Star Explorers News

A simple error was causing robots to crash the game if you encountered and destroyed them in an alien ship.

I have fixed the issue and tested it to confirm it is working as intended, as demonstrated in the following screenshots:

I encountered this robot in the depths of the UFO...


I managed to destroy it, with no crash...


Along with this one...


And this one...


This is unrelated to the issue with bipedal aliens, which still might cause an error. However, as far as I am aware that error does not crash the game, but simply disables the alien, causing it to freeze and stop reacting to the player.

So a while ago someone asked for UI scaling in Star Explorers. I managed a kind of quick fix for this, which allowed you to maximize the game window, (thereby scaling the UI) but only when the window border was showing.

I have updated the game to allow for a kind of full screen maximization.

The old border option is still there, so if you prefer that you can still use it.

[h3]How to Activate Full Screen with UI Scaling[/h3]
However if you do not want to see the border, you can un-check "border" in the video options menu. Then, when you restart the game, it will be in a borderless window. Press F10 to maximize the window and get a full screen with UI scaling. F11 will reduce the window size back to it's original setting.

[h3]What is all This?[/h3]
For any of you who are already using the game's full screen mode, and don't understand all the fuss, it will make more sense if you have a very high resolution monitor. The normal full screen mode does not increase the size of menus and text, so they can become unreadable if you are using a 4K monitor.

With the method mentioned above, you will actually be setting the game's resolution to a lower value (like 1280 x 720 - the default minimum screen size for Star Explorers) and maximizing it, which will stretch out the pixels to fill the screen. So this method stretches out menus and text along with the pixels, giving you a lower resolution, but more readable game.

[h3]Ultra Wide Support[/h3]
This should also work for ultra-wide monitors, as long as you set the resolution to match the ratio of your ultra-wide monitor. For instance, if your monitor is 3840 x 1600, you can set the game's resolution to about half of that (1920 x 800) - make sure it is set to window mode with the border off before you hit restart - then press F10 to stretch that window out to full screen size.

[h3]Alien Interactions [/h3]
Aliens will now interact with each other. They might fight each other, they might run away from each other ... they might do stuff that makes little sense, but that's the point! The goal is to have more emergent gameplay. This, combined with other things like the more robust explosions added last week, will slowly build Star Explorers into a much more dynamic environment.

Here is a strange animal confronted by a star shaped floater



[h3]Additional Revisions since 5.2.5a[/h3]
I've made a few tweaks since the testing branch release a few days ago. Most notable are the increase in alien distance from one another, they used to spawn really close to one another, but now they will be spread out a bit. A couple of other minor issues were also addressed.

• I adjusted how flashing messages work. They flash on and off like before, but I extended the on period and shortened the off period, so they are more readable.
  
• The game now prevents the gun from firing when clicking on tutorial messages in the interactive guide.
  
• Non-lava planets can now have volcanoes.

[h3]Weapon Tiers[/h3]
I have updated the whole weapons system, now weapons have three tiers. Yellow weapons represent the lowest quality weapons. Blue are the middle quality, and red are rare, and highly powerful weapons. From a gameplay standpoint, these kinds of weapons, in terms of the increase in firepower, already existed in the game, but they were not color coded and all looked the same.

I think it adds a certain level of comprehension, so you can tell at a glance which weapons will be more useful. I also might actually update the models, so each tier has more interesting looking weapons, but for now color coding was a fast and easy way to get this system started.

Here, you can see two different color laser pistols (yellow and blue) among other things



[h3]Alien Weapons[/h3]
Bipedal aliens have been given an upgrade. Instead of just standard laser pistols, they can now have assault rifles and even rocket launchers! I have abstained from giving them access to sonic cannons because they would be likely to kill off their friends.

[h3]Weapon Costs[/h3]
Weapons now have a working system of differentiating the cost of the weapon from the cost of any ammo that has been loaded into the weapon. You can still buy and sell loaded weapons. But if you unload them, the price drops accordingly. Rocket launchers and sonic cannons are considerably more valuable when loaded.

[h3]EDIT[/h3]
I have updated the game again to version 5.2.5a. The last build allowed for planets with Acknexium crystals to have no caves. This would make it difficult or perhaps even impossible to complete the game. Note: I do not believe this will solve the bug where Acknexium is sometimes not recognized. I am still working on that, but generally a visit to another planet in the same sector, or perhaps a repeat visit to the same planet, will make the game recognize the quest as complete.

If anyone is able to reproduce that bug, please let me know. It may be related to using the interactive guide, which is still in beta testing...

[h3]Alien Interactions [/h3]
Aliens will now interact with each other. They might fight each other, they might run away from each other ... they might do stuff that makes little sense, but that's the point!

I was still getting a rare, occasional bug, but nothing game breaking. Also, it hasn't happened in a while and I suspect it might have been resolved. At worst, what might happen (with this bug in particular) is that one of the bipedal aliens might freeze and stop interacting.

I plan to release it to the main branch by the weekend but I figure this is something I should continue testing a bit longer. These are pretty significant changes, so who knows what else might go wrong...

Here is a strange animal confronted by a star shaped floater


[h3]Weapon Tiers[/h3]
I have updated the whole weapons system, now weapons have three tiers. Yellow weapons represent the lowest quality weapons. Blue are the middle quality, and red are rare, and highly powerful weapons. From a gameplay standpoint, these kinds of weapons, in terms of the increase in firepower, already existed in the game, but they were not color coded and all looked the same.

I think it adds a certain level of comprehension, so you can tell at a glance which weapons will be more useful. I also might actually update the models, so each tier has more interesting looking weapons, but for now color coding was a fast and easy way to get this system started.

Here, you can see two different color laser pistols (yellow and blue) among other things


[h3]Alien Weapons[/h3]
Bipedal aliens have been given an upgrade. Instead of just standard laser pistols, they can now have assault rifles and even rocket launchers! I have abstained from giving them access to sonic cannons because they would be likely to kill off their friends.

[h3]Weapon Costs[/h3]
Weapons now have a working system of differentiating the cost of the weapon from the cost of any ammo that has been loaded into the weapon. You can still buy and sell loaded weapons. But if you unload them, the price drops accordingly. Rocket launchers and sonic cannons are considerably more valuable when loaded.

[h3]Testing Branch[/h3]
If you want to try out the latest version, navigate in Steam to "Star Explorers > Properties > Betas" and enter the code "rocketship1234" to unlock the testing branch. Please report any bugs or issues to me, or better, record your play session so I can see exactly what went wrong. I hope nothing goes wrong, but I'm trying to anticipate these issues before they happen.

In this upcoming update, aliens will be able to interact with each other, and not just the player. I am hoping this will lead to more emergent gameplay and interesting situations. This video shows just a small sample of different interactions. They are mostly hostile in these examples, but this can change depending on the demeanor of the aliens involved.

https://youtu.be/7sRhgyqcavI

You may also have noticed some robots outside of the crashed UFO ... that's new too.

It is somewhat hard to see what's happening in the video, so as an example, in the following image, you can see a robot shooting at two tentacled "floaters." In this image, one of the floaters has been hit, and it is in the process of exploding into little bits (also new).



There are still a few loose ends and possible bugs to tie up, but I hope to have something ready by this weekend. Please feel free to share any thoughts or suggestions on this. It's the first time I have attempted anything like this, so player feedback is important.