Shallow Space News

Just a quick note to add that we have a round of fixes and tweaks coming in for updates that have been released in the last few days - details below.

Some great feedback coming back, special thanks to SnottyGremlin for his clear and constructive criticism, very useful to hear from new Players!

As always, we really appreciate the support and we hope you have a great festive period!



- Added option to disable 'Film Grain' in graphic options
- Fixes to crash caused by clicking 'End Deployment' with no units deployed
- Fixes to camera drift when Joystick plugged in
- Fixes to scrolling using mousewheel affecting camera zoom
- Fixed crash saving game with containers
- Fixed crash refreshing inventory window
- Fixes various to stability
- Tweaked default camera panning speed
- Tweaked targetboxes to make them more visible
- Tweaked Ship Builder UI button to close on click if already open



- Fixes to combined Inventory window
- Fixes to Save/Load
- Fixes to missions/objectives not being cleaned up on game exit
- Fixes to tutorial being show in Quick Battle mode
- Fixes to rare crash on mission 'All Good Things'
- Fixed issue with time controls animating incorrectly on game restart
- Fixed issue with Player ship fleet panel not spawning correctly on load game
- Fixed issue with 'ghost ship' on load game

As promised, we are pleased to announce Update 6.1 boasting a fully interactive tutorial!

By interactive we mean that it offers up a set of instructions and the tutorial continues once you have completed them. We figured it would be a better way to learn than an instructional video.

It's comprehensive and will take you through camera controls, group creation and fleet movement, inventory management and ship configuration and mission/objective management and basic combat drills. Expect the tutorial to grow as the game grows, with the impending station building and resource collection mechanics to be injected imminently.

We also have a few minor fixes from an incremental patch released a few days ago listed below.

We are simply bursting with excitement right now and if you're not then you should be, with the UI refresh and the tutorial framework out the way - quick stop to update the game media and then it's time for one almighty meat injection!

As always we massively appreciate the supportive comments and if you've just joined us welcome, take a flick through some of the previous news and strap yourself in, because things are about to get REAL interesting round here.



- Fixed destroyed enemy causing crash in sandbox
- Fixed close button doesn't work in Dialogue window
- Fixed context menu not appearing for modular stations
- Fixed incorrect ship reference in Dialogue window subtitle

As promised, we are pleased to announce Update 6.1 boasting a fully interactive tutorial!

By interactive we mean that it offers up a set of instructions and the tutorial continues once you have completed them. We figured it would be a better way to learn than an instructional video.

It's comprehensive and will take you through camera controls, group creation and fleet movement, inventory management and ship configuration and mission/objective management and basic combat drills. Expect the tutorial to grow as the game grows, with the impending station building and resource collection mechanics to be injected imminently.

We also have a few minor fixes from an incremental patch released a few days ago listed below.

We are simply bursting with excitement right now and if you're not then you should be, with the UI refresh and the tutorial framework out the way - quick stop to update the game media and then it's time for one almighty meat injection!

As always we massively appreciate the supportive comments and if you've just joined us welcome, take a flick through some of the previous news and strap yourself in, because things are about to get REAL interesting round here.



- Fixed destroyed enemy causing crash in sandbox
- Fixed close button doesn't work in Dialogue window
- Fixed context menu not appearing for modular stations
- Fixed incorrect ship reference in Dialogue window subtitle

Context Buttons and Dialogue windows also added in this update

We are pleased to announce that Update 6 is ready! This is the most significant patch released to date with literally hundreds of additions and tweaks so we're going to break from the normal tradition of listing them all because there are simply too many.

If you haven't already we recommend you take a look at the previous article which will tell you what to expect from Update 6 but in addition to all that good stuff we have even more crammed in for good measure.



So we created a system called 'Context Targets' which allowed us to use abilities which targeted NPC ships such as 'Open Communications' or 'Subsystem Targeting.' Since implementing that the feedback coming back is that it's a little cumbersome so we've replaced Context Targets with a pop-up menu accessed simply by left-clicking on a NPC ship (with at least one Player ship selected.)

The context menu intelligently lists all the applicable abilities from the selected ships as well as the various standard options like 'Move To,' 'Trade' and 'Open Communications' making life much easier.



Previously the dialogue panel was anchored to the ability bar, now it has it's own dedicated window. This means you can effectively have more than one conversation at a time, which will make more sense when we start to roll in additional mission types and widen the scope of play.



We've streamlined and unified the actions taken on Left/Right click. So right clicking on a text link in the notification panel or mission objective is the same as right clicking on the thing itself for any Ship, Space Object or Zone. This makes things easier to control and much more fluid.

Here's an example:

1. You select and group your fleet
   
2. You click on the ship with the exclamation mark to see what they want
   
3. You find they have a mission on offer - you accept
   
4. You tick the box on the Objective UI piece to track it and while over there you right click on the Zone link automatically sending your ships there.
   

Much simpler.

Left clicking on items in play raises or lowers the tactical overlay to their level making them easier to navigate towards.



There are far more notifications now confirming actions, telling you how many jumps away a target is and letting you know about Out of Zone activities such as your allies spotting an enemy vessel.



We also have all the fixes and additions brought across from the BETA patches:

• Update 5.3 - Saving and Loading
  
• Update 5.3.1 - Big incremental patch!
  
• Update 5.3.2 - Unit XP & Tactical overlay markings
  

So this is a massive step forward and it's a lot more stable than Update 5 so we're making it live right away. Now that the UI is better look forward to Update 6.1 in which we'll be introducing the Tutorial and updating the in-game manual pages.

Many thanks for the continued support!

Context Buttons and Dialogue windows also added in this update

We are pleased to announce that Update 6 is ready! This is the most significant patch released to date with literally hundreds of additions and tweaks so we're going to break from the normal tradition of listing them all because there are simply too many.

If you haven't already we recommend you take a look at the previous article which will tell you what to expect from Update 6 but in addition to all that good stuff we have even more crammed in for good measure.



So we created a system called 'Context Targets' which allowed us to use abilities which targeted NPC ships such as 'Open Communications' or 'Subsystem Targeting.' Since implementing that the feedback coming back is that it's a little cumbersome so we've replaced Context Targets with a pop-up menu accessed simply by left-clicking on a NPC ship (with at least one Player ship selected.)

The context menu intelligently lists all the applicable abilities from the selected ships as well as the various standard options like 'Move To,' 'Trade' and 'Open Communications' making life much easier.



Previously the dialogue panel was anchored to the ability bar, now it has it's own dedicated window. This means you can effectively have more than one conversation at a time, which will make more sense when we start to roll in additional mission types and widen the scope of play.



We've streamlined and unified the actions taken on Left/Right click. So right clicking on a text link in the notification panel or mission objective is the same as right clicking on the thing itself for any Ship, Space Object or Zone. This makes things easier to control and much more fluid.

Here's an example:

1. You select and group your fleet
   
2. You click on the ship with the exclamation mark to see what they want
   
3. You find they have a mission on offer - you accept
   
4. You tick the box on the Objective UI piece to track it and while over there you right click on the Zone link automatically sending your ships there.
   

Much simpler.

Left clicking on items in play raises or lowers the tactical overlay to their level making them easier to navigate towards.



There are far more notifications now confirming actions, telling you how many jumps away a target is and letting you know about Out of Zone activities such as your allies spotting an enemy vessel.



We also have all the fixes and additions brought across from the BETA patches:

• Update 5.3 - Saving and Loading
  
• Update 5.3.1 - Big incremental patch!
  
• Update 5.3.2 - Unit XP & Tactical overlay markings
  

So this is a massive step forward and it's a lot more stable than Update 5 so we're making it live right away. Now that the UI is better look forward to Update 6.1 in which we'll be introducing the Tutorial and updating the in-game manual pages.

Many thanks for the continued support!