Approaching Infinity News

It's been a great week for development with a lot of small new features and tweaks:

• I fixed an error with stack #'s not disappearing under certain circumstances... it was a weird one!
  
• New crafting limitations: each kind of away team gun needs to be salvaged to be craftable.
  
• Fixed infinite Lichen spores
  
• David sent me new images for the cave-in traps obstacles
  
• I'm adjusting the way "environmental resistance" on suits works, to encourage exploration of other planet types earlier.
• Also further differentiated the environmental damage of planets
  
• Now displaying in scan "how many turns you can survive" on a planet with environmental damage
  
• You can now decide to craft a suit for a specific purpose (As long as your crafting level is at least 20)
  
• I've started leaving clues about the Amulet of Yendor...
• In space, the little greetings that aliens give ("ahoy matey", etc.) will now show up as floating text, instead of going to the message log.
  
• Stardate has been adjusted to advance more slowly while on away missions.
  
• The amount of resources found on planets now scales more by the difficulty of the planet (earth-like planets have less resources just laying around, and molten and dying planets have more)
  
• I Fixed a big that allowed some people to install multiple copies of the same device. (That was a big scare, thanks Valescere!)
  
• Corpses in space now float towards the edges of the screen and eventually disappear.
  
• Eaters also eat them
  
• You can finally identify artifacts entirely using the keyboard, by starting with CTRL+I ("eye")

It's been a great week for development with a lot of small new features and tweaks:

• I fixed an error with stack #'s not disappearing under certain circumstances... it was a weird one!
  
• New crafting limitations: each kind of away team weapon needs to be salvaged to be craftable.
• Fixed infinite Lichen spores
  
• David sent me new images for the cave-in traps obstacles
  
• I'm adjusting the way "environmental resistance" on suits works, to encourage exploration of other planet types earlier.
• Also further differentiated the environmental damage of planets
  
• Now displaying in scan "how many turns you can survive" on a planet with environmental damage
  
• You can now craft a suit for a specific purpose (As long as your crafting level is at least 20)
  
• I've started leaving clues about the Amulet of Yendor...
• I added a new type of cavern: the waste dump!
  
• It comes complete with a horrible new monster :D
  
• Stardate has been adjusted to advance more slowly while on away missions.
• In space, the little greetings that aliens give ("ahoy matey", etc.) will now show up as floating text, instead of going to the message log.
  
• The amount of resources found on planets now scales more by the difficulty of the planet (earth-like planets have less resources just laying around, and molten and dying planets have more)
  
• I Fixed a big that allowed some people to install multiple copies of the same device. (That was a big scare, thanks @Valescere !)
• Corpses in space now float towards the edges of the screen and eventually disappear.
  
• Eaters also eat them
  
• You can finally identify artifacts entirely using the keyboard, by starting with CTRL+I ("eye")

The shipwreck overhaul has been the focus for a long time, but it's coming to an end. Here are a list of changes that have been in beta over the past few weeks, and are now available for everyone:

• Shipwreck internal damage stories are complete.
• Sometimes cells (cages) on shipwrecks are occupied.
  
• You can now open and close cells from any functioning console (desk).
  
• Your crafting level now starts off lower and reads as a decimal. The act of crafting items will increase your level. You must rely on experience as well as knowledge.
  
• There are now tool-tips in the options menu (if you have tool-tips turned on!)
  
• The "auto explore" setting now effects the input-timeout when new enemies are spotted (set it more "afraid" to get a longer time-out).
  
• Cargo vacuum can now function with a range of 2!
  
• Increased the cost of supplies.
• Hiring an officer at one space station will no longer stop you from hiring another officer at a different station in the same sector.
  
• Officer XP pickup "stars" now grant a little more XP which scales with the sector and captain's level.
  
• Fixed "cargo-screen installation of built-in devices".
  
• Added "tangler" damage type to away team weapons.
• Shipwreck scans now more accurately report life-forms of explored wrecks .
  
• Fixed a bug with shuttle ace and zoom.
  
• Laser-gates have returned to shipwrecks, and now they can be shut down by finding a code and entering it into a computer.
• Fixed cloaking device exploit.
  
• Got new art for cave and canyon walls (and better handling too... go digging and try it out!)
  
• Introduced "megafreeze", an industrial chemical hazard.
  
• Scans of pre-existing shipwrecks may report incorrect "monster" results (new sectors should be accurate).

These have been on shipwrecks for a long time, but now they actually work! Move the landing party on top of them and press space or left-click.




Enjoy!

Steam put together a celebration of roguelike games, so of course they invited Approaching Infinity (and Curse of Yendor too) !

While most "rogue likes" are set in fantasy worlds with goblins and magic and dungeons, Approaching Infinity goes where (almost) no one has gone before... OUTER SPACE! Now is the perfect time to join in the never-ending galactic exploration adventure because you can get





In celebration of this event, I started a new video series, this one going for the Tentaculon victory... you might even see some spoilers eventually. Here's one now: I die in episode 2!
But I get right back into it and get even more serious.
https://youtu.be/JVSJxQ3Rr9o


I also wrote a blog post summing up the last few months of updates (the "shipwreck overhaul"), and I'm working on releasing some new features that have been in beta-testing for a while:

• Working Med-Pods (cure diseases, remove status effects, etc.)
  
• Cells on shipwrecks can have monsters in them, and you can open and close cells from consoles!
  
• Laser-Gates are back to shipwrecks, but you can now find a shut-down code for them.
  

Hey space captains! I hope everyone will get a chance to play on April 1st, because I've got something fun planned for your officers... it might even be a hint at a future possibility (and a common player request)!



Part of the recent work on shipwrecks has been to improve their "stories": what kind of ship is it, who built it, what happened to them, why is their ship a "wreck" anyway?

You can get some of this information through the new scanning feature, but you can now get a lot more by going in there and poking around.

But beyond the remains of the former crew, and the aftermath of whatever disaster befell them, you can now see messages from their last moments! Who was involved? What were they doing? Did they have any warning?

There are currently 10 categories of "internal damage", each with subcategories and specific handling. maybe they caught a disease and it got out of hand? Maybe one of the crew was trying to defect to the enemy? FIND OUT!



I will be spending some time writing Steam Documentation on all the new "shipwreck repair" features. I know there's a lot to learn and remember, so this way you can keep the information handy.

When it's done, it will be available directly from the "DOCS" link on the main loading screen.




Shipwreck overhaul has been my focus for *months*, and the progress has been transformative. Everything has been reworked from the ground up, and hundreds of new items have been added to give each room a specific feel and purpose. You can now interact with intelligent aliens onboard, sometimes aiding them, other times receiving warnings or ultimatums.

Each shipwreck is now a unique self-contained experience. And even when you're *done* with a shipwreck, you have options! Blow it up for parts, tow it to a station and sell it, or even, in some cases, USE IT AS YOUR OWN SHIP!

[h3]Is it done?[/h3]

Almost...

There are still some kinds of damage I need to write stories for (and that includes "external" damage, which mostly refers to combat, and I haven't even touched that yet). There is an entire new system that I never ended up adding, and that was puzzles. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to do that right now.

But forcefields still need something more interesting inside them than just credits... (And please note I said "interesting" not necessarily "better".)

But there's still a lot to do in 1.7 (remember the Star Map?) and I'll take feedback while I tie up my work here with shipwrecks. And don't worry, it doesn't mean I'll never work on them again, only the *focus* will shift.




Are you tired of accidentally selling or salvaging your best equipment? ME TOO! That's why I (finally) incorporated the concept of "favorite items":

It only works with the mouse for now, but a keyboard interface will be made.



Anyway, if you right click on an item in your cargo (or any other window where it appears), it will become "favorited", and display with an asterisk "*" at the beginning and in a nice golden color. Then you will always get an "are you sure" warning about anything that would destroy a favorite item.

• You now get a log message when officers get paid out of your income.
  
• Fixed a problem where "dormant / asymptomatic" diseases were still having an effect.
  
• You can now detect Hypno-Flowers on planet scans.
  
• THERE ARE 15 NEW MONSTERS!
  
• ...and 8 new monster powers...
  
• Shipwreck repair readout has been improved.
  

Enjoy!