Star Explorers News

Planet temperatures have received an overhaul, thanks to some great feedback from players.

I tried to make it a bit more logical, though it could hardly be considered scientifically accurate. Here's what has changed:

[h3]Night Time:[/h3]
At night planet temperatures will drop. How much will depend on what type of planet it is. If it is a planet with a "normal" atmosphere, then the temperature will cool down by about half. There are some other variables at play here, but that's the rough idea.

Planets with a vaporous atmosphere will only get a little cooler at night, most of the heat being retained in the dense moisture.

Planets with no atmosphere will get extremely cold at night, so be prepared to experience some interesting changes to gameplay.

[h3]Caves:[/h3]
Caves will also adjust the temperature. On cold planets (less than 200 Kelvin) the temperature will actually increase, thanks to the warmth of the planet's inner workings.

On other planets (above 200 Kelvin) the temperature will drop, but not by that much, keeping it at a minimum of 200.

[h3]Tutorial:[/h3]
I was also able to address some issues with the tutorial. You will no longer be able to exit the console before going into orbit around a planet, as this caused strange issues with the tutorial window.

Also, when landing on your very first planet, I have made sure to make it day-time, so new players are not left in the dark.

I was able to resolve the issue where the mining station would not appear on an Acknexium planet. So now mining stations seem to be fully operational!

Acknexium mining operations can only start after you have secured a sample from the planet in question. A team will be sent down to the surface, where they construct the station, and they will remain there to manage Acknexium extraction. The advanced mining techniques do not otherwise alter the planet in any way.

Here's me hanging out at a mining station with some of the guys...






I have also added a mining generator sound effect, to add some ambiance to this important part of the Star Explorers experience. But you will have to venture forth and find some Acknexium if you want to hear that.

I am once again honored to have been invited to showcase my games at Realms Deep. Star Explorers is approaching the official 5.0 release. I will be talking to the folks at Realms Deep about the development of this game, and what's planned going forward. Learn more about Realms Deep, and all the other amazing games they are showcasing here...


https://www.realmsdeep.game/

A strange problem with liquids on planet surfaces has been fixed. Somehow the water/wave shader stopped working at certain distances, causing the liquid to turn into a flat color.

Here's what it may have looked like:


I found out that I had foolishly set a distance on whether shaders would be drawn or not. This caused the water shader to turn off at a certain distance from the center of the map, where the water model's origin was. Turning this limit off fixed the problem.

However, in the process of figuring this out, I was able to address a similar but unrelated issue. The water model also had a strange way of reflecting light, causing it to brighten up significantly when the player approached the center of the planet map. This actually looked very similar to the image above, though one could still see the water ripples in this case, and the color would stay roughly the same (though brighter).

I assumed this was the problem being experienced, and tweaked the way liquids respond to light. The result is a much more stable water shader that should not brighten up in unusual ways, nor disappear completely. Enjoy!

[h3]Hostile Miners:[/h3]
I am finding some more issues with miners. If you shot at an alien the miners would react as threatened, and aim their guns at you. This should no longer happen. But if you attack them, they should respond like neutral or hostile aliens.

[h3]Alien Types:[/h3]
I have allowed alien animals to appear on the same planets as humanoid aliens. I think this should be more interesting than having just one or the other. Currently, animal type aliens and humanoid aliens should ignore each other, but I am thinking of including some kinds of interactions in the near future.

[h3]I fixed a couple bugs:[/h3]
In the last update, Acknexium miners did not display their names.
The inventory wormhole item was not working with ship storage upgrades, so you could only see the first storage slot when using the wormhole from a planet or cave.

[h3]Problem found:[/h3]
I was informed that the water shader for planet surface liquids would stop working. I have been able to reproduce this problem, but so far unable to fix it. I will be looking at why this is the case in the near future.