we have moved to Unity URP, which resulted in a complete graphics rework. This move means that some old particles and materials have to be completely reworked, for benefit of better graphics. This increases the general quality of planets and stars in-game, which is why we have done this in conjunction with Ubiquity.
The graphics will require further optimization however, so that 'New Stars' doesn't become 'New GPU'. Thankfully there are graphics settings to optimize performance on less powerful systems.
[h2]9) Multiplayer Support[/h2]
At the start of the year, we announced Steam multiplayer support. This means that the regular game will be able to played in multiplayer, with your Steam friends. The first multiplayer lobby was added in July 2022.
[h2]10) Rename Colonies, Fleets, Ships, and more...[/h2]
Ships, colonies, empires, and fleets can be renamed. Click the name text, then choose your name.
But that's not all...
January was the most productive month for New Stars, and established a new foundation for depth in New Stars. We have been working on other exciting features as well, that are not listed above. We will focus on improving and expanding these features in the coming months. After all, why add lots of features if you're not going to make them good?
[h3]Stay tuned for more updates, or join the community Discord (linked below).[/h3]
Discord: discord.gg/qVyUFHY
YouTube: youtube.com/adamjr
[h3]Rate Up to support development, and feel free to comment your suggestions.[/h3]
Screenshots on this page are subject to change or improvement in the future and are intended to be a development preview, which do not reflect the final state of the game.
Credits:
- Star satellites icon by Lorc under CC BY 3.0
[h2]1) Ubiquity (Part One)[/h2]
Ubiquity adds new level of depth for New Stars, and will be the foundation for future updates. This is only part one of the 'Ubiquity' update, due to the scale of the content being added. Ubiquity also includes dynamic orbits, moons, binary star systems, and more.
This is just the beginning of 3D simulation in New Stars. We have lots of exciting things planned with 'Ubiquity'. Stay tuned for more updates on New Stars, or join our community Discord!
Note that after the screenshots were taken, moons now have a letter suffix, and planets that orbit a star have the full star name as a prefix.
[h2]2) Colony Events[/h2]
We are also working on natural disaster events! There's nothing wrong with a bit of chaos every now and then. In some events, the player will have a choice to act to lead to different outcomes. Some choices have different costs, or none at all.
Everything going too well for one of your colonies? Not when there is climate change. Climate change can change a planet to an ice world.
Think your colonies are safe from damage while not in a war? Think again. There are multiple outcomes to these events, and the best outcome may require the highest cost, although it there is a chance things won't end up going well...
Note that these features were added before Ubiquity, and the old toon-style planets may be replaced with new assets in the coming weeks. They will be missed. Click 'Rate Up' below to pay respects.
[h2]3) Space-based Natural Disasters[/h2]
New Stars now has natural disasters. They may not be disasters after all as they can unlock new resources.
Solar storms can block sight of fleets within systems, which can be useful for staying hidden.
Other disasters can create white dwarf stars, which are very valuable, or create black holes, which may not always be beneficial. Note that white dwarfs have been in the game since October.
[h2]4) Special Resources[/h2]
Owning any surplus of a special resource will grant empire-wide bonuses. These are essential for getting an edge over other empires.
Antimatter - void matter; found in void worlds, and black holes.
Pink Plasma - found on pristine worlds, or rare Class-O stars.
Crimson Stardust - found in ancient ruins, broken worlds, and other secret locations.
Golden Spice - precious stuff that grows in small quantities on Arid worlds.
[h2]5) Wormholes[/h2]
Wormholes act as two-way portals from one system to another. They can enable access to otherwise closed-off regions of the galaxy. Be careful to with star systems with wormholes, as they can make it easier to gain entry to other regions, for better or worse.
[h2]6) Whiteholes[/h2]
Whiteholes are the opposite of black holes. Just because we haven't discovered one yet in reality, it doesn't mean that it can't be added to New Stars, where the game starts in the year 2100.
In the context of New Stars, white holes are one-way wormholes. Once you enter them, you cannot go back the way you came. This gives a great advantage to an empire that controls the whitehole entry system, but a disadvantage to whoever controls the whitehole exit system.
[h2]7) Void Worlds[/h2]
Black holes are probably not good for supporting life, or are they? Void worlds are dark worlds that orbit black holes and are less suitable than regular worlds, but can still be colonized.
[h2]8) Graphics - URP Upgrade[/h2]
Also, we have moved to Unity URP, which resulted in a complete graphics rework. This move means that some old particles and materials have to be completely reworked, for benefit of better graphics. This increases the general quality of planets and stars in-game, which is why we have done this in conjunction with Ubiquity.
The graphics will require further optimization however, so that 'New Stars' doesn't become 'New GPU'. Thankfully there are graphics settings to optimize performance on less powerful systems.
[h2]9) Multiplayer Support[/h2]
At the start of the year, we announced Steam multiplayer support. This means that the regular game will be able to played in multiplayer, with your Steam friends. The first multiplayer lobby was added in July 2022.
[h2]10) Rename Colonies, Fleets, Ships, and more...[/h2]
Ships, colonies, empires, and fleets can be renamed. Click the name text, then choose your name.
But that's not all...
January was the most productive month for New Stars, and established a new foundation for depth in New Stars. We have been working on other exciting features as well, that are not listed above. We will focus on improving and expanding these features in the coming months. After all, why add lots of features if you're not going to make them good?
[h3]Stay tuned for more updates, or join the community Discord (linked below).[/h3]
Discord: discord.gg/qVyUFHY
YouTube: youtube.com/adamjr
[h3]Rate Up to support development, and feel free to comment your suggestions.[/h3]
Screenshots on this page are subject to change or improvement in the future and are intended to be a development preview, which do not reflect the final state of the game.
Credits:
- Star satellites icon by Lorc under CC BY 3.0